Your customers are lying to you (and they don't even know it)

The idea is simple: what people tell you in interviews and surveys often bears little resemblance to how they behave in real life.

What's a Customer Reality test?

It's systematic observation of real customers in their natural environment as they interact with products and services in their daily lives.

No artificial settings. No hypothetical questions. Just quiet, methodical observation of actual behaviour in the real world.

Most teams rely on what customers tell them. But watching what they actually do reveals an entirely different story.

How a retailer completely reframed their omnichannel strategy

A major UK retailer we work with was planning to invest £25M in their omnichannel shopping experience. Based on extensive customer surveys and focus groups, they'd developed a strategy centered around a "seamless shopping journey" that would let customers start purchases on one device and finish on another, with features like cross-device baskets and sophisticated recommendation engines.

Before committing, they conducted a Customer Reality Test with our guidance. The team:

• Shadowed 24 customers during actual shopping trips, both in-store and at home

• Observed their complete shopping journey from initial interest to purchase

• Documented how they used the website, app, and physical stores

• Captured real-world contextual factors that influenced their shopping decisions

The reality didn't match what customers had told them at all:

• Only 8% of customers actually shopped in the sequential, cross-device way their strategy assumed

• Instead, 63% followed a "research online, then start fresh in-store" pattern, deliberately keeping digital and physical shopping separate

• Customers weren't using their phones in-store to continue digital journeys; they were using them to consult with friends and family via messaging apps and photos

• The highest friction point wasn't moving between channels. it was confirming whether specific products were actually available in their local store

The company completely reoriented their strategy around these insights:

• They scrapped the expensive cross-device basket synchronisation system

• Instead, they created a simplified "check local stock" feature prominent on every product page

• They built new in-store displays designed to address the specific questions customers typically researched online

• They developed a "share with friends" feature that worked with popular messaging platforms

The revised approach cost £9M instead of £25M and delivered a 34% improvement in conversion rate between online research and in-store purchases. Most importantly, it solved problems customers actually had rather than problems the company thought they had.

Without watching real shopping behaviour, they would have invested millions in solving a problem that barely existed while missing the actual friction points in their customer experience.

How to run a Customer Reality Test

To run this test, you'll need:

• Access to real customers in their natural environment

• Permission to observe them (obviously important!)

• A structured observation framework

• Team members trained to observe without interfering

1. Define what you're looking for

Be clear about what you want to learn. Are you observing how customers:

• Complete specific tasks?

• Interact with existing products?

• Handle particular situations or problems?

• Make decisions in certain contexts?

2. Recruit the right participants

Find customers who represent your segment and who are willing to be observed naturally. Be transparent about your purpose, but avoid explaining exactly what you're looking for.

3. Create an observation protocol

Develop a consistent structure for notes that captures:

• Context (time, location, situation)

• Activities (what they're doing)

• Pain points (frustrations, workarounds, inefficiencies)

• Unmet needs (what they want but can't currently do)

4. Observe without interfering

The key to a good Customer Reality Test is becoming invisible. Don't ask questions during observation. Don't suggest solutions. Just watch and document.

5. Look for patterns across observations

The most valuable insights come from seeing recurring behaviours across multiple customers:

• Common workarounds

• Shared frustrations

• Unexpected use cases

• Environmental factors you hadn't considered

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Asking questions during observation (this changes behaviour)

• Only observing for short periods (you'll miss important context)

• Jumping to solutions instead of deeply understanding problems

• Focusing only on your product (observe the entire customer experience)

Try this next week

Identify a key customer segment for your product or service. Recruit 3-5 customers willing to be observed for several hours. Create a simple observation sheet to document what you see. Look for patterns that contradict what customers have told you in the past.

You'll likely discover your customers have been unintentionally misleading you about how they actually use your product.