Coming up with innovative ideas is not easy. However, I have found that whenever I spend hours on generating and processing a particular idea, I tend to underestimate the downsides of its implementation. This is natural since entrepreneurs and other business development professionals easily become attached to their brainchild. However, we must find ways to ensure that the idea will receive the response we had hoped. Otherwise, we expose ourselves to different risks. In this case, user interviews become increasingly important. User interviews are also known as customer development interviews and are conducted for many reasons (we will explore those momentarily.)
What are user interviews?
During user interviews, researchers ask real customers or “users” questions that provide them with valuable insights. These questions are structured in a way that provides the researchers with the information that they need to evaluate a product or its go to market strategy.The aim can be to validate the usefulness of a product concept, identify needs and current problems, or to generate data for buyer personas. Regardless of the goals, making sure that the user interviews are conducted in the right manner is essential. I have shared a guide that can be used, both before and, during the interview, that will be extremely beneficial. But first, let us examine why conducting such interviews is important.
Why are user interviews important?
Entrepreneurs feel highly passionate about their innovative ideas. They are sure that the customers would wholeheartedly accept their idea and that market adoption would happen organically. However, this is a myopic view that rarely plays out as anticipated. Due to the long hours invested in the product’s development, judgment regarding adoption may be biased. At times, this passion for one idea can prove to be a success. However, at other times, it may result in slower market acceptance than desired.
Therefore, it is advised to make sure that the idea will get a positive response from the customers once implemented. To do this, entrepreneurs set up user interviews. User interviews are extremely helpful in letting the researchers know exactly how the potential customers view this idea or creation. The success of a new product is directly dependent on the view of the customers or end users. Therefore, getting their opinion before launching is a good measure if its potential future success.
How to prepare for user interviews
Determine a purpose
While there is no doubt that such interviews provide valuable information, it is necessary to have a clear goal. Before asking customers the questions, we must ask ourselves why we want to conduct a user interview. Some of the common goals include:
- Finding out whether there is a need for the particular idea
- Do customers find the product to be user-friendly and convenient
- Identify important ethnographic and demographic information
The direction and structure of the interview will depend on the purpose that is set at the beginning of the process. Therefore, I always make sure to have a clear goal in mind to obtain easily interpretable results.
Identify the interview method
Thanks to technology, there are different ways to conduct interviews today. It is no longer necessary to have in-person interviews. Many researchers choose to carry out interviews remotely via video or phone. However, one disadvantage of opting for anything other than the in-person method is that gathering behavioral data will become more difficult. At times, researchers pay great attention to non-verbal cues of the participants. These cues, such as facial expressions and body movement provide additional valuable information that can be used to draw conclusions.
Recruit participants
Randomly choosing customers for the user interview is a common mistake. Researchers should make sure that the participants are people that are in the target audience for the particular idea. I have never found customers by remaining in my comfort zone. It is important to“get out there” to tap the right participants. Cold emails and arranging meet-ups are some of the ways to locate a good group of interviewees.
Prepare questions carefully
This is probably the most difficult and important part of the planning for user interviews. Knowing what to ask and how to ask are two different aspects. Here are some tips that I believe are important to keep in mind when deciding on the structure of questions:
- Asking open-ended questions as they can unlock useful data points
- Having a list of follow-up questions that will be used to gain more insight into something important revealed by the participants
- Not using jargon as it can lead to participants feeling embarrassed and eventually becoming quiet if they are unfamiliar with the terms in use
- Staying away from leading questions that may bias your participants into answering a specific way
Store information
After the interview is over, it takes a lot of time to analyze each and every answer shared by the participants. As time goes by, it is natural for the team that interviewed the participants to forget the exact responses. I would therefore strongly recommend recording the interview for future review. Of course, this should only be done after obtaining the consent of each participant.
What to do during the interviews
Once the user interview preparations are complete, half of the battle is won. Here are some tips that I feel are incredibly helpful during the interview:
- Making the participants comfortable by providing them with a warm and friendly welcome.
- Letting them know that there are no right or wrong answers to any of the questions.
- Using my listening skills. Giving the participants ample time to think and share.
- Giving them verbal or non-verbal confirmation messages while they are sharing. This makes them feel understood, valued and acknowledged.
- I never stick to the script. If the interview takes an interesting turn, I ask clarifying questions.
- Letting them know I am looking for an honest feedback and that there is nothing that they should say just because they feel it is polite.
- I never ask them about events in the past or the future but rather, talk about current experiences and situations.
- In the end, I always tend to stop myself from inquiring whether they would buy the product or not. (It is never helpful!)
- Thanking the participants at the end of each interview always goes a long way!
All of these tips are sure to make any user interview experience a success. The information gathered through properly conducted interviews is extremely valuable and can be used to make strategic decisions.