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User Interviews

Learn how to conduct User Interviews, a fundamental UX research technique for understanding your users, building empathy, and designing better products.

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A user interview is a fundamental qualitative research technique in UX. It consists of a one-on-one conversation with a user (or potential user) to gain a deep understanding of their behaviors, goals, needs, motivations, and pain points in relation to a product or problem.

What Are User Interviews?

Imagine you are a doctor. You do not tell the patient “you need this medicine” – first you ask them “where does it hurt?”, “since when?”, “what have you tried?”. A user interview is similar: it is a structured conversation to diagnose a person’s real problems and needs before trying to “prescribe” a solution. It is not a casual chat; it is a discovery tool.

The key components of an interview are:

  • A clear objective: What do you need to learn? (e.g., “Understand how first-time parents search for information about their baby’s sleep”).
  • A semi-structured script: A list of open-ended questions that serve as a guide but allow flexibility to explore interesting topics that come up.
  • Open-ended questions: Avoid “yes/no” questions. Instead of “Do you like the app?”, ask “Can you tell me about the last time you used the app?”.
  • Active listening: The goal is for the user to talk 80% of the time. Your job is to listen, observe, and ask follow-up questions.

Why Are They Important?

  • They generate deep empathy: They allow you to put yourself in the user’s shoes and understand the “why” behind their actions. Data tells you what they do; interviews tell you why they do it.
  • They uncover unmet needs: Users often reveal problems and solutions that the product team had never considered.
  • They validate or invalidate assumptions: They help you avoid building a product based on wrong ideas about your users.
  • They collect user language: Hearing how users describe their problems gives you the exact vocabulary you should use in your product’s interface.

Key Methods

Interviews can vary in their structure:

  • Structured: You ask exactly the same questions to everyone. Useful for comparing responses but less flexible.
  • Unstructured: A free conversation about a topic. Very flexible but difficult to analyze.
  • Semi-structured: The sweet spot. You have a script, but you can deviate to dig deeper into important topics. This is the most common method in UX.

Practical example: You want to improve the subscription cancellation process. Instead of guessing, you interview 5 users who have recently canceled. You ask them: “Can you walk me through the steps you took to cancel?”, “What did you expect to happen?”, “Was there anything confusing or frustrating about the process?”. The answers will give you a clear map of the problems to solve.

Mentor Tips

  • You are not the expert, the user is: Enter the interview with a beginner’s mindset. Your goal is to learn from their experience.
  • Ask for stories, not opinions: Instead of “What would you like?”, ask “Tell me about the last time you…”. Stories about past behaviors are far more reliable data than speculations about the future.
  • Embrace the silence: When a user pauses, do not rush to fill the silence. Often, they are thinking and what they say next will be pure gold.
  • Record the session (with permission): You cannot take notes on everything. Recording the interview allows you to be 100% present in the conversation and analyze the details later.

Resources and Tools

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