Don't. Watch them do their work, or let them describe their work.
From my coaching practice, people are not very good identifying there real pain point. My back hurts, but my back isn't broken, I just sit too much.
Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
21–30 of 121 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#22In the realm of cold calling / emailing, 1% conversion is actually pretty normal. 2-5% would be unusually good. I would stick with what you're doing and don't lose faith!
If you want to try different strategies in parallel, I work in sales for a healthcare SaaS and while my product is results/outcomes oriented, I have much better luck talking to people about RESULTS they want to achieve vs. PROBLEMS they want to solve. At least now we're getting excited about something good vs. something they are already sick of talking about, or know they can't fix.
Some of the pains in healthcare are so structurally embedded in the industry, products purporting to relieve those pains are so plentiful, and ACTUAL pain relieving results are so few and far between, that messages looking for honest input on major pains that doctors experience is too clear of a dogwhistle for "I'm going to try to sell you a solution that doesn't work" and will be ignored.
Many doctors, for example, are still nursing wounds caused by the shift to EMR from paper- pretty much every vendor in that space promises an "easy migration" and the reality is that porting to EMR or switching vendors is a massive massive pain in the ass. ANY solution for a pain, or for amplifying/increasing a beneficial outcome, comes at not only a financial cost, but (perhaps more importantly) an opportunity cost associated with the time investment. Time = patients, patients = reimbursement, reimbursement = money.
Edit: Another thing that works for me is seeding the conversation with something like, "Something I hear from a lot of providers in [specialty] is they have a problem with [problem], or they want to do more [thing]. Is that true in your practice?"
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#23DO tell them you are doing /market research/ and really appreciate their experience and insight. Generally I have offered an "honorarium" of say $200 for a 30 minute interview (for doctors you might want to offer $500). 90% of people never collect the money, just that somehow offering an "honorarium" makes the whole thing seem more legit and organized. A high honorarium (like $500 for doctors) will also demonstrate respect (and they really won't collect the money).
DONT include the question in your request. That will Heisenberg results.
DO ask then about /frustrations/, rather than /problems/. Frustrations are externally caused. Many people proudly believe that they are already handling any /problems/
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#24Have you considered offering them something for their time? Something as simple as a gift card to a coffee shop, so you can have virtual coffee and chat about their pain points?
I know you don't want to sounds sales-y, and there are ways to offer this without sounding like a salesperson. Just an idea
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#25Have you considered offering them something for their time? Something as simple as a gift card to a coffee shop, so you can have virtual coffee and chat about their pain points? I know you don't want to sounds sales-y, and there are ways to offer this without sounding like a salesperson. Just an idea
Exactly this. People's time is money; pay them what their time is worth.
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#26asking people for pain points like an interview is never going to work unless you have connections/network to introduce you
there is a hack around this but each industry is different
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#27I would start with contacting people in your town or area. Tell them that you recently became interested in problem X and offer to meet with them whenever and wherever they choose. You also need to do a lot of homework to ask intelligent questions. Finally, ask yourself if healthcare is the right choice. That's a tough industry if you don't have any contacts and/or background.
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#28Have you tried expert networks? Some of these connect people like you with experts in the industry. Some are practitioners while others are just “thought leaders” so you need to separate the two. They usually cost $xx-$xxx a hour but they’re worth the time and money rather than finding people willing to talk to you
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#29[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#30Have you tried expert networks? Some of these connect people like you with experts in the industry. Some are practitioners while others are just “thought leaders” so you need to separate the two. They usually cost $xx-$xxx a hour but they’re worth the time and money rather than finding people willing to talk to you
Yeah. There are companies that specialize in these sort of connections. But getting an appointment with a specialist is hard enough much less connecting to a qualitative survey.
In addition the the other comments, maybe you have some personal networks. But expert networks are probably the best bet that doesn't involve personal connections.