Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 121 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#51

Post by yr1337 »

jcims wrote: post #35

>I'm pretty clear I'm just looking to learn/listen and not pitch. They have no reason to trust you. I would think you're just looking for an angle to sell me on no matter what you say. You might try attending/crashing medical conferences in the area. You could also talk to folks on the periphery of the healthcare industry to look for opportunities. One that I experienced personally is the difficulty in matching a spe…

You hit the nail on the head on BOTH points.

They do not trust me (why would they) and they think it's a sales tactic. I couldn't be purer in my intentions, but people are on the defensive.

And your pain point is actually one I've heard firsthand. Got a few ideas and connections in this area.

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#52

Post by yr1337 »

noashavit wrote: post #24

Have 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

I do not want to incentivize people to give me BS feedback just to get paid. If they need money or a gift to tell me about their pain point, it's not a pain point.

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#53

Post by yr1337 »

scottishbee wrote: post #36

I think your question is really: "how do I find people to interview?" First, find out where your prospects actually spend time. LinkedIn is garbage for a lot of industries. Most doctors don't change jobs much or building "personal brands", so they're not scanning LinkedIn often. Reddit can also be often a better community. Second, don't cold message people. Put out HELPFUL (not clickbait) content. It can be as simple…

I like your suggestion and it sounds like it would work great for certain cohorts, but not so sure about docs. I can see employing this tactic in a conference though. But that's more of a phase 2 thing when you already have a handful of ideas.

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#54

Post by yr1337 »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #21

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.

It's something I used to do internally at my previous employer, and I know it's very useful. In this case I would have to convince a doc to let me follow them around and that's an immense ask. It's also going to miss systemic, intangible issues that are not task related. It's a great thing to do for an already-established product.

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#55

Post by yr1337 »

beardbound wrote: post #33

That's an interesting thought. I've done quite a bit of work in the medical/healthcare space in tech in the past. I think part of your issue is that doctors are notoriously hard to get a hold of. Also they don't make any of the decisions for tech. If you're just generally trying to get an idea of pain points in the industry I think you should get more specific. Here are some for instances: - Are you trying to make th…

Thank you. YES on a lot of your bullet points. But I'm very open-minded about it and would work on any issue if enough people raise it.

I've been thinking of reaching out to nurses and other pros that work around docs.

I like the professional org idea.

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#56

Post by yr1337 »

imbiased wrote: post #43

Find where those people are. E.g. popular healthcare forums, maybe Facebook groups, etc. Go to healthcare events in person, all those people will be there to chat. I've had luck in another field, finding a very popular forum online that those in the field used. I simply introduced myself and offered to do IT work on their offices as a chance to meet people and learn more about the industry. It worked wonders.

I've actually thought of doing IT services for clinics as a means to get a foot in the door. That's some seriously deep undercover stuff... Very time consuming (could be worth it regardless). Were you getting paid for the IT services?

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#57

Post by yr1337 »

paulsutter wrote: post #23

DO 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 r…

From a practical standpoint, do you just wait until they hit you up later asking for their money?

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#58

Post by IanCal »

yr1337 wrote: post #52
noashavit wrote: post #24

Have 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

I do not want to incentivize people to give me BS feedback just to get paid. If they need money or a gift to tell me about their pain point, it's not a pain point.

Why should they spend their time talking to you though? You're asking busy people to help you come up with a business idea for free.

> If they need money or a gift to tell me about their pain point, it's not a pain point.

This just doesn't follow. There are issues I face, but still have no incentive to spend time explaining them to you.

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#59

Post by gopher_space »

yr1337 wrote: post #51
jcims wrote: post #35

>I'm pretty clear I'm just looking to learn/listen and not pitch. They have no reason to trust you. I would think you're just looking for an angle to sell me on no matter what you say. You might try attending/crashing medical conferences in the area. You could also talk to folks on the periphery of the healthcare industry to look for opportunities. One that I experienced personally is the difficulty in matching a spe…

You hit the nail on the head on BOTH points. They do not trust me (why would they) and they think it's a sales tactic. I couldn't be purer in my intentions, but people are on the defensive. And your pain point is actually one I've heard firsthand. Got a few ideas and connections in this area.

Could you buy rounds at a bar near a hospital?

Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?

#60

Post by tonyarkles »

yr1337 wrote: post #8
mindcrime wrote: post #4

If you follow Steve Blank's approach, the ideal thing to do is start with "friendly first contacts" - that is, people you actually know personally and/or people who you are referred to by people you know personally. Then, once you get even a few "friendly first contact" meetings, you ask those people to refer you to their contacts, and so on in turn. Note that this stuff is never as easy as it sounds on paper, but if…

I'll check Steve Blank out (didn't know him), but I've been trying to follow this technique ad-hoc. Like you said, easier said than done. Even friendly people aren't very responsive to requests for intros. In the few interviews I did I made a point to ask for intros at the end and although they say "sure", it's crickets afterwards. This is a humbling realization of what salespeople are up against. We all love to hate…

> In the few interviews I did I made a point to ask for intros at the end and although they say "sure", it's crickets afterwards.

Are you doing these in person or virtually? If you're doing it in person, you're already at the end and have the data you're looking for from the person you're talking with. "Do you know any other people I should talk to?" "Yeah" "Ok, could I just write their names down right now here?"

Post reply on HN