When you start working on a new project, one of the first things you need to do is answer the question, “Who are the people that will use this product?” If you don’t have a clear answer to this question, you are likely to end up with something that is completely unusable.
You can’t understand good design if you don’t understand people; design is made for people. – Dieter Rams, German industrial designer
User interviews are a tool that can help you gain this understanding. When conducted properly, interviews can provide deep insights into your users – their goals, perceptions, and experiences. On the other hand, poorly conducted interviews can give you inaccurate information that can take your design in the wrong direction.
When to Conduct User Interviews
Although user interviews can be beneficial at any stage of the product development process, there are three specific times when interviews are especially valuable. These times are:
At the Beginning of the Project, Before Defining a Clear Concept
You conduct interviews with people to gain a better understanding of potential users and their wants and needs. The information you gather during the interview will help you start thinking about a solution.
During the Early Stages of Product Development
When the product team has an early prototype of their concept, showing it to users can provide valuable feedback.
After Shipping the Product
Interviews can be conducted alongside observation. These interviews are called contextual inquiries, and they are conducted in the context of product use. These interviews allow users to show you how they interact with your product.
How to Conduct a User Interview
There are three steps in the interview process: preparing for the interview, conducting the interview, and analyzing the results after the interview. Below, we will look at how to carry out each step of a successful and informative interview.
Step 1: Before the Interview
Some people think of an interview as just a conversation with other people, and that it doesn’t require much preparation. However, while interviews certainly share some aspects with everyday conversations, a good interview requires considerable preparation. Otherwise, your chances of obtaining valuable insights are limited.
Here are six things you should prepare for before conducting a user interview:
1. Define a Clear Objective
It’s important to start every new interview project with a clear understanding of the purpose of your research. It’s essential to know why you want to conduct interviews and what you hope to gain from them. For example, you might want to know why 50 percent of users who reach the payment stage in your e-commerce app abandon the checkout process.
The following questions will help you formulate a goal for your interviews:
- What do I need to know about our users to improve our app?
- How will this knowledge affect the design process?
Tip: Involve key stakeholders in the process of defining the research purpose. This step will add extra weight to this activity by getting their buy-in.
2. Ensure That the Interview is the Right Tool for the Problem You Want to Solve
Interviews are not a one-size-fits-all solution for every design challenge. It’s important to know when the interview will be the best tool and when it’s better to use other methods. For example, the interview may not be the best tool to find out which color scheme to choose for your app. It would be better to use user testing for that purpose.
3. Determine Whom You Will Interview
Recruiting participants is a vital part of the interview process. It’s important to recruit a representative sample of your target audience. Start with your user personas and try to find interview participants that match them. Decide whether you want to have a specific group of users or users from different groups.
As for…
It relates to the number of people you should meet, there are no hard and fast rules. You can apply the principle set by Jakob Nielsen for usability testing and start by interviewing five participants. If you notice that by participant number five you have stopped gaining any new insights, it is likely that you do not need to recruit more participants.
4. Design Your Interview Questions
If you want just one piece of advice for your interview, it is this: do not start conducting an interview without a prepared discussion guide. A discussion guide is a document in which you outline the questions you want to ask participants. The discussion guide should be closely aligned with the purpose of your research, and the questions should be selected according to your learning objective. “If you want just one piece of advice for your interview, it is this: do not start conducting an interview without a prepared discussion guide.”
At the same time, having a discussion guide does not mean you have to ask all the questions in it during the interview. Think of it more as a reference document, a “framework” for your discussion, rather than a written script. During interviews, the guide should serve as a reference for the questions you want to ask or the topics you wish to cover.
The discussion guide typically consists of two types of questions – general and product-related. General questions are those you ask during the introductory part. These questions might include:
- Can you tell me about your habits? What apps/sites do you regularly use?
Product-related questions focus on obtaining specific details about user behavior. These questions might include:
- What is the hardest part of [the task]? What can we do to make [the task] easier?
Be sure to keep the following tips in mind when preparing your question scenario:
- Keep the scenario short enough. Write out all your questions and read them out loud. If it takes more than ten minutes to read, your script is too long and needs to be shortened.
- Write clear questions. Do not use unfamiliar terms in your questions.
- Avoid long questions. The questions you ask should be relatively concise and easy to understand. People cannot hold too much information in their short-term memory, so avoid long sentences with too many details.
- Do not ask questions about the future. When you ask questions like “When we launch [the product] in the market, will you buy it?” people are likely to say yes just to make you feel good. In reality, they have no idea.
- Test the discussion guide. Run a mock interview with a peer and ask them the questions from your guide. This will help you understand if you can gather valuable insights based on the responses you receive.
- Revise the discussion guide. Improve the guide based on the results of actual interview sessions.
5. Create a Good Environment
When it comes to in-person interviews, the actual space you choose to conduct the interview will directly affect the outcomes of the interview session. People often behave according to their environment.
Just imagine an empty room with white walls, two chairs, a table, and a wall of mirrors shielding observers on the other side. This room feels more like an interrogation setting than a place for discussions. It would be difficult for the interviewee to relax in such an environment.
6. Do Not Conduct the Interview Alone
It is best to conduct the interview with a partner. There are three main benefits to having two people collaborate on the interview:
- Distributing responsibilities. One person can ask the questions while the other takes notes.
- Supporting each other in real-time. The person taking notes can also think of any questions the first person forgot and remind them.
- Gaining more valuable insights. When they interview together, they can share and discuss their thoughts and impressions after the interview.
The Step
2: During the Interview
Once you have prepared, the next step is to ensure that the actual interview runs according to plan. Here are 14 steps to take to ensure you gain the valuable insights you are looking for:
1. Set Yourself in a Positive Mood
Before you enter the meeting room, take a deep breath and smile. It is a proven fact that smiling creates a more positive mood, and since positive moods are contagious, the interviewee is likely to feel better as well.
2. Commit to a Semi-Structured Interview Format
When it comes to choosing a format for interviewing people, there are two opposing types:
- Fully structured interviews. These are interviews where all questions are predefined. Such interviews look very much like a survey.
- Fully unstructured interviews. This is an open dialogue between individuals, which rarely yields valuable insights. As Steve Portigal, author of the book “Interviewing Users,” says, “To learn something new, it requires interviewing, not just chatting.”
Semi-structured interviews fall in the middle. They are a type of interview where you prepare a set of topics you wish to cover (which is documented in your discussion guide), but you can change the order of questions depending on the flow of the conversation.
Semi-structured interviews have two main advantages:
- They feel natural to people. Unlike structured interviews, semi-structured interviews do not create a feeling of being interrogated.
- Flexibility in topic flow. They give the interviewer an opportunity to explore topics that they did not think were relevant beforehand. You can gain additional valuable insights by expanding on answers and asking follow-up questions.
3. Build Trust with the Interviewee
The quality of the interview will be affected if you cannot calm the interviewee and gain their trust. Therefore, your goal at the start of the interview is to make the interviewee feel comfortable. This goal is not hard to achieve. Here’s what you should do:
- Make them feel welcome. Greet the interviewee by name, offer them a drink, and start with friendly small talk before transitioning to the main topic of discussion.
- Get to know a little about the interviewee. Ask questions like “Can you tell me about yourself?” and allow them to speak freely about their background, lifestyle, or technology habits. These questions are ice-breakers and are a great way to get some context about the interviewees. The information you gather may be helpful for future analysis.
- Use positive body language. Use non-verbal cues to make the interviewee feel at ease, such as maintaining eye contact and smiling. Be aware of negative signals in your body language, such as fidgeting or crossing your arms.
- Explain the purpose of the interview. Describe what you are trying to achieve and explain how you plan to use the results. The goal of this is to provide the interviewee with more context about why you want to talk to them and what kind of questions they might be asked, so they do not feel confused during the interview.
- Make it about the product. Ensure that the interviewee does not feel like they are being tested in any way. If you plan to test a product prototype during the interview, make it clear to the interviewee that you are testing the prototype and not them.
4. Avoid Judging or Teaching the Interviewee
The foundation for conducting a good interview is to stay away from judging and to have a genuine curiosity about the participant’s perspective. Interviewees are there to teach you something, not the other way around! It is unproductive to judge the interviewee or try to teach them during the interview. You have a limited amount of time for the session (usually no more than one hour), and your goal is to use it effectively. Extract as much information as possible during this time.
5. Ask for Permission Before Recording Audio or Video
While the most common way to collect data during interviews is to take notes, recording audio or video can also be an excellent way to gather information. Of course, whenever you want to record participants, you must ensure they agree to it. Always ask for permission before starting to record, and be prepared to stop recording at any time during the interview if the interviewee feels uncomfortable. Recording the interview session will allow you to refer back to it later.
6.
Starting with Easy Questions
Begin each interview session with simple questions. These can be three to five light questions from the general section of your discussion guide that you ask before moving on to the main topics you wish to cover.
The aim of these questions is to serve as an icebreaker and make it easier for the interviewee to communicate their thoughts. But make sure that the questions are relevant to the general topic of the session.
7. Prioritize Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions allow the interviewee to respond in their own words and enable them to share rich and qualitative details. Closed questions can be answered with a “yes” or “no”. It’s hard to imagine a great discussion consisting only of closed questions. You’ll have a better chance of gaining valuable insights by asking open-ended questions. These questions typically start with “who, what, when, where, why, how”. Here are some examples to help get started:
- What has been your experience with [the product]? Where did you stumble? How can [the product] fit into your workflow? Who do you turn to when you need help? And why?
8. Ask Follow-Up Questions
Don’t settle for the first answer you get. Always try to dig deeper to understand the interviewee’s perspective. Try asking follow-up questions when the user describes a specific situation or problem.
Tip: Use the “Five Whys” technique, where you ask the interviewee to explain their reasoning or viewpoint five times in a row. For example, imagine you ask a question like “Why do you like this e-commerce app?”. The interviewee might respond, “Because it provides the products I need”.
You could stop here and note the product range as the main reason for using the product, but you wouldn’t get the whole story. In fact, there may be completely different reasons why the user likes your product, such as they have a specific type of product that they can only find in this app, or maybe they like the prices on the products. The only way to find out the correct answer is to ask another “why?” question.
9. Use the Critical Incident Technique
It is well-known that people are weak at recalling events that occurred in the past. Human memory is unreliable, and people are notorious for adding details to make the story more compelling. However, when you need to gather accurate information about the user experience, the Critical Incident Technique can help.
The Critical Incident Technique involves asking users to recall a specific instance from the past where they had a particularly bad or excellent experience. Unlike general past occurrences that the user might easily forget, extreme cases are often clearer in the users’ minds, meaning that they can remember some details that will be valuable to you. Therefore, the Critical Incident Technique is ideal for exploratory interviews.
10. Avoid Leading Questions
Leading questions are those that steer the interviewee’s mind toward a particular answer. It’s important to avoid or at least minimize the number of leading questions you ask; otherwise, the results of the interview sessions will be heavily biased, and you’ll only hear what you want to hear.
For example, “How often do you watch Netflix?” is an example of a leading question. By asking such a question, you assume that the interviewee considers themselves an active user of Netflix. It’s better to ask questions in a neutral manner.
So, if you want to learn about user preferences regarding video streaming services, you might start by asking a question like “Do you have any experience with video streaming services?”
11. Clarify Interviewee Responses in Real Time
When you are not sure what the interviewee is talking about, ask them for clarification. Don’t leave clarification questions until the end of the interview session, as it will be hard to recreate the original context. Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification from interviewees on their answers. You can also ask follow-up questions to help understand the interviewee’s perspective.
12.
Reduce Writing
Written notes are one of the common tools we gather from an interview session, and they are extremely valuable in analyzing interview results. So it may seem strange to suggest reducing note-taking. But there is a good reason for this – it’s impossible to direct your full attention to the interviewee while writing notes at the same time.
If you ask questions and write notes at the same time, there’s a good chance you will struggle to manage the interview. Also, when you focus too much on writing notes, this behavior creates a strong feeling that the interview is an authority interview, rather than just an ordinary conversation. Try to jot down the most important information or questions you wish to ask for future analysis. Therefore, it is a good idea to have an interview partner who takes notes and manages any recording devices while the other person conducts the interview.
13. Don’t Be Afraid of Silence
When conducting an interview, try not to fear silence in the conversation. It’s natural for people to try to fill silence with words, but don’t fall into the trap of trying to fill the gaps yourself. Instead, give the interviewee a chance to provide additional information.
14. End with a Summary
At the end of the interview, you should give the interviewee a sense of closure. Don’t abruptly stop the conversation when you reach the last question in your interview guide. Instead, offer the interviewee a chance to ask questions. Then, thank the interviewee for their time.
Step 3: After the Interview
Once the interview is over, it’s time to analyze your responses. This is the time when the interviewees’ insights become particularly valuable. Here are three steps to take:
1. Conduct a Retrospective
Ideally, after every interview you conduct, try to reflect on how you managed it and what you can do to improve the quality of your interviews in the future.
2. Organize the Information
The next step is to analyze what the users told you. You’ll likely have a massive amount of data – numerous notes, video recordings, and personal impressions. Most of this data will be qualitative rather than quantitative. As a result, you may feel overwhelmed.
We hope that two common tools will help you organize the data:
- A report with specific sections. The goals you mentioned at the beginning of the user interview project and the discussion guide you prepared can serve as a good foundation for your reports – they will help you filter out the key data.
- Mind maps. These diagrams can help you organize and present your data visually and accessibly. They can help you identify connections between topics and uncover links that may not have been obvious before.
3. Combine Interviews with Other Techniques
After analyzing the interview results, you may feel that you have a good understanding of what to do with them.
Source: https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/user-interview
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