The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you

by Rob Fitzpatrick

The measure of usefulness of an early customer conversation is whether it gives us concrete facts about our customers’ lives and world views. These facts, in turn, help us improve our business.

We find out if people care about what we’re doing by never mentioning it. Instead, we talk about them and their lives.

Eventually you do need to mention what you’re building and take people’s money for it. However, the big mistake is almost always to mention your idea too soon rather than too late.

If you just avoid mentioning your idea, you automatically start ask...

The Mom Test: Talk about their life instead of your idea Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future Talk less and listen more

“Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Bad because asks about idea, not person

“Would you buy a product which did X?”

Bad speculative

“How much would you p...

Bad because it talks about X and is speculative. Better would be how much was the last X that you bought

“What would your dream pr...

Bad question, speculative

“Why do you b...

Good to ask about how much they care about a problem

“What are the implication...

“Talk me through the last time th...

Good, behavior question about frequency of the problem

“Talk me through your ...

Good, past behavior and how they work

“What else have yo...

Good question about past behavior and how they try to solve the problem

“Would you pay X for a product w...

Yes no question that is speculative

“How are you dealing wit...

“Where does the money c...

“Who else should I ...

“Is there anything else I should ...

Unless you’re talking to a deep industry expert,

Rule of thumb: Opinions are worthless.

Rule of thumb: Anything involving the future is an over-optimistic lie.

motivations and constraints behind those requests are critical.

Rule of thumb: You're shooting blind until you understand their goals.

Learn through their actions instead of their opinions.

Being walked through their full workflow answers many questions in one fell swoop:

Rule of thumb: Watching someone do a task will show you where the problems and inefficiencies really are, not where the customer thinks they are.

Rule of thumb: If they haven't looked for ways of solving it already, they're not going to look for (or buy) yours.

"Where does the money come from?" Good question. This isn't something you would necessarily ask a consumer (though you might), but in a B2B context it’s a must-ask.

"Who else should I talk to?"

Good question. Yes! End every conversation like this.

"Is there anything else I should have asked?"

Rule of thumb: People want to help you. Give them an excuse to do so.

It boils down to this: you aren’t allowed to tell them what their problem is, and in return, they aren’t allowed to tell you what to build. They own the problem, you own the solution.

There are three types of bad data: Compliments Fluff (generics, hypotheticals, and the future) Ideas

With the exception of industry experts who have built very similar businesses, opinions are worthless. You want facts and commitments, not compliments.

Remember though: you don’t need to end up with what you wanted to hear in order to have a good conversation. You just need to get to the truth. Here’s a good conversation with a solid negative result.

If the conversation is friendly, I might ask them to talk me through their process anyway so I can try to figure out whether it’s an industry-wide non-problem or something specific to them.

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.

Rule of thumb: Compliments are the fool’s gold of customer learning: shiny, distracting, and worthless.

Ask good questions that obey The Mom Test to anchor them back to specifics in the past. Ask when it last happened or for them to talk you through it. Ask how they solved it and what else they tried.

The worst type of fluff-inducing question you can ask is, “Would you ever?” Of course they might. Someday. That doesn't mean they will. Other fluff-inducing questions include:

“Do you ever…” “Would you ever…” “What do you usually…” “Do you think you…” “Might you…” “Could you see yourself…”

You don’t need to avoid these questions 10...

The mistake is in valuing the answers, not in asking the questions. In fact, sometimes these questions can help you transit...

While using generics, people describe themselves as who they want to be, not who they actually are. You need to get specific to bring out the edge cases.

“I’ll do it next time.” Not a real problem.

Long story short, that person is a complainer, not a customer.

It would be nice to have everything in one place, you know?” Don’t worry, it’s not a key buying criteria.

“We’ve tried a bunch of these things and it’s always the syncing that kills it.” They’re actively searching for solutions