Are You Asking the Right Questions? Do You Truly Know What Users Want?
The Untold Secrets of User Interviews
Listening to users is not an option. It's a necessity." - Rolf Molich
Understanding user interviews
User interviews are structured conversations between researchers or product teams and users. These interviews aim to understand users' behaviors, motivations, and opinions regarding a product, service, or specific experiences.
If you have a firm grasp of the Design Thinking Process, you know that user interviews are a critical phase that demands a structured and thoughtful approach. They go beyond casual chats with users; they require a well-defined methodology
source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/design-thinking/
User interviews are a priceless way to test your product in the market. By engaging in user interviews, you gain invaluable insights that can shape your product's success.
When to Conduct User Interviews:
The timing of user interviews is crucial to their effectiveness. Here are some key moments when conducting user interviews can yield significant benefits:
1. Early Exploration Phase: At the beginning of a project, conducting user interviews can help researchers gain a broad understanding of users' needs and pain points.
2. Idea Validation Stage: Once initial concepts are created, user interviews can be conducted to validate whether the ideas align with users' expectations.
3. Usability Testing: During usability testing, user interviews can provide additional feedback on the product's ease of use, navigation, and overall user experience.
4. Post-Launch Evaluation: Feedback from real users can help identify areas of improvement, uncover new use cases, and inform future iterations post-launch.
Tips for Conducting Effective User Interviews:
Define Clear Objectives: Outline your research goals and the specific insights you want to gather.
Recruit Diverse Participants: Aim for a diverse pool of participants that accurately represents your target audience.
Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage participants to share their thoughts openly and authentically. Avoid leading questions.
Active Listening: Tune in, be present, and refrain from interrupting or assuming answers. Let your participants take the lead.
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Recommended reading resources on user interviews
Looking to enhance your interviewing skills? Here are some resources to help you:
“Learning From Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies" by Robert S. Weiss: This book walks the reader through the method of qualitative interview studies: sample selection, development of an interview guide etc
"The Mom Test" by Rob Fitzpatrick: Learn how to ask better questions that reveal true customer needs and avoid misleading feedback.
"Interviewing Users" by Steve Portigal: A comprehensive guide to mastering the art of user interviews, from preparation to analysis.
“Deploy Empathy: A practical guide to interviewing customers" by Michele Hansen: This book will help you learn the skill of interviewing your customers and help you learn to truly listen to them.
A challenge in user interviews……..recruiting participants
Recruiting user is a common challenge that almost all(if not all) UX professionals have encountered while conducting research even user interviews.
Dr. Maria Panagiotidi shares in this article her fair share of recruitment struggles and shines light on impactful recruitment tactics that she’s learnt and tried that you could try as well.
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Thanks for reading, and happy researching!
The RB Team
