Customer interview evidence

When this is useful

You are about to run this process and need one reusable working document.

What the workbook covers

Research brief

Discussion guide

Interview record

Fictional evidence record

Synthesis and decision

Question quality and closing check

Use with real evidence

Download the full Markdown resource, replace placeholders with your situation and retain sources beside claims. Keep unanswered questions visible rather than filling them with plausible guesses.

Put it to work

1. Read the full worksheet and define the decision it supports.
2. Fill the relevant tables using dated observations and explicit assumptions.
3. Review the output with its owner and record the next decision.

Limits and tradeoffs

The worksheet structures work; it does not supply missing customer evidence or guarantee a business result. Adapt examples and assign a responsible owner.

Worksheet preview

# Customer interview guide and evidence log

Use one brief for one marketing decision and one record per conversation. Store identifying information and raw notes in an appropriately restricted workspace. The worked example is fictional.

## Research brief

- Decision owner and date:
- Decision to inform:
- Current explanation:
- Plausible alternative explanations:
- Relevant workflow or buying episode:
- Participant criteria:
- Outcomes or groups to include:
- Recruitment route and its limitations:
- Intended uses of the notes:
- Recording agreement, if applicable:
- Review condition:

## Discussion guide

1. What was happening when this became something you needed to address?
2. Walk me through the last time you did this work.
3. What did you try first, and what happened?
4. What alternatives did you consider, including doing nothing?
5. Who participated in the decision and the work?
6. What made a step easy or difficult?
7. What changed after you tried the solution?
8. What remains unresolved?

Ask follow-ups using the participant's language. Avoid suggesting an answer. If the conversation becomes support or a demo, mark where the context changed.

## Interview record

- Participant reference and role:
- Date and relevant episode:
- Trigger:
- Workflow sequence:
- Current or previous alternatives:
- Decision participants:
- Obstacle:
- Outcome:
- Uncertainty or recall limitation:
- Agreed next step:

| Question or context | Observation, paraphrase, or exact quote | Note type | Interpretation | Alternative interpretation | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fill in | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in |

Mark quotes distinctly. Do not present an approximate note as verbatim language. Interview participation does not establish permission to publish a name or quotation.

## Fictional evidence record

Observation: an engineer described checking logs in two systems before deciding whether to rerun an API test. Interpretation: collecting context may create friction. Alternative interpretation: the second check provides a necessary safeguard. Follow-up: ask what each system contributes and which step, if any, the engineer would remove. No product benefit is established by this observation alone.

## Synthesis and decision

| Pattern or exception | Supporting conversations | Contrary evidence | Conditions that may explain differences | Remaining question |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fill in | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in |

- What we observed:
- What it suggests:
- Sample and recruitment limits:
- Decision or next bounded test:
- What would change our view:
- Owner and review condition:

Repeated observations in a selected group can support a hypothesis without establishing its prevalence across the market.

## Question quality and closing check

| Question to revise | Neutral replacement | Episode or evidence it should reveal |
|---|---|---|
| Would a faster tool help? | What happened the last time this took longer than expected? | Actual consequence and response |
| Was our integration easy? | Walk me through connecting it. Where did you stop, if anywhere? | Setup steps and observed obstacles |

- Summary offered back to the participant:
- Correction or missing context they supplied:
- Evidence record updated before synthesis:

Record the correction even if it weakens the original hypothesis.


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Original resource by Jon Bishop. CC BY 4.0. Illustrative examples are not customer results.