The Best User Interview Question

User Interviews are awesome.

They’re one of the first UX Research strategies I advocate for on many cases. They can help us understand what the problems are, why are they happening and even discover opportunities.

There are many things we can ask the user, and each project has its peculiarities. However, from my personal experience, there’s one question which works on all kinds of contexts. I love it. It’s the best User Interview question I know, by far. Here I share my precious, without further ado.

The Best User Interview Question is:

Tell me about the last time you ____.

That’s it.

It’s the first question I usually ask. I might do 1-hour interviews where everything originates just from this single question. And it always generates insights. No exception. I call it The LTQ, or Last Time Question. No, it’s not a question. Technically it’s a request, but the person will answer you.

OK Andre, but Why is LTQ So Awesome?

Because it fits all the major criteria to make a good interview question:

• It asks about personal perspective rather than what is right or wrong (reducing interviewee anxiety about being evaluated)
• It open-ended and creates space for a conversation (allowing us to explore topics and discover things outside of our radar. We cannot solve a problem if we don’t know it exists).
• It’s unbiased, allowing the user to speak freely (in opposition to the narrow-minded do you have problem X or Narcissus’ how good is my product)
• It’s about the past, not the future (people are bad at predicting their own future)
• It’s about a specific real case, not a hypothetical behavior (much better than how would you, which invites people to express their ideal self instead of reality)
• It is a chronological question (which allows the user to remember things easily and for us to understand a full customer journey, including what happens before and after the experience).
• It talks about problems, desires, and behavior rather than solutions (“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” — wrongly attributed to Henry Ford, but still a good metaphor)
• It has a chain-reaction question (You can get dozens of topics to explore from this single request).

All Right Andre, but How this LTQ Tactic Works?

Perfect, let’s think about a few examples:

Case #01 (new product): The Vegan/Food Allergy Yelp

I’m starting FindRightFood, a new product to help people with dietary restrictions find restaurants and great places to eat.

Question:
(ask what are their dietary restrictions and then):

Tell me about the last time you went out to eat.

Case #02 (existing product): The Taxi App

I work on Taxi App Ubör. I want to check how is the overall experience, what’s working and what’s not. The team didn’t have any data and I don’t know where to start.

Question:
(understand if this user uses Taxis, the frequency of use and then):

Tell me about the last time you needed to take a Taxi.
and
Tell me about the last time you needed to take an Ubör Taxi.

Case #03 (disruptive market concept): Blockchain ID

I’m starting MyTron, a new product allowing people to create a self-sovereign identity through a blockchain code. This will allow them to have privacy and get ownership of their digital identity, but they don’t know what this is and why it matters. How do I even start?

Question:
(maybe ask how many apps they have installed or how often did they access the web via smartphone/desktop/any device in the last month and then):

Tell me about the last time you logged into an app on your smartphone.
and
Tell me about the last time you needed to create a profile on a website.

But Andre, When Should I do LTQ question? Is it for my Product? Is it for Me?

Regarding your Product:

• Starting a new product? Do it.
• Working on an existing product? Do it.
• The product might need a big pivot? Do it.
• Do you know the answer patterns to the question? Then reduce frequency. However, do it regularly (every 3–6 months) to make sure it is staying consistent.

LTQ is a method for User Interviews, which is especially useful to understand the problem. To validate the solutions other strategies such as user testing can be better.

It applies to any industry, including cases where fun is more important than solving a pain-point (e.g.: entertainment, games) or new disruptive technologies (right now in 2019 autonomous cars, VR or connected home).

Regarding You:
LTQ will help you build the foundations for these things:
(Position duties might differ or overlap, but here it goes)

• If you’re a Product Manager or Founder: Identifying Behaviors, Problems and Desires, discovering new business opportunities, cross-selling or upselling, gathering info for Job Stories (JTBD) or User Stories, defining Key Metrics, problems and features Prioritization on Sprint and Backlog, Roadmapping, Product Vision, preparing for industry self-disruption (it’s coming).
• If you’re a UX Researcher or Designer: Insights about Behaviors, Problems and Desires, foundations for Empathy Maps and Personas, User Stories, Prioritization and Customer Journey Mapping.

This is a strategy which will be done in most cases by these roles, but I recommend it to everyone: Devs, UI Designer, QA Tester, et al. You will have a new perspective about who are your customers what your product is and why it should exist.

Tell me Andre, Whom Should I Ask this?

Anyone who is part of your audience.

That being said, you have many groups to explore and they might have a different perspective each:

• Users with no or rudimentary solution
• Users who are aware of your product and those who are not
• Competitor’s Customers
• Customers (paying, non-paying, high-revenue, cohorts)
• Ex-customers (don’t get clingy)

You don’t have to talk with each group immediately, but it’s important to understand whom you’re speaking to.

Well, Andre, What Happens After I Make the LTQ Question?

Great question about the question. Throughout the years I’ve seen clear patterns so here are a few tactics to get the most out of it. There are things to prepare before starting as well.

I’ll use FindRightFood (the Vegan/Food Allergy dietary restrictions restaurant finder) as an example on these comments.

Sherlock mindset

The idea is to get every single detail of this journey. Keep in mind that you don’t know yet where the golden treasures are.

Use all the time they have for you. If they have one hour, keep investigating.

If you see something new (which wasn’t mentioned in other interviews), dive into the topic. Be kind and be curious.

Prepare for the day

Make a list of topics you want to go through, and organize them chronologically if possible. That can include moments, problems, behaviors, desires or anything else.

FindRightFood Example:

• Discovery: How he decides, how he searches, how hard is it, does he try new places often, what are possible barriers, what exactly does he check, …
• Restaurant Experience: How is the interaction with the waiter, How is it with friends which don’t have the restriction, How many options do they have on the menu, …
• Post-event: Overall experience, how to remember the best places, do they write reviews online, …

Start at the beginning

We tend to go directly to a moment where people start using the product or have an experience. However, many things happen before that.

FindRightFood Example: Ask questions such as:

How did you decide to go to that restaurant? Were you planning with someone else? Did you know about the restaurant already? Was it your first time there?

Slow them down

Users will try to be objective with the answer. Usually, they want to be respectful of your time. Slow them down by making more questions about each moment. Show that you’re interested in the details.

FindRightFood Example: User might say:

“I went to Burgersque. It was good.”

Reply with questions that break that up:

Interesting! How was it? How did you go there? Did you ask for a seat? Also, how was the menu? Did it show vegan options there?

Identify Behaviors, Problems and Desires

• Behaviors are the way they interact with the topic. It’s neither good nor bad, it’s just their way of doing things.
• Problems are negative experiences people want to stop.
• Desires are good experiences people aim for.
• If you see any Problems or Desires, try to identify frequency and intensity. This will help with prioritization.
• Try to identify what is similar and what is different between the interviewees.

FindRightFood Example:

Oh, I see, they removed the option from the menu. So how was your experience when you found that there at the restaurant?

and then

Also, how many times did you experience that in the last 12 months?

Only stop when there’s nothing else happening

Same case as the start: Try to look for every possible last event, interaction or fact related to the story.

FindRightFood Example:

Right! So, how was the journey back home? Did you have any health reaction? Did you go there again? Did you consider the option?

Take notes about everything

I usually record or take notes. Or both. Or we go as a team: A facilitator and a Note-taker. It’s important to find a way to process information. There will be a lot to digest.

Last Question Andre, How Many People Should I Interview?

It’s interesting to do interviews up to the point where you can predict what users are going to say, i.e., you’ve identified the common patterns for audience behavior. You only need the boat to cross the river.

If you need a number, start with 5 interviews and see where it goes. 10 can definitely be more insightful.

Conclusion

Whether you’re looking to identify the details of a problem, understand how to prioritize what to build first or discover new business opportunities, LTQ or the Last Time Question is an excellent tool. Try it and see for yourself.

I hope it helps you on your journey! May your product grow by solving the right problems and desires it was born to solve.

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