User interview script (Mom Test)

A discovery interview is about their week, not your idea. Every question here asks about something the person has already done: the last time the problem came up, how they handled it, what they paid. Kind people will guess generously about the future. They rarely make up last Tuesday.

Best for: Product teams and researchers doing problem discovery before anything gets built.

Use this template free

1 of 7

Walk me through the last time you ran into this problem.

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The questions

1Walk me through the last time you ran into this problem.Long textA specific past episode beats a general opinion.
2How did you handle it? What tools or steps did you use?Long text
3What was the most frustrating part of that?Long text
4How often does this come up for you?Single selectDaily / Weekly / Monthly / Rarely. How often it happens shows how much it hurts.
5What have you tried to fix it, and why didn't it stick?Long text
6If you've paid for anything to help with this, what was it?Short textMoney already spent is the strongest sign the problem is real.
7Who else on your team deals with this?Short text

Sample replies, counted

These replies are made up to show the method.

Asked: Walk me through the last time you ran into this problem.

Last Tuesday. A client was 40 days late, so I dug through my sent folder for the original invoice and forwarded it again.Chased it by email
i keep a google sheet of every invoice and colour the late ones red. checked it sunday nightKept a spreadsheet
Our bookkeeper usually handles it. I just ping her on Slack when someone hasn't paid.Handed it to someone
I wrote a polite reminder, deleted it, wrote a firmer one, then sent the polite one anyway. Took half an hour.Chased it by email
Honestly I let a $300 one go last month. Not worth the awkwardness.Gave up on it
Spreadsheet, plus calendar reminders on the 1st and the 15th.Kept a spreadsheet
Called them. Email had stopped working.Other

7 replies, one label each
Label	Replies
Chased it by email	2
Kept a spreadsheet	2
Handed it to someone	1
Gave up on it	1
Other	1

Four of seven already chase late payments with email or a spreadsheet, so those are what you're up against. The person who wrote three drafts shows where the pain sits: the awkward message, not the tracking.

How to run it well

Don't describe your idea before these questions. Once they know it, every answer bends toward being nice.
Chase specifics. Ask 'tell me about the last time', not 'do you usually'.
Don't rush to fill a pause or cut in. Give people room to finish the thought.
Listen for strong feelings and homemade workarounds. Those mark problems worth solving.

When not to use this: If you haven't worked out who to talk to yet, interviews with the wrong people waste everyone's hour. Start with a customer interview screener.

FAQ

Why ask about the past instead of the future?

People are bad at predicting what they'll do or pay, and good at telling you what they already did. The Mom Test builds every question on that.

Can I run a Mom Test script as a form instead of a live call?

Yes. Written answers let you hear from more people, and there's no interviewer's tone nudging the reply. Enform's branching follows up on what they said, so it still feels like a conversation.

Where the method comes from

A Primer on Talking to Customers From Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test, Sachin Rekhi (2023)sachinrekhi.com
User Interviews 101, Nielsen Norman Group (2023)nngroup.com