Client interviews: our tool to understand what you need

You spend valuable time using our product. And let us be honest here, there is at least one thing you do not like. An interview gives us the opportunity to learn how you currently use Easy LMS and what tasks and features you might struggle with. With that information, we can build a solution to improve your experience.

We have different situations in which we might ask you for an interview. It could be because you:

• Send us a feature request.
• Filled in our client satisfaction survey.
• Asked for a feature we might start working on soon.
• Told us you are thinking about switching to a different subscription.

We see these situations as an opportunity to gather an in-depth understanding of your needs by interviewing you. At these points in time, you are aware that something needs to change. Contacting us at these crucial moments tells us that you are willing to share your thoughts and want something from us. We can build improvements, but only if we know what you need.

The process of interviewing

To explain why an interview is helpful, I will use the feature request situation as an example.

What is currently stopping you from getting the result you want?

We want to create value for our target audience and use cases, namely small and medium businesses that conduct employee or customer training. That is why we try only to invite clients belonging to those categories. If we interview everyone, we cannot build the best fitting LMS for our clients. Therefore, if you contact us concerning a previously mentioned situation and are in our target audience, the chances are that you are getting an invite!

During the interview, we first take the time to get to know you and the company you work at. We then ask some questions concerning your general use of Easy LMS. And finally, we dive into the feature(s) you requested by asking questions such as:

• What do you need?
• When do you need it?
• How do you get it done today?
• What is frustrating you?

Combining the answers concerning your context with the answers surrounding the feature you requested helps us build a fitting solution. They help us get to the bottom, or the root cause, of the issues you encounter. Because sometimes, the root cause is different from where you are experiencing trouble. In some cases, the solution to the issue was much smaller than the first proposal demonstrated.

The benefits for you

I have written a lot about our benefits so far, but now the most important part: what is in it for you, and why you should participate.

A solution for the right issue

We cannot read your mind. So if you only tell us you need feature X but not what your intended use for it is, the chances are that we will build something that only partly solves the issue you had. Giving us insight into when, where, and how you would use such a feature provides us with the knowledge to build a solution that solves your issues.

A solution that fits your workflow

We learn much more from an interview than a chat

But there is more. As the interviews are conducted online, we usually ask the client to share their screen and show us where they get stuck. This way, we can pick up on even more improvements that you might not have even noticed yourself yet. We learn more about how you expect Easy LMS to behave. That allows us to adapt to that.

A solution that gets built

Participating in a client interview results in a feature being built more quickly. We are working with a rating system instead of a roadmap. ‘This enables us to see which are the most valuable features to work on given the company’s purpose: delivering an effective, user-friendly, and affordable LMS,’ explained our founder Jeroen.

The top 10 features are available for our problem-solving teams to work on. For a feature to climb up through the ratings, it needs enough votes, adds enough value to our purpose, and contains sufficient information on what we need to build.

In short, your experience with Easy LMS improves when you show and tell us what you need.