A Customer Quote Is a Clue, Not a Market Estimate

A customer interview can explain a problem without telling you how common it is.

Imagine three people describe the same confusing setup step. Their detail may reveal where the experience breaks and give a team a precise hypothesis. But it doesn’t show what share of customers struggles—or whether the issue outweighs other priorities. Three vivid examples are useful clues, not a market estimate.

Choose the next research method for the decision at hand. If you need to understand why the step is confusing, interviews may be enough. If you’re deciding whether to prioritize it across a product, you also need evidence about frequency and consequence from a broader, relevant sample.

The lesson: treat interviews as hypothesis discovery unless the sampling supports a prevalence claim. What decision is this evidence being asked to carry?