mom-test

Design user interview questions that get honest feedback by focusing on past behavior and real decisions instead of opinions. Rewrite weak questions into behavior-based prompts to collect actionable signals and avoid soliciting hypotheticals or polite noise.

Audit a draft interview guide by applying three core rules to identify questions that solicit opinions or hypotheticals. Evaluate the draft to ensure insights come from past behavior, and use the provided rewrite guidance to convert weak prompts into behavior-based ones.

Evaluate customer interview transcripts for real product signals by applying signal assessment guidance to differentiate real insights from polite noise. Assess past behavior and actual decisions in the text to decide next steps for your product research.

You can use the Mom Test rules for qualitative research across product management contexts to validate customer interviews truthfully. The framework applies broadly to planning conversations, auditing questions, and evaluating transcripts without requiring specific dependencies.

Customer interviews yield vague opinions instead of actionable product insights when questions ask for hypotheticals or compliments rather than past behavior. Enforcing behavior-based prompts ensures you uncover truthful signals from real decisions and actual experiences.

You should not use opinion-based questions in user research interviews when you need actionable product signals. If your goal is to validate real demand, relying on hypotheticals or polite noise leads to false positives instead of insights from past behavior.