Skipper chats with Aaron Young, founder of Switch Insights, breaking down the concept of "switch interviews" — a lesser known methodology that reveals the contextual moments leading customers to change products or services, emphasizing the importance of understanding the "why" behind customer behavior rather than just the "what." He explains that while companies often think they know why customers switch, a directed interview can reveal the complex, messy reality of customer decision-making, encompassing factors like grievances, magnetism, and effort underneath and surrounding the change.
- You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.howthisworks.show/031-aaron-young
- Or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/vNEZi_RaSN4
During the show, we talk through:
- The evolution of switch interviews, from Aaron's early discovery of the methodology (while observing Jobs to Be Done expert Bob Mesta) to his specialization in this approach after seeing its unique ability to reveal customer insights that traditional research misses
- Two case studies of "switches" — Aaron's personal journey moving from Washington D.C. to Atlanta, which unfolded over several years with multiple decision points, and a wedding dress business that used switch interviews to understand why brides choose at-home try-on experiences
- The critical difference between how companies typically view customer decisions (as single moments) versus the reality revealed through switch interviews: a complex journey involving factors like grievances with current solutions, attraction to new options, and the effort required to change
- Why traditional demographic-based personas often fall short, and how switch interviews help create more meaningful customer segments based on the progress people are trying to make in their lives
- The challenge of "hubris" in understanding customer behavior — how companies often think they know why customers make changes, but miss the crucial contextual details that switch interviews can uncover
- As businesses increasingly turn to technological solutions, Aaron expresses concern about over-reliance on AI for understanding customer behavior, noting that artificial intelligence might miss the nuanced contextual details that human-conducted switch interviews are uniquely positioned to capture
- His belief in the importance of verbs over nouns in career satisfaction
Stay tuned until the end where Skipper tells Aaron about Stephen Colbert's oatmeal rum-soaked bing cherry cookie recipe, which Colbert (yes, him) says is so irresistible you'd "step on a baby's finger for one."
Special Guest: Aaron Young.
Links:
- "Competing Against Luck" by Clayton M. Christensen
- "Demand-Side Sales 101" by Bob Moesta
- The Jobs-to-be-Done Mattress Interview
- The Mattress Interview – Q&A
- The "commuter" car JTBD interview on the Critical Path show, episode 146 — Bob Moesta talks with Horace Dediu in 2015 on the job to be done for a Porsche Cayman (from archive.org)
- "Deep Work" by Cal Newport
- Stephen Colbert's favorite cookie to make, an oatmeal rum-soaked bing cherry cookie