I've helped dozens of start-ups build better products just by talking to their customers more. Companies become focused on the sale and fail to conduct effective interviews to better understand their customers.

While there are many components to a customer interview, many of them cannot be automated. For this atomic article, I'll be discussing a thing you can automate. Here's how to schedule interviews automatically while you focus on talking to customers.

Automate Customer Interview Scheduling

Customer interviews are an afterthought, a nice-to-do that is frequently pushed to the bottom of the priority list. I'm going to show you how to easily automate interview scheduling.

Here's a step by step:

Step 1: Setup Calendly

Calendly is an excellent tool for allowing customers to select a time slot on your calendar that works for them. This reduces back and forth and allows for more time to be booked.

You can choose between free and paid plans. On paid plans, you can add multiple calendars, allowing multiple people to find an available slot, or you can use both your personal and work calendars.

Step 2: Test

Your Calendly and the link must then be tested in order to make sure everything is working properly. Check to see if any times have been mistaken because every now and then this happens.

Schedule a test to see what emails and text messages are sent. Calendly allows you to set different levels of notifications, which can be sent one day, four hours, or ten minutes before the meeting. To reduce no-shows, enable a feature that requires the customer to confirm.

Step 3: Send an Email Blast or Run Facebook Ads

The first method I'll go over is sending to existing opt-in email lists, which can be your current customers or newsletter sign-ups. This is a low-cost method of reaching out to people, significantly less expensive than Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads.

Don't worry if you don't have a large enough email list. To attract customers, you ran targeted Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads. You will need to create a budget and run ad tests. A/B testing is an important step, so don't skip it.

Step 4: Include a Token of Your Appreciation

Show your appreciation for the customer taking time to speak with you by giving them a gift or gift card. While some customers will do interviews regardless, others need an incentive and this token can help convert maybes into loyal patrons of yours!

Quick Highlights
Step 1: Setup Calendly
Step 2: Test
Step 3: Send an Email Blast or Run Facebook Ads
Step 4: Include a Token of Your Appreciation.