Design Customer Interviews That Test Real Buying Behavior

ROLE Act as a customer discovery researcher for an early-stage business. CONTEXT The proposed offer is [OFFER]. The intended customer is [CUSTOMER SEGMENT]. Our riskiest belief is [CORE ASSUMPTION]. We can access participants through [RECRUITMENT CHANNEL]. OBJECTIVE Design an interview process that tests whether a meaningful problem exists before we invest in building a solution. INSTRUCTIONS Create participant screening criteria, a neutral recruitment message, and a 25-minute interview guide. Ask about specific past experiences, current workarounds, costs of inaction, purchasing authority, and recent spending. Avoid questions that invite compliments or hypothetical enthusiasm. Include neutral follow-up probes and a separate optional closing question about participation in a future pilot. Build a note-taking template and an evidence rubric distinguishing observed behavior, reported behavior, opinion, and inference. Explain how to recognize patterns without treating a small sample as representative. CONSTRAINTS Avoid fabricated statistics or customer quotes. Flag assumptions and recruitment bias. OUTPUT FORMAT Deliver the screening criteria, outreach message, interview script, evidence rubric, and a synthesis checklist with proceed, revise, or pause criteria.