Customer Research with Generative AI for Product Managers

University of California, Davis via Coursera

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Overview

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By the end of this course, you’ll be able to identify, analyze, and prioritize meaningful customer problems using generative AI. You’ll learn how to combine human-centered product thinking with AI tools to conduct research, uncover insights, and define high-impact product opportunities. You’ll develop practical skills in customer discovery, including using AI to explore customer needs, design and conduct effective interviews, and analyze qualitative data for patterns and insights. You’ll also learn how to evaluate AI outputs critically and apply ethical best practices when working with customer data. What makes this course unique is its hands-on, real-world approach to integrating AI into product management workflows. Rather than focusing on theory, you’ll apply AI tools throughout the course to complete key product tasks, from drafting interview guides to identifying opportunity areas using market research. This course is ideal for aspiring and early-career product managers, as well as professionals looking to incorporate AI into customer research and product discovery.

Syllabus

Getting Started & Product Discovery with Empathy and AI

In this week, you’ll get oriented to the course and begin identifying meaningful customer problems by combining empathy with AI-assisted research. You’ll explore how generative AI fits into modern product management, set up the tools you’ll use throughout the course, and connect your personal goals to the skills you’re building. You’ll learn how to understand customers deeply, use AI to explore patterns in their needs and frustrations, and evaluate AI-generated insights for accuracy and bias. By the end of this week, you’ll be able to define a clear customer group and problem space worth exploring. You’ll apply your learning by reflecting on your goals, using AI tools to investigate customer needs, and drafting your own customer problem statement. Tip: Focus on understanding the customer before jumping to solutions—strong discovery leads to better products.

Conducting Customer Interviews

In this module, you’ll learn how to design and conduct effective customer interviews using AI as a support tool. You’ll explore how to plan interviews that uncover meaningful insights, generate and refine interview questions with AI, and guide conversations toward real experiences rather than opinions. You’ll also learn how to apply ethical best practices when working with customers and AI tools. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to design and run a customer interview that produces actionable insights. You’ll apply your learning by creating an interview guide with AI and conducting your own customer interviews. Tip: The most valuable interviews focus on what people have actually done—ask for stories, not hypotheticals.

Analyzing Interview Data

In this module, you’ll learn how to turn raw interview data into clear insights using AI-supported analysis. You’ll explore how to identify patterns and themes in qualitative data, use generative AI to support synthesis, and evaluate AI outputs for accuracy and potential bias. You’ll also learn how to create a customer journey map to visualize insights and better understand the user experience. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to analyze interview data and identify meaningful customer problems. You’ll apply your learning by extracting themes from interview data and building a customer journey map. Tip: AI can speed up analysis, but your judgment is essential—always review and validate what AI produces.

Prioritizing Opportunities

In this module, you’ll learn how to turn customer insights into high-impact product opportunities using AI-supported research. You’ll explore how to reframe problems using the Jobs To Be Done framework, conduct lightweight market research with AI tools, and identify opportunities that are common, painful, and underserved. You’ll also learn how to evaluate which opportunities are most worth pursuing. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to define and prioritize a high-impact product opportunity. You’ll apply your learning by using AI to explore the market landscape and identify your top opportunity. Tip: The best opportunities sit at the intersection of real customer pain and unmet market need.