12 Tips For Conducting Successful Online User Interviews
At Alcumus, our design team follows a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach — the process of understanding and meeting the needs, preferences, and behaviours of the end-users — our customers.
One of the key aspects of UCD — and also one of my favourites — is conducting user interviews.
User interviews help gain valuable insights and understanding of users’ perspectives, needs, behaviours, and experiences and are especially useful when testing a new product or feature improvement.
I love carrying out user interviews. It is insightful to speak to our brilliant customers directly and learn how they use our products. I also enjoy being able to share insights — good or bad — with key stakeholders to help us make more informed decisions going forward.
I’ve recently conducted a successful and insightful set of user interviews for Alcumus and wanted to share my process. Here are my 12 tips for getting the best results from online user interviews.
1. Create a user research plan
Creating a clear user research plan is an essential first step and it helps to provide stakeholders and other team members with a concise overview of your research goals. Your user research plan should cover the following:
· Key research objectives — Why are you doing the research and what drives the need for it?
· Outcomes — What actions will you take based on the research findings?
· Participants — Whom will you be speaking to?
· Methodology — How will you conduct the research and what questions will you ask?
Your research plan should be created as a document and shared with or ideally presented to key stakeholders. Getting buy-in and alignment from stakeholders at an early stage is incredibly important. They need to know that the interviews are taking place and may also need to be involved in the process. For example, your legal team may need to draft an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) for the interviewees to sign, your marketing team might need to send out the invite emails, or your customer account managers might want to attend the interviews.
Getting stakeholders involved at the start of the process is crucial. Even if they do not need to be involved in the interviews, they will be interested in the results!
2. Create a script
User interviews aren’t simply a friendly chat with a customer. Your questions must be well thought out; otherwise, you won’t achieve the objectives of your research plan.
It is essential to create a script to loosely follow during the interview. Loosely is the key here — the conversation should flow naturally, and the customer shouldn’t feel like they are being bombarded with questions.
I test and refine the script with my team to get their thoughts and run through it several times. This helps to get a sense of timing and anticipate different responses. I also refine the script for each interviewee, asking specific questions about their role and goals.
3. Ask the right questions
When preparing your script, avoid closed questions. A yes or no answer might look good on a spreadsheet, but it doesn’t tell you what the user is thinking or feeling. Your questions should be worded carefully to encourage an open-ended answer, for example, ‘Tell me how you…?’, ‘Why do you…?’ or ‘Walk me through how you…’
It’s also important not to ask leading questions. This might inadvertently lead to incorrect answers.
4. Select the right participants
You’ve established your goals and have a script primed and ready to go. Now, you just need some participants!
Ensure that you recruit participants that match your target user demographics and have relevant experience or knowledge. This will help you gather insights that accurately represent your user base.
Ideally, you’ll want to conduct a minimum of 5–6 user interviews to get diverse insights. Each customer will have their own reasons for using your product and will likely give you a unique perspective.
5. Send clear invitation emails
Your invitation email should clearly communicate the purpose of the interview, the expected duration, and any technical requirements to the participants in advance. Make sure they understand how to connect to the remote interview platform and any additional tools or materials they may need.
If you are sending out email invitations, it is worth considering the following:
· The email inbox that your invite is coming from — Is it one the customer will recognise?
· The timing of your emails — When is your target audience likely to check their inbox?
· The tone of the email — Be clear in what you are asking, how much time you will be asking for, and detail any incentive you might be offering.
· Whether people have opted in to receive marketing emails
If you are approaching a large number of customers, then send your email invitations out in batches. You might get overwhelmed with people saying yes straight away!
Once customers have agreed to participate in an interview, it is helpful to carry out some quick research on each participant. Knowing their job role and length of time at their company can be beneficial in establishing a rapport with a customer.
6. Test the technology and be prepared for it to fail
Since the pandemic, most user interviews at Alcumus have been done online. Online interviews allow you to observe facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, which can provide valuable insights.
In some ways, conducting user interviews online can make the process easier. You’re in a familiar environment and can have your script ready to run through in a separate window. But it certainly brings some challenges too.
Whether you are using Teams, Zoom or another online platform, be prepared for some technical issues and have a backup plan in place. Participants may not have the software available, have connection issues, or be unable to see your screen-sharing for some reason.
Online interviews also mean you can never be quite sure where the customer will be when you call. They could be in a noisy office being interrupted by colleagues or at home trying to get the kids ready for school. I have had several cats muscle in on the calls vying for attention with whomever their owner is speaking to. It is hard to prepare for these things, but test what you can and be ready to expect the unexpected!
7. Establish rapport and set expectations
It’s interview time! The technology has worked, the customer has answered the call and it is time to begin.
Start the interview by building rapport and making the customer feel comfortable. They likely haven’t taken part in a user interview before and may be uncertain about what to expect. Be clear in explaining the interview process to them, assure them of confidentiality (if applicable), and clearly define the goals and expectations of the interview. This will help them feel more at ease and encourage open and honest responses.
I start the interview by asking the participant a few ice-breaker questions about themselves and their role. Chances are I have this information already, but it’s a clever way of putting them at ease. It is also an excellent opportunity to establish whether your knowledge about them is correct and quickly adjust your script accordingly.
8. Record the interview
At the start of the interview, I ask the participant if they are happy with me recording the session. I explain that this is so I can concentrate more on what they are saying and that the recording won’t be shared.
Participants will likely be ok with being recorded, but if not, having a document ready to type down their responses is helpful.
If they agree to be recorded, I can review the conversation post-interview to ensure I log down any key details or comments. It’s also a good chance for me to review myself and see if I could improve how I ask questions or explain things.
9. Listen actively and probe further
Remember, your prepared script is only there as a guide. During the interview, actively listen to participants’ responses to your questions and follow up on these to delve deeper into their thoughts and experiences. To dig deeper, try asking, ‘You mentioned [xxx]. Can you tell me more about it?’
Encourage participants to provide specific examples or anecdotes to illustrate their points. This will help you gather rich and detailed insights.
Everyone is different and while some people like to talk and give exceptionally long answers, others may need more coaxing to reveal their thoughts. Be prepared for both instances. A chatty customer is great but can be hard to keep on track, whereas a quiet customer requires more encouragement.
Don’t be afraid of — or try and fill — pauses while the customer thinks. If you get a short one-word answer, then ask them to elaborate.
10. Respect participants’ time
Be mindful of the participants’ time and keep the interview focused and on schedule. Ensure the interview doesn’t exceed the agreed-upon duration unless the participant is willing to continue. Respect any scheduling constraints they may have.
At the end of your questions, ask the participant if there is anything else they would like to cover or if they have any questions for you. Hopefully, they have enjoyed the interview experience and are glad to have had the chance to say what they find useful or less user-friendly about your product. They may ask if there are any next steps or follow-ups or when they will likely receive the incentive you offered for participating.
I always follow up the interview with an email thanking them for their time and providing answers to any of their questions.
11. Analyse and synthesize the data
After each interview, organise your notes and transcribe the recording — There are some great transcribing tools available to help with this. It is important to do this as quickly as possible after each interview, as you will remember much more about what the customer was feeling and saying.
Look for patterns, common themes, and actionable insights in your analysis. Consider using qualitative analysis techniques like thematic coding or affinity mapping to identify recurring themes or issues.
12. Share and act on the findings
It’s now time to share your research findings with your team. I find it useful to set up several sessions with different stakeholders — senior management, your fellow designers and developers will all be keen to hear the results but will have different goals. Your presentation and how you communicate the findings should be tailored accordingly to each audience.
Start by summarising your key findings, insights, and recommendations. This overview should provide a high-level understanding of the main takeaways.
You should then provide context — explain the methodology used, including the research objectives, sample size, recruitment methods, and any limitations. This context helps stakeholders understand the reliability and validity of the findings.
You can then review the bulk of your results, grouping related findings under different themes or categories. This helps to structure the information and allows stakeholders to see patterns more easily. Present the findings logically and coherently, ensuring that each theme is well-defined.
As with any presentation, including visual aids such as charts, graphs and infographics can be a powerful way to present the data and help the audience grasp the main points. Use anecdotes, quotes, and user stories to bring the research findings to life. By sharing real-life experiences, you can evoke empathy and create a deeper understanding of user needs and pain points.
While sharing the findings, create opportunities for discussion and collaboration. Stakeholders may be surprised by some of your findings or want further detail. Offer to schedule follow-up meetings, workshops, or brainstorming sessions where stakeholders can ask questions, provide input, and contribute to interpreting the findings. This collaborative approach fosters a deeper understanding and promotes a user-centred mindset within the team.
Finally, once you have completed your presentations and stakeholders have processed the results, it’s important that the findings are acted upon. Regularly communicate the progress made based on the findings and provide updates as the design process continues.
So, there you have it… my 12 tips for conducting successful online user interviews. I hope you’ve found my advice useful and that it helps you succeed in your own online user interviews.
