Understanding Your Customer | Capability @ Lunch Recap

When it comes to customer insight, many private organisations and public sector agencies stop at what customers say they do, believe, or need. But as facilitator Matthew Ellingsen reminded us in this month’s Capability @ Lunch session, the real challenge is uncovering what customers actually do, believe, and need, and that requires moving beyond the surface of data into the deeper drivers of behaviour.

The Four Diamonds of Design Thinking

Matt opened the session by giving us a glimpse into his two-day Design Thinking Fundamentals course. At the heart of this process sits the four diamonds:

1. Frame the business and design challenge
2. Understand the customer context
3. Respond to customer and business needs
4. Deliver to market and integrate to business

Too often, he explained, organisations leap from diamond one straight to diamond four. But the real value, and the real risk if you skip it, sits in diamond two: understanding the customer context. This session zoomed in on the first half of that diamond: gaining customer empathy.

Obsess About Your Customer

“If you want your customers to obsess about your brand, you need to obsess about your customers.”

This message was one of the key takeaways from the session. For private sector organisations, obsession builds loyalty. For public sector, the same principle holds: if you want citizens to engage with your services, you need to truly engage and serve them.

But what does this obsession look like in practice? Matt highlighted the differences in quantitative and qualitative data, and how, when used together, they can build a well-rounded understanding of your customer:

• Big Data – Valuable for scanning vast volumes to spot patterns, anomalies, and emerging opportunities
• Data with Scale – Valuable for validating hypotheses, generalising findings, and measuring impact
• Data with Soul – Valuable for bringing human context, explaining the why behind the patterns, often through observation and lived stories

From Observation to Conversation

To uncover data with soul, Matt walked us through three field methods: observation, conversation, and participation.

Observation immerses us in customer lives, showing us what people actually do. But it has limits: it reveals the what, not the why. That’s where conversation comes in.

In paired exercises, Matt invited participants to talk with someone next to them. Many reported the chat felt “easy.” Why? Because it was a genuine conversation, not an interview.

He highlighted three qualities of powerful conversations:

• Be genuine – avoid slipping into an interviewer mind-set, focus on genuinely getting to know the person in-front of you
• Be curious – let go of preconceived notions of what you want to get out of the conversation. The opportunity lies in letting them speak
• Be patient – resist the urge to jump in, focus on listening

The Power of Storytelling

Stories, Matt emphasised, are where the gold lies. Stories humanise, make us care, and inspire us to act. To get there, we have to shift from generic to specific prompts:

• “Tell me about a time…”
• “Share with me a story about…”
• “Talk me through the best / worst / first / last…”

Instead of asking about a “typical day,” ask about a specific day. That’s when emotions surface, and with them, the beliefs and feelings that ultimately drive behaviour.

Matt illustrated this with a simple model: actions are shaped by thoughts and emotions, which are underpinned by deeper beliefs and feelings. The job of good questioning is to dig down to those motivators.

Asking Better Questions

Primary open-ended questions start with What, Why, and How. These, Matt explained, are more likely to surface the deeper beliefs and feelings than close-ended questions.

Where AI Fits In

With LLM’s like ChatGPT and Co-Pilot available at the touch of a button, it’s tempting to outsource conversations with customers to our favourite AI coworkers. While AI has a role to play, it’s certainly not in “pretending to be your customer.”

Instead, it can support:

• Writing research questions
• Structuring conversation guides
• Making sense of large volumes of qualitative data

For those keen to explore this, Kāpuhipuhi offer a course on AI-driven qualitative data analysis. Click here to find out more.

Cross-Cultural Considerations

One participant asked whether this approach works across cultures. Matt’s answer: yes, as long as you remain genuine, curious, and patient. For more depth on working across cultural difference, you can revisit our last Capability @ Lunch recap on cultural intelligence.

Final Reflections

This session reminded us that true customer insight doesn’t come from surveys alone. It comes from observation, conversation, and stories, from seeing beyond the surface of what people say, to the beliefs and feelings that drive what they do.

If you want your customers to obsess about you, start by obsessing about them.

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What’s Next?

Our next Capability @ Lunch session will explore how ChatGPT (and other LLM’s) are transforming research, design thinking, creativity, and innovation at scale.

These sessions are proudly brought to you by Kāpuhipuhi Wellington Uni-Professional in partnership with Hāpai Public.

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Matthew Ellingsen was trained in the design process at one of the world’s most prestigious design schools, obtaining an MA in industrial design from Central Saint Martin’s in London. He has been highly sought after to lead design teams within major companies around the world, including Sony Design Centre Europe and the New Zealand 2011 Office during Rugby World Cup.
 
Matthew’s passion lies in solving complex problems and designing actionable solutions. He has recently lead customer insight and solution design projects for Comvita, Kiwibank, Sacred Hill Vineyards, and the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand.