User interviews are conducted by UX designers in order to gain insight into prospective user behaviour, before a product is built. It is an invaluable part of the discovery phase of the design process. A user interview, as the name suggests, is when the designer interviews users, recording and summarising their answers. In order to find suitable users, some research needs to be done in order to ascertain individuals that have experience with the particular problem that the UX designer is trying to solve. Hearing from people with a range of experiences is incredibly valuable, as the product in question is likely to have a range of users.

User interviews allow the designer to see the problem that they have identified from someone else’s point of view. After all, they are not creating the product for their own use exclusively. By empathising and discovering the user’s cares and concerns, the resulting product will be infinitely more successful. In order to conduct user interviews that are successful, as well as being a comfortable experience for interviewer and interviewee, there are several things to consider before getting started.

The first important consideration is preparation. Being prepared for the interview that you are to conduct not only makes it run smoothly for you, the interviewer, but also conveys to the interviewee that you respect the time that they are taking to talk to you. Disorganisation, especially when the problem that you have indentified might be a difficult or triggering subject, can come across as inconsiderate and thoughtless. Preparation means writing questions ahead of time, and becoming familiar enough with them that you needn’t spend most of your time reading them off your notebook. Being able to ask your questions while keeping some level of eye contact and not creating a questions-on-paper barrier between you and your user is preferrable. That being said, make sure that you do have such a reminder of your questions to hand should you lose your train of thought or forget where you are up to.

Preparation also means preparing the user for the interview before the questions begin. Make the interviewee feel important. Thank them for giving you some of their time to interview them. After all, without them, this important research step and your eventual product would not possible. Take special care to show them how grateful you are, especially if you recognise that the user’s experience with the problem at hand may be negative or difficult for them to talk about.

Explain to the respondent what the user interview is for and why it is indispensible for creating a useful and successful product. Give them some background about the problem that you have identified and why you think that they might have some experience on the subject. Let them know that there are no wrong answers, and that if there are any questions that they do not want to answer, then passing is fine. Because you will be asking questions to gain insight about personal experience, understand that the nature of the interview may grow too personal for the interviewee, and therefore it is understandable that they may want to decline to answer sometimes.

At all times, try to empathise with your user. Although their experience is different to yours, try to make them feel comfortable in knowing that you are listening attentively and asking some unscripted questions that are tailored to them. Along these lines, allow the interviewee to go “off-track”. It can be surprising to the designer how a user might answer their questions, but instead of steering the user back to the designer’s comfy corral, the user should feel free to express their feelings. Letting the interviewee know that they are “allowed” to do this before the interview begins is important, as well as asking them to elaborate when they touch on something unexpected.

In order to get the most out of your interviewees, aside from making them feel comfortable, ensure that questions are open ended so as to allow them to express themselves without your bias. If questions are not open ended they are referred to as leading questions. A leading question leads your interviewee towards saying something, usually influenced by your own experience of the subject. An example would be, “People often find it annoying when their workmates talk loudly, do you?” instead of “Can you tell me about your experience of working in a busy team day to day?”. By asking the user if they find something annoying, you are guiding them to an expectation that you have, and people will often answer questions in a certain way to fit the brief that you have outlined. The leading question here also encourages a yes/no answer, whereas the second question leaves room for a detailed answer. Essentially you should let the interviewee lead the interview with their answers, rather than you as the interviewer leading them with your questions. Should you receive a short or undetailed answer, or the user seems to stop answering out of awkwardness or unsurety, encourage them to say more by asking, “Can you tell me more about that?”. People are often happy to say more, as the opportunity to talk about their experiences in detail is not always presented to them.

Let your user know that you will be taking notes of your converation, either as they talk or later from a recording. Make sure that they are alright with this. Users can be anonymised, but some details about them, such as their profession, could be useful to note if they are relevant to your product. Allow them to decline to be interviewed if they do not want to be quoted or identified. Remember to be ethical when conducting user interviews.

Following such considerations when interviewing users will allow yourself and your user to feel more relaxed with the process, as well as yeilding more interesting and useful results. These experiences gathered will illuminate the path that the designer should follow when creating a product that is valuable, enjoyable and sustainable.