Live-Intercept Surveys: User Research with Real Site Visitors

A low-budget way to gather user feedback

In my last article, I discussed using session replays for UX research to understand how real people interact with a website. In this article, I’ll continue that topic of speaking with real users. One way we recruit real site users/visitors is with live-intercept surveys.

What is a live-intercept survey?

This is a recruiting survey that appears as a “pop-up” on a website or specific page. It appears to actual people who are on the website, so you’re hearing from real site visitors.

Example of a live-intercept survey on Progressive.com with ForeSee.

What are the benefits of using a live-intercept survey to recruit users?

• You learn about users’ behavior as they are working toward completing a real task vs. participating in a usability session.
• This is typically a low-budget way to conduct user research.
• This is an easy entry point into conducting UX research, especially in a workplace that does not have dedicated UX employees.

How do I set up a live-intercept survey?

• We use Ethnio to build live-intercept surveys and adjust settings for how it will show on the site (ex: will it appear immediately when the page loads, or after 10 seconds?)
• To put the survey on a site, we use Google Tag Manager. Ethnio provides a JavaScript code snippet for this, and we put it into Google Tag Manager. Making this change live in Google Tag Manager AND toggling the survey “On” in Ethnio makes the live-intercept survey active.
• To remove the live-intercept survey, we toggle the survey “Off” in Ethnio, and then remove the code snippet from Google Tag Manager.
• For more info on Ethnio setup, see Ethnio’s resource on turning surveys on and off and Ethnio’s help page.

Finding the Ethnio code and toggling on the live-intercept survey within your account.

When might you use a live-intercept survey?

• You’ve got a specific set of users that are difficult to recruit otherwise.
• You’re interested in UX and don’t know where to start.
• You’re looking for an affordable way to conduct UX research.
• You’re looking to show the value of UX work, but your workplace is not equipped to support UX research just yet.
• You’re interested in trying out a new UX research tool.

Speaking with real users opens up the possibilities for your research. Get creative about your research plans and goals and know that a live-intercept survey will support your work to make sites and software work better for the people it’s intended for.