Negativity bias
Welcome to the fourth article in this series about gathering customer insights. This series includes stories of gotchas and things to avoid when collecting objective, actionable feedback about your product.
Part one explored the pitfalls of talking AT your customers. You visit customers, talk at them incessantly, never pause to listen, rarely ask questions, fear their feedback, and are blindsided when you get it.
Part two delved into the hubris of expertise and why we sometimes listen to and ignore our customers.
Part three introduced a product manager falling victim to learning from customers but not validating the market applicability of their requirements.
This article recalls a time when I fell victim to negativity bias and some tactics I’ve since used to understand what good looks like to a customer instead of building to resolve a complaint.
If it’s Tuesday, This Must be Belgium.
Yet another roadshow.
I entered week two of a European tour with the sniffles. I’d been to London, Edinburgh, Paris, Munich, and Zurich during week one. I ate at an airport each night and slept in another generic hotel. I’d shaken many hands.
Monday landed me in Amsterdam, a convenient jumping-off point to circumnavigate The Netherlands. Tuesday found me in Brussels. At every meeting, I exclaimed, “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium,” invoking the 1969 film and giggling to myself privately. Belgians are not overtly humorous but appreciate an American who can identify cycling royalty: Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Johan Museeuw.
On Wednesday, I woke up in a Courtyard Marriott in Dusseldorf, momentarily convinced that the generically decorated room was in Austin, Texas. The breakfast hostess greeted me in German, amplifying my disorientation.
Thursday was Madrid, where colleagues smoked furiously throughout an endless “business” lunch, ruining a suit already ripe from jogging through terminals and sitting in cramped, overheated cars.
Friday was Turin. I have no recollection of those meetings, but I was told they went swimmingly.
The trip’s purpose was to test a shift in product strategy and adjustments to the product roadmap. I hoped to confirm some hypotheses, show some prototypes, walk through design proposals, and discuss the roadmap. Instead, each new city yielded a litany of complaints and strongly worded admonitions. Customers and prospects reported various crises. I scribbled notes, struggling through a fog of jetlag for intelligibility.
On that trip, I learned a lot, all in the category I labeled Ten Things I Hate About Your Product. I learned what they didn’t want, but I learned nothing about what would delight or satisfy them.
I returned to the Bay Area to revise plans with the team. We made our best guesses about what would solve these customers’ problems. We flew blindly, hypothesizing wildly, speculating indiscriminately, and blundering into a seemingly plausible plan that was utterly misguided.
Negativity Bias
Negativity bias, a psychological phenomenon where negative events significantly impact an individual's psychological state more than positive ones, profoundly influences decision-making, especially in ambiguous situations. This bias is not merely an anecdotal observation but a well-documented aspect of human cognition, with roots deeply embedded in our evolutionary history. The theoretical grounding of negativity bias suggests that humans have evolved to prioritize negative information as a survival mechanism, allowing us to avoid harmful stimuli more effectively than we pursue beneficial ones (Norris, 2021).
Evolution wired humans to heed danger. Our brains adapted to sense faults in the system and react accordingly.
Tiger? Run! Poison berries? Spit!
A tiger represents an unambiguous threat. In our modern world, ambiguity rules. Technology exacerbates ambiguity because we interact daily with systems we barely understand. A predisposition towards negativity can lead to disproportionately cautious or risk-averse behaviors, particularly when the information is ambiguous or incomplete.
Negative feedback is quite easy to take action on. Outside of frivolous complaints, most customers deliver negative feedback as a clearly solvable problem. There is something wrong with the way your product works today. Most product managers hear that and think, “Well, I am pretty sure I can solve that.”
And they aren’t wrong.
Building right, building wrong
Trial and error may eventually result in a feature with a design that delights your dissatisfied customers. That roadshow produced a lot of software. We built things that solved the problems customers described, but little of what we delivered produced satisfaction.
Gathering constructive and positive feedback from customers is an essential component of developing a product that not only meets their needs but also delights them. Focusing solely on negative feedback creates a skewed understanding of customer desires, leading to solutions that might solve problems but don't necessarily enhance satisfaction. Adopt a more systematic approach to solicit and incorporate positive feedback.
Sometimes, you have to coax them into telling you what they actually do like and what they want your product to do.
Here’s a technique to try:
1. Embrace Negative Feedback Without Counterargument
When a customer presents a complaint or negative feedback, listen attentively and resist any urge to dismiss or counter their concerns. Acknowledging their experience without defense establishes trust and opens the door for more in-depth conversations.
2. Institute a Cooling-Off Period
After receiving initial negative feedback, suggest a short break before continuing the conversation. This allows both parties to reflect on the discussion and approach the next interaction with a clearer, more solution-focused mindset.
3. Reset and Reframe the Conversation
In the follow-up meeting, summarize the feedback received to ensure mutual understanding. Then, shift the dialogue from problem-focused to solution-oriented by asking clarifying questions such as, "Can you elaborate on the problem you're trying to solve?" Employ techniques like "the five whys" to peel back the layers and uncover the root cause of their dissatisfaction.
4. Transition to Envisioning the Ideal Outcome
Once the underlying problem is clearly defined, steer the conversation towards envisioning the ideal solution by asking, "What would an ideal solution look like for you?" This opens up a space for positive, constructive feedback.
5. Utilize Design Thinking
Introduce design thinking by sharing a concept or prototype that addresses the problem without leading the customer's response. Present it as, "Based on our understanding, here's a concept we're exploring. How would you interact with this?" This approach encourages customers to project their desires and needs onto the solution, providing valuable insights into what 'good' looks like from their perspective.
6. Co-Create the Solution
Invite the customer to co-create the solution. This collaborative approach ensures product development is closely aligned with customer expectations and increases the likelihood of achieving a product that genuinely satisfies and delights.
7. Document and Iterate
Carefully document the insights and positive feedback obtained through this process. Use these learnings to refine your prototypes or designs iteratively, continually seeking feedback to ensure the final product resonates with your target users.
Lesson Learned
I learned an important lesson. Just because you know what your customers dislike doesn’t mean you’ve learned what will make them happy.
Classic negativity bias.
Don’t get eaten by the tiger; when you’ve survived the chase, don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers.
Next, in this series, we’ll explore ways to measure the effectiveness of your insights gathering.