Episode Details

#250 Customer Insights | Matt sits down with Shoshana Kordova, a 3x founding product marketer and former journalist who now helps B2B tech startups craft customer-infused messaging through her consultancy, Peel Product Marketing. Shoshana recently launched a customer insights playbook for the PMM Jetpack, equipping marketers with tools and templates to run more effective customer interviews.

Matt and Shoshana cover:

• Why a customer insights program is more than “just talking to customers” and how to turn interviews into a repeatable system that drives messaging, positioning, and case studies
• How to collaborate across teams (especially with CS and product) to get buy-in and avoid stepping on toes
• The most common mistakes B2B marketers make with interviews and how to get the kind of insights you can actually use

Whether you're a product marketer, content strategist, or leading a GTM team, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways to build messaging that resonates.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
• (01:05) - – Meet Shoshana: From Journalism to Product Marketing
• (02:15) - – What Is “Customer-Infused Messaging”?
• (04:00) - – Why Customer Insights Beat Surface-Level Deliverables
• (06:00) - – How to Work with CS and Sales Without Stepping on Toes
• (09:00) - – Navigating Competing Priorities Across Teams
• (11:20) - – Selling the Value of Customer Interviews Internally
• (15:20) - – The 6 Steps to Building a Customer Insights Program
• (17:15) - – Step 1: Aligning Goals with Stakeholders
• (18:55) - – Step 2: Building a Customer Interview Pipeline
• (21:00) - – Step 3: Keeping Stakeholders in the Loop (Hint: Use Slack)
• (25:15) - – Step 4: How to Run a Great Customer Interview
• (30:45) - – Focus on Problems, Not Just the Product
• (33:20) - – Uncovering Real ROI with Better Follow-Ups
• (34:30) - – Step 5: Documenting What Actually Matters
• (36:50) - – How to Organize Insights into a Shared Database
• (39:40) - – Step 6: Putting Insights to Work (Case Studies, Messaging, ICPs)
• (42:00) - – Should You Hire an External Interviewer?
• (44:15) - – What’s a Realistic Interview Cadence?
• (45:45) - – Other Places to Find Customer Insights (When Interviews Aren’t Possible)
• (47:20) - – Final Tips: Mining G2 Reviews, Webinars, and Internal Teams
• (48:34) - – Wrap-Up and Where to Find Shoshana

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter

Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn fir