How to Conduct User Research Interviews
User-research interviews are structured, moderated, and time-limited. When conducting user research, the interviewer should ask open-ended questions in a way that makes it comfortable for the interviewee to share a little more of their world in a story format.
It’s crucial for the interviewer to connect with each participant during the research. Because of that it’s important to meet with the users individually. The more people you include in the meeting, the harder it is to connect to them all, and the extroverts tend to dominate the meeting.
The user research interview is not the time to talk about the product and its awesome features or how well the product team did its job. On the contrary, your interviewee should be the focus of the interview. Your job is to learn more about them and their motivations.
Sometimes user research data can be unclear. Making sense of unclear data requires creativity and problem-solving to help decode it. Use your persuasion and empathy to understand how your users think and feel.
User research should produce the behavioral and qualitative insights you need to better understand your users and how they use your product. Below are some tips that can help you before, during, and after the user (UX) research session.
Before the UX Research
User Research Script
Write a script based on the goals you want to achieve and what you need to learn from your users. You should also feel comfortable deviating from the script as needed and when it’ll be useful.
Pilot Study
Do a pilot study session with team members and colleagues first. The goal of the pilot study is to debug everything and to understand what you can get done during a session. Make sure you’re allocating the time you need to avoid rushing during important topics.
Location
I know it’s comfortable to conduct user research in your office. Plan well where your research will be held and consider going to your user or even meeting over a coffee date. Meeting in their space will help you to see their perspectives more clearly since you’ll be in their environment.
Plan
Plan your research questions carefully. Ensure that any assumptions you make are sound and eliminate or minimize as much as possible any ambiguity and uncertainty.
Arrange incentives
Some users will be excited to provide their input, others might need some incentive. Gift cards can be great incentive and make your user even more engaged. Amazon, Starbucks, Target, and Apple gift cards are always good options.
Define the type of user you need
Along with the questions you need answered during the UX research, you should also consider the type of user you need for your research. Are you looking for superusers? Make sure to recruit diverse participants. Consider inviting people with English as a second language too!
During the UX Research
Warm-up time
Make sure you allocate between 5–10 minutes at the beginning of the interview for ice breakers. This time can also be handy if the person is late so you won’t need to rush things. This warm-up time will be helpful for developing a rapport and making the user feel more comfortable.
Empathy
Empathy is an important characteristic nowadays, and it’s especially important when you do user research. Think of empathy as the ability to see past your point of view and intentionally put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Have a note taker
Taking notes while conducting the research is a really hard task, and your research will definitely suffer if you try to do both. Consider having a team member help you with note taking, or if it’s not possible, ask the interviewee if they’re comfortable with you using a recording/transcribing app like Otter.
Open-ended questions
To gather the most useful information, you need your participant to get into storytelling mode so it’s important to ask open-ended questions to get them talking. Your goal is to gather as much detail as possible to help you fill the gaps you might have, and then later transform the collected information into insights for your product team.
Make them comfortable
Keep in mind that making your users comfortable is important to getting them to tell you a story. You don’t want them just to answer your questions, you want them to tell you the stories behind their answers.
Follow-up questions
In the end, it is not about whether they make purchases, it’s about their processㅡ how, why, how they feel about it, and what need is not being met. You want to understand their pain points. This is what you’re looking for, so don’t be afraid to ask follow-up questions.
Observers
You can encourage observers and also limit them. It can be enlightening to invite skeptical stakeholders and see how they evolve during and after the research. It’s important to provide guidelines for who will ask questions. Don’t forget to make sure the UX researcher is leading the discussion.
After the UX Research
Debrief between sessions
After each session, make sure you and the observers allocate time for debriefing. Discuss surprises and themes with the team. Also consider what improvements can be made in the next session.
Take notes
During the debrief session don’t forget to take notes, and please, don’t rely on your memory. Write down everything, and don’t forget to share all the docs, sketches, mocks, recordings, and notes with the relevant stakeholders. Make sure to keep the research documents safe.
Deliver Results
Compile and share top findings with the broader team or the relevant stakeholders. Start the meeting with setting expectations, and don’t forget to acknowledge everyone who worked on the research process.
Recap
- Practice active listening.
- Focus on facts, not on opinions.
- Be creative.
- Have patience.
- Don’t judge.
- Have empathy.
- Ask open-ended questions.
- Get to story-telling mode.
- Avoid asking leading questions.
- Keep your reactions neutral.
- Use your persuasion when needed.
- Use reframing techniques to extract what the user is feeling.
- Be curious and don’t assume anything, ask!
Additional Reading
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