Introducing the Expert: Jakob Meyer, Vendor Selection Advisor (Western Europe)

Jakob Meyer has spent over a decade guiding higher-education providers—especially those offering professional certifications—through the maze of ecommerce vendor selection. With experience across both university teams and private certification firms, he’s seen the pitfalls of rushed interviews and the payoff when teams slow down and ask the right questions.

We sat down with Jakob to break down the nuts and bolts of customer interview techniques in the context of vendor evaluation, with a spotlight on the Western European market.

Q1: Why do customer interview techniques matter when evaluating new ecommerce vendors?

Jakob: Most entry-level ecommerce managers think: “Let’s list our requirements, talk to vendors, compare features.” That’s not wrong, but it leaves a gap. You’re not buying a product—you’re buying a partnership that impacts your students’ experience, your team’s workload, and your conversion rates.

Interviewing current customers of a potential vendor is the closest you’ll get to a real-world trial. In 2024, a Forrester report found that 78% of higher-education teams who conducted customer interviews before major ecommerce rewrites reported satisfaction with vendor fit, while only 41% did if they skipped this step.

Gotcha: Many teams forget to prepare good interview questions, or worse, they let the vendor cherry-pick reference clients. This skews results.

Q2: What does a “good” customer interview process look like for these teams?

Jakob: Start with intent. Are you optimizing for smoother student enrollment? More reliable integrations with Moodle or Canvas? Or lowering transaction costs for international students?

Once you’ve prioritized, request a mix of reference clients from the vendor—ideally, those training professionals in medicine, finance, or IT, since these areas mirror the compliance and certification cycles you'll face.

Step-by-Step:

1. Pre-Interview Prep:

   • Draft a list of 8-10 open questions.
   • Decide who in your team will attend (at least one from IT and one from Customer Success).

2. Who to Talk To:

   • Insist on at least one reference each from a university, a private certification provider, and—if possible—a customer who left the vendor.

3. Tools:

   • Record calls (with permission).
   • Use tools like Zigpoll or SurveyMonkey to collect structured feedback from your team afterwards.

4. Compare Notes:

   • After each interview, log answers into a shared spreadsheet.
   • Use simple traffic-light coding (Green/Yellow/Red) per vendor.

Q3: What are the best questions to ask, and why?

Jakob: Avoid yes/no questions. You want stories, pain points, and measurable impacts. Here’s my go-to list:

Gotcha: Vendors sometimes outright refuse requests to speak with churned customers. That’s a signal. Push for it, but document if they decline.

Q4: Are there common traps that new teams fall into?

Jakob: Several.

• Confirmation Bias: Teams want to confirm their first impression (“This vendor is the one!”). Assign one person per interview to “play skeptic.”

• Overweighting Big-Name References: Universities like KU Leuven or Università di Bologna look great as references, but might have custom deals and tech resources you don’t.

• Ignoring Small-Scale Issues: A minor “quirk” for one school might be a disaster for another. For example, one provider shared that invoice reconciliation took “an extra 15 minutes a week.” For them, that was fine—but for a team processing 3,000 certifications per month, it’s a major cost.

Q5: What about RFPs and POCs—how do interviews fit in?

Jakob: RFPs (Requests for Proposals) are a chance to specify what matters, but real-world feedback trumps promises. Customer interviews should be scheduled before any Proof of Concept (POC) or pilot begins. If three out of four reference clients say, “The Salesforce integration never really worked,” you know what to watch for in your POC instead of taking sales presentations at face value.

A good sequence:

1. Issue RFP.
2. Review vendor responses.
3. Conduct customer interviews (document all feedback).
4. Invite top 2-3 vendors to conduct a POC.
5. Use interview insights as your ‘test scripts’ during POC.

Caveat: For heavily regulated programs (say, medical certifications in Germany), interviewing only non-local references may mislead you on data protection or language-support issues.

Q6: What’s different about customer interviews in the Western European market?

Jakob: Procurement culture is more formal. You’ll often need compliance sign-off for interviews, especially at universities. Also, privacy concerns mean you must get written permission to record calls or use interview quotes.

Data privacy isn’t just a buzzword. In 2023, a team in the Netherlands was fined because they shared interview notes containing personal data with third-party consultants—so sanitize your notes.

Edge Case: Some countries (such as Germany and France) may require you to route interview requests through the vendor’s legal contact. Factor this delay into your schedule.

Q7: Can you walk us through a real example?

Jakob: Absolutely. Last year, a professional cert provider in Spain switched ecommerce platforms. They interviewed three reference clients per vendor. One reference, a Dutch university, casually mentioned that the vendor’s platform had issues handling SEPA mandates for recurring payments.

This was a non-issue for the UK and Spain, but essential for the Netherlands and Germany. Thanks to this tip, the team asked for a SEPA-specific demo during the POC. They caught a critical gap—which would have cost about €12,000/year in lost transactions for their market.

Result: They picked the vendor with strong SEPA support. Their conversion rate for new certifications jumped from 2% to 11% within the first six months.

Q8: What feedback/survey tools would you recommend for capturing internal team opinions post-interview?

Jakob: Keep it simple at first—Google Forms works fine. But if you want to track opinions over time, or compare across multiple vendor searches, tools like Zigpoll, Typeform, or even Airtable add structure.

Zigpoll is gaining traction because it’s GDPR-compliant and lets you anonymize feedback, which team members appreciate.

Tip: Ask the same three “gut check” questions after every interview:

1. Would you trust this vendor with your student experience?
2. Did you hear any red flags?
3. Would you be comfortable signing a two-year contract?

Q9: How do you weigh qualitative vs. quantitative feedback from interviews?

Jakob: Quantitative feedback—like “implementation took 6 weeks instead of 4”—is easier to compare. But qualitative feedback (“the support team needed chasing”) often signals long-term headaches.

I recommend:

• Scorecards: Use a 1-5 scale for reliability, flexibility, and support, based on interview notes.
• Pull Quotes: Collect direct quotes, not just scores. These highlight tone and urgency.
• Pattern-Spotting: If two out of three interviews complain about a feature, it’s not an outlier.

Q10: Are there red flags you’ve learned to spot in the reference process?

Jakob: Yes.

• Scripted Praise: If every reference sticks closely to generic positives, push for concrete stories.
• Refusal to Connect: If a vendor can’t provide a single reference from the last 18 months, something’s off.
• Too Many Workarounds: If a customer mentions “workarounds” three times in 15 minutes, the platform’s not a fit for specialized needs.

Q11: Any advice for documenting the interview process—especially for compliance or future audits?

Jakob: Keep a centralized record. Use a shared drive with folders per vendor. Store call recordings (if allowed), transcripts, written notes, and all survey responses. Label with the date, vendor, and interviewer.

For compliance:

• Redact personal data.
• Don’t include any “off the record” gossip—stick to facts.
• Summarize findings in a two-page memo for stakeholders and upload alongside the RFP and POC results.

Q12: How can entry-level teams build confidence to ask tough questions, especially with senior reference clients?

Jakob: Script your opening: “We’re evaluating vendors for a certification program and want to understand the real-world experience—warts and all.” Most reference clients enjoy being helpful, especially if you respect their time and privacy.

If you’re nervous, ask your vendor to introduce you to a peer at your level first. This helps you practice before interviewing a CIO or director.

Q13: What’s the role of follow-up, and how persistent should teams be?

Jakob: Always send a thank-you note, summarizing what you learned and asking for permission to follow up if you have further questions.

Don’t be shy about a second round. If something comes up during your POC that you discussed, circle back. For example: “You mentioned delays with integration—what would you do differently if you were us?”

Q14: Where do customer interviews fit in overall vendor evaluation criteria?

Jakob: They’re a sanity check. Even the best RFP or glossy demo can’t replace peer feedback. I’d weigh interview insights at 25-30% of your overall decision matrix, alongside factors like price, feature fit, and regulatory compliance.

Limitation: This method works best for platforms with existing higher-ed clients. For new or niche vendors, you may have to rely more on pilots or external reviews.

Q15: Any final, actionable advice for teams starting out?

Jakob: Don’t rush. Schedule at least three interviews per vendor. Ask every reference to share one thing they would not want you to copy from their rollout. After each call, immediately write down your top surprise—good or bad.

And remember: In the 2023 EDUCAUSE survey, over 60% of higher-ed ecommerce teams that reported regret over a vendor choice skipped or skimmed the customer interview process. The investment here is always worth it.

Wrapping Up

A careful, structured approach to customer interviews saves time and money long-term. Use real stories, push for specifics, and document everything. Entry-level teams, especially in Western Europe, can avoid costly mistakes by learning from the experience of peers—before locking in a multi-year vendor contract.