{"id":21277,"date":"2021-02-02T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=21277"},"modified":"2021-02-02T15:26:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T14:26:15","slug":"the-mom-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/the-mom-test\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mom Test \u2013 how to uncover useful insights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talking with your target audience is essential for any innovator. However, interviewing people isn’t easy. People tend to lie when you ask them what they think about your solution. This is something you should be wary of. But if you are prepared, you can use seemingly simple chit-chat to uncover useful insights. The Mom Test<\/strong> offers some simple rules to help you extract meaningful information from anyone you speak to.<\/em><\/p>\n

The mission: uncovering valuable insights\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Imagine, you’ve come up with a brilliant solution to an annoying problem. You know it’s of the utmost importance to involve your target audience<\/a><\/span>, so you’ve set up some interviews with people who represent this group. After all, it’s the people who experience the problem who will know best what’s needed to improve the situation.<\/p>\n

People lie<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Speaking with these people is a magnificent idea. However, there is a problem: people lie<\/strong>. Most people won’t tell you the entire truth, although they might not be aware of their deceit. There are several reasons why people lie. For starters, people are inclined to portray themselves in a somewhat more favourable light than might be called for. They’ll want to prove how hard-working, open-minded and friendly they are. Therefore, they’ll be tempted to paint you a slightly prettier picture than would be justified. There is a bigger problem, however: people want to be liked<\/em>. So when you share your idea with them, they’ll try to be supportive to avoid hurting your feelings.<\/p>\n

The Mom Test<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rob Fitzpatrick<\/a><\/span> wrote a book about this problem, called \u2018The Mom Test\u2019. The title is a reference to the fact that you should never ask your mother if she likes your business idea. After all, it’s all too likely that she’ll lie and tells you it’s a great idea. That’s what most mothers are like: they don’t want to hurt their kids’ feelings. Fitzpatrick goes a step further though; not only is it unwise to ask your mom this question, it’s foolish to ask anyone<\/em> a question like ‘Do you think this is a good idea?’ To extract useful information you’ll have to do better than that.<\/p>\n

Fitzpatrick describes how you can uncover more meaningful information by asking good questions. Even when everyone lies to you.<\/p>\n

The video below perfectly illustrates the subtle difference between a valuable<\/em> and a worthless<\/em> customer conversation:<\/p>\n