Most founders know they should talk to users. Few do it every week, because it feels slow and the first calls go nowhere. Here is the version we use. It fits in one week and five calls.
Who to talk to
Pick five to eight people who used the product in the last 30 days, plus a few who signed up and left. The ones who left are the most useful and the hardest to book, so ask them first.
Skip friends, investors and anyone who already loves you. They will be kind, not useful. Choose the people closest to the problem you're trying to fix, not the loudest ones in your inbox.
How to open
Read this out, or something close to it:
"Thanks for making time. I'm not selling anything. I'm trying to understand how you work today, and there are no wrong answers. Can I start with the last time you ran into this?"
That last question does the work. It moves the call from opinions to a real story.
The rules
Ask about the last time it happened. "What would you do if..." gets you a guess. "Tell me about the last time..." gets you what actually happened.
Don't pitch. Leave the product out until the end, if it comes up at all. The moment you explain it, they start reviewing your idea instead of telling you about their week.
Keep asking "what happened next?" Stop when they run out of story, not when you run out of questions.
Treat compliments as noise. "I'd definitely use that" costs nothing to say. Look for time, money or effort they have already spent on the problem.
Talk less than a third of the call. Silence is a question. Let it sit.
How to write it down
Keep one row per interview: who they are, what set it off, what they did, what it cost them. Copy their exact words into a quote column. Don't paraphrase, because the exact words are what you'll put on your landing page later.
After five calls, count the repeats. A problem you heard three times is real. A problem you heard once is a lead to follow on the next call.
Where to start
If you don't know what to ask, put your site into Produck's free scan. It reads what people already say about your product online and gives you three questions to open with this week.