I'm writing a short book on the art of the customer interview - join the waitlist.

Where psychology meets product & marketing research

Customers drive your growth.
Find out what drives them.

I’m Hannah, ex-psychotherapist with 15 years experience as a consumer psychology researcher. I don't just study your customers - I help product and marketing teams turn what I find into better positioning, product and pipeline.

  • Clarity on what actually drives purchase, adoption and retention

  • Messaging and positioning grounded in real customer language

  • A research-backed narrative your team can finally align around

Trusted by product and marketing teams at:

The Problem

My clients want to make big bets - but don't have the data to back them.

💬 "We have opinions - and lots of internal debate - but no real data to align around."

💬 "Our forecasts and strategic plays are based on very little actual customer insight."

💬 "We are guessing at the value propositions that resonate with our customers."

💬 "We need to validate our core hypotheses with happy and paying customers."

The problem isn't a lack of data - most teams have plenty of it: NPS scores, analytics, behavioural models, CSAT scores. But none of it gives you that deep understanding - or tells you why customers behave the way they do.

THE shift

That's why I built this framework - to show teams exactly what kind of data they're missing.

Most teams are sitting on Levels 1 to 3 - what users say, think, and do. Which is useful - but incomplete. Level 4 is the why behind the behaviour. It's the hardest to reach and the most valuable thing you can know about your customer.

Level 4 is where real customer understanding lives. It's the difference between hoping a bet will work and having the clarity and confidence to invest big. The trouble is, Level 4 is hard to reach.

THE solution

I help teams get to Level 4 - the holy grail of customer understanding.

My work focuses on three areas where Level 4 understanding makes the biggest difference:

✅ Product:

Why people choose your product, what job it's doing for them, and what to build next.

✅ Growth:

The trigger, the pain, the message that lands - so you can convert more of the right people.

✅ Retention:

What keeps your best customers coming back - and how to make that the norm.

★★★★★
Hannah’s research helped us get alignment on our ICP and ship a new website in 2 weeks with a 64% lift in search.

Jamaica L, CMO at Sensat

★★★★★
Hannah's research gave us the confidence for bolder positioning & got leadership to align on our direction.

Sophie C, ex-CMO at Mosaic

★★★★★
Hannah got us clarity on how to increase program adoption at a depth we were missing before.

Gary C, Head of Intl at HubSpot

★★★★★
There is an art to question design and Hannah knows it. Her questions got us the exact insight we needed to optimize onboarding and her work will benefit us far into the future.

Jonathan S, ex-PM at Shopify Plus

★★★★★
Hannah unlocked deeper insights than we'd found before. It was the missing glue in our messaging.

Christian M, GM at Resident

★★★★★
Hannah helped us get crystal clear on our target market. Her insights will feed directly into our marketing, sales, messaging and help us make smarter decisions.

Sam G, ex-Director at Pelago

THE process

Here’s what working with me looks like:

Each project runs through 4 phases on a 6-8 week cycle - designed to move fast without cutting corners.

Phase 1:

Align

I dig into what the research needs to answer - so we don't waste time solving the wrong or small problems.

✅ Outcome: A research brief that aligns everyone on what we're actually trying to learn.

Phase 2:

Design

I build a focused plan to get us Levels 1-4 data - not just what people think and do, but why they do it.

✅ Outcome: An interview guide to give us confidence in the direction before a single user call.

Phase 3:

Discover

I lead in-depth interviews designed to get beneath the surface - where the real insight lives.

✅ Outcome: The real picture of what drives your customers - at a depth your team hasn't had before.

Phase 4:

Deliver

I make sure findings don't sit in a deck - they land with your team and actually drive decisions.

✅ Outcome: Org-wide alignment, shared language around your customer, clarity on your next move.

THE difference

I'm not your typical researcher.

I'm an ex-psychotherapist - which means I don't just understand what drives people to act, I know how to draw the truth out of them.That's how I get to Level 4 when other researchers stay at Level 3.But good research is only half of it.Before I deliver findings, I study your team:Their assumptions and expectations, what might make them defensive.That shapes how I present what I learn, so insights don't just get received. They stick.

The goal isn't just deep customer insight. It's your team walking away aligned, energized, and ready to act on what they've learned.

In brief:

  • 15 years of qualitative research experience across B2B, B2C and DTC - healthcare, fintech, retail, eCommerce and SaaS.

  • My interviewing framework is rooted in psychotherapy and consumer psychology, informed by Jobs to Be Done and motivational interviewing, and tested across 1000s of customer conversations.

★★★★★
Hannah's research told us exactly where to focus this next year - and got the whole org aligned around it.

James D, ex-CEO of Sensat

★★★★★
Hannah’s research gave us real confidence in what we're building and helps us market more strategically.

Matthew H, CEO of Mosaic

THE questions

Frequently asked questions:

Product and marketing teams making big bets without deep customer insight to back them. I work best when there's no dedicated research function, or when you need an unbiased outside view that an internal team can't always provide. If you already have a large in-house research team running studies, I'm probably not the right fit.

Most projects run 6-8 weeks from kick-off to delivery. Tighter timelines can be accommodated - but a lot depends on how quickly we're able to recruit the right sample of customers to talk to. Get in touch and we'll figure out what's possible.

In qualitative research, clear patterns typically emerge within 12-15 interviews. Unlike quantitative research - which requires statistical significance across hundreds of responses - qual is about depth, not volume. The goal is to understand the why behind behaviour, not just measure it at scale.

Projects start at $50K USD. Pricing is based on recruiting complexity, sample size, depth of segmentation analysis, and level of strategic recommendations.

Every project includes a findings report and live presentation - plus deliverables tailored to how your team actually works, including workshops, persona cards, a quotes bank, playbooks. These are designed to turn research into clarity and momentum - giving your team the insight, alignment, and direction needed to act.

All work is led by me personally - no handoffs, no outsourcing. So you get a direct partner who understands your business, works closely with your team throughout, and can pivot quickly as we learn.

I have experience across mixed methods research, but qualitative is where I specialize - in-depth interviews that get to the why behind customer behaviour. Surveys make the most sense on the back of qual, to validate and size findings at scale. So if quant is needed, I'd always recommend sequencing it after the interviews, not ahead of them. I can help you scope that next step when the time is right.

If you're making decisions - on positioning, product or messaging - without really knowing what's driving your customers, you need qual. Some signals: your team keeps debating direction without customer data to anchor on; you know what customers do but not why; messaging isn't landing and you can't pinpoint why; or you're building on assumptions that have never been tested. Qual gives you the foundation. Everything else builds from there.

Hannah Shamji Research Inc. © 2026. All rights reserved.