UX Learnings: How to talk to users
It can be tough to talk to research participants with the pressure of knowing that you have just an hour (or even 30 minutes!) to understand why they use your product in the way they do.
Here are some points to keep in mind when talking to research participants:
If you are not a researcher, lean on one! Anyone can learn how to conduct user research, but you want to make sure you are learning properly. You don’t want to make incorrect extrapolations based on small sample sizes. Incorrect assumptions from good research is worse than no research at all. Ensure you get a researcher’s feedback on your questions list. If they can, ask them to listen in on the interview. After the interviews, do a debrief with them. If you don’t have a researcher on your team, reach out to your personal connections!
Do the work beforehand. Write out a proper script (or work with a researcher to do so.) Write down all the questions and even follow-up questions to those. Practice with a coworker or researcher to make sure you’re hitting all your research objectives, and so you are more familiar with the questions and why you’re asking them.
Embrace surprises. People won’t always think or behave the way you expect them to. That's the whole reason why you are doing the research in the first place! It’s okay to go off-script as long as you’re remaining on-topic.
Be aware of biases. Everyone is biased. Everyone has their own opinion or perception. Even you, as a researcher. Your opinion about the product or experience does not matter in the interview. Only the user’s does. Do not express your opinions to them. Do not assume you understood what they meant, just because you heard what they said. Do not ask leading questions — for example, “This product is so and so to you, right?” “This part is confusing, right?’ “So would you say that you would do better with option A?” Instead…
Ask open-ended questions. When in doubt, ask “Why?” “How?” “Describe your experience for me, step by step…”
Don’t give up after getting a surface level answer. Ask “Why?” again! You may be surprised at the new insights that bubble up when you ask the participant to dig deeper. For example- “You made a different facial expression when I showed you this page. Why was that?” “I was a little surprised.” “Why were you surprised?” “Because I expected to see B instead.” “Why did you expect to see B instead?”… and so on.
Know what to take with a grain of salt. Don’t always take the users’ words at face value. Keep other factors in mind- for example, did they say a task was very easy to complete with the prototype, but actually they missed a few steps and didn’t realize? Or did they have negative feedback but that was actually due to the way your prototype was set up, and not the way it would be in reality? It’s your job to discern the facts. This can be difficult if you don’t have detailed knowledge of the design and product, which is why it’s important to do your homework beforehand.
Ask the same question in different ways. Ask the user to talk about a related previous experience. Ask them to talk about their first impression when you showed them a screen.
Not all interviews will produce amazing insights. And that’s okay! Sometimes a participant may not just be in the right mood or mindset to respond to your questions well. Or it may signal you need to re-evaluate your research objectives or questions.
No findings can be a finding in itself. Are you trying to determine if a new feature add hinders users from completing certain tasks? Did no pain points surface in your interviews? Great! That’s a finding.
Put the participant at ease. People aren’t used to being asked dozens of probing questions, and even being questioned as to why think a certain way. They may feel nervous, or even like they are being attacked. Begin the interview by letting them know you’ll be asking a bunch of questions, and sometimes even play devil’s advocate, but that there is never a right or wrong answer. You simply want to understand their opinion and perception.
Pay attention to your tone and facial expression. Verbally put the participant at ease, but also be conscious of how you say things. Appear open, curious and friendly.
Pay attention to the user’s non-verbal signals. Sometimes, it’s what the user does not say that is the important insight. In addition, their facial expressions or tone can show what the user really means. For example, the user gives only positive feedback for a certain screen, but you noticed they frowned when you were walking them through the prototype. Ask them about that!
If it’s a remote interview, keep your video on. Ask the user to keep their video on. If the user keeps their video off, they may feel less nervous. But they may also get distracted more easily with their phone, other websites, etc., and you won’t know.
Silence is okay. You may feel compelled to fill any awkward silences after you ask a question. Unless the participant asks you to repeat or clarify, don’t do it. Let them take the time to digest your question and think of an answer.
Balance remaining in control and listening to the participant. Sometimes, participants get fixated on a certain topic. As long as that topic is relevant to your research objective, great! Ask all the questions you need and allow them to lead that part of the conversation. Then, move on. If the participant remains stuck on that topic, it’s on you to communicate that you need to move on. “I apologize, I would love to keep talking about this topic, but I want to make sure I hear your opinions on a lot of other things too. I may stop you to move on at certain points, is that okay?”
Invite your main product stakeholders to listen. Keep it to max 4 other people listening in so you don’t make your participant nervous, but having them hear user feedback for themselves is more impactful than any powerpoint presentation you could give them on the findings. (Note: make sure you or the researcher set aside a debrief with them to ensure they are interpreting the insights correctly.)
Have a fellow researcher (or designer) take notes if you can. It’s difficult to keep track of the participant, your questions, the time, and also take notes at the same time (although sometimes you may have no choice.) Not having to worry about the notes leads to more attention on the participant, and a better quality interview overall. You can always listen to the recording and take notes afterwards, but this can be tedious and a waste of your time.
Just as important as it is how you conduct the interview, the work done beforehand to make sure you’re asking the right questions is just as important.
Next topic: UXLearnings: How to ask users the right questions
