Asking Good Questions Part 2: Insights from Successful Founders

SDS 010: Clarifying Customer Research

Hey! thank you for reading issue 010 of Startup Definition Sunday (SDS).

SDS is the newsletter for founders, bringing you clarity one actionable tip at a time.

SDS arrives every two weeks (you guessed it) on Sundays.

In every issue you can expect:

• 1 Definition of startup jargon

• 1 actionable tip you can implement right away

• 1 article on Africa tech that you should read

• 1 gift for founders

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It's always such a pleasure to share each issue with you! If you missed last week's issue, you can check it out here.

Before we dive into today's issue, Marge and I started something we think could be useful for founders - bi-weekly office hours for founders interested in practicing their 5-minute pitch. Here's a recording of the last session.

Join us in two weeks.

In the last issue of SDS, we talked about an underutilized tool for founders: customer research.

As promised in today's issue, I spoke with two founders to get their best tips on effective customer research.

What is customer research?

Customer Research: a vital activity for any startup that wants to understand their target market, validate their value proposition, & improve their product or service.

Why is customer research necessary?

The best founders think of customer research as a detective game. The mission is to learn about your customers - discover their needs, improve your product or service, and keep them happy. Ready to investigate? It all starts with asking the right questions.

But, how do you know you are asking the right questions?

The right questions:

• Establish rapport & trust with customers

• Warm up customers with easy or general questions first before more sensitive or specific questions later

• End on a positive note

What do the founders say?

Mariam, co-founder of Kimoyo Insights: 

1. Ask both "why" & "how" questions: Asking "why" as a question helps to dig deeper and understand motivations. Asking questions that start with "How" will always bring more insightful responses. The trick here is to ask more open-ended questions.

2. Seek to understand the customer: Questions should be formulated with the aim of gaining understanding from customers and rarely about seeking solutions from customers.

3. Research is as much about observing as it is listening: It's best to observe customers in the moment experiencing the product rather than after and having them try to remember what they liked or disliked or how they felt. Let people show vs. tell: watching participants complete tasks can often give you much more insight than what they can report.

Jihan, co-founder of Lami

1. Don’t make assumptions on what customers/users would want: This was difficult for us at the start because we were bringing something that was so new to the market. Ensuring that we are getting insights on our product features with prototypes also helps us speed up our process and helps us bring useful features and products to our customers.

2. Keep questions short and simple: We often do this through our call centre for potential insurance products that we’re thinking of adding into our offering. Doing it through the call centre makes it super easy for customers as they answer verbally which is less of a lift for them.

3. Assess sales: Assessing your existing sales is a great way to get insights on existing customer patterns and behaviors. It also helps you realistically profile your ideal customer which is critical for marketing.

Remember, asking good questions is the key to understanding your customers and making your startup successful in an emerging market. By using simple, open-ended, and empathetic questions, you'll gain valuable insights to better serve your customers' needs.

If you have learned something valuable today, consider joining SDS so you don't miss future editions.

If you only read one thing this week, read this...

Twimbit published their latest global state of open finance in 2023.

Here's why you should read it: Nigeria's recently released open banking regulatory framework is a sign of things to come in the Africa tech landscape. I wrote an explainer thread on twitter on what it will take for open finance to succeed in Africa.

What do you think it will take for open finance to succeed in Africa?

Founder's Corner

Let's get real for a second: raising a round in 2023 is beginning to sound like going outside in mid-2020 - everyone is advising you against it. Unfortunately, unlike missing weekly drinks with your friends, you can't just pause on the fundraising.

The team at Africa The Big Deal have been curating a database of investors that have done deals in Africa since 2019.

It costs a fraction what you will pay for Crunchbase or Pitchbook BUT the team has offered a 10% discount for subscribers of SDS. Grab it here (and tell a friend!) to help you target investors in your sweet spot.

Thank you for reading to the end of issue 010.

Until we meet again in two weeks, here's how we can stay in touch:

• 🐦 Find me on Twitter

• 💬 Hit me up on Linkedin

• 💌 Email (hit reply)

• 🚀 Sponsor SDS (Reply to this email)

Let's chat again in two weeks,

Jasiel

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What makes you excited to refer a newsletter to your friends & family?