Step-by-Step Instructions

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In this chapter you will be learning a second methodology for optimizing currency. In the last chapter, we discussed A/B testing; here, you will learn about optimizing your currency through Solution Interviews.

Problems it Solves

1. How do you increase your currency conversion rates?

You already learned how to use A/B testing to increase your currency conversion rates. But that doesn't work for all business in all cases. Here, you will learn a second option for optimizing your currency.

2. Optimize your currency without losing customers in the process.

In A/B testing, you are not able to get a lot of feedback from your customers and you might lose potential customers before your Currency Ladder is optimized. Here, you will learn a method to make sure that does not happen.

Standardized vs. Customized Currency

Standardized currency is associated, but not restricted to, B2C sales. In this scenario, you have a product that has one price, often published to the public, and one product that you offer in exchange.

Examples of this include electronics, movies or books, an app for your phone, and so forth. In this case, you might have multiple packages that people can pick from, but overall the price is not specific to the person who is making the purchase.

Standardized currency also most often involves self-service sales where the person is able to make a purchase without interacting with someone on your team.

Again, standardized currency is often, but not always a B2C endeavor. In B2B sales, you may use standardized pricing as well. An example of this may be SaaS sales, a service like MailChimp, Celery, or another tool you may make available on line.

Typically, standardized currency involves a large number of customers at a lower price point. Finally, there is little or no solution customization: whomever the customer is, they get the same product.

Customized currency offers on the other hand are typically associated with, but not restricted to, enterprise sales.

In this case, you may think about large implementation of a software solution where a large number of licenses are purchased. In this case the vendor may discount or "customize" the currency required to complete the sale.

Again, while this model applies to many enterprise sales, it's not restricted to them. An example of a B2C scenario using customized currency is purchasing a car: there is a standard price, but that is highly susceptible to various customizations and negotiations.

In customized currency situations, typically prices are not published publicly. Instead, the two parties collaborate (i.e. negotiate) to determine the price and solution.

Due to the "hands-on" sales nature of these transactions, customized currency solutions typically have fewer customers and higher price points. Finally, customized currency solutions are often characterized by being extremely customizable in order to meet each customers' needs.

Choose Your Path

With this understanding, take out your Solution Interviews worksheet.

Pick the currency model which you think will best suit your customers: standardized or customized. Your solution interviews will differ depending on which currency model you use.

Path 1: Standardized Currency

The Currency Ladder Solution Interview

If you're familiar with them, a Currency Ladder Solution Interview is similar to a usability test.

Your goal is to present your Currency Ladder to your customers and ask them what they see, think and feel while progressing through it.

In other words, you:

1. Identify an Early Adopter segment you want to improve your currency conversion rate with
2. Put them in a situation where they will encounter your Currency Ladder
3. Observe them to discover what steps on the ladder they are willing to take, and which they aren't
4. Ask them to share their thoughts and feelings as they progress through the Ladder

Based on the feedback you get during these interviews, you can optimize your Ladder.

Here is an example from the creation of the FOCUS Framework:

First, I contacted several of my blog readers (i.e. potential early adopters) and we setup a time where they could visit my FOCUS landing page while sharing their screen with me via Skype.

Every so often while they were perusing the page, I asked them some specific questions to learn more about their experience. Ultimately I used their feedback to double the conversion rate of my Victory Currency, and hit the success metric I needed.

In fact, this book series wouldn't have been produced without the feedback from my solutions interviews! With that in mind, let's develop yours.

Steps 1 & 2

Write in the Early Adopter customer you want to walk through your Currency Ladder.

Next, write in the Channel where you will find these customers. Your interviews need to be with customers from the same channel, and not random customers, and certainly not from anyone who isn't a customer (e.g. family members, friends, designers, etc.).

The only feedback that matters is feedback from your customers.

In my case, I used my Blog Readers, and more specifically, people who had recently subscribed to the blog's email list.

I sent a quick email to 20 of these people asking if I could interview them about a new idea I was working on. Ultimately, 12 agreed. Why did they agree? I made them an "Interview Offer"...

Step 3

When asking for a solution interview, you may be able to simply ask your customers for feedback. However, it can help to offer something in return for their time.

In my case, I offered a mentoring session to anyone who was willing to give me feedback on my landing page. This was low cost to me but potentially a large value to them. In exchange for 15 minutes of their time, I offered 30 minutes of mine.

In your case, you may consider offering a gift card (e.g. Amazon, Starbucks, iTunes, etc.) or some free/low-cost way to help them.

Remember that there's a problem they're likely trying to solve by going to the channel you're looking for them in (i.e. Step #2). If you can offer to solve their problem for them in exchange for some feedback, they'll very likely take you up on it.

Step 4

In this step, you will write in your "screen sharing solution." It's likely you'll have some sort of landing page online Currency Ladder your customer will go through. If not, consider how you'll replicate the Currency Ladder in person.

While you are doing this interview, you will want to actually watch what your customer is watching while progressing through your Currency Ladder. This may mean being in the same space (i.e. you're watching them use their laptop at their work), but you can also be in a different place (i.e. using screen-sharing software).

Make sure you have a good screen sharing solution so that you can not only hear what your customer has to say, but also see what they're seeing as they are talking.

In reality, your goal is to know as much of what is going on in your customer's mind as possible during one of these conversations. Ideally, they will share their thoughts in a kind of stream-of-consciousness narrative that you can use to truly understand how customers view your Currency Ladder.

Note: this is not normal. The experience may feel weird to your customers.

It's not often that we are asked to verbalize our internal experiences, especially with a stranger.

You will need to create a safe space where it feels comfortable to open up and share even difficult thoughts and feelings, such as negative feedback. A loud environment with lots of strangers (e.g. a coffee shop, busy co-working space, etc.) may not be your best option. A calm, quiet environment (e.g. co-working space conference room, a library, etc.) may create a more comfortable space.

I've used Skype for these type of interviews in the past and it's worked out great.

Step 5

As explained above, this is an odd experience so you will want to warm up your customer before diving into the meat of the interview.

This step is designed to help you help your customer open up, relax, and speak their mind freely.

One example of a warm-up activity I have used is "free association." In this exercise, I ask the customer to play a game with me, where I say a word and they respond with the first - unfiltered - thing that comes to mind.

For example, I'll start off by saying this is a judgement free space and than unfiltered honesty is more helpful than anything else. Then I'll ask three questions:

1. "What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say: puppies."
2. "What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say: global warming."
3. "What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say: 2016 is Obama's last year of presidency."

I don't actually care about their answers, I only want to give them prompts that may inspire strong opinions or strong feelings, and show that this is a safe space to share them.

Another option, is to show them something that gives them the ability to think, feel and share out loud. A good example for this exercise is a comic like: XKCD, The Far Side...even something that is a little risque. This allows for open sharing and shows them that this is not necessarily a "buttoned down" environment - this is a space where criticisms can be raised.

Show them the object of your choice, and ask them what they are thinking and feeling. Encourage them to really share their internal monologue, including any connections they are making or tangential thoughts.

For example, upon seeing a comic saying, "oh that's a funny joke" is not enough. Encourage them to expand on their thinking. What's happening in the comic? Why is it funny? What feelings arise as they think about it? What does it make them think of, or remember?

What you're looking for is a response more like "I see a moose and a woman and it's kind of screwed up - I'm wondering where this artist's humor comes from and I'm feeling like this joke is sexist...in a passive aggressive sort of way."

This part of the interview is meant to be quick, shouldn't take more than a minute or two, but it gives them important practice, and a feeling of safety, sharing what comes to mind.

Step 6

Now that they are warmed up, it's time to set the context for the Currency Ladder.

This is slightly contrived because you have invited them to your website or user experience, but you want them to imagine that they just responded to your Offer.

For example:

• "Imagine you just found my blog and clicked on my workbook ad."
• "Saw my ad on Facebook."
• "Google for a customer interview script and visited my website."

Each of the bolded items are potential offers that I might want to test.

After providing context, it's helpful to remind your customer that you don't want them to take any action they wouldn't normally take if you weren't there. To encourage that behavior, I'll usually say something like: "Do not read any further on this page than you would if I were not watching."

Granted, this is difficult because you are there, but hopefully this opens up the options of saying, "This is where I would stop."

Important:

During this process, your job is to not respond to any questions, confusions or clarifications.

During your solution interview, your job is to observe and take copious notes.

Do not explain, correct, clarify or otherwise advise their experience. If they do something "wrong" (e.g. click the wrong button, aren't sure how to proceed, etc.), take note and think about how to change this to be more clear about what the customer should do next time. If they are confused, take note that something needs to be clarified.

Remember...

There is no such thing as a user error, only usability error.

The only time it is appropriate to interject is when they've stopped talking. If they stop talking for a few seconds (5 or more seconds), you might ask: "What do you see now?"

You want to know what they're experiencing at every step so don't be afraid to continue prompting them for what they're seeing, thinking and feeling.

Step 7

As you are taking copious notes, you are going to notice how far up the currency ladder your customer gets.

For example, let's say I'm watching someone go through my offer for FOCUS. They read the landing page and I encourage them to talk me through their thoughts and feelings during the experience. They click the buy button. And then they let me know they probably wouldn't go any further than this.

At this point, if it's not already obvious, you follow up. You might say:

"I noticed that you clicked on the buy button but you didn't actually pick a product. Can you tell me why that was?"

Here, you are asking, "Why didn't you take the next step on my ladder?" This will give you the information you need to change your Currency Ladder so that they are more likely to take the next step up.

When I did this for FOCUS, I found out that the first version of the landing page was very long. It gave people the feeling that it was a long-form sales letter. Also, they told me they didn't know what they would be getting. They didn't know what was inside the books.

In response, I shortened the landing page and created two videos to show customers what was inside the FOCUS Framework. As I mentioned earlier, these two changes, brought about solely due to solution interviews, almost doubled FOCUS's currency conversion rates.

Recap of Steps 1-7

Standardized Solution Interview Keys

1. Make sure you can see what they see
2. Take copious notes
3. Create a safe space for them to say what they are seeing, thinking and feeling
4. Set the context with "imagine you just..."
5. Encourage them to talk as much as possible
6. If they ever stop talking, ask them: "What do you see now?"
7. If they don't complete the ladder, say, "I noticed you did X but not Y. Why was that?"

Path 2: Customized Currency

The Collaborative Solution Interview

Again, you will want to use customized currency in situations that are enterprise sales, or similar to enterprise sales in that there are few customers, a higher price point, and many options to individualize the sales process and solution.

In this case, instead of a usability-style interview, you will have a more collaborative discussion to determine how to get your customers to take more steps up your Currency Ladder.

As a side note: this type of interview is great if you're not sure what solution to propose, what price to ask, or if you don't want to burn a bridge with a high-value customer. In enterprise sales, there may be very few customers you can target. This is a great way to explore your Currency Ladder options while decreasing the potential loss of a customer with an unoptimized workflow.

The Three P's to Collaborative Solution Interviews:

1. Problem Recap: You want to start your interview by recapping the problems that you understood in your initial interviews (i.e. the problems that brought you together). This is an opportunity to make sure you are on the same page, as well as remind them of what you are both after in this exchange.
2. Propose a Solution: Next you want to share the solution you've came up with, based on your initial customer development interviews.
3. Progression Discussion: Finally, you'll ask something like, "What do you like and what don't you like about this solution?" This is your chance to have a dialogue about whether this solution will work for them, and what do they think could stop you from progressing from there. The dialog this question creates will help define your Currency Ladder for you. It will also highlight which steps in the Ladder they see as most difficult to climb. From there, you can collaborate on ways to make the journey easier for everyone.

There are two simple steps to this type of interview:

Step 1

Write down the problems that your customer has.

Step 2

Write down your proposed solutions.

With these two steps completed, you know exactly how to start your interview. You start with the Problem Recap:

This is my understanding of the problems you're currently trying to solve. Did I get that right?

Next, you Propose a Solution:

This is the solution my team came up with to help solve those problems.

Next you have a Progression Discussion:

What will it take to make this solution a reality? What are going to be the biggest hurdles we'll face?

The answer to these questions are what lays out your Currency Ladder and helps you understand which step in the Ladder will "cost" your customer the most.

The alternative to this approach is a classic "sales pitch?" Instead you'd come out of the gate saying, "here is my solution and what you need to give me in order to get it." Unless you've optimized your Currency Ladder extremely well, those conversations almost never go well.

Using Collaborative Solution Interviews, you actually have a chance to team up with your customer to create a solution that meets both their needs, and yours.

What's Next

In this chapter, you learned a second method for increasing your currency conversion rate: interviewing customers for both Standardized and Customized solutions.

Solution Interviews are important for not only increasing your currency conversions but also not losing customers while you're still optimizing your Currency Ladder.

By putting something in front of your customers and asking for their feedback, you are much more likely to be successful in obtaining their currency, and in doing so, achieving your Victory!

Next up, how to Pre-Sell Anything!