Everyone "knows" their customer.
But here’s the problem: most teams think they understand their customer when they really just assumptions and some loosely held CRM data. Or worse, they rely on surface-level insights from a one-off NPS survey.
No one really tells you how to know your customer we just like to talk about how important it is. Here’s my playbook.
1. Shadow their day (yes, for real)
What to do:
Ask if you can observe them using your product or going about the job your product supports.
Join sales calls. Sit in on support tickets. Watch user testing sessions.
What you’ll learn:
Where they get stuck
What language they use naturally
What’s happening around them when they engage with you
This is the fastest way to uncover friction points and messaging gaps.
2. Run a "problem stack" interview
What to do:
Instead of asking, “What do you think of our product?” ask:
What’s the biggest headache in your work right now?
How are you solving it today?
What’s annoying you about that solution?
Bonus: Have them rank problems from most to least painful.
Why it works:
Instead of validating your solution you’re understanding what they actually care about solving, and can align around their problem before trying to sell to them.
3. Review support tickets and sales calls
What to look for:
Patterns in complaints
Repeated objections
Common phrases or emotional triggers (e.g., “I was frustrated because…”)
Then ask:
Are we solving the problem they think they have, or just the one that would be convenient for us that they have?
4. Segment by motivation, not demographics
Demographics tell you who someone is.
Motivation tells you why they act.
Instead of: “Our audience is women 25–45 who work in tech.”
Try: “Our audience is ambitious mid-career professionals who value time-saving, feel overwhelmed by tool overload, and want to be seen as strategic thinkers.”
Build segments based on:
Emotional drivers
Desired outcomes
Level of urgency
5. Use the "jobs-to-be-done" (JTBD) framework
Ask these 3 questions:
What were you doing right before you decided to look for a solution like this?
What happened that made you go, “I need to fix this now”?
What does success look like when this problem is solved?
Why it matters:
This helps you understand context, triggers, and outcomes (solid gold for messaging and product dev).
6. Set up a “Voice of Customer” System
It’s not enough to gather insights once. You need a system.
Do this:
Create a Slack (or Teams if your org sucks. I said it) channel just for customer insights.
Share quotes from support tickets, social DMs, surveys, and sales convos.
Tag patterns. Revisit them monthly. Use them in copy. Feel smart.
Bonus: Install tools like Gong, Grain, or Dovetail to make this easy to scale.
7. Create a customer language bank
In German a "word glossary" is called a "lernwortschatz" which translates to "learn word treasure" which is adorable.
Every marketer should have a living doc where they collect:
Phrases customers use to describe the problem
Exact words they use for your product
Objections, hesitations, compliments
Why: The best copy is stolen directly from your customer’s mouth.
TL;DR
I love personas, they are helpful. But they don't give me enough information to feel like I can sit down and write a campaign brief speaking directly to their problems. And understanding people isn't a one time project, it's a continuous practice of listening, asking better questions, and obsessing over creating things that help them.
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