Deploy Empathy: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Customers (Updated and Expanded Edition)

NEW Updated and Expanded Edition

With over 5,000 copies sold worldwide, Deploy Empathy has become a go-to guide for anyone interested in learning how to interview customers. This updated and expanded edition includes guidance on using AI in customer research, a customer interview workshop guide, additional analysis methods with worked examples, and more.

“Deploy Empathy is a playbook for making empathy part of your daily work, and in turn, building a business that customers love.“ - Jim Kalbach, author of The Jobs to Be Done Playbook

Master customer interviewing (no people skills required!)

You've been there: pouring weeks into a feature only to launch to crickets. Or watching customers cancel without understanding why. You have a feeling you’d get answers if you talked to customers, but…what if they don't open up? What if you ask the wrong questions?

You're not alone. Join over 5,000 readers worldwide who've discovered that customer interviewing isn't about being naturally charismatic: it's about learning a few simple techniques that anyone can master.

Readers call this "the most practical overview of customer research" they've ever read because it gives you everything you need to start today:

• Ready-to-use interview scripts for discovery, retention, and cancellation conversations
• The beloved "How to Talk So People Will Talk" section with specific phrases that help people open up (and shows you how to practice these skills safely with friends and family first)
• Clear frameworks for making sense of what you learn
• A real interview so you know what success looks like

“Deploy Empathy is, far and away, the best book I've ever read on user interviews. It is filled with tactical advice. I heartily recommend it to anyone who builds or sells.”

– Patrick McKenzie (aka patio11), Founder, Kalzumeus Software

"A smart look at one of business's most overlooked but critical topics." - Morgan Housel, Partner at Collaborative Fund and Author of the International Bestseller The Psychology of Money

Michele Hansen is the CEO & Co-Founder of Geocodio, a SaaS company she and her husband have bootstrapped to multi-millions in annual revenue. A former product manager who learned customer research "the hard way," Michele has conducted thousands of interviews across B2C and B2B contexts.

Jim Kalbach is a noted author, speaker, and instructor in innovation, design, and the future of work. He is currently Chief Evangelist at Mural, the leading online whiteboard. Jim is the author of several books: Designing Web Navigation (O'Reilly, 2007), Mapping Experiences, 2nd Ed. (O'Reilly, 2020), and The Jobs to Be Done Playbook (Rosenfeld, 2020). In 2023, he co-authored Collaborative Intelligence (Wiley, 2023) with Mariano Battan. Jim is also the Co-Founder and Principal at the JTBD Toolkit, an online resource with learning, trainings, and content.