How Product Managers can conduct insightful customer interviews

Data will tell you what happened. The customer will tell you why it happened.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

A product manager’s ability to deliver value largely depends on how well they understand their customers. Unless you understand your customers you can’t deliver value to them. The best way to understand customers is to talk to them.

Interviews provide a structured way of talking to customers. If done well, interviews can help us uncover insights that were previously unknown. However, if not done well, these can end up becoming a futile exercise, with little to show for, in terms of actionable outcomes.

The key to unlocking value from customer interviews is to plan properly, follow a general structure, and adhere to a certain code of conduct.

Without further ado, let us briefly look into each of these aspects.

Planning Phase: Pre-Interview Preparation

1. Framing the Questions

Asking the right questions is an art (Image Source)

Preparing questions in advance helps you set the general direction of an interview. Otherwise, if the interviewee doesn’t have much to say, you will soon run out of things to talk about.

Guidelines for framing questions:

• Avoid Yes/No questions: These include questions such as: 1)Did you like the platform 2) Did you find feature X useful etc. Instead, frame these as open-ended questions that spark conversation. A rephrased version of the questions would be: 1)What did you like/dislike about the platform? 2) Could you tell me about your experience of using feature X?
• Avoid MCQ type questions: These include questions such as: Would you like the information to be shown here (at top right) or here (in the center)?
• Avoid leading questions: These include questions such as: Was the website slow to load? Instead, frame this as: How did you find the website loading experience?
• Avoid hypothetical questions. Users can’t guess how will they behave. An example of such questions: If we introduce Feature Y, how do you think your experience would change?
• Start broad but go deep if required: For example, you might ask the user about their experience of using a feature. However, if not much information is forthcoming, start going into the specifics of the feature.
• The questions should cover all aspects of the feature or workflow you want to focus on. If the focus is on the entire product, your questions should cover all the key features/workflows.

When questioning the customers about something specific, use screenshots to refresh their memory.

2. Logistics to take care of

Paying attention to basic administrative stuff helps ensure that the interview goes on smoothly.

Useful tips in this regard include:

• For interviews being conducted through the phone or video conferencing, make sure that your microphone and speaker is working well. If possible, keep your camera ON as it helps build a better connect.
• Sit in a relatively quiet place if you don’t want the interview to be littered with phrases like: 1) Please repeat! 2)Come again 3) Sorry, didn’t get you
• Keep the following handy before starting: 1) List of questions 2) Screenshots to show 3) A pen and a notebook
• If possible, record the interview (after seeking permission!). Recordings can be useful as a reference point later on.
• Jot down important points in your notebook. Do this even if the interview is being recorded. According to me, this helps one keep alert throughout the interview. Otherwise, it’s easy to get distracted.

General Structure of the Interview

1. The Start

Don’t jump into the interview straightway. Build a rapport with the interviewee first.

Begin by thanking them for agreeing to be interviewed. Then, get them to talk about something they don’t have to think about. For example: their job, workplace etc. Anything that helps break the ice.

2. Conducting the interview

Once the interviewee is settled in, gradually pick up pace.

It is important to position the interview as a conversation rather than a Q&A session. Conversations are informal and free-flowing. They reveal much more.

Few pointers to draw the maximum from the conversation are:

• Ask the interviewer to think out aloud. Say, you talked about a feature/workflow and showed them a screenshot. Following questions can be asked in this situation: 1) What do you see here. 2) What would you do next? 3) How would you do it? 4) What would you expect to happen? 5) Once you move to the next screen, ask them if the new screen met their expectations?
• If you feel something is worth probing further, use the 5 WHY’s approach.
• Avoid giving long clarifications to the interviewee’s questions midway. This could derail the conversation. Instead keep the clarifications and future plans for the end. The goal is to let the interviewee do most of the talking.
• When customers are giving feature ideas or improvements, don’t focus on the ‘feature’ itself. Try to understand the problem they want solved.

3. The End

Don’t end the interview abruptly. Like the start, the ending has to be slow and gradual.

Before ending, I usually summarize the key points that the interviewee has made. I then ask them to add anything that I missed. This has two benefits: 1) It keeps you alert during the interview 2) It impresses the interviewer as they know you paid careful attention to what they said.

Before ending, thank the interviewee again for their time and valuable insights.

Code of conduct for the interviewer

Source: Here

During the interview, the interviewee needs to feel at ease. To ensure this, we need to be mindful of the way we react, our tone and the words we use.

Keep the following in mind while interviewing:

• You are not their to judge. Your job is to understand the customer. Focus on their problems, challenges and expectations.
• Be genuinely interested in what they have to say. Always be armed with a smile and an understanding nod.
• Don’t be in a hurry. Wait for them to complete their train of thought before interrupting.
• Don’t make remarks that might put the interviewee on the defensive. For example: So, you were not able to understand how to use this feature?
• Don’t let your face show that you are irritated, angry or disinterested. Certain tell-tale signs include: rolling your eyes, being fidgety, looking somewhere else or being curt while responding.

After the Interview

The best time to summarize the key takeaways from the interview is just afterwards. This is the time when we remember the tiniest details. Delay any further and you might miss capturing the Eureka moments you had.

Following are some useful sections to summarize the user interview: 1) What they liked 2) What they found challenging/non-intuitive 3) What other needs/problems would they want the product to solve.

Taking insightful interviews is a challenging task. Often, the user might not be able to articulate their problem well. It is upto the interviewer to dig deep and ferret out the truth. Once we become experts at doing this, great insights would start coming naturally.

The UX Collective donates US$1 for each article published in our platform. This story contributed to Bay Area Black Designers: a professional development community for Black people who are digital designers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area. By joining together in community, members share inspiration, connection, peer mentorship, professional development, resources, feedback, support, and resilience. Silence against systemic racism is not an option. Build the design community you believe in.