Stop guessing
You’re sitting there wondering what your next product should be. Or what you should write about. Or how you should position yourself.
And you’re guessing.
There’s one way to stop. Ask your customers.
It sounds obvious. It Is obvious. But that’s exactly why most people skip it. It feels too simple. So instead, we build products based on gut feeling — and wonder why nobody’s buying.
Here’s how to do it in practice
Not a questionnaire. A conversation.
Find five people from your target audience — via your newsletter, your network, or amongst your existing customers. Invite them for a no-strings-attached chat. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.
Five questions to kick off the conversation
When you’re in the conversation, don’t pitch. Listen. These five questions will tell you more than any market analysis:
- What do you spend most of your time on in your daily life right now?
- What frustrates you most about [your field]?
- Have you tried to solve it? What worked, and what didn’t?
- If you could get help with one thing, what would it be?
- What would it mean to you if that problem were solved?
Question 3 is gold. It shows you what has already been tried — and what your product needs to do better. Question 5 gives you the language your customers themselves use. It’s better than anything you can write at your desk.
What to listen for
The most important things don’t happen in the answers. They happen between them. Take note:
When do they lean in? That’s where the energy is. When do they sigh? That’s where the frustration is. Which words do they use again and again? That’s your message.
Five conversations will tell you enough to know whether your next product is something people will pay for — or whether you’re heading down a dead end.
And the best thing about a newsletter?
You can do it again and again. You have a direct line to people who’ve already put their hand up and said: This interests me. No algorithm decides whether your message gets through. You write, they receive.
That means those five conversations aren’t a one-off exercise. They become a system.
So stop guessing. Find five people from your target audience. Ask the five questions. And build your next offer on what you hear — not what you think.
I’m currently writing a book about newsletters — including the method you’ve just read about. Would you like to be among the first to hear about it? Then sign up to my premiere list here.
