# Positioning interviews when users misclassify the tool

> When users keep describing the product too narrowly, interview them until you understand the mistaken frame and rebuild the positioning or feature set around it.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/positioning-interviews-when-users-misclassify-the-tool/
- Source: [buffer.com](https://buffer.com/resources/launching/)
- GrowthDex source hub: [Buffer Open Blog](/sources/buffer-open-blog-buffer-com/)
- Last checked: 2026-06-06T02:15:00Z
- Rarity: rare
- Budget: free
- Channels: Customer Research, Product Marketing, Product
- Stages: positioning, customer interviews, roadmap, messaging


## Why this can grow

A lot of teams hear "people do not need this" when the real problem is "people think this is for a much smaller job than it actually is." Those are different problems. One is demand. The other is category framing. Interviews expose that distinction because the customer will often describe the wrong use case in plain language long before the analytics dashboard makes the issue obvious. Once the team hears the frame clearly, it can widen the product, rewrite the message, or both.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. I would run it small enough to learn quickly, then only scale the parts that real users repeat, save, reply to, or buy from. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where positioning interviews when users misclassify the tool can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Customer Research and Product Marketing channel.
3. Use the evidence from buffer.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

Buffer's Pablo interviews revealed that users saw the tool as a quote-image maker rather than a broader social-media image tool. That changed the product direction toward more images, repositioning controls, and richer text options.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Post-spike drop-off interview sprint](/growth-ideas/post-spike-drop-off-interview-sprint/) - same source, 2 shared channels, 1 shared stage
- [Launch comms reviewed by support before send](/growth-ideas/launch-comms-reviewed-by-support-before-send/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 1 shared stage
- [Adjacent-product onboarding email loop](/growth-ideas/adjacent-product-onboarding-email-loop/) - same source, 1 shared channel
- [Login-page cross-sell billboard](/growth-ideas/login-page-cross-sell-billboard/) - same source, 1 shared channel

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Related GrowthDex essays

- [The spike should teach the next system](/blog/the-spike-should-teach-the-next-system/) - content marketing, launches, seo

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.