Methodology
How Unask interviews and scores problems
Unask combines a proven qualitative research framework with structured quantitative scoring. Here's exactly how it works — no black box.
The Mom Test
Unask's interview engine is based on The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick — a methodology used by thousands of founders and product teams worldwide.
“Talk about their life instead of your idea. Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future. Talk less and listen more.”
Core principles
- Past behavior over opinions — “Tell me about the last time you dealt with this” instead of “Would you use this?”
- Real spending over hypotheticals — “How much did you end up paying?” instead of “Would you pay $X?”
- Workarounds over wishlists — “What do you currently do to solve this?” instead of “What features would you want?”
- No leading questions — The interviewer never mentions the product or suggests answers
5-Axis Behavioral Scoring
After interviews, Unask extracts problems and scores each one on five behavioral dimensions. The final score is a weighted composite — not gut feeling, but structured evidence.
Frequency
20%How often does this problem occur in the persona's life?
Cost Impact
20%How much time, money, or effort does the problem cost?
Emotional Intensity
20%How frustrated, anxious, or angry does it make them?
Spending Signals
20%Are they already paying for workarounds or partial solutions?
Lack of Alternatives
20%Are there no good alternatives, or are existing ones inadequate?
Bonuses & Penalties
Beyond the base score, behavioral signals can boost or reduce a problem's ranking. These adjustments capture nuances that pure axis scoring might miss.
Bonuses
Persona actively builds workarounds
Strong emotional language in responses
Persona ranks this as their top problem
Persona expresses dissatisfaction with current alternatives
Penalties
Persona shows interest but no past behavior or spending
The full pipeline
From your product description to a scored problem list — here's every step.
Persona Generation
Your product description is analyzed. 15 AI personas are generated with unique backgrounds, jobs, income levels, and pain points matching your target audience.
Depth Interviews
Each persona gets a 1:1 behavioral interview (10-14 turns). The interviewer asks about past actions, real spending, and existing workarounds. No leading questions.
Insight Extraction
Every transcript is analyzed to extract problems, behaviors, needs, and direct quotes. Each insight is tagged with the persona and verified against the transcript.
5-Axis Scoring
Problems are scored on frequency, cost impact, emotional intensity, spending signals, and lack of alternatives. Bonuses and penalties are applied based on behavioral signals.
Report Generation
A structured report with ranked problems, representative quotes, segment breakdowns, and methodology notes. Export as PDF for team sharing.
Augment, don't replace
AI personas are not real users. They won't surprise you the way a real conversation does. But they give you a structured starting point — testable hypotheses, ranked problems, and evidence-backed priorities.
Use Unask to figure out what to ask and who to talk to. Then go talk to real people. That's the research workflow that actually works.