Customer Interview Turned Into a Therapy Session

PHOENIX — A jobs-to-done customer interview turned into an ad-hoc therapy session when interviewee and loyal customer Paul Keller poured his heart out on the 30 minutes Zoom call, DTC socks startup "SockzUp" product marketing team confirmed.

"I started the interview with a standard JTBD question: What was going on in your life when you decided to buy our product? Tears welled up in Paul's eyes, and the next thing I know,  he broke down in tears. That was awkward," says Kelly Chen, expert jobs-to-be-done interviewer and product marketer for SockZup. "The next 30 minutes was an intense mix of deep-dive customer interview and makeshift therapy session. Apparently, he started buying our product right around his divorce proceeding as a comfort purchase, which is quite interesting. We might want to create a dedicated landing page for that."

Keller, who separated from his second wife last year, shared how grateful he was about the interview.

"I was eager to help because I'm a loyal customer. But wow, I never imagined the questions would revolve around my past so much. It's cathartic," says Keller, who has ordered more than 75 pairs of socks since last year. "I haven't had a deep conversation like this with someone since I stopped seeing my therapist because I need to save the money for alimony."

"When [Chen] asked me the question 'Before you purchased, did you imagine what using the product would be like?', I got emotional and cried for a full three minutes on Zoom. Buying a new pair of socks every week or so has been the substitute for a loving brace from another human being. Well, other than the occasional strip club visit."

As of press time, the SockzUp paid marketing team is brainstorming on how to effectively target the middle age divorced dad demography.