How many customers do we need to interview?

Customer interviews are not a survey. The goal is not to calculate proportions but to find the explanations and reasons that keep coming up. In practice, a common approach is to interview a small group first and review your notes after each one. When new interviews bring up almost no new reasons and you keep hearing what earlier customers already said, you can pause and sort through what you have. If your customers fall into clearly different types, such as individuals and businesses, interview each type separately, because their reasons for recommending you are often different, and mixing them makes the picture harder to read.

Can we give interviewees a gift card or discount as thanks?

You can offer reasonable thanks for their time, but watch two things. First, the thank-you is for the time they give, so it cannot depend on saying nice things, and you should not leave them feeling you expect particular answers. Second, if you later use interview content publicly in marketing material, honestly disclose that the interviewee received a thank-you, or at least keep it in your internal records so the use follows disclosure principles. The steadier approach is to state the thank-you in the invitation and stress that it will be given no matter how they answer, which also makes honest answers more likely.

If a customer gives negative feedback, was the interview still a success?

Very much so. Negative feedback is often the most valuable part of an interview. It tells you what customers hesitated over before deciding, where they got stuck along the way, and which promises did not match the actual experience. You can use it directly to improve your process, or turn it into a "common concerns" section on your website that answers the same doubts in the next customer's mind before they ask. When you hear criticism, do not rush to explain or defend yourself. Ask, "Could you tell me more?", hear the whole situation, then add it to an internal improvement list.

Customer Interviews: How Clients Recommend You

Many brands write “professional, dedicated, trustworthy” on their websites. But ask long-standing customers how they describe you to friends, and you usually hear something entirely different: “They tell you the bad news up front.” “When something went wrong, the owner called me himself.” “They’re not the cheapest, but once they quote, the price doesn’t go up.”

Lines like these are what actually make the next customer say yes. They are specific, believable, and in the customer’s language rather than the marketing department’s. Customer interviews are a systematic way to find those lines: not a questionnaire, not a satisfaction survey, but sitting down and properly listening to a few customers describe their experience.

This guide covers how to choose and invite interviewees, how to design questions that do not steer the answers, techniques during the interview, how to turn customers’ own words into copy and word-of-mouth material afterward, and how to obtain consent before quoting them.

Why interviews, and not just reviews or surveys

Reviews, surveys, and interviews all capture the customer’s voice, but they give you different things:

Method	What you get	Limitations
Online reviews	Many public, unprompted reactions	Mostly short; you cannot see the decision process or ask follow-up questions
Surveys and satisfaction studies	Quantifiable results and trends	Answers are boxed in by the questions; you never hear what you did not think to ask
Customer interviews	The full decision story, original wording, and the reasons behind it	Small samples, time-consuming, and they need sorting

The biggest value of an interview is the follow-up question. When a customer says “the service was great,” a survey stops there. An interview can go on to ask, “When did you feel that way?”, and the answer is often a specific story you can put on your website. Reviews and surveys are good for finding direction; interviews are good for digging into it. If you already track satisfaction, see NPS and Word-of-Mouth Marketing and pick out the customers you want to understand more deeply.

Who to interview: choosing the right people matters more than asking the right questions

Different customers will give you different answers. Prioritize inviting these groups:

Recent new customers: they remember most clearly why they chose you, including who else they compared and what they hesitated over
Long-standing customers who have referred others: they already describe you in a certain way, and that line is exactly what you want
Customers you have worked with for a long time: they can say what really matters over the long run, not just first impressions
Customers who almost did not buy, or who left and came back: they can best tell you what puts people off

Avoid interviewing only the few customers who know you best and love you most. Their opinions are warm, but they are often too polite, so you will not hear what needs to improve.

How to invite: make people willing, and willing to be honest

The point of the invitation is to explain the purpose, state the time involved, and lower the pressure. You can use the outline below and adjust it to your own tone:

“Hi [name], this is [your name] from [company]. We’d like to better understand why customers chose us and where we could do better during the work. Would you be open to a roughly 30-minute chat by video or phone, at a time that suits you? This isn’t a sales call, and we genuinely want to hear both the good and the not-so-good. As thanks for your time, we’ll send you [thank-you], regardless of what you say.”

A few practical reminders:

Have someone other than the salesperson invite and interview, so customers worry less that saying the wrong thing will affect the relationship
Keep it to 30 to 45 minutes, and finish on time
Say in advance whether you will record, and what the recording is for; record only with consent
State the thank-you up front, and stress it will be given regardless of the answers. If you later quote them publicly, you need to be able to disclose honestly that they received it

Question design: ask about experiences, not opinions

The most common interview mistake is asking questions that can only be answered with “good” or “fine.” Good interview questions have three traits: they ask about specific past experiences, they are open-ended, and they do not assume an answer.

Leading versus open questions

Leading question	Ask this instead
Did you choose us because our prices were reasonable?	Before you decided, which options did you compare? How did you make the final choice?
Do you think our service is professional?	During the work, was there a moment that stuck with you?
Would you recommend us to a friend?	If a friend asks about us, how do you usually describe us?
You were happy with how fast we delivered, right?	From start to finish, which stage felt smoothest, and which felt most stuck?

An interview outline you can use directly

Opening (about 3 minutes): thank them, explain the purpose and timing, confirm consent to record
Before buying (about 10 minutes)
- What situation made you start looking for this kind of service?
- How did you search at the time, and where did you look?
- Was there anything that made you hesitate or almost not choose us?
The moment of decision (about 5 minutes)
- What finally made you decide?
- If you described how you felt then in one sentence, what would it be?
During the work (about 10 minutes)
- What was the smoothest part of working with us? And the least smooth?
- Was anything different from what you originally expected?
Recommendation and wrap-up (about 5 minutes)
- If a friend had the same need, what would you tell them?
- Is there anything we should know that we didn’t ask about?
Closing: thank them, explain how you will use what they said, and that you will ask permission first before quoting them

“How would you describe us to a friend?” is an especially important question. The words customers use to answer it are often your best copy material.

Techniques during the interview

Listen more, talk less: the less the interviewer talks, the better. When the customer pauses, do not rush to fill the gap or jump to the next question
Ask for specific examples: whenever you hear an adjective, follow up. “You said you felt reassured. What situation made you feel that way?”
Do not defend or explain: when you hear criticism, just say, “Thank you for telling me. Could you tell me more?” Save explanations for after the interview
Write down their exact words: the point is not to record your interpretation but to capture the words they used, unchanged
Notice emotional high points: where the customer speeds up, gets animated, or laughs is often where the strongest material lies

After the interview: turning their words into usable material

Sort your notes the same day, while your memory is clearest. Use a shared table where each row is one quote worth keeping:

Original words	Interviewee type	Theme	Where it could be used	Public consent obtained?
”Once they quote, the price doesn’t go up, and that really reassures me.”	New customer	Price transparency	Service page, quote explanation	Yes (anonymous)
“When something went wrong, the owner called me directly instead of making me wait for customer service.”	Long-term customer	After-sales response	Homepage trust section, case studies	To be confirmed

After a few interviews, sort by theme and you will see certain reasons come up again and again. Those recurring reasons are why customers really recommend you. Use them on three levels:

1. Rewrite your brand message Compare the recurring reasons with the selling points currently on your website. If customers most often mention “straight talk, no surprise charges” while your website only says “professional team,” adjust the main message on your homepage and service pages.

2. Turn them into copy and FAQs The hesitations and concerns customers mention in interviews are the same questions the next customer will have. Write them up as FAQs on your website, or address them proactively on your service pages.

3. Turn them into word-of-mouth material With consent, customers’ own words can become testimonials on your website, social posts, or case stories. Customers willing to go further can also be invited to film a testimonial video; for how to do it, see the Customer Testimonial Video Guide.

The touchpoint problems you uncover in interviews can also be reviewed against the whole customer journey; see The Customer Journey and Word-of-Mouth Touchpoints.

Interview content is the customer’s own experience and opinion, so you must get explicit consent before using it publicly. The principles:

Ask separately for internal use and public use. Agreeing to an interview is not agreeing to have their words on your website
Make the scope of use clear: where it will appear (website, social media, ads, presentations), whether it will carry their name, whether it will include a photo or company name, and for how long
Let them see the final quoted text. If you shorten sentences, do not change the meaning, and publish only the version the customer has confirmed
Provide a way to withdraw, so they can contact you to remove it if they change their mind later
Keep a written record, for example by confirming the agreed terms by email, so it can be checked later
If you gave a thank-you, disclose it as the principles require. Readers should know when a recommendation came from someone who received something in return; for the detailed principles, see the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Compliance Guide for Taiwan

Also be careful not to take one customer’s result from an interview and present it as a promise that every customer will get the same. Customer experiences can be shared, but they should not be written up as guarantees.

Common mistakes

Turning the interview into a sales pitch. Mention a new plan or an add-on during the interview and the customer immediately goes on the defensive, and you will not hear honest answers from then on.

Drawing conclusions from a single interview. One customer’s opinion may reflect only their personal situation. Wait until the same reason comes up repeatedly before rewriting your brand message.

Rewording quotes into your own language while sorting. “Price transparency” is your summary; “once they quote, the price doesn’t go up” is the customer’s voice. Keep the original words, and your copy keeps its power.

Never reporting back after the interview. Letting interviewees know what their feedback changed, such as a process adjustment or a website update, is itself a good chance to deepen the relationship.

A brand’s best copy is often already in its customers’ mouths. Customer interviews simply recover those words exactly as spoken and put them where the next customer can see them.

If you want to turn customer interviews into ready-to-use brand messaging, website copy, and word-of-mouth material but are unsure which customers and which questions to start with, discuss your interview plan with NETVANA. To see the range of brand and word-of-mouth work we can help with, look at our services.

Further reading: To choose interviewees from your satisfaction data, see NPS and Word-of-Mouth Marketing. To extend customers’ words into video, see the Customer Testimonial Video Guide. To review the touchpoints across the whole experience, see The Customer Journey and Word-of-Mouth Touchpoints. For inviting customers to leave public reviews, see How to Ask Customers for Reviews. And for disclosure principles on recommendation content, see the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Compliance Guide for Taiwan.