This is where you’ll find a discussion guide to gather data that you need to create behavioral archeatypes.

You will use a discussion guide when you are facilitating a customer interview, which will help you gather the data needed to complete that behavioural archetype template and complete behavioural archetypes. A discussion guide is a set of crafted questions that are designed to gather answers that are helpful in getting the insights you are looking for.

We at Listen + Do don’t use a template like this as we customise every single discussion guide according to our customers' needs. At times we are also doing a customer interview for one thing, but so we don’t have to bother the customer again, we might ask other questions that might prove helpful for other business activities.

Use this as a guide only and align it with your own goals. This one was created with the help of AI, so if you are ever looking for help, AI (like ChatGPT) can be a starting point for a discussion guide template. But as mentioned, these are a ‘guide’ only and customised.

A good discussion and customer interview has flexibility and does rely somewhat on the skill of the researcher to navigate and guide that conversation where it needs to go to get the best outcomes of the interview for the business.

Discussion Guide

INTRODUCTION

Hi [Customer’s Name],
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. I really appreciate it! This is super casual—there are no right or wrong answers, and you can be as honest as you like. The goal here is to understand how you think and feel when it comes to [product/service/business]. It'll help us make things better for you and others like you.

Shall we jump in?

BASIC INFO

(Let’s start with the easy stuff.)

• Can you tell me a little about yourself?

  • Age (if comfortable sharing)

  • Profession or industry

  • How long have you been using [product/service/business]?

  • How did you first hear about us?

GOALS

(What are you trying to get out of this?)

• What made you decide to try [product/service/business] in the first place?

• What were you hoping to achieve when you started using it?

• If you could wave a magic wand and get the perfect outcome, what would that look like?

NEEDS

(What’s important to you?)

• What matters most to you when it comes to [product/service/business]?

  • Is it ease of use, price, customer service, results, or something else?

• What’s the most valuable part of the experience for you?

• What would make it even better?

PAIN POINTS

(Where are the roadblocks?)

• What’s been frustrating or challenging about using [product/service/business]?

• Have you ever thought about switching to a competitor? Why?

• What’s something that almost stopped you from trying us in the first place?

THOUGHTS

(How do you think about us?)

• What was going through your mind when you first decided to use [product/service/business]?

• Have your thoughts about it changed over time? How so?

• If you were telling a friend about us, what’s the first thing you’d say?

FEELINGS

(How does it make you feel?)

• How do you feel when you use [product/service/business]?

  • Calm, excited, confident, unsure?

• What’s the best feeling you’ve had from this experience?

• What would make you feel even better about it?

ACTIONS

(What do you do next?)

• After you use [product/service/business], what’s your next step?

  • Do you recommend it to others?

  • Do you check in for updates or new offers?

• Is there anything that would make it easier for you to keep coming back?

WRAP UP

• Is there anything else you’d like to share that we didn’t cover?

• If you could give us one piece of advice to make your experience better, what would it be?

THANK YOU
Thanks so much for sharing all this with me! It’s super helpful to understand what’s working and what’s not. We’re always looking to make things better, and your insights are gold.

NOTES FOR YOU:
Be conversational – Keep it natural and easygoing.
Follow the flow – If they go off track but it’s interesting, lean into it.
Exact quotes matter – How they say things is just as important as what they say.
Look for patterns – After a few interviews, you’ll start to notice trends. That’s where the gold is!

Once you’ve gathered the info, you can plug it into your behavioural archetype template under:
Goals – What they want to achieve
Needs – What matters most to them
Pain Points – What’s getting in the way
Thoughts – How they think about the experience
Feelings – The emotional side of it
Actions – What they actually do
Basic Info – Background details to give context

If you find a few customers have similar answers you can combine their data under one behavioural archetype. You do not need to create one for each customer interview.

Here is this discussion guide in downloadable PDF format for you.