How to conduct Customer Research like a PRO

We’re trying to create ‘The Perfect B2B Marketing Campaign’.

In part 1 of our experiment, customer research expert teaches us how to conduct customer interviews, step-by-step.

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All great campaigns start with a DEEP understanding of the Customer. That’s why Ryan Gibson is helping us interview MONICA who is our IDEAL CUSTOMER – to understand WHY she bought The B2B Incubator, and what she got from it.

YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:

The 3 Step Customer Interview Process

Step 1 - Set Objectives & Questions For The Interview

The first step before any customer interview is to set objectives and questions before conducting it.

You will only get a limited amount of time to conduct the interview with your Dream Customer, so you need to make sure the topics you covered are focussed and aligned to your objective for the interview.

To help with this, before the interview Ryan sent through a document detailing the objectives and questions he was going to ask.

See the full list of questions asked 👉

Roles & Responsibilities

Walk me through your role
What is the size of your team & who do you report to?
What outcomes are you responsible for?
How do your priorities get set?
What is your top priority?
What activity can never be neglected?
What is one thing you have to accomplish in the next 6-12 months?

Pains & Anxieties

What is one activity you are getting done, but don’t feel it’s your best work?
What do you wish you had more time to do?

Triggers

What was happening in your role/business before seeking external help with marketing?
Walk me through the first time you had an issue with this.
Was it a new issue or a pre-existing one?
How did this problem impact your ability to accomplish things?
How did this problem impact the business objectives?
Who did you speak with about this challenge?
What did you discuss?

Research

How did you first try to solve this problem?
What’s your first memory of B2B Playbook?
What made you start following their content?
When did you think about reaching out to them?
Who else did you reach out to?

Evaluation

What were you looking for on their website?
What happened after you reached out?
What info were you looking for when evaluating them?
What made you trust them?
Did anything feel like a stretch or too good to be true?
Any red flags?

Experience

What expectations did you have before you started?
What was the first week like?
How did it line up with your expectations?
Have you implemented any of the learnings?
What was really great?
What could have gone better?

Step 2 - Conduct the Interview

🕒 Time to conduct the customer interview! 👀 Watch Ryan expertly poke and prod Monica to get amazing insights 💡 to form the basis of our next marketing campaign.

At the end, Monica asks Ryan some GREAT questions ❓❗️ about how to better conduct customer interviews.

Ryan uses Dovetail 📝 to help record and transcribe the interview so he can stay focused 🎯 on the task at hand.

Step 3 - Analyze & Extract Insights

💡 Ryan presents his analysis 📊🔍 of the interview and pulls out key insights 🧠📌 taken directly from the interview with Monica.

🔑🎯 These will form the basis of our ‘Perfect B2B Marketing Campaign’!

Click here to see Ryan's full analysis of the interview and insights extracted for our campaign

Up Next: Jess Cook Analyzes these insights to update our landing page and copywriting

We’ll be posting ALL learnings and results on LinkedIn as they happen – but you can’t trust the algorithm for this JUICY content to find you.

These Experts are Helping us create THE PERFECT Campaign

All great campaigns start with a DEEP understanding of the Customer. That’s why Ryan Gibson is helping us interview MONICA who is our IDEAL CUSTOMER – to understand WHY she bought The B2B Incubator, and what she got from it.

YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:

Jess is then going to take these insights from the customer interview… and use her copywriting and landing page skills turn it into messaging that RESONATES with our Dream Customers. We’ll use this on our Landing Page and in our ads.

YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:

We need to track the success of our campaign… so we’ve brought in tracking expert Pasha to help us set-up our Hubspot so we can see what’s working, and which customers we can attribute to this campaign.

YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:

With our messaging and landing page set… Justin is going to show us HOW we should spend our budget on LinkedIn to maximise the odds of the campaign driving qualified traffic that turns into paying customers.

YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:

Subscribe So You Don't Miss Out!

We’ll be posting ALL learnings and results on LinkedIn as they happen – but you can’t trust the algorithm for this JUICY content to find you.

What Marketers Like You Are Saying...

Love the podcast and the way you 'waterfall' content from it (and the genuineness that comes through)!

Just wanted to reach out to let you know how much I’m enjoying the podcast - I definitely get the feeling that I’ve learned something I can use after each episode

Been following for a bit and trying to catch up on the podcast. You post some great content and the podcast is 🔥

Starting and growing a business isn't easy no matter how good your service or offering is. Doing digital marketing feels like climbing Everest. Thankfully the B2B playbook podcast breaks it all down for you. George & Kevin are great to listen to & step you through the 5Be's of how to get your marketing right. After a few listens you can start climbing that mountain to your marketing success.

Enjoying all your content and listening to the B2B podcast episodes. Always get some value from them 👌

George and Kevin are a wealth of knowledge in B2B marketing. They passionately share their knowledge in their B2B Playbook podcast and each episode brings on new insights. I recommend it to any new marketers starting in the B2B space: it's like having your own marketing mentors on the go!

I have been following some of your content on LinkedIn and started listening to your podcast. I really like the stuff you guys are putting out there.

Hey George, Just want to tell you how much I enjoy your content (podcast, posts on LinkedIn,...) As a web dev with no prior marketing know how who is now CEO of a small agency with marketing responsibility there is so much to learn. Your work is a great source. Love it

Really do love the work you guys do and appreciate how you make B2B marketing more accessible ❤

Starting and growing a business isn't easy no matter how good your service or offering is. Doing digital marketing feels like climbing Everest. Thankfully the B2B playbook podcast breaks it all down for you. George & Kevin are great to listen to & step you through the 5Be's of how to get your marketing right. After a few listens you can start climbing that mountain to your marketing success.

The main reason I love the podcast is I can get to know the B2B marketing mindset & experience. There’s tons of blogs/ courses online to talk about B2B marketing on strategies, tools, and models...but I found not many deliver the message of mindset to the audience. The mindset and experience are something you gained and tested from day-to-day work, and not easy to be googled.

Honestly, I really like your podcast format. The breakdown and analysis angle of different companies B2B strategies mixed with your own framework and some tactical approaches is a B2B podcast mix that I haven’t stumbled upon other than yours and I really enjoy it. DG does mostly interview, Chris Walker has his Demand Gen approach, Metadata talks about what they do internally. And I enjoy all of them. But you two have figured out an interesting mix that brings something new and that’s not easy. You’ve got a routine listener here!

Come 5am every Monday morning when I do my daily run, I tune into The B2B Playbook podcast. George and Kevin are excellent at distilling the many complex aspects of B2B marketing. And more importantly, giving away very practical advice on how to create a sound marketing strategy and execute it on a tactical level. As a bonus, George is a genuinely helpful, all around nice guy. He practices what he preaches. On LinkedIn you can see George doesn't just talk the talk - he does what he advises his audience should do. And shows how his playbook works for his business. It's true people! - Helpful marketing content leads to inbound opportunities that turn into revenue!

The B2B playbook is just that - a practical guide to B2B marketing, providing endless tips, tricks, and insights. It's really practical. Particularly how to get experts to write for you. I'm in a pretty niche industry with tricky applications, so that helped a lot. Awesome stuff! Please keep it coming!

Your podcast is such a great resource for us - wanting to make the change to Demand Gen, keep it up 🙂

I am really enjoying your podcast and learning so much so big thank you

Love the podcast George - plenty of epic wisdom, making massive impact - very much appreciated!

Hi George I love your podcast, very interesting and easy to listen to!

Marketing podcasts are everywhere. And there’s nothing worse than ear candy that you can’t clearly apply. But the B2B Playbook brings a unique and timely perspective that’s especially actionable.

I have been listening to the B2B Playbook since George and Kevin launched it. The podcast episodes have such rich practical knowledge and they took one step further and created the B2B incubator. B2B incubator looks promising especially because they do not say “learn this, and you will be a millionaire overnight” it has a concrete strategy, how to learn from your mistakes, and the nitty-gritty of being a B2B marketer. Listen to their podcasts and also be a part of this program as I am sure like their podcasts their strategy is doable and will yield results. Remember, you have to implement what you learn from them!

I don't listen to podcasts, but I do make the exception for yours if I'm driving. It is so well thought out, researched, and logical and adds a tonne of value. I'm very confident your B2B Incubator would be the same.

I was listening to your podcast. It's amazing. The 5 BEs framework, the way you diagnose educational content strategy... 💥🚀

Checked out your latest episode- though I got interrupted but I sat down there nodding with a little grin on my face because demand generation is such a misunderstood and elusive concept for many marketers. Anyways, just wanted to say keep it going!

I am a follower on Spotify and am a huge fan of your reporting episodes!

George has truly created a safe place for early stage marketers. They can listen in on some insightful conversations about everything B2B marketing. The lessons learnt can be applied to your business with immediate effect. In particular, I loved the repurposing framework. So please do yourself a favor and dig into the podcast right away!

I'm one of your avid listeners on the B2B podcast and I would just like to thank you for regularly sharing your industry insights along with Kevin. It's truly fantastic. I work in multiple B2B companies right now with small marketing teams where I mostly do the end-to-end digital marketing by myself: from strategy, execution and optimization. It's mostly me having inputs and no one out there to bounce ideas with (at least in digital marketing in general). That's why listening to your podcast is like having colleagues at work who share great ideas.

I've listen to your eps of your podcast and loved it!

Love your content and I'm learning a ton thanks to you 🙏 The content is something they don’t teach in schools and I appreciate that, like many other marketers I’d assume

Your content on demand generation and inviting industry specialists have been extremely insightful! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the wider community

I just wanted to say I love the material you post, soo insightful and on the ball. Keep it going 🙏

Big fan of your podcast!

Big fan of the podcast.

Been following your content as a lone b2b marketer at a tech startup, you guys have been crazy helpful Still trying to catch up with all the content and lessons but I really appreciate the work you're doing!

I learn so much from the frameworks you share!

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I love your pod man you guys are going to blow up. The guests you have had on have given a lot of actionable ideas Honestly, some of the most helpful content is how to handle clients and bring innovation to clients to continue to add value instead of being reactionary. (Reactionary to issues, bad analytics, whatever) Helping people be innovative and thoughtfully creative with their clients stays out in front of the ick

The podcast has been super helpful!

Really appreciate your Podcast and what you are doing to educate on demand gen. Learning from your content. Keep up the great work.

Been watching your stuff since I watched episode 85 and realised you guys do what I’ve been doing the last decade just from the sales and marketing Great message and method First solid advice I’ve seen in years

I often read your newsletter & listen to your podcasts. Learn a lot of new stuff in B2B. Keep creating the content man! It's super valuable!

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 5/5

P.S... B2B Marketers LOVE The B2B Incubator

The structure and the templates were super… having something I can plug and play and act on… was super helpful… Even my bosses and my supervisor and the other people from like product, customer, developer – they’re all impressed.

The B2B framework has allowed me to lead as a manager… I am now able to point out: this is what we need to do, this is the strategy, this is the process, and this is how we can scale the process in the team.

Recommended to all B2B marketers out there in a small team thrown in the deep end and wondering what to prioritise and how to generate demand from your dream customers. The B2B incubator will guide you through it in 3 steps, giving you the frameworks and practical tools to bring together a comprehensive marketing strategy. I’m really looking forward to fully putting it into action.

George and his Incubator are a great opportunity if you’re looking to learn a new marketing methodology or want to refocus your marketing efforts As an early-stage marketer, I know I will frequently revisit the resources and knowledge provided by the program.

Without a dedicated internal marketing team, we were finding it difficult to set aside time to work on our Dream Customer. The B2B Incubator has allowed George and I to collaborate to bring clarity to our vision and structure to our processes. As a team, we have been able to clarify our Dream Customers and adjust our digital marketing and product offerings accordingly.

Name: Ati Aziz
Position: Growth Marketer
Size of Marketing Team: 3 people
Business Type: B2B SaaS
Company: ClearCalcs

Name: Shahed Abotouk
Position: Marketing Manager
Size of Marketing Team: 1 person
Business Type: B2B SaaS
Company: Commutifi

Name: Ben Grossberg
Position: Senior Marketing Manager
Size of Marketing Team: 5 people
Business Type: B2B SaaS
Company: Weel