Podcast Summary: 6 Steps to Building a Customer Insights Program with Shoshana Kordova

Podcast Information:

• Title: B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt
• Host: Dave Gerhardt
• Guest: Shoshana Kordova
• Episode: 6 Steps to Building a Customer Insights Program
• Release Date: May 29, 2025

1. Introduction and Guest Background

The episode begins with Dave Gerhardt introducing the podcast and briefly mentioning the sponsor, Webflow. Shortly after, Matt, the Head of Community at Exit Five, introduces the guest, Shoshana Kordova.

Shoshana Kordova is a seasoned product marketer with a unique background in journalism. She has been a founding product marketer at three different startups and presently runs Peel Product Marketing, a consultancy specializing in "customer-infused messaging" for B2B tech startups. Shoshana emphasizes the importance of building structured customer insights programs to enhance marketing strategies.

2. Understanding Customer Insights

Matt initiates the discussion by addressing a common marketing directive: "Go talk to your customers." Shoshana elaborates on the significance of customer insights, highlighting that while many acknowledge its importance, executing it effectively remains a challenge.

Shoshana Kordova [04:16]: "Customer insights are the foundation of building a good deliverable. It's how you find out the information that's really interesting to your customers—the real pain points, challenges, and goals."

She underscores that customer insights go beyond surface-level feedback, delving into the genuine needs and motivations of customers, which are crucial for developing effective marketing materials and strategies.

3. Overcoming Common Challenges

Shoshana identifies common challenges marketers face when initiating customer insights programs:

• Ownership of Customer Relationships: Typically managed by customer success or sales teams, not marketing.
• Collaboration Barriers: Fear of "stepping on toes" can hinder cross-departmental cooperation.
• Deliverable Focus: Stakeholders often prioritize market-facing deliverables over foundational insights.

To navigate these challenges, Shoshana advocates for a collaborative approach, working closely with teams that already have customer relationships to facilitate insights gathering without overstepping boundaries.

4. Building a Customer Insights Program: The 6 Steps

Shoshana outlines a six-step process to establish a robust customer insights program:

Step 1: Set Goals Aligned with Stakeholder Needs

• Align with Company Objectives: Understand what different departments (e.g., sales, product) aim to achieve.
• Deliverable-Oriented Goals: Align insights gathering with tangible outcomes like case studies, ROI metrics, or competitive analysis.

Shoshana Kordova [12:33]: "Often no one is going to say I want the customer interview. But what they want is the outcome of the customer interview... It's about aligning on the incentives that other people in the company have."

Step 2: Build a Customer Interview Pipeline

• Create a Structured Process: Use project management tools (e.g., Google Sheets, Asana) to track and manage customer interviews.
• Collaborate with Customer-Facing Teams: Leverage customer success or sales teams to identify and recommend suitable customers for interviews.
• Ensure Repeatability: Establish a system that makes ongoing insights gathering efficient and scalable.

Shoshana Kordova [21:42]: "It's so much easier, so much more efficient because you're not starting from scratch every time to find a customer to interview."

Step 3: Conduct Meaningful Interviews

• Focus on Conversations, Not Checklists: Move beyond rigid question lists to engage in dynamic dialogues.
• Deep Listening: Ask follow-up questions to uncover detailed, actionable insights.
• Explore the Entire Customer Journey: Understand the customer's experience from before they knew about your product to their current usage.

Shoshana Kordova [29:59]: "When you're just going through each of those questions, you kind of have a checklist... What you're not doing is listening carefully to build a conversation."

Step 4: Keep Internal Stakeholders Informed

• Real-Time Sharing: Use platforms like Slack to share key takeaways and insights promptly.
• Celebrate Successes and Address Issues: Share positive feedback widely and handle negative feedback constructively with relevant teams.
• Foster Company-Wide Engagement: Ensure that insights benefit all departments by maintaining transparency.

Shoshana Kordova [24:08]: "Everyone in the company wants to know that their product is helping someone. It's like good vibes, you know, why wouldn't you share that?"

Step 5: Document Insights Effectively

• Comprehensive Documentation: Record interviews and take detailed notes to capture nuanced insights.
• Organize Insights: Use tagging systems in spreadsheets or databases to categorize insights (e.g., differentiators, ROI metrics, testimonials).
• Create Accessible Repositories: Ensure that documentation is easily accessible for reference by the entire organization.

Shoshana Kordova [37:25]: "I always take notes as well as record and then I sort of use the AI transcript as a backup. My notes give more context."

Step 6: Leverage Customer Insights

• Translate Insights into Action: Use gathered insights to develop case studies, refine messaging, enhance product positioning, and inform product roadmaps.
• Multiple Uses: Apply insights across various marketing materials, sales enablement tools, and strategic initiatives.
• Strategic Refinement: Adjust the ideal customer profile based on aggregated insights to better target and serve the market.

Shoshana Kordova [43:39]: "Sometimes those are the things that come up... How do you refine your ideal customer profile."

5. Internal vs. External Insights Programs

The conversation shifts to the debate between conducting customer insights programs in-house versus hiring external agencies.

Shoshana's Perspective:

• In-House Advantages:

  • Knowledge Retention: Insights remain within the company, fostering ongoing utilization across departments.
  • Continuous Aggregation: Internal teams can build upon insights without dependency on external parties.

• External Advantages:

  • Specialized Skills: Agencies may bring refined interviewing skills and methodologies.
  • Bandwidth Solutions: Ideal for organizations lacking the internal capacity to sustain ongoing insights gathering.

Shoshana Kordova [44:21]: "If you have the capacity, great... But a lot of marketing teams are very restricted in their bandwidth."

6. Maintaining the Program and Cadence

Sustaining a customer insights program requires establishing a consistent cadence:

• Initial Blitz: Start with a concentrated effort to gather a substantial number of interviews.
• Complementary Methods: Between intensive periods, utilize secondary sources like sales call recordings, online communities, and customer reviews to maintain a steady flow of insights.
• Flexible Scheduling: Adjust the frequency based on resource availability and organizational needs, ensuring continuous market feedback.

Shoshana Kordova [46:34]: "There is sort of the top tier source of customer feedback, which is the customer interview, but there are also a lot of secondary sources to complement that."

7. Alternative Sources for Customer Insights

In addition to direct interviews, Shoshana recommends leveraging secondary sources to enrich the insights program:

• Sales Call Recordings: Use platforms like Gong to analyze existing sales interactions for competitive intelligence.
• Online Communities: Engage with industry-specific forums, Reddit threads, and Facebook groups to gauge customer sentiment and language.
• Customer Reviews: Mine platforms like G2 for competitor reviews to understand common pain points and preferences.
• Trade Shows and Webinars: Gather insights from industry events and webinars by debriefing with sales teams or attending sessions directly.

Shoshana Kordova [50:05]: "Even if you're not there, get a debrief from the sales team... You can ask poll questions of all your attendees."

8. Conclusion and Key Takeaways

The episode wraps up with mutual appreciation between Matt and Shoshana for the shared insights. Shoshana reiterates the value of a structured, collaborative approach to customer insights, emphasizing that the real power lies in how these insights are documented and leveraged across the organization.

Key Takeaways:

• Structured Programs Yield Better Insights: Transition from ad-hoc interviews to a repeatable program for sustained value.
• Collaboration is Crucial: Work closely with customer-facing teams to facilitate smoother insights gathering.
• Deep Listening Enhances Quality: Engage in meaningful conversations rather than sticking to rigid question lists.
• Effective Documentation Facilitates Utilization: Organize and tag insights to make them easily accessible and actionable.
• Leverage Multi-Source Feedback: Complement interviews with secondary data sources to maintain a comprehensive view of customer needs.

Notable Quotes

1. Shoshana Kordova [04:16]: "Customer insights are the foundation of building a good deliverable... the real pain points that they're facing."
2. Shoshana Kordova [12:33]: "It's about aligning on the incentives that other people in the company have."
3. Shoshana Kordova [21:42]: "You're not starting from scratch every time to find a customer to interview."
4. Shoshana Kordova [29:59]: "What you're not doing is listening carefully to build a conversation."
5. Shoshana Kordova [37:25]: "My notes give more context."
6. Shoshana Kordova [43:39]: "How do you refine your ideal customer profile."
7. Shoshana Kordova [44:21]: "A lot of marketing teams are very restricted in their bandwidth."
8. Shoshana Kordova [46:34]: "There are also a lot of secondary sources to complement that."

Final Thoughts

This episode with Shoshana Kordova serves as a comprehensive guide for B2B marketers aiming to build and sustain effective customer insights programs. By following the outlined steps and embracing a collaborative, structured approach, marketers can unlock valuable insights that drive impactful marketing strategies and organizational success.

For more insights and resources, listeners are encouraged to join the Exit Five community at exitfive.com.