Interviewing users - How to nail it

In Part 1 and Part 2 we talked about what User Research (UXR) is and some initial best practices.

The next crucial part is live interviews. We know this can be intimidating. Maybe there’s no one on your team comfortable chatting with strangers. Maybe everyone is too busy to do this work. Maybe talking to that one user from two quarters ago seems like enough. Maybe you can’t figure out how to setup your scheduling tool to make this process easier.

You can do it. You need to. It’s worth it.

The UX Design institute says so too - a great resource to dig into user research further!

Below, we’ve outlined a list of tips to nail this conversation.

Our tips for live interviews

How many interviews should I plan?

• Planning ~10 interviews is a great start for most needs and can get you a lot of data.
• Pace yourself! Don’t try to do 10 interviews in a day. Create a timeline and space out interviews.
• 1 interview is better than none. Steve Krug from Don’t Make Me Think calls this out so nicely.
• Always allocate time for you to finish your notes immediately after the call before your next meeting.

How should I prepare?

• Create a script of questions and follow ups (worded the way you actually speak). We like to write a few versions of the same core questions to give ourselves options depending on the context.
• Use a form to intake your notes from each question/topic - this makes the analysis easier.
• Leverage tools like Dovetail. Rather than or in addition to taking notes, you can record video conversations (with your user’s permission) and get automated transcripts that are easy to analyze later on.

Have fun with it!

• Do the listening and let the user do the talking - even if you don’t get to all of your questions you’ll get better material.
• Make a friend in each conversation!

If you ever need help drafting your user research plan, writing your scrips, or conducting interviews, reach out to us! We love talking with teams - too many extroverts on our team 😉

UXR can transform your team

UXR done with a clear goal and executed well, with buy-in across your team(s), can transform your organization.

There’s nothing more effective at connecting, or reconnecting, every team member to their work.

Engaged, informed, team-members who are clear on the problems they’re solving and the impact they’re making, do better work.

Organizations that deeply know their users are more effective. From SaaS products to non profit services, this is the fastest way to improve your team.

Good luck!

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