Sometimes new win/loss research clients will probe me about what value there is in interviewing won customers vs. only talking to lost prospects. Great question!
Even though our instinct is to only talk to people who did NOT choose us to get the greatest insights, it’s very helpful, and important to talk to both losses AND wins.
Your won customers went through the same evaluation process as those who did NOT choose you so they have valuable insights about their buying motivations, criteria, other vendors they looked at and their perceptions of your strengths/weaknesses against each.
In my experience, new customers are willing to share the good, bad and the ugly about their experience with your company during the evaluation process…very rarely was it a perfect process where you were 100% better than your competitors in all aspects. Often, prospects are faced with making trade-offs and forced to prioritize what is most important to them when choosing a vendor. Rarely does any vendor meet all of their criteria. So their insights about how you measured up are very helpful and valid…and definitely will provide you with some great insights.
New customers are also even more likely than lost prospects to share competitive details re: pricing, discounting, etc. that you may not have ready access to. They WANT to help you succeed…they want you to be the vendor of choice and will be willing to help in any way they can based on sharing their insights.
When pushed for a recommendation re: targeted # of interviews, I usually encourage clients to allocate their interviews approximately 2/3 lost and 1/3 won, to make sure that they have the full spectrum of perspectives.
And don’t forget the lovely ‘halo effect’ that can happen during these interviews with new customers, which helps solidify their loyalty to you and your brand!