4 Must-Have Customer Needs Analysis Questions (Quick Start)

Critical questions for customer needs analysis for social impact leaders

Apr 5, 2025
Free Template for Channel Partner Customer Needs Analysis

4 Essential Questions for Customer Needs Analysis

Need to understand your community quickly? This quick start guide distills the 4 essential customer needs analysis (CNA) questions for social impact leaders, ensuring you capture core insights from beneficiaries and stakeholders when time is limited.
  • Remember to revise the wording of these questions to make them your own.
  • This article provides the key questions for Discovery and Validation. For more on the "why" behind them and deeper strategies, see the full guides on needs discovery & validation.

Phase 1: Discovery

Understanding Customer Needs (Partner & Client)
Sequence
Question
Response Notes
1
Define Dream Outcome

If you are talking to your target directly
Ideally, what does success look like for you when to achieve a key goal (e.g., finding stable employment)?

If you are talking to a channel partner with direct access to your target**
Ideally, what does success look like for you when you're helping your typical client (e.g., a youth participant in your program) navigate a key goal (e.g., finding stable employment)?

**For more on this case, see this guide
2
Identify the #1 Challenge

Thinking about that ideal success, what are the main challenges or limitations – perhaps with current tools, resources, or the overall process – that make achieving that ideal difficult for you today?

If channel partner:
Add “…difficult for you or or your clients today”

If they list many, ask them to rate significance (1-5) to prioritize the biggest misalignment. (Refer to guide for tips)



3
Identify Consequences

Thinking about [the #1 challenge identified above], what are the specific consequences to your life if it’s not addressed?

If channel partner:
Add “…to your or your clients’ lives or finance if if it’s not addressed?”
 

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Phase 2: Validation

Analyze Offer Alignment
Sequence
Question
Response Rating & Notes
4
Validate Offer

[Share solution/offer]

Based on your review of our proposed solution/offer, on a scale of 1 to 5, how well does this align with addressing the challenges we discussed, and how interested would you be in [a working session to refine its fit]?

(Adjust wording based on your desired call to action)

5
Next Steps

If 4+ (Strong Alignment):
Schedule next step in meeting

If 3 or below (Alignment Gap):
To help me understand, what's the biggest friction point regarding taking that collaborative step with us and make that session feel like a ‘5/5’ valuable use of your time?



Refine Needs and Offers

These customer needs analysis questions provide a starting point for your direct engagement efforts in the social impact sector.
  • Select, adapt, and combine them based on your specific goals and stakeholders.
  • Remember that how you ask and listen is as important as what you ask.
  • This article provides the key questions for Discovery and Validation. For more on the "why" behind them and deeper strategies, see the full guides on needs discovery & validation.
 

 

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