Customer conversations take time and are easy to screw up. When they are bad they aren't just useless. Worse, then convince you that you are on the right path. They give you false positive that causes you to overinvest your cash, your time and your team. Even when you’re not actively screwing something up, those pesky customers seem hellbent on lying to you.
The Mom test by Rob Fitzpatrick is a practical how-to. It's a casual approach to conversation, based on chipping away the formality and awkwardness of talking to people and taking full responsibility for asking good questions.
This book gives tools to talk to customers, navigate the noise and learn what they really want.
The book is written by a techie, introverted guy who actually believed (haha) when prospects told him: “Don’t call me, I’ll call you myself”. He was a co-founder of a social advertising start-up, that was nearly running out of investor money and after innumerable days of a slog, he’s built up an exhaustive list of how it can go wrong. This is good in some sense as before we start doing things correctly, we need to understand how we are building them wrong.
"You shouldn't ask anyone whether your business is a good idea. At least not in those words".
Failing The Mom Test | Passing The Mom Test
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Son: “Mom, I have an idea for a business — can I run it by you?” I am about to expose my ego — please don’t hurt my feelings. Mom: “Of course, dear.” You are my only son and I am ready to lie to protect you. Son: “You like your iPad, right? You use it a lot?” Mom: “Yes.” You led me to this answer, so here you go. Son: “Okay, so would you ever buy an app that was like a cookbook for your iPad?” I am optimistically asking a hypothetical question and you know what I want you to say. Mom: “Hmmm.” As if I need another cookbook at my age. Son: “And it only costs $40 — that’s cheaper than those hardcovers on your shelf.” I’m going to skip that lukewarm signal and tell you more about my great idea. Mom: “Well...” Aren’t apps supposed to cost a dollar? Son: “And you can share recipes with your friends, and there’s an iPhone app which is your shopping list. And videos of that celebrity chef you love.” Please just say “yes.” I will not leave you alone until you do. Mom: “Oh, well yes honey, that sounds amazing. And you’re right, $40 is a good deal. Will it have pictures of the recipes?” I rationalized the price outside a real purchase decision, made a non-committal compliment, and offered a feature request to appear engaged. Son: “Yes, definitely. Thanks, mom — love you!” I have completely misinterpreted this conversation and taken it as validation. Mom: “Won’t you have some lasagna?” I am concerned that you won’t be able to afford food soon. Please eat something. | Son: “Hey mom, how’s that new iPad treating you?” Mom: “Oh - I love it! I use it every day.” Son: “What do you usually do on it?” Whoops — we asked a generic question, so an answer to this probably won’t be terribly valuable. Mom: “Oh, you know. Read the news, play sudoku, and catch up with my friends. The usual.” Son: “What’s the last thing you did on it?” Get specific examples in the past to get real, concrete data. Mom: “You know your father and I are planning that trip? I was figuring out where we could stay.” She uses it for both entertainment and utility, which didn’t come up during the “usually” answer. Son: “Did you use an app for that?” A slightly leading question, but sometimes we need to nudge to get to the topic we’re interested in. Mom: “No, I just used Google. I didn’t know there was an app. What’s it called?” Younger folks use the App Store as a search engine, whereas your mom waits for a specific recommendation. If that’s true more broadly, finding a reliable marketing channel outside the App Store is going to be crucial. Son: “How did you find out about the other apps you have?” Dig into interesting and unexpected answers to understand the behaviors and motivations behind them. Mom: “The Sunday paper has a section on the apps of the week.” You can’t remember the last time you opened a paper, but it sounds like traditional PR might be a viable option for reaching customers like mom. Son: “Makes sense. Hey, by the way, I saw a couple of new cookbooks on the shelf — where did those come from?” Business ideas usually have several failure points. Here it’s both the medium of an iPad app and the content of a cookbook. Mom: “They’re one of those things you just end up getting at Christmas. I think Marcy gave me that one. Haven’t even opened it. As if I need another lasagna recipe at my age!” Aha! This answer is golden for 3 reasons: 1. Old people don’t need another generic set of recipes. 2. The gift market may be strong. 3. Younger cooks may be a better customer segment since they don’t yet know the basics. Son: “What’s the last cookbook you did buy for yourself ?” Attack generic answers like “I don’t buy cookbooks” by asking for specific examples. Mom: “Now that you mention it, I bought a vegan cookbook about 3 months ago. Your father is trying to eat healthier and thought my veggies could benefit from a pinch more zazz.” More gold: experienced chefs may still buy specialized or niche cookbooks. |
Our misguided entrepreneur has a few more conversations like this, becomes increasingly convinced he’s right, quits his job, and sinks his savings into the app. Then he wonders why nobody (even his mom) buys it, especially since he had been so rigorous. Doing it wrong is worse than doing nothing at all. When you know you’re clueless, you tend to be careful. But collecting a fistful of false positives is like convincing a drunk he’s sober: not an improvement. | The conversation continues. If it’s going well, you would want to raise the topic of whether she has ever looked for recipes on the iPad or searched for cooking videos on YouTube. You’ve learned that building an app and waiting for people to find it on the App Store probably isn’t a good plan. But you’ve got some good insight about your customer segment and a few promising leads to look into. That was a useful conversation. |
After just one conversation you have a higher fidelity vision. We now see that there are at least two specific customer segments you might serve, each of which needs a slightly different product. You have also identified some major risks to address before you commit too heavily.
You could offer niche recipes (ethnics, diets, veg) that experienced cooks may not already know. Our biggest question is how to reach them if they don't search for apps. You have a possible lead with newspaper and magazine PR.
Alternatively, you might have generic recipes for younger cooks who are easier to reach via the App Store and who haven't memorized all their favorites yet.
The second conversation is different because we never talked about our idea (so no lies from people who are trying to please you).
We find out if people care about what we are doing by never mentioning it. Instead, we talk about them and their lives.
If you avoid mentioning your idea too early, you start asking better questions.
So the Mom test is:
Talk about their life instead of your idea
Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics and opinions about the future
Talk less, listen more
Good question / bad question self-check:
“Do you think it's a good idea?”
“Would you buy a product that did X?”
“How much would you play for X?”
“What would your dream product do?”
“Why do you bother?”
“What are the implications of that?”
“Talk me though the last time it happened?”
“Talk me through your workflow.”
“What else have you tried.”
“Would you pay X for a product that did Y”
“How are you dealing with it now?”
“Where does the money come from?”
“Who else should I talk to?”
“Is there anything else I should have asked?”
1. “Do you think it's a good idea?”
Say you are building an app that helps construction companies manage their supplies. You might ask them to show you how they currently do it. Talk about which parts they love and hate. Ask which other tools and processes they try before settling on this one. Are they actively searching for a replacement? If yes, what's the sticking point? If not, why not? Is there a budget for better ones? Now take all that information and decide whether it's a good idea.
Only the market tells if your idea is good. Everything is just opinion.
2. “Would you buy a product that did X?”
You are asking for opinions and hypotheticals from overly optimistic people who want to make you happy.
How to fix it: Ask how they currently solve X and how much it costs them to do so. And how much time it takes. Ask them to talk you through what happened the last time X came up. If they haven't solved the problem, ask why not. Have they tried searching for solutions and found them wanting? Or do they not even care enough to have googled for it?
3. “How much would you play for X?”
The same hypothetical over-optimistic lie.
How to fix it: The same, by asking about their life as it already is. How much does the problem cost them? How much do they currently pay to solve it? How big is the budget they have allocated?
4. “What would your dream product do?”
Okay question.
How to improve it: Ask good follow-up questions. Otherwise, it's a bad question. The value comes from understanding why they want these features. Motivations and constraints behind those requests are critical.
5. “Why do you bother.”
It's great for getting from the perceived problem to the real one.
6. “What are the implications of that?”
Good to distinguish between “I will pay to solve that problem” and “It's annoying, but I can deal with it” problems.
7. “Talk me through the last time it happened?”
Watch through your (potential) customers’ actions instead of opinions. Folks can’t be wishy-washy in this case. And if you want to understand why you'll have to talk to them. How does your product fits into their day, what are the constraints and which other products, tools, and task do your product need to integrate with?
8. “Talk me through your workflow.”
It is good for the same above reason.
9. “What else have you tried”
If they haven't looked for ways to solve it already, they are not going to look for (or buy) yours.
10. “Would you pay X for a product that did Y.”
Overoptimistic, plus it's your idea instead of their life.
How to fix it: As always, ask about what they already do now, not what they believe they might do in the future. The common wisdom is that you price your product in terms of value to the customer rather than cost to you.
If you are far enough, ask for money, deposit, or pre-order.
People stop lying when you ask them for money.
11. “How are you dealing with it now?”
Beyond workflow information, this gives you a price anchor. While it's rare for someone to tell you precisely what they will pay you, they will often show what it's worth to them.
12. “Where does the money come from?”
This isn’t something you would necessarily ask a consumer (though you might), but in a B2B context, it's a must-ask. You need to learn who else within the company holds the power to torpedo the deal, who else matters, and what they care about.
13. “Who else should I talk to?”
End every conversation like this. Lining up the first few conversations can be challenging, but if you are onto something interesting and treating people well, your leads will quickly multiply via intros. If someone doesn't want to make an intro, that's cool too.
14. “Is there anything else I should have asked?”
Usually, by the end of the meeting, people understand what you are trying to do. Since you don't know the industry, they will often be sitting there quietly while you completely miss the most important point.
None of the good questions were about asking what you should build. Deciding what to build is your job.
The questions to ask are about customers’ lives: their problems, cares, constraints, and goals.
You humbly and honestly gather as much information as you can and then take your own visionary leap and creative vision to a solution.
They own the problem, and you own the solution.
SPOTTING AND FIXING SOME OF THE WAYS CONVERSATIONS GO OFF TRACK
There are three types of bad data:
Compliments
Fluff (generics, hypotheticals, and the future)
Ideas
Bad data gives us:
False negatives (thinking the idea is dead when it's not)
and - more dangerously - False positives (convincing yourself you’re right when you’re not)
Sometimes we invite bad data ourselves by asking the wrong questions. Sometimes it can happen if you got excited and started pitching because you had to talk about your idea to explain the reason for the meeting or because the conversation is just stuck in hypothetical la-la-land.
Deflecting compliments
Most of your meetings will end with a compliment. It feels good. They said they liked it! Unfortunately, they are almost certainly lying. Not necessarily intentionally. They might want to be supportive or to protect your feelings. Or your excitement might be rubbing off on them.
Even venture capitalists (professional judges of the future) are wrong far more than right.
With the exception of industry experts who have built very similar businesses, opinions are worthless. You want facts and commitment, not compliments.
You don't need to end up with what you wanted to hear in order to have a good conversation. We just need to get to the truth.
We crave validation and thus are often tricked into registering sneaky compliments as reliable data. Warning signals ⛔:
“That's cool. Love it”.
“Sound terrific. Keep me in the loop”.
“I like your idea. I'm sure it will go well”.
“We are getting a lot of positive feedback”.
“Everybody I have talked to loved the idea”.
If you catch yourself or your teammates in this, try to get specific. Why did that person like the idea? How much money would it save him? How would it fit into his life? What else has he tried? If you don't know, then you’ve got a compliment instead of real data.
Anchoring fluff
Fluff comes in 3 cuddly shapes:
Generic claims - “I usually”, “I always”, “I never”.
Future-tense promises - “I would”, “I will”.
Hypothetical maybes - “I might”, “I could”.
Ask good questions that anchor them to specifics. Ask when it last happened or ask them to talk you through it. Ask how they solved it and what else they tried.
Folks are widely optimistic about what they would do in the future. Don’t mistake fluffy future promises and exciting compliments for commitments.
The fluff-inducing question you would like to avoid ❌:
“Do you ever…”
“Would you ever…”
“What do you usually…”
“Do you think you…”
“Might you…”
“Could you see yourself…”
They aren't exactly toxic - it's just that the responses are useless.
Now let's imagine you are building a mobile loyalty app and you hear a guy in line in front of you complaining.
Guy: “What idiot decided it was a good idea to make me carry around a thousand cafe loyalty cards?”
You: ”It's crazy, right? My wallet is two feet thick. Hay, have you ever tried any of those loyalty apps for your phone?” ✎ Anchor to past behaviors.
Guy: “Those exist?” ✎ Perhaps my rage is misplaced.
You: “Yeah, I'm sure you’ve seen the little signs for that one in the campus cafe”
Guy: “Oh yeah, I remember. I'm always kind of in a rush though.” ✎ This is a nice bit of customer insight about their state of mind and circumstances when you’re trying to advertise to them.
You: “Why don't you try to download it now?” ✎ If someone’s being flaky, put them to a decision. If they don't care enough to try solving their problem today, they aren't going to care about your solution tomorrow.
Guy: “I'll do it next time”. ✎ Not a real problem.
Long story short. That guy is a complainer, not a customer.
Beyond rousting some poor soul’s consumeristic hypocrisy, anchoring the staff can yield useful signals:
You: “Have you ever tried any of those loyalty apps for your phone?”
Them: “Yeah, I downloaded a couple of them. You need a different one for every chain. I don't want a hundred apps clogging up my phone any more than I want a bunch of cards in my wallet.” or “Yes, and it's abysmal. It takes longer to find a stupid button than to buy my coffee”.
The list goes on. To move forward with the truth, you just need to reject their generic claims, incidental complaints, and fluffy promises. Instead, anchor them on the life they already lead and the actions they’re already taken.
Digging beneath ideas
Entrepreneurs always have too many ideas, not too few. Still, folks adore giving them more. They are excited and see the potential, so they start listing tons of ideas, possibilities and feature requests. Write them down but don't rush to add them to your to-do list.
Let's say you are mid-conversation when the idea drops.
Them: “Are you guys going to be able to sync to excel? I really think that’s the killer feature.”
The wrong response is to write “sync to excel” to your to-do list and then move on. That's the fast lane to feature creep. Instead, take a moment to dig into the motivations behind the request. Maybe there is an easier way you can help to achieve the same thing.
Them: “We’ve got all these legacy reports and we need to go through them every now and then. It would be nice to have everything in one place”. ✎ Don't worry, it's not a key buying criteria.
OR
Them: “We’ve tried a bunch of these things and that's always the syncing that kills it.” ✎ They are actively searching for solutions that are all missing a must-have feature - this could be your major differentiator.
Dig to find the root cause.
Just like a feature request, any strong emotions are also worth exploring.
Questions to dig into feature requests:
Why do you want that?
What would that let you do?
How are you coping without it?
How would that fit into your day?
Questions to dig into emotional signals:
Tell me more about that
That seems to really bug you - I bet there is a story there
What makes it so awful?
Why haven’t you been able to fix this already?
You seem pretty excited about that - it's a big deal?
Why so happy?
Go on.
Ideas and feature requests should be understood but not obeyed.
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