Using Intercepts to Know Your Humans
How might we learn the most about people when we have just a few moments to observe and interact with them? For years I’ve been using intercepts to do user reseach, so two nights ago I prototyped a new workshop at the Action Design SF Meetup. The purpose of the workshop was to increase comfort and confidence around connecting with users by way of brief intercepts. Here’s what we covered in the workshop:
Because we design human behavior, we must contantly learn by observing people in their natural contexts. A brief intercept is a research technique for gathering insights in a short amount of time. It is when you observe people in their environment and follow up those observations with a few open ended questions. Examples of modern day people who do this well include Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Anderson Cooper (host of the Democratic Presidential Debate), and Robin Roberts (ABC news anchor on the Oscars Red Carpet). Anyone can do intercepts, regardless of professional status or educational background. As long as you are interested in knowing your humans, this is a technique you can use.
A successful intercept is when you figure out how to make a stranger feel comfortable enough to disclose a meaningful story. This requires experimenting with the words and phrases you use upon approaching another human. Most important is the energy you give off. Some situations require calm, some require laughter, etc.
Intercepts can be leveraged at any phase of a design cycle, and as a research method, provide clarity around a) how or why people behave the way they do; b) what people say versus what people do; and c) meaningful context.
Before embarking on an intercepts project, be sure to have clear answers to the following three questions:
- What do we want to know?
- Who can tell us what we want to know and where might we meet them?
- What will we use our learnings for?
The answer to the first two questions inform where you need to be among which humans to ask which questions with what materials. The answer to the third question guides how you’ll collect the data (e.g. audio, video, paper notes, photographs, etc.) for a synthesis of findings (e.g. investor deck, product iterations, business decision, etc.). Brandon uses his insights to tell stories on Instagram, so he always has a camera with him. The founders of Pulse (purchased by LinkedIn) wanted feedback on their news reader product, so they sat in a coffee shop with prototypes of their app to show patrons, guiding hundreds of iterations.
A few years ago, I conducted a large intercept study (N=122) with customers at Whole Foods Market. We traveled around the nation to observe and meet with people shopping in the market to better understand their needs and motivations.
We carried our smartphones in our pockets and wore earbuds around our necks in order to audio record conversations (which we disclosed to our humans). We recorded photos and notes in a private tumblr blog. We simply opened the tumblr mobile app on our phones to document as we were observing and learning. Part of this decision was based on the fact that it was normal for anyone to be using a smartphone in the market, so our data gathering method allowed us to blend in. We approached each customer by asking if we could spend a few minutes chatting about their food shopping experiences, and offered a $5 gift card to say thank you.
Intercepts focus on observations, conversations, and stories to uncover needs and behavioral patterns. When doing intercepts, always:
- Meet the human where s/he is at. Meaning, begin an intercept by connecting with a person where s/he is at physically, geographically, socially, emotionally, politically, and financially. To the best of your ability.
- Keep it natural. Do not force anything.
- Be respectful and curious.
- Notice and explore tensions. Ask short, open-ended questions to solicit stories (“tell me a story about….” “why is that important to you?” “ what happened next?”)
- Honor brevity.
- Record verbatim.
- Listen. Actively listen. This means hearing things important to the speaker; identifying pain points; and noting when energy fluctuates (when the speaker become more or less animated).
One of my favorite intercept tactics is to “listen for the ‘but’.” The words that come before the word “but” have very little truth, whereas words spoken after “but” are almost all truth.
“I have no trouble getting up and down the stairs, but I keep my TV, laptop, and smartphone downstairs in case I want to use them.”
“I don’t know who I am going to vote for, but I think Trump will be best at strengthening our economy.”
“I’m sorry, but I was super sleep deprived and hormonal.”
By the way, when someone apologizes by saying “I’m sorry, but….” it is not an apology, it’s a justification.
Examples of tools you can use to make sense of intercept learnings include empathy maps, POV statements, behavioral models, personas, insights maps, or even a basic word cloud. Intercepts are fast and easy to conduct, and do not require a league of anthropologists. Anyone can do intercepts. For inspiration, watch this video of Brandon from Humans of New York.
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P.S. I’m always interested to hear stories about intercepts, so please share in the comments section.
