Merchant Interview Script — 45 minutes
Goal: understand the merchant's current day, not pitch Jobab. We're trying to learn what makes them lose orders, where the pain is, and where the AI would actually help.
Do not demo the product. Show it only if they ask. The interview is worth more than the demo at this stage.
Setup (2 min)
- Audio record (with permission)
- Take written notes on a separate device
- Camera off / on at their preference
"Apa, ami Jobab toiri korchhi — ekta AI assistant je apnar moto chhoto business er DM gulo handle korte pare. Aapnar bishesh kichu shomossha bujhar jonno aaj kotha bolte chai. Apnar shomoye kemon shomoy lage, kothay shomossha hoy, eishob. Demo to porer din. Aaj just shunte chai."
1. Their day (10 min)
- When do you typically open the Page DMs in the morning?
- How long does it take to clear the overnight messages?
- Walk me through the last DM you replied to. What did the customer ask?
- Last week, how many orders did you actually take? How many did you almost take but lose because you couldn't reply in time?
Listen for: time-of-day pain (especially 10pm-7am), volume that exceeds their capacity, repetitive questions (price, size, delivery).
2. Where it goes wrong (10 min)
- Tell me about the last time a customer got angry with you. What happened?
- Tell me about an order that went wrong — wrong size, wrong colour, wrong address. How did you fix it?
- Have you ever lost a customer because you replied too late?
- Do you have a staff member who helps with DMs? When? How do they work?
Listen for: trust fragility, edge cases the AI must not break.
3. What they've tried (5 min)
- Have you used any chat-automation tools before? (E-Cab, ChatBoss, etc.)
- What did you like? What made you stop?
- Do you have a website or just the Page?
- How do you accept payment? bKash, Nagad, COD?
Listen for: competitive scar tissue, integration constraints.
4. The wedge test (8 min)
"Apa, kolpona korun, ekta AI apnar Page er DM-e ashe — apnar mukher bhasha use kore, product gulo recommend kore, customer er address-phone niye order tao create kore felay. Aapni shudhu jokhon kichu jhulpita hobe — complaint, refund, kichu confusing — tokhon take over koren. Erokom kichu hole apnar life-e koto shomoy bachbe?"
- If it worked perfectly, how many hours/week would you save?
- If it made one mistake — said the wrong price, took an order you couldn't fulfil — what would you do?
- Would you trust it during the day, at night, or both?
- What would have to be true for you to keep paying for it?
Listen for: trust threshold, time-value (hours → ৳), willingness-to-pay priming.
5. Pricing prime (5 min) — only if engagement is strong
- If a tool like this existed, what would feel fair to you each month? Free, ৳500, ৳2,000, ৳5,000?
- Would you rather pay flat, per-order, or share of sales?
- Would you want a free trial? How long?
Don't promise anything. Note their numbers; their first guess is usually high because they want to seem reasonable. The real number comes out in weeks 3-4 of the pilot when we ask for credit-card-on-file.
6. Pilot recruit (5 min)
"Apa, ami ekhon 3 jon merchant er shathe ekta 4-shoptaher pilot korchhi. Free for now. Aamra apnar shathe ekdin shoddhe boshbo, apnar Page connect kore debo, ar apni shudhu apnar customer der DM gulo amader AI handle korte deben. Sprite somossha hole apni nije takeover korte parben. Asompurno hole — kono problem nai, bondho kore deben."
- Are you interested?
- If yes: when can we come for the 90-min setup session?
- Can we record one week of your DMs (anonymised) so we can improve the Bangla quality?
- Who else in your network might be a good fit?
After the call (15 min, alone)
Write the one paragraph that captures:
- The single sharpest pain they described
- The exact threshold of trust they'd need
- A number — hours saved or ৳ paid — that anchors them
- Whether this merchant fits the wedge (yes/no/maybe + why)
If 2 of 3 interviews give you the same paragraph, that's product-market signal. If 0 of 3 do, the wedge is wrong.