Summary

Interview

• Tool to capture users’ needs
• Be curious about their “why”

Interview flow

• Introduce yourself, explain purpose and build enough rapport
• Evoke Stories: Ask open-ended questions, encourage the stories
• Explore more: Ask follow-up questions to dig deeper

Good Questions

• Ask examples
• Ask about the past (fixed-time frame)

Bad Questions

• Instead of using “why”:
  • “What led you to…”
  • “Can you tell me more about…”
• Avoid leading questions
• Avoid jargon (technical terms)
• Avoid “what if”
• Avoid “yes/no” questions
• Don’t ask multiple questions at once
• Don’t ask rating in scale:
  • Because it doesn’t provide insights
  • Users often don’t know what they want
  • Users often bias their answers, inflate rating to be nice.

Users

Snowball sampling

• Snowball sampling is a non-probability sampling technique where existing study subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances.
• It is used when a population is difficult to access.
• Compensation is needed.

Lead Users

• Lead users are users who are ahead of the curve in terms of trends and needs.
• Highly advanced users and inventors in their expertise.
• They often have unique needs and can provide valuable insights.

Extreme Users

• Extreme users are users who are at the extremes of the user spectrum.
• But they are not representative of the majority of users.

Persona

• A persona is a fictional character created to represent a user type that might use a site, brand, or product in a similar way.
• It helps to understand the user’s needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals.
• Demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals are included.