Impactful Customer Conversations

3 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Learn to run successful story-based interviews and make data-driven decisions using the insights

Course overview

Don't just talk to customers, feel confident you're making the most of insights

Think you don't have time to talk with customers, or that "doing research" takes too long? Not sure you're asking the right questions? Or you've talked with customers but not seen action from those insights? It all sounds overwhelming so it seems easier to just go with your gut?


I get it. But it doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to be a career researcher to learn the foundational skills that help you have successful conversations with customers. Since 2010, I've taught countless people to do just that.


This is a highly interactive, hands-on course, with a mix of video content and projects you complete on your own, and live sessions where we take the learnings into action together.


What we'll do

I'll share key info that will make your interviews a success. You'll work in small groups to create an interview plan, run interviews, synthesize the raw interview input into actionable insights, and create a plan to put those insights into action.


What you'll get

You'll walk away knowing how to run successful customer interviews, and how to make the insights actionable through practice in real time.


Bonus: This isn't a workshop about AI tools, but we'll touch on how to use AI to your advantage throughout the research process. Let the bots do what they're good at (hint: it's not interviewing customers) so you're free to make human connections and do big-picture thinking with insights.

Who is this course for

01

You're a designer, PM, engineer, or other non-UXRer seeking confidence in gathering quality customer insights to make informed decisions.

02

You manage designers, PMs, engineers, and want to ensure your team knows how to get actionable customer insights and make informed decisions

03

You've run a lot of interviews but want to see more action from the results

What you’ll get out of this course

Learn what we mean by "quality" insights and how to get them

We'll dive deep into common challenges, like asking leading questions or asking customers to predict future behavior, and what you can do instead. Learn to run story-based interviews and see real examples of interviews done right—and wrong.

Craft a foolproof interview plan

Align your research with OKRs and KPIs. Learn how to get your team on board from the start, to make insights-driven decisions later. Identify the right participants and craft unbiased interview questions for maximum impact.

Run interviews

Get confident in your ability to have customer conversations by practicing interview skills in real time, in the safe space of our workshop. Work through constructive feedback with other attendees. You'll practice several rounds of interviews.

Transform raw interview notes into insights

Learn the difference between findings (what you heard during interviews) and actionable insights. You'll be guided through the process of identifying insights, and how to prioritize those that matter most for your business.

Make the insights actionable

Research doesn’t stop at insights—it ends with an action plan and accountability. We’ll outline tools like "how might we" statements, opportunity and journey maps, and teach you to measure and track impact. No deep ideation, but practical strategies to take insights to action.

AMA to address remaining questions

At the end of the workshops, ask Carol any outstanding questions during a final 1-hour live AMA. This is a great way to wrap up your knowledge and be sure you know how to move what you learned into your day-to-day work.

Templates and links to resources

You'll leave this course with templates for: sample non-biased interview questions, a 2-page interview plan, a step-by-step process to go from interviews to opportunities and an action plan, and 2-page summary report. Plus, you'll get links to relevant outside resources.

This course includes

5 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

In-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

Projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

Jan 16—Jan 19

    Jan

    16

    Meet and Greet!

    Thu 1/165:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)

    Create an interview plan (1 to 1.5 hours)

    6 items

Week 2

Jan 20—Jan 26

    Jan

    21

    Writing interview questions that get to your goals

    Tue 1/215:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)

    Getting ready for the interview (30 minutes)

    3 items

    Jan

    23

    Practice interviewing skills

    Thu 1/235:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)

Week 3

Jan 27—Jan 30

    Getting ready to create your action plan (1 to 1.5 hours)

    7 items

    Jan

    28

    Going from interviews to action

    Tue 1/285:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)

    Jan

    30

    Optional: AMA with Carol

    Thu 1/305:00 PM—6:00 PM (UTC)
    Optional

What people are saying

        At Edmunds, Carol created a framework to train people across the organization to do their own research to generate first hand empathy, learning, and extend the reach of UXR, deepened our understanding of our most valuable customers, and conducted generative research informing product innovations that increased quality lead conversions by 40%.
Michelle

Michelle

VP of Customer Success at Altruist

Meet your instructor

Carol Rossi

Carol Rossi

With 25+ years of experience, I’ve led research teams focused on vision and strategy, brand retention and building, and user experience metrics. I led the research team at NerdWallet from a focus on tactical one-off studies to strategic impact. I established research best practices and teams at Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds. Through the 2000s, I ran a consultancy where I worked with companies like Hulu, Citibank, Belkin, GeoCities, Symantec, and Yahoo!


After 14 years leading teams in-house, I returned to consulting in 2022. I provide UX Research leadership for orgs that want their research practice to have maximum impact, but have no internal research leadership that can provide the guidance to get them there.


I developed a program like this at Edmunds and NerdWallet to train scores of designers, PMs, engineers, product marketing managers, and others, to successfully collect their own customer insights. Now, years later, I still hear from former colleagues how valuable this work was to their careers.

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Impactful Customer Conversations

January 2025

$500

Dates

Jan 16—30, 2025

Payment Deadline

Jan 15, 2025
Free resource

4 Keys to Impactful Customer Conversations

In this course, we'll dive deep into what separates superficial customer coffee chats from truly impactful conversations based in curiosity and learning customer needs. Here's an overview of the 4 key elements we'll cover.

Get this free article

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I can’t make a live session?

What’s the refund policy?

How do I get reimbursed by my employer?

Is there alternative pricing?

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Impactful Customer Conversations

January 2025

$500

Dates

Jan 16—30, 2025

Payment Deadline

Jan 15, 2025

$500

3 Weeks