3 customer questions to unlock growth
3 customer questions to unlock growth
Marketing Powerups #81: Katya Ryabova, Founder of SMM Headquarters, shares 3 questions most marketers don't ask their customers.
Hello, and welcome to Marketing Powerups! 👋🏽
Last week, I was in Austin, Texas, for the first time to speak at SaaSOpen conference. It was awesome to meet online friends in person like Peep Laja, Corey Haines, Mariya Delano, and more.
I will be speaking at the SaaSiest conference in Malmo, Sweden, on April 16 and SaaStock USA in Austin, Texas, on May 14. I'd love to meet up if you’re in any of those cities!
Today's powerups include:
How to put $ value on your content.
67 quick copywriting tips.
3 customer questions to unlock growth.
Ready? Let's go! ⭐️
🎖 Self-Serve User Onboarding for Rapid Product Growth
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is running a 2-week cohort course to help you create powerful user onboarding that becomes the base for your product growth. She’s the former Head of Growth Design at Miro, a collaborative tool I love.In four live classes over two weeks, you’ll learn:
Assess your User Onboarding journey using proven growth frameworks.
Set up effective metrics for the activation journey and work on them.
Create a robust list of prioritized hypotheses and potential solutions.
Kate’s been kind enough to share the 15% discount code “ramli” with the Marketing Powerups community.
→ Learn more and enroll in this course.
⭐️ Katya Ryabova’s 3 customer questions for actionable insights
Speaking with your customers directly can uncover a goldmine of growth opportunities. But you need to ask the right questions. Katya Ryabova shares her go-to questions for illuminating actionable insights:
1. What does XYZ mean to you?
Customers often use broad terms like "easy to use" or "time savings." Dig deeper into what those terms specifically mean to each customer. Their definitions likely differ from your assumptions.
"Well, for the lack of a better phrasing, what does easy to use mean to you? Does it mean that you don't have to go through five steps in the product to get a specific number that you need to look at?"
2. Could you give me a specific example of _____?
Asking for examples further clarifies the meaning. If a customer has trouble articulating something, an example can speak volumes. Plus, examples frequently reveal unexpected insights.
"It can complement the first question. It can also act as a substitute if they're struggling even explaining what something was specifically to them. But taken together, they should give you a very good picture of that term you're trying to kind of analyze. And deconstruct is the verb I'm looking for."
3. Would you like to add anything I didn’t ask about?
This final open-ended prompt allows customers to discuss what matters most to them. They may offer feedback or illuminate an entirely new area worth exploring further. It also wraps up the interview on a positive, customer-focused note.
"It's also a chance for them to share something that it's important that they want to share. And a lot of the times I say no, we covered a lot of ground and I don't have anything to add. Thank you very much. So it's not a time waster by any means. It is a nice way to end the interview on a very open note where you're giving them a chance to talk about whatever they want to talk."
Free powerups cheatsheet 🔖
I’ve created a powerups cheatsheet exclusively for Marketing Powerups subscribers to apply Katya Ryabova’s 3 customer questions for actionable insights
→ Download and make a copy of it here (a direct link with no email required).
In the latest Marketing Powerups episode, Katya further explains her 3 favorite questions to ask to uncover actionable insights.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify now, or watch it on YouTube.
✨ Mini powerups
Fun-sized tools, links, and blurbs to boost your marketing.
🤑 Content Marketing ROI: How to put a $ value on your content: (article)
Ryan Law, Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs, thinks that the formula for calculating content ROI is so simple that he shares it right in the intro of this article! Of course, it’s hard to put into practice. He shares 3 practical methods to calculate the ROI of your content.
🏆 E-E-A-T quick wins — Moz’s Whiteboard Friday: (video)
Itamar Blauer, a London-based SEO specialist, shares in this Moz Whiteboard Friday video some E-E-A-T quick wins that you can utilize to help your website content appear more credible in the eyes of users and Google.
🔥 67 quick copywriting tips: (swipe file)
Joe Portsmouth, Sr. Director of Retention at The Beard Club, put this swipe file together with 67 quick-hitting copywriting tips he’s found online—completely free with no email required. It’s a Notion document I just saved in my swipe file of marketing resources!
That’s all for now, friends!
Have a powered-up day,
Ramli John
P.S. If you found this helpful, would you share the love by tapping the heart below? ❤️
It’ll help me know what’s resonating with you and get more people to know about my newsletter. Thanks!
Awesome summary, Ramli! I'm a fan of you swipe-files 💯
And special thanks for mentioning our upcoming course 🚀