Before beginning an interview with a customer, it is necessary to set the stage and refresh the customer's memory relative to the purpose of the customer interview.

The moderator should lead the discussion and introduce themselves along with their position and, specifically, how their position relates to the customer VoC. Next, the moderator should introduce the rest of the team and provide details of their backgrounds, applicability to the customer VoC, and their roles in the interview. Having the moderator perform this extra step helps to further solidify their role in the VoC as being the person responsible for interacting with the customer, but if the situation warrants it, you can also have each team member introduce themselves.

After all the team members have been introduced, provide a brief overview of the customer VoC project and the purpose behind the customer interviews with enough information so that the customer understands the value they can bring to the project, but also an understanding of what the customer interview is not (a sales call, technical troubleshooting, pricing discussion, and so on). Of course, if you are dealing with an irate customer for one reason or another, it may be difficult for them to turn off their attitude of "I'm gonna tell them a thing or two when they show up." In this case, it is best to allow a 10–15 minute discussion where they can express their displeasure with your product, support, pricing, and so on, and get it off their chest before beginning the actual interview. But please, try to address the customer's issues well enough so they will be able to focus on your interview questions, but do not spend your entire visit dealing with the customer's issue, thereby defeating the original purpose of the visit.

As a part of the introduction, emphasize that only a few customers have been selected, and if warranted, tell them why they were selected. Explain that notes are going to be taken, how they will be used, and that they will be confidential between the customer and your organization or project team, but that they could be part of a follow-up that you might distribute to all the customer participants so they may see how others in their peer group also responded to some of the open issues. Lastly, if you will be recording or videotaping the interview, double-check to make sure this is okay with the customer.