Mastering User Interviews: From Recruitment to Analysis

Successful user interviews are the key to product improvement. Learn how to find, prepare, and conduct user interviews effectively to gain valuable insights.

1. User Recruitment

Recruiting users for interviews can be costly, but there are also cost-effective methods:

• Conference Speakers and Panel Participants: These individuals are often interested in networking and speaking. A personal email can work wonders.
• Press Releases: Look for potential interviewees in press releases, especially from competitors.
• Social Media: Non-intrusive contact through social media can be successful.
• Dedicated Website Page: Set up a page on your website where users can sign up for interviews.
• Recruitment Services: Depending on your needs, services like UserTesting.com or Lookback.io can be helpful.

Our Tip: Personal contacts and recommendations often work best.

2. Interview Preparation

Preparing for interviews is crucial. Ensure that users have all the necessary information for the appointment. Use tools like Lookback.io to record and observe the interviews. Also, prepare a discussion guide to serve as a foundation.

3. Conducting the Interviews

Start the interviews informally to build a foundation of trust. Ask open-ended questions to gain deeper insights. Don’t rigidly follow the question order; instead, adapt to the users’ responses.

4. Key Interview Questions

• Who are they? Get to know the user and their company.
• What do they do all day? Understand the user’s daily tasks and processes.
• What do they do when it gets tough? Focus on challenges and how they are overcome.
• What does the world look like when everything is going great? Find out what excites the user.
• Why? (Why? Why?) Use “Why?” as a follow-up question to dig deeper.
• Aspirations: Inquire about the user’s dream process or dream solution.

5. After the Interviews

Send participants a thank you and inform them about any incentives. Use surveys to gain further insights. Share raw notes with your team.

6. Analysis and Synthesis

Identify common themes in the interviews and synthesize the data into actionable conclusions. Present the findings to the team or company and incorporate them into onboarding materials for new hires – Mastering User Interviews