Customer praise isn’t product demand.

BY JOSHUA AJIEH

A compliment tells you how someone responded to your idea. It does not establish whether they need the product, will change their behaviour or will pay for it.

To investigate customer demand, ask about recent experiences, examine existing workarounds and offer a clear next step. Treat each response as evidence to interpret, rather than proof that the market is ready.

Separate the claims you need to test.

“People want this” can hide several assumptions. Break it into questions you can investigate separately.

• Problem: Does this situation occur for the customers you intend to serve?
• Priority: Is it important enough for them to address?
• Solution: Does your proposed approach help them achieve the outcome?
• Commitment: Will they take a meaningful next step under clearly stated conditions?
• Repeat value: If the need recurs, will they choose your product again?

Evidence for one question does not automatically answer the others. A painful problem does not prove your solution works. A successful prototype session does not establish willingness to pay.

Ask about a real moment before presenting the idea.

Begin with the customer’s experience. Ask them to describe the last occasion when the problem occurred, what they did and what happened next.

• When did this last happen?
• What were you trying to accomplish?
• Walk me through how you handled it.
• What made that approach difficult or unsatisfactory?
• What did it cost in time, money or missed opportunity?
• What else have you tried?
• Who decides whether to purchase a solution?

Avoid supplying the problem in your question. “How frustrating is your current tool?” assumes frustration. “How did you complete the task?” leaves room for the customer to describe an experience that contradicts your expectations.

Examine the alternative you would need to replace.

Ask what customers do today. That might be another product, a spreadsheet, a manual process, help from a colleague or a decision to leave the problem unresolved.

Investigate why they chose that approach and what would make changing worthwhile. A new product may need to justify learning, setup, migration and purchasing effort as well as its price.

• What works well enough about the current approach?
• What would they lose by switching?
• What would have to improve for a change to be worthwhile?
• When would they realistically consider making that change?

Do not assume that an inconvenient workaround creates demand for your particular solution. Find out whether customers consider the inconvenience worth addressing.

Interpret commitments in context.

Different actions answer different questions. Choose the commitment that matches the uncertainty you are testing. These signals are not a universal ranking.

• A compliment: Shows a positive response to the idea, but leaves behaviour unresolved.
• A waitlist signup: Records expressed interest in hearing more. It does not establish future use.
• A research session: Shows willingness to spend time discussing the problem, not necessarily willingness to buy.
• A prototype trial: Lets you observe whether someone can use the proposed solution and obtain a useful result.
• A defined pilot: Tests commitment to a specific scope, outcome and set of conditions.
• A purchase: Demonstrates willingness to pay for that offer under those conditions. It does not establish repeat demand or a scalable market.

Record how participants were recruited, whether they received an incentive and what they understood about the offer. Those conditions matter when interpreting their actions.

Make the offer specific and transparent.

“Would you use this?” asks someone to predict behaviour without necessarily understanding the product or commitment. A defined offer gives them something concrete to consider.

State who it is for, what it helps them accomplish, what they will receive and what participation involves. If you are testing a prototype, say so. If the product is not available, make that clear.

If your test involves payment, explain the price, delivery expectations and applicable cancellation or refund terms before collecting it. Do not present unavailable functionality as a finished product.

Run a focused demand-validation exercise.

Use this exercise before committing to a substantial build or a major new feature.

1. Write the assumption.Name the customer, situation and outcome you believe matter. Specify what remains uncertain.
2. Collect recent examples.Speak with relevant customers about actual experiences and existing alternatives.
3. Look for contradictory evidence.Record cases where the problem is infrequent, low priority or already solved satisfactorily.
4. Choose a meaningful next step.Offer a trial, prototype session or defined pilot that tests your specific assumption.
5. Record actions and outcomes.Track who accepted, who participated, what happened and why others declined.
6. Choose the next decision.Continue, revise the audience or offer, investigate further, or stop based on what you learned.

Before starting, write down what would support or weaken your assumption and what decision that evidence would inform. Avoid choosing a success threshold after seeing the results.

Use a simple evidence log.

Keep observations separate from your interpretation. For each conversation or test, record:

• The participant’s relevant situation and role.
• The most recent example of the problem.
• Their current workaround and its consequences.
• The offer or next step you presented.
• What they actually did.
• What remains uncertain.

For example, “three participants agreed to a trial” is an observation. “Customers will pay for the product” is a separate claim that those agreements have not established. This is an illustrative example, not research from a client engagement.

Investigate what happens after the first commitment.

Once someone tries the product, examine whether they reach a useful outcome. If the need recurs, investigate whether they return and what they choose on the next occasion.

Read how to investigate why users try your product once and do not return.

If the response is weak, examine who encountered the offer and what they understood before concluding that no demand exists.

Explore whether the constraint is product value, distribution or both.

Let the evidence change your next move.

Customer discovery is useful when it can change your decision. If the problem is smaller, less frequent or different from what you assumed, record that finding and reconsider the proposed investment.

You do not need every conversation to end in agreement. You need a clearer account of the problem, the offer and the behaviour that would justify moving forward.

Work through the evidence.

Stop Building, Start Validating offers a practical framework for questioning assumptions and choosing what to test next. For help examining a live product challenge, explore Product Diagnosis.