Deploy Empathy

A practical guide to interviewing customers

5 grab-and-go customer interview scripts Templates for recruiting people to talk to you Dozens of phrases and specific words to use Start interviewing customers with confidence Get unstuck, know what to build, and how to sell it Lifetime access
Trusted by 225 students

Deploy Empathy is a rare treat: a deep dive, by an expert practitioner, into customer interviews. In addition to strategic exhortations to keep the interview focused on the customer, the tactical advice about phrasing to draw out their opinions and emotions without biasing them is top notch. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone who builds or sells. Deploy Empathy is, far and away, the best book I've ever read on user interviews, filled with tactical insights that were new even having done hundreds of them.

Your time is too valuable to spend it creating things people don’t want. 
As counterintuitive as it may seem, talking to people can save you months or years of frustrating, fruitless effort.

A spreadsheet of data will tell you what is going on, but it will never tell you why. Only people can tell you why. 
To help you take the guesswork out of what to build, this book will teach you how to deploy empathy in a specific, targeted, structured way to pull opportunities out of customers that you and your competitors maybe didn’t even realize were there. People will tell you things—useful, actionable things—that you never would have found otherwise.
Even if you have never interviewed customers before.
Even if your company doesn’t exist yet. 
Even if your company has been around for decades.

Even if you don't think you have time to interview them and only talk to them in customer support or sales settings.
The skills you will learn can be used with potential customers, former customers, current customers, clients, stakeholders, people you advise, and even in your personal life.
You will walk away from this book with a toolbox of repeatable processes that will allow you to find opportunities and moments of unexpected insight time and time again. 

About The Author

Michele Hansen
Michele Hansen

I'm co-founder of Geocodio, a successful indie SaaS. I'm also the co-host of the Software Social podcast and a mentor through Calm Company Fund.

I cannot wait for the book to arrive. The printouts I made of the newsletter are now full of highlights and my notes. The newsletters have been extremely valuable when preparing to talk to both existing customers of my current app and potential users of a new thing I'm working on. Michele's writing has helped me enter interviews with much more confidence and focus on really listening.

I hate wasting time and writing code that never gets used. The only way I've found to truly avoid that when building my SaaS apps is to talk to the people I'd love to have use them. Michele's book takes the anxiety out of having these conversations so you can get honest thoughts about what you're trying to accomplish.

Table of Contents

What's inside the book?

  • 1. Deploy Empathy eBook
    • 1.1. [Part 1] Introduction
    • 1.2. [Part 2] Key Frameworks
    • 1.3. [Part 3] Getting Started
    • 1.4. [ PART 4 ] WHEN SHOULD YOU DO INTERVIEWS?
    • 1.5. [ PART 5 ] RECRUITING PARTICIPANTS
    • 1.6. [ PART 6 ] HOW TO TALK SO PEOPLE WILL TALK
    • 1.7. [ PART 7 ] INTERVIEWS
    • 1.8. Scripts and Templates
    • 1.9. The Reaching for the Door Question
    • 1.10. How to Ask People How Much They Would Pay
    • 1.11. Debugging Interviews
    • 1.12. Customer Support as Customer Research
    • 1.13. Analyzing Interviews
    • 1.14. Pulling It All Together: Sample Interview
    • 1.15. What Now?
    • 1.16. Further Resources

This book prompted me to have my first customer call, and I learned so much! I found myself wanting to insert my own thoughts and opinions so many times—I didn’t realize how often I did that until I consciously held back. But I did hold back, and it resulted in my customer opening up a whole lot more. Mirroring and summarizing is also such a power move. This book has been so helpful already, and this is only the beginning

Pricing

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Just the templates

What's included

  • Notion and Google Drive Templates

  • Lifetime access

Pay once, own it forever

$19

eBook (without templates)

What's included

  • PDF and ePUB files

  • Lifetime access

Pay once, own it forever

$29

Audiobook (pre-order)

What's included

  • Private podcast of the in-progress audiobook

  • New chapters every Wednesday

  • Finished audiobook when it's completed

  • Save $10 off the final price

  • Lifetime access

Pay once, own it forever

$29

eBook and Templates

What's included

  • PDF and ePUB files

  • Notion and Google Drive Templates

  • Lifetime access

Pay once, own it forever

$39

eBook and Audiobook

What's included

  • PDF and ePUB files

  • Private podcast of the in-progress audiobook

  • New audiobook chapters every Wednesday

  • Finished audiobook when it's completed

  • Lifetime access

Pay once, own it forever

$49

The Complete Package (eBook, Audiobook and templates)

What's included

  • PDF and ePUB files

  • Notion and Google Drive Templates

  • Private podcast of the in-progress audiobook

  • New audiobook chapters every Wednesday

  • Finished audiobook when it's completed

  • Lifetime access

Pay once, own it forever

$59

Frequently asked questions

Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Email [email protected] with your question.

Can I order the print book?
Yes! It is available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Deploy-Empathy-practical-interviewing-customers/dp/173744660X/
Can I pre-order the audio book?
Yes! I will be releasing it as a private podcast and you'll get the full audiobook when it's complete. Pre-order to get access to the private podcast here.
Is this a one-time fee or a recurring subscription?
This is a one-time fee. You will only be charged once.
How long will I have access to the content?
You will have unlimited lifetime access to the content. You can use it any time at your own convenience.

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