How to conduct better user interviews

6 tips for conducting better user interviews

Interviewing isn’t just about asking questions; it's about extracting meaningful details, understanding perspectives, and uncovering insights. Whether you're a seasoned user interviewer or just starting out, having a set of effective interviewing techniques up your sleeve can make all the difference. Here are six powerful tips to help you get the most valuable information from your users.

1. Details, details, details

They say the devil is in the details, and this is definitely true in the world of interviewing. Jog a user’s memory and trigger an authentic response by digging into specific details. Instead of general, high-level questions like “Tell me about that day”, ask them about the weather, first names of people they were with, places, and dates. This is a trick to get them to relive the moment. Prepare a short list of questions that can jog a person’s memory around the product you are asking about, such as: “Where were you when…?” or “Who was with you when?”

2. Unpack vague words

Everything is biased. When you are trying to figure out your interviewee’s point of view, take the time to unpack certain words. For example, one person's definition of ‘fast’ might be totally different than another’s. An example would be: “It installed fast, in just under two minutes I was up and running,” as opposed to just “It installed fast.” In the latter case, try to go deeper by asking them “What did you expect?” or ask why speed is important to them. This tactic helps you understand the nuances of their statements and the context of their experience. 

3. Context creates meaning

When answers feel irrational, it's often because you don’t know the whole story. For example, when asked why they bought beer, someone might say “I bought the beer because I like this beer.” A more telling response would have been: “I bought the beer because our team won the game and we were going to celebrate.” Practice saying, “Hold on, I’m confused, what do you mean by X?” until it becomes natural. You can also use this tactic in casual conversation with friends or family members to understand the full story behind a statement. Just don’t tell them you’re practicing.

4. Energy matters

It’s not only what people say, it’s how they say it. One of the benefits of doing research over a video call instead of a phone call is that you can see people’s emotional responses, engagement levels, and subtle expressions. Does someone’s eyes light up or does their expression change rapidly when they talk about something? Dive in when people express enthusiasm or frustration. Do you hear emphasis on a particular word? That's your cue. An example would be: “I bought this laptop and it's REALLY good.” vs “I bought this laptop and it’s OK.” In the first case, asking, “Wait, why is that important?” or “Tell me more about that,” can show you the layers of meaning behind their statements.

5. Listen and learn

You know a lot about your company, product, and the value it gives people. In this case, you should be more interested in what you don’t know. Listen and learn from the customer by asking questions that get your customer to explain your product to you. Saying, “I’m confused” can be a great prompt to get someone to explain something to you, but you have to mean it. 

If a customer doesn’t know something, you can create a comfortable environment for them to share this openly by downplaying its significance. For example, if someone doesn’t know how much storage they have on their phone, you could say, “I mean, what’s storage anyway…you know what I mean?”.

6. Contrast creates value

Rather than only focusing on the path someone has chosen, add an alternative to create contrast. Instead of only asking, “Why do it virtually?”, get the person to articulate their decision by expanding your question to “Why do it virtually? Why not just get into your car and drive there?”. Be prepared for the conversation with a quick list of potential alternative paths you know customers might take. 

Go from research to journeys—in minutes

Using these tactics to set the stage for insightful conversations that unravel the layers of a user’s experience is crucial. But what about when it comes to analyzing and turning these insights into something that will help you understand the full customer experience?

With Journey AI, we’re making it possible to go from raw notes to comprehensive customer journeys in 4 minutes, instead of 40 hours. You can transform the information you gather into valuable insights, using the inputs to sequence the events that a customer, user, or person went through to create a single customer journey. The best part? You can keep adding new research to it with the click of a button. The real question then becomes: what are the best inputs?

See our Ultimate guide to customer journey interviewing to learn how to create a journey-generating conversation with your customers. Download the Interview script template for concrete questions you can ask to get to the bottom of your customer’s process.