Summary - One of the things I’ve learned—over and over again—building product companies is that there is no substitute for actually talking with your customers.
That might sound obvious. But in practice, it’s surprisingly easy to drift away from real customer conversations. We invest in analytics, dashboards, surveys, and feedback tools (all of which matter), yet many companies rarely sit down with the people who actually use their product.
At Klipfolio, we try hard not to let that happen.
Of course, we’re fortunate to have an excellent customer success and support team. They’re on the front lines every day, helping customers succeed and capturing valuable feedback. But that doesn’t remove the responsibility from founders, product leaders, and executives to spend real time with customers themselves.
That one-on-one face time—listening, watching, asking, and learning—is where some of the most important insights come from. Check out my YouTube video to hear my take.
When we speak directly with customers, we’re not just asking what features they like or don’t like. We’re trying to understand how they’re actually using the product, what outcomes they care about, and what expectations they brought with them in the first place. Those conversations often surface things that never show up in a ticket, a survey response, or a usage report.
My co-founder Peter and I regularly join customer conversations. We try to ask open, non-leading questions and stay genuinely curious. Questions like: If this product weren’t here anymore, how would you feel? Or what’s missing today? Or if you had a magic wand, what would you change? These aren’t trick questions—they’re designed to get at what really matters.
What we’ve learned is that individual answers aren’t the point. Patterns are. It’s our job as a company to listen carefully, identify common themes, and then test those ideas back in the market. Customer feedback doesn’t automatically become a roadmap, but it absolutely informs better decisions.
We also believe strongly in sharing that voice of the customer more broadly across the company. One practice we’ve really valued is inviting customers to our all-hands meetings. It’s a simple idea, but a powerful one. Customers get to share how they use Klipfolio Klips or PowerMetrics, what’s working, and where we can do better—directly with the entire team. At the same time, employees get to hear real stories and real context behind the work they’re doing every day.
The impact goes both ways. Employees gain clarity and motivation. Customers feel heard, valued, and genuinely included. It reinforces that we’re not building software in isolation—we’re building it with and for the people who rely on it.
We do collect feedback in many ways: support interactions, feature requests, surveys, and internal systems all play a role. But time and again, the most insightful moments come from direct conversations. Tone, hesitation, enthusiasm—those human signals matter. They’re hard to quantify, but they’re incredibly informative.
There’s also something else that happens when you listen consistently. Trust builds. Relationships deepen. Customers become more willing to share not just what’s broken, but what they’re trying to achieve next. And that kind of dialogue is hard to fake.
In a world where many companies rarely, if ever, talk to their customers, simply showing up and listening is becoming a differentiator.
So consider this an open invitation. If you’re a Klipfolio customer and you have ideas, aspirations, frustrations, or things you think we could do better, I genuinely want to hear from you. Reach out. Start the conversation. We’ll listen—and we’ll take it seriously.
Because at the end of the day, building great products starts with understanding the people who use them.
