Five steps to create an interview guide (that actually gets answers)

If you’re looking to run your own win-loss interviews or collect rich feedback from other stages of the customer journey, it all starts with one key resource: a solid interview guide.

At Clozd, we’ve supported thousands of buyer interviews through our fully managed services, helping companies uncover the real reasons behind won and lost deals. But we also know that not every team needs (or wants) external support for every interview. That’s why we’ve introduced a self-service win-loss option, empowering teams to launch and manage interviews themselves.

This guide will walk you through how to build an interview guide that’s flexible, focused, and actually surfaces the insights your team can use, whether you’re just getting started or looking to scale your efforts.

1. Build a flexible interview framework—not a script

Your guide isn’t a checklist, and it’s definitely not a survey. It’s a framework for facilitating thoughtful, two-way conversation.

Interviewees should feel heard, not interrogated. That means writing questions that open up dialogue instead of shutting it down. Focus less on reading each question word-for-word and more on steering the conversation toward the areas that matter most to your team.

Some of the best moments come from unexpected places. Leave space for spontaneous follow-up questions like:

• “Can you tell me more about that?”
  
• “What made that important to you?”
  
• “Was there a moment when your thinking shifted?”
  
  

Those organic moments are often where the deepest insights emerge.

2. Start with the strategic “why”

Before you write your first question, zoom out. Why are you conducting these interviews in the first place?

Your guide should reflect your broader business priorities. For example:

• Trying to refine sales messaging? Ask about key buying criteria and messaging recall.
  
• Want to improve onboarding? Focus on expectations versus delivery.
  
• Looking to beat a specific competitor? Dive into competitive evaluation and perceptions.
  

When you align your guide to real strategic goals, it becomes much easier to share the findings in ways that drive action.

3. Organize by focus areas

To keep the conversation focused and productive, group your questions into clear thematic sections. Most buyer interview guides include 4–6 focus areas such as:

• Company & Role: Understand the buyer’s background and their role in the decision.
  
• Buying Triggers: What problem were they trying to solve?
  
• Sales Experience: How did the process feel? What stood out?
  
• Product Evaluation: What features or gaps influenced the decision?
  
• Competitive Landscape: Who else did they consider and why?
  
• Pricing & Packaging: Was the value proposition clear? Was anything a blocker?

You don’t need to hit every section in every interview, but having a structure helps keep things on track while giving you flexibility to adapt.

4. Keep It lean and make room for real conversation

There’s a temptation to include every possible question “just in case.” Resist it.

A bloated guide can bog down the conversation and make the interview feel transactional. Aim for depth over breadth. Get comfortable leaving some questions unanswered if the conversation naturally goes in a valuable direction.

Remember: the follow-ups are often where the gold is. If an interviewee shares something unexpected or emotional, lean in. Your job is to get the real story—not just fill in a checklist.

5. Bring in cross-functional voices early

Your interview guide shouldn’t live in a vacuum. Bringing in stakeholders from teams like sales, product, marketing, and customer success does two important things:

1. It strengthens the guide with real-world context and questions you might not think of on your own.
   
2. It increases buy-in for the final research, because people are more likely to act on insights they helped shape.
   
   

At Clozd, we often hear that interview findings spark the most change when they feel relevant across departments. Getting those teams involved early is how you make that happen.

Final thought

A well-crafted interview guide is the foundation of any successful win-loss interview or broader customer feedback effort. Whether you’re running a formal program or testing the waters with a few conversations, your guide sets the tone for what you’ll learn—and what you’ll be able to act on.

If you’re looking to run your own interviews, Clozd offers a self-service platform that makes it easy to launch, manage, and learn from your own buyer conversations. Want to learn more? Reach out to our team to see how it works.

‍