Customer Interview Analysis Template

Expect 15-30 codeable quotes per 30-minute interview. Not every sentence is worth coding. Focus on statements where the user describes a problem, behavior, need, cost, or value judgment. Skip greetings, small talk, and generic statements like "It would be nice if everything worked better."

That is normal for the first 5-7 interviews. Your code list evolves as you learn the domain. After 7-10 interviews, codes stabilize. If they do not stabilize, your interview questions may be too broad. Tighten your focus area and re-interview a few participants.

Three safeguards. First, code quotes before grouping them. Grouping first encourages you to fit quotes into categories you expect. Second, always log contradicting evidence alongside supporting evidence. Third, have a second person independently code a subset (20%) of quotes and compare your codes. Disagreements reveal blind spots. The [Product Discovery Handbook](/discovery-guide) covers additional debiasing techniques.

Qualitative analysis is enough for understanding the shape of a problem: who has it, what they feel, what they do about it. It is not enough for measuring the size of a problem across your entire user base. After qualitative analysis, run a targeted survey (using the [Product Analytics Handbook](/analytics-guide) as a guide) to validate that your patterns hold at scale before committing major resources. ---