Interview guides

Six JTBD interview types, one per stage of demand

Most teams run one kind of customer interview and call it research. But a prospect who never bought, a customer who just switched, and one who cancelled last month are answering different questions — and the same script gets thin answers from all three.

These are the six guides in full: 156 questions, each with what it is designed to surface and which element of progress it belongs to. Free to use, cite, and take into your own interviews.

Last updated 2026-08-03John Gusiff, Customer Centric Solutions LLCFree to use and cite

01 Never came

No-Decision (Status Quo) Interviews

Why people who have the struggle still chose to stay put — and what would have to change for them to act. In B2B this is usually your largest competitor.

  • Demand generation
  • Messaging & positioning
  • Market barriers
23 questions13 core~45 min
Open the guide →
02 Came in

Switching Interviews

What actually drove someone to fire what they were using and hire you instead — the trigger, the timeline, and why you won.

  • Acquisition strategy
  • Positioning & messaging
  • Competitive insights
29 questions13 core~45 min
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03 Got value

Adoption (Product Use) Interviews

How customers onboard, where they hit friction, and what sits between buying and actually realising the value they bought.

  • Onboarding optimisation
  • Activation
  • Feature adoption
26 questions13 core~45 min
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04 Bought more

Expansion Interviews

Why customers upgrade, add seats, or buy the second product — and what makes deeper investment feel obvious rather than risky.

  • Expansion strategy
  • Upsell / cross-sell
  • Product roadmap
26 questions13 core~45 min
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05 Left

Firing (Churn) Interviews

Why customers stopped, and when the decision was actually made — usually months before the usage data showed it.

  • Reduce churn
  • Improve retention
  • Product roadmap
27 questions13 core~45 min
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06 Underneath all five

Core Jobs Interviews

The progress customers are trying to make — functional, emotional, and social. Not a moment on the timeline. The thing that defines the market the other five happen inside.

  • Market & segment definition
  • Value proposition
  • Messaging framework
25 questions13 core~45 min
Open the guide →
Where to start. If you are choosing one, start with core jobs — it defines the market the other five happen inside. If you already know your job and want the fastest read on why deals stall, no-decision is usually the largest competitor in B2B and the one that never appears in a win/loss report.
Running the study

The questions are the easy part.

Getting the right people in the room, and coding what they tell you into a demand map — forces sorted, context separated, the consideration set reconstructed — is where the judgment lives.

Two methods

AI-moderated interviews when you need reach across a larger sample at lower cost per conversation. 1:1 expert interviews when you need the deepest read on a small number of people. Both talk to real participants; often the right study uses both.

Two engagement modes

Fully managed — we handle everything from recruitment through to the findings report. Hybrid — we work as part of your team, side by side: guiding the design, running interviews jointly, and presenting findings together.

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