User interviews can be a challenge if you find it difficult starting conversations with strangers. Here are some of the skills I've learnt and the tools I use to help make these essential UX activities easier.
A third to a half of the population are introverts — Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts
I'm a Product Designer who's also a bit of an anxious introvert, and I figure that there are many more of us out there. In previous roles, I'd been the only UX resource and the one person who could carry out interviews and user testing. This was the perfect storm I needed, to help me learn skills and strategies that would help me to gather quality insights from interviews, even if they made me really nervous.
Always be prepared
Be prepared. Interviews are a big part of the craft, there's just no replacement for a solid interview. I used to often get nervous a full day before an interview. So instead of fretting, I started to make sure I prepped sufficiently for any interview(s) by creating a basic discussion guide.
The guide does a few things:
- I write down a full introduction so that if I blank or get too nervous I have the option of just reading off the script and get things rolling
- It contains a list of all the questions or themes I want to discuss (so we can avoid all those awkward pauses)
- It helps me figure out how long each part of the interview is going to take. This helps me to worry less about watching the clock and be more present.
In the spirit of being prepared, I also run through the test plan and double-check any prototypes to make sure that everything works smoothly.
Pick up interview techniques
Lean into silence
Maybe you're not someone who's great at filling the gaps in a conversation. But in a user research session, this can be your biggest asset — lean into pauses and let things ruminate:
- This allows the participant space to 'get it all out' and really talk through their entire thought process
- Participants sometimes want to rely on the interviewer, asking 'is this right?' or 'do I click this?'. I tend to let that sit for a few seconds before responding. Those extra seconds, more often than not, allow the user to figure it out on their own.
The Magic Question
In improv, the "Yes, and…" principle helps people to accept a contribution by another person and expound on it. With User Research, when a participant asks you a question, a handy response is "What do you think?".
It is a great way to turn a simple question into an insight of how a user is thinking when they look at your prototype.
Take advantage of tech
Interviews and an overload of human interaction can be depleting. I've experimented with ways to get user insights without necessarily having to put myself in front of someone.
Note-taking
Otter.ai is an app that transcribes and records your interviews in real-time. This means that you don't have to multi-task and take notes while trying to be engaged. You can focus on what the interviewee is saying and come up with thoughtful responses as well as follow-up questions. Even with tech like that, having another person in the room who can be a note-taker is always my first choice.
Remote user testing
This doesn't replace in-person user testing — nothing compares to someone using a prototype in the flesh, especially if you're testing on mobile devices. So it's always good to still do a mix of in-person and remote if possible.
For remote user testing and interviews, there are quite a few options (e.g. Lookback, UserTesting.com). For a tool that's no-frills and simple, Zoom is really good. It provides screen sharing for a simple interview, and if you're doing an actual user test you can allow participants to control your screen and interact with a prototype.
Unmoderated user testing
Maze helps you to really achieve "critical mass" with the number of tests you can do by creating tests that are completely unmoderated. Your test consists of a series of missions that your participant needs to complete in your prototype, interspersed with question modules for follow-up. At the end, the platform spins up a summary of your insights — great for showing off to stakeholders.
While this allows you to get pretty good insights, you'll be missing the human touch and the opportunity to dig deeper and ask more nuanced questions.
Be gentle with yourself
Conducting user interviews is a practice. While you might not be born with the natural ability to do it, you can definitely get better at it. Some truths about user interviews:
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It takes two hands to clap. The quality of an interview also depends on the participants. Some are quieter and require more encouragement; others are chattier and happy to talk through their thought process. Remember that quite often, participants are nervous too.
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You can be flexible. If you find that you are not going to get more insights from participants, don't be afraid to finish up early. In the same way, if a meeting is going well, politely ask if they are happy to stay for 5 minutes more.
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Some interviews are more useful than others. You might go through a 1-hour interview and have learnt just one new thing. But that's okay — even if your interview doesn't yield insights about a particular feature, sitting in the room with one of your customers helps fill in knowledge gaps about what your users look and sound like. That can be really priceless in your journey of advocating for the end-user.
At the end of the day, everybody bombs. We've all had a user interview where everything has gone wrong. It's really important to pick up and keep going — because as I've found, it gets easier. And at the end of it all, you might actually start to enjoy it a little.