How to Conduct a Good Interview

After you’ve finished planning your interviews and recruiting participants, it’s time to conduct the interviews. It’s normal to be nervous, but try to relax and remember—this is a conversation. Be authentic and friendly, which helps put you and the participant at ease. 

Conducting the interview

  • Ask the participant if you can record the interview—this way you can focus on actively listening and make sure everything is documented.

  • If possible, have a team member take notes or use a tool to transcribe the interview (we like to use Otter.ai or Dovetail.)

  • Capture interesting quotes, problems, opportunities, ideas, and insights—the surprising, emotional or “aha” moments.

  • Be mindful of the time. If you’ve scheduled 30 minutes, try to stick to that. If you only have 5 minutes left and more to get through, tell the participant that you want to be mindful of their time. Ask if they’re OK going a little longer. 

  • Let the participant talk—don’t interrupt. It’s more important to actively listen than to get through every question in your script. The participant should be doing most of the talking in the interview.

  • Don’t focus on yourself or your company. The goal is to learn from the participant. It’s not a sales pitch.

Digging deeper

There are different techniques you can use to dig deeper and get a better understanding of your customers’ behavior vs what they say they do. What people say and do aren’t always the same.

Think aloud

Use this method if you’re testing a prototype or concept with a customer. Show them the prototype and give them a task to complete. Ask the participant to think aloud and say what they’re trying to do and how they think you can do it. Ask them to tell you if they get confused or if they find something interesting or helpful. Encourage them to provide candid feedback and reassure them that they won’t hurt your feelings. The goal is to learn, so you want to encourage honesty.  

5 Whys

Dig at least five levels deep into the issue with five levels of “whys.” This helps identify the root cause of a problem. For example, you might show a customer a concept for a feature you're redesigning. The conversation might go something like this:

Question: Please think aloud as much as possible. What are your thoughts as you're looking at this new concept?

Answer: I like the old design better. 

Question: Why do you like the old design better?

Answer: I can place my order a lot faster. 

Question: Why, can you elaborate on that?

Answer: I can easily find what I need. 

Question: Why, can you tell me more about how you find what you need?

Answer: I just do a search, and add the item to my cart. 

Question: Why, can you tell me more about that?

Answer: It’s fewer steps and I don’t have to go digging for what I’m looking for. 

Question: Can you tell me more about why that’s important?

Answer: I’m busy. My time is valuable. If it takes too long to find what I need, I’ll go elsewhere.

Allow for pauses

Get comfortable with silence. It’s our natural reaction to try to fill in those awkward moments of silence, but it’s important to give participants time to think about the question and reflect. Even after they’ve answered a question, sometimes allowing for some silence will give them time to elaborate more.

Understand user behavior

Ask the participant to show you their current process or how they use an app or website. Give them a specific task or scenario “can you show me how you find what you’re looking for …” If you’re conducting a remote interview, ask them to share their screen and walk through their process.  

It also helps to ask for specific examples and set the context to narrow the scope of your question, “tell me about a time when you were unable to find what you were looking for,” or “tell me about the last time you purchased software for your company.” This will help you understand how customers are actually using your product and what challenges they run into.

A beginner’s mindset

Conducting a great interview is a craft that takes practice. The more customers you talk to, the more comfortable you will be conducting interviews and asking insightful questions. Start with a curious, beginner’s mindset to learn and improve as you go—remember you’re there to learn from your customers!

Interested in learning more about customer research?

Learn to identify unknowns in your project or business and de-risk ideas in our Strategic Testing course.

Serene MirelesMB Collabconduct, interview, good interview, conduct a good interview