Let’s see 3-5 questions from your current customer interview list.
Responses
Aidan
March 16th, 2020
(I am currently pursuing a post launch project full time now after finding a team to work with, so these questions do not pertain to what I was/am no longer pursuing in pre launch)
1. what are the biggest pains you have with current food delivery services?
2. Why is this a problem?
3. What do you currently do to try and solve/get around this problem?
4. Can you tell me about a specific time you experienced this problem?
5. In terms of additional delivery fees, give me a “too much”, “realistic” and “ideal” amount of additional fees associated with food delivery.
Ally Questell
March 17th, 2020
For consumers:
1) Do you regularly use a reusable straw?
2) If you don’t regularly use a reusable straw, what are the main reasons as to why this is?
3) Tell me about a time when you were using a reusable straw and you thought to yourself, “This is so frustrating or annoying.”
4) If you would like to regularly use a reusable straw but have not been successful in doing so, what are the factors that have gotten in the way?
5) Describe your vision of the ideal reusable straw to me, ignoring any considerations of cost or technical feasibility.
For restaurants:
1) What type of straws does your restaurant offer to diners?
2) How important is an image of sustainability to you? Are green practices a core value of your restaurant? Of your customers?
3) How much money do you spend on straws per year?
4) If you offer metal, glass, or silicone straws to customers, how do you clean them? How much time and staff energy does this require?
5) What factors do you consider before purchasing eco-friendly straws?
Deanna Meador
March 17th, 2020
Aidan- also worthwhile to gauge what people really like currently and try to get some metrics about how often they currently use delivery services (doesn’t just have to be food, can find out if they get other items delivered), which ones do they use and why.
Deanna Meador
March 17th, 2020
Ally- For consumers- What about starting off with something a bit more broad and asking about efforts the person is undertaking to become more sustainable/implement sustainable practices? This could help you identify a line of products for the future to build a business beyond just one product and might also help determine if straws are the right entry point. It will also help you narrow down on the characteristics of a person that might make them an ideal early adopter or not. As with Aidan, always good to also gauge what people like as well as what they don’t like. This could give you some insights about materials, etc.
For restaurants, I would start with your question 2 and make sure this item is worded in a open-ended way as opposed to yes/no. Question 1 is something you can find out yourself by visiting a restaurant/doing a bit of research online so a general rule is not to ask something you can find out yourself. For 5, I would also make this broader so you can gauge cost considerations, etc. for any sustainable change they’ve made. You could ask things like, “Tell me about the last time you changed a process or product for sustainability reasons? and then ask follow-ups to understand how the decision was made. Who had to decide (someone at that location, someone in a corporate office) where do they find out about new ideas, how long does it take to make a change (speed of adoption). You want to find out their current ordering process. Do they always use a set list of suppliers (this would tell you that you have to get your product in that supplier’s catalog)?
Aidan
March 17th, 2020
Deanna – I’ve been asking general questions about the type of food/restaurants they usually order from, but I think the questions you suggested are a great idea. Do you think it would be worthwhile asking the times of day they usually order food, considering this startup is based heavily on connecting orders during similar delivery times?
Deanna Meador
March 17th, 2020
I do, since your idea hinges on the timing, that would be great to dig into. What prompts a person to initiate an order- specific day of the week, weather outside, etc. Anything to help you figure out if there are optimal times or triggers that result in orders.
Deanna Meador
March 18th, 2020
From Pedro:
Process Questions:
1. How do you inform your messaging at the local level (e.g. for canvassing, local ads etc.)?
2. What steps are involved in this process?
3. How much time does this process take (e.g. from deciding to hire a pollster to obtaining actionable insights)?
4. What are the major pain points of this process? Can you give us specific examples that you recall?
5. Do you do any quality control (e.g. of phone interviews)?
6. What is the response rate (e.g. out of X calls, how many participate)?
Output Questions:
7. What are you trying to measure?
8. What methods do you use to measure this (e.g. question types)?
9. Do you employ any computational methods/software (if yes, which)?
10. What characteristics does the output of an effective implementation (e.g. poll) have?
11. How would you describe an actionable insight (provide examples)?
12. What is the output of this process (e.g. a report with quotes)?
13. Do you perform any cost-benefit analysis of the above process (if yes, how)?
March 16th, 2020
(I am currently pursuing a post launch project full time now after finding a team to work with, so these questions do not pertain to what I was/am no longer pursuing in pre launch)
1. what are the biggest pains you have with current food delivery services?
2. Why is this a problem?
3. What do you currently do to try and solve/get around this problem?
4. Can you tell me about a specific time you experienced this problem?
5. In terms of additional delivery fees, give me a “too much”, “realistic” and “ideal” amount of additional fees associated with food delivery.
March 17th, 2020
For consumers:
1) Do you regularly use a reusable straw?
2) If you don’t regularly use a reusable straw, what are the main reasons as to why this is?
3) Tell me about a time when you were using a reusable straw and you thought to yourself, “This is so frustrating or annoying.”
4) If you would like to regularly use a reusable straw but have not been successful in doing so, what are the factors that have gotten in the way?
5) Describe your vision of the ideal reusable straw to me, ignoring any considerations of cost or technical feasibility.
For restaurants:
1) What type of straws does your restaurant offer to diners?
2) How important is an image of sustainability to you? Are green practices a core value of your restaurant? Of your customers?
3) How much money do you spend on straws per year?
4) If you offer metal, glass, or silicone straws to customers, how do you clean them? How much time and staff energy does this require?
5) What factors do you consider before purchasing eco-friendly straws?
March 17th, 2020
Aidan- also worthwhile to gauge what people really like currently and try to get some metrics about how often they currently use delivery services (doesn’t just have to be food, can find out if they get other items delivered), which ones do they use and why.
March 17th, 2020
Ally- For consumers- What about starting off with something a bit more broad and asking about efforts the person is undertaking to become more sustainable/implement sustainable practices? This could help you identify a line of products for the future to build a business beyond just one product and might also help determine if straws are the right entry point. It will also help you narrow down on the characteristics of a person that might make them an ideal early adopter or not. As with Aidan, always good to also gauge what people like as well as what they don’t like. This could give you some insights about materials, etc.
For restaurants, I would start with your question 2 and make sure this item is worded in a open-ended way as opposed to yes/no. Question 1 is something you can find out yourself by visiting a restaurant/doing a bit of research online so a general rule is not to ask something you can find out yourself. For 5, I would also make this broader so you can gauge cost considerations, etc. for any sustainable change they’ve made. You could ask things like, “Tell me about the last time you changed a process or product for sustainability reasons? and then ask follow-ups to understand how the decision was made. Who had to decide (someone at that location, someone in a corporate office) where do they find out about new ideas, how long does it take to make a change (speed of adoption). You want to find out their current ordering process. Do they always use a set list of suppliers (this would tell you that you have to get your product in that supplier’s catalog)?
March 17th, 2020
Deanna – I’ve been asking general questions about the type of food/restaurants they usually order from, but I think the questions you suggested are a great idea. Do you think it would be worthwhile asking the times of day they usually order food, considering this startup is based heavily on connecting orders during similar delivery times?
March 17th, 2020
I do, since your idea hinges on the timing, that would be great to dig into. What prompts a person to initiate an order- specific day of the week, weather outside, etc. Anything to help you figure out if there are optimal times or triggers that result in orders.
March 18th, 2020
From Pedro:
Process Questions:
1. How do you inform your messaging at the local level (e.g. for canvassing, local ads etc.)?
2. What steps are involved in this process?
3. How much time does this process take (e.g. from deciding to hire a pollster to obtaining actionable insights)?
4. What are the major pain points of this process? Can you give us specific examples that you recall?
5. Do you do any quality control (e.g. of phone interviews)?
6. What is the response rate (e.g. out of X calls, how many participate)?
Output Questions:
7. What are you trying to measure?
8. What methods do you use to measure this (e.g. question types)?
9. Do you employ any computational methods/software (if yes, which)?
10. What characteristics does the output of an effective implementation (e.g. poll) have?
11. How would you describe an actionable insight (provide examples)?
12. What is the output of this process (e.g. a report with quotes)?
13. Do you perform any cost-benefit analysis of the above process (if yes, how)?