A field guide to customer interviews
“It was fine, I guess.”
Most customers say this about your trial. Ask one more question, and the real story comes out. I built Heddly to ask that question for you. It's an AI interviewer. It talks to every customer and shows you their words beside each answer.
Drag across the thread
I · Forms and calls
A form reaches everyone. It never asks what they meant.
A call gets you the full story. But calls take scheduling and a researcher. One researcher can run five to ten calls a week. So you end up choosing. You get many shallow answers, or a few deep ones.
II · Goals, not questions
Tell Heddly what you need to know. It works out what to ask.
A survey only asks what you wrote. People answer politely and move on. So here you don't write questions. You write goals: the things you need to learn. The interviewer asks and follows up to get them.
What a survey gets from Maya
- Do you like our invoicing features?“Yeah, they're nice.”
- Would you pay $29 a month for this?“Maybe? Probably.”
- Was onboarding confusing?“A little, I guess.”
- How likely are you to recommend us, 1–10?“8.”
- Why didn't you upgrade?“Just been busy.”
What Heddly gets from Maya, in the same five minutes
- 01How they invoice todayAn hour a month copying hours from Slack into a template.must
- 02Why they started a trialA client paid 40 days late.must
- 03Where the trial stalledAt the accountant approval step.must
- 04What they spend todayDoesn't know. A partner holds the card.must
- 05Who else decidesA business partner.nice
- A question
- Something you ask. You get whatever they say first.
- A goal
- Something you need to know. Heddly follows up until it has a real answer, or the time runs out.
Sweep across the strings
III · Ask about the last time
Ask what happened, not what they would do.
People are polite about new ideas. Saying yes costs them nothing. The past is different. It has a true answer. So ask about the last invoice they sent. Or the last client who paid late.
- The lesson
- Ask about real events. Ask one thing at a time. Don't hint at the answer you want.
- In Heddly
- The interviewer follows these rules in every message.
Tap the questions that give you bad data0 of 4
Rules the interviewer follows
- One question per message
- Never hints at an answer
- Asks about facts before opinions
- Never asks for something twice
- Accepts “I don't know”
- Never sells, argues, or promises
- Says it is an AI
IV · Follow the thread
The real answer usually comes second.
First answers are short and polite. So ask what happened next. That's where the detail is. Once a goal is answered, move on. Skip what they already told you.
Keep scrolling to play the interview
V · Keep it short
Every extra minute loses you people.
Tell people how long it takes. Stop when the time is up. Let them skip questions or leave. A rushed answer is worse than none. It looks real, but it isn't.
- The lesson
- Decide which goals to drop before you start. If someone wants to stop, let them.
- In Heddly
- Code enforces the time limit, not the AI. Nice-to-have goals go first. People can skip or stop at any time. The interviewer never asks for “just one more”.
VI · Show the quote
If no customer said it, it stays out of the report.
Summaries drift as people edit them. “Two people mentioned price” becomes “customers think we're expensive.” So keep the quote next to each claim. Then anyone can check it. If nobody answered, say so.
Response #017 · Maya4 min 52 s · complete
From message 4
- In Heddly
- Each answer links to the messages behind it. The database rejects any answer without that link. Weak answers get a dotted underline. Read their quotes before you rely on them.
VII · The weave
Now send the same link to every trial user.
1 conversation
- The lesson
- One interview tells you about one person. Two hundred let you count. Each row is a person. Each column is a goal. Read down a column to see what you learned.
- In Heddly
- You get a grid. Sort it, filter it, or export it to CSV. Heddly keeps every full conversation.
Your first interview can go live in five minutes.
- 01Say what you want to learnWrite one sentence. Heddly drafts the goals. You edit them.
- 02Share the linkEmail it, put it in your app, or print a QR code. Nobody books a call.
- 03Read the tableYou get one answer per goal, per person. Each one comes with its quote.