9 Questions Inquisitive Marketers Know to Ask

Curiosity killed the cat. Or so most of us are told as a child.

Not true for marketers. Curiosity leads to new insights, which lead to new innovations.

As a marketer, gathering meaningful insights requires a little inquisitiveness. As a differentiating value, inquisitiveness means a state of active curiosity; or eager to acquire knowledge.

The question is: how much do you REALLY want to know?

As a marketer, do you want to know that most customers get frustrated when using your product? What if you find out that they really hate the colors, which happen to support your brand? Do you want to know if customers are using your product in ways you never imagined (maybe not even sanctioned)? What if you discovered the real users of your product are not who you thought they were?

Inquisitive marketers want to know. The good. The bad. The everything. Because then they can do something about it that enhances value to customers, crushes the competition, and builds a profitable business.

9 Questions to Ask

For product marketers willing to embrace the value of inquisitiveness, here are 9 questions to consider asking customers:

1. When using this product, what do you enjoy most?
2. What do you enjoy the least about it?
3. If you could change just one thing about this product, what would it be?
4. If there’s one thing about this product you hope never changes, what would it be?
5. If you could improve just one thing about this product, what would it be?
6. Who do you feel is the typical buyer of this product? Why?
7. Is the person who buys this product the same person who uses it? If not, why?
8. If you could ask any one company to make this product for you, which company would you ask? Why?
9. What’s the key reason someone would buy this product versus other options on the market?

For marketers keen on gathering useful insights, here are a few other blog posts that might also prove beneficial:

• The future of marketing is all about anticipation
• The Value of Insight for Marketers (part-1)
• The Value of Insight for Marketers (part-2)

What other questions should an inquisitive marketer ask?

Today’s value was selected from the “Knowledge-Skillfulness” category, based on the e-book Developing Your Differentiating Values.