Customer Research Skill Overview
The customer-research skill is a structured methodology for investigating customer questions through multi-source research. Here are its key components:
Core Process
The skill follows five steps: understanding the question, planning search strategy, executing systematic searches, synthesizing findings, and presenting with attribution.
Source Hierarchy
Sources are prioritized by authority:
- Tier 1 (Highest): Official documentation, knowledge bases, policies, and internal roadmaps
- Tier 2: CRM records, support tickets, internal documents
- Tier 3: Chat history, emails, calendar notes
- Tier 4: Web searches, forums, third-party resources
- Tier 5: Inferences and analogous situations
Confidence Scoring
Answers are labeled as:
- High: Confirmed by authoritative sources or multiple corroborations
- Medium: Found in informal sources or single sources without corroboration
- Low: Inferred or from outdated/unreliable sources
- Unable to Determine: No relevant information available
Escalation Triggers
Escalate when answers involve roadmap commitments, pricing, legal terms, security/compliance, precedent-setting, custom configurations, specialized expertise, or high-risk situations.
Documentation
Research findings should be captured in the knowledge base when they address recurring questions, required significant effort, or correct common misunderstandings, with date-stamps and quarterly reviews.