Designing Customer Interview Questions for Bakery Business Success

This assignment focuses on developing effective customer interview questions for a bakery business. It outlines the interview roadmap, including an introduction to determine market response and warm-up questions to gather basic information about the interviewee. The core of the assignment involves questions about bakery product consumption habits, desired improvements, expectations from a new bakery, brand preferences, and openness to new flavors. A checklist ensures the questions address the riskiest assumptions, seek stories over speculation, are open-ended, cover money and spending habits, and include a referral request. This practical approach aims to refine the bakery's market strategy and product development based on direct customer feedback.

To use this worksheet
1. Using the list below, record one (or more) questions, that can be answered
by your customer (earliest adopter), for each of your riskiest assumptions
2. Review your questions against the checklist
3. Conduct your first interview!
4. Review your questions in light of their performance in interview. How did it
go? What improvements or refinements can you make?
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Who will we interview?
We will interview customers who seek different taste at affordable prices.
Where can we find them?
We will find these customers at social media platforms like Instagram and
Facebook who get inspired by the news hence interaction will be
online.
Interview Road Map
Interview Intro
Prepare a brief introduction on the purpose of the conversation
The purpose of this conversation is to determine the market place and how customers
respond to the new taste. It will help in analysing the customers needs and
expectations from the new bakery products.
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The warm-up
A couple of basic questions about the person – note that these will be different for people vs
business
1.What is your name and age?
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2.Which locality or area you live in?
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Interview questions
3.What are the bakery products you consume on daily basis or occasionally?
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4.What improvement you want in the products you consume or stores you go to for
bakery products?
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5.Tell me about your expectations from the new bakery in town regarding prices,
taste and services?
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6.What brand or bakery shop you go to for their daily bakery needs?
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7.Addition of the new products if any you want in the bakery menu?
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8.Which social media platforms you use on daily basis?
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9.What do you think about the differential taste or are you willing to taste new
Romanian flavours and products?
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10. Are there any friends or known people who are facing issues with the bakery
products?
Interview question checklist
Riskiest assumptions
Check that you've identified one or more question for each of the riskiest assumptions
(i.e. those that are (a) highly important and (b) fairly uncertain).
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Seeking stories/experiences vs speculation
You’re seeking stories rather than predictions of future behaviour. “Tell me about a
time when . . . . . .”
Open ended questions
Your questions are open ended! Avoid starting sentences with words like “is, are,
would, and do you…”. Instead start sentences with words and phrases like:
a. Who …
b. What …
c. Why …
d. How …
e. Please describe …
f. Walk me through the process of …
g. What was frustrating about …
h. What did you like about
Money and spending
You have included a question about (a) how much they currently spend to solve this
problem, or (b) the amount of money they have available to them (budget) to do the
same.
You ask for referrals at end
Your final question is one in which you ask your interviewee if there is anyone else they
know that is experiencing the same problem that they can introduce you to.
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