Learn Inbound 2019 - Els Aerts slides "The Lost Art of Asking Questions"

1. The Lost Art of Asking Questions
Els Aerts
@els_aerts
•Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash

2. Source: www.xkcd.com

3. “You can’t just ask people
what you want to know.
(Sorry.)”
Erika Hall
Co-founder of Mule Design Studio
Author of ‘Just Enough Research’ and ‘Conversational Design’

4. Research question
How well does our website answer
prospective customers’ questions?

5. Research question
≠
Survey/Interview question

6. Research question
How well does our website answer
prospective customers’ questions?

7. Survey question
What’s holding you back from completing
your purchase today?

8. Interview question
Talk me through your most recent
shopping experience on our website.

9. Surveys and Interviews

10. Not user testing?

11. Surveys?

12. Surveys suck.

13. Surveys suck.

14. Most surveys suck.
@els_aerts

15. Surveys can be
good user research.
@els_aerts

16. Don’t think quantity.
Think quality.
@els_aerts

17. Guidelines & tips

18. Ask the right people
Ask the right people
Photo by Omar Lopez Unsplash

21. Ask the right questions
Ask the right questions
Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash

22. Don’t ask about
the future
Photo by Wyron A Unsplash

23. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Don’t ask about the too distant past

24. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Don’t ask leading questions
Photo by Dineslav Roydev on Unsplash

25. How good would you say Learn Inbound was?
o Very good
o Good
o Neither good nor bad
o Bad
o Very bad

26. How good or bad would you say
Learn Inbound was?
o Very good
o Good
o Neither good nor bad
o Bad
o Very bad

27. How would you rate Learn Inbound?
o Very good
o Good
o Neither good nor bad
o Bad
o Very bad

28. How hard was it to reach your goal? It was easy to reach my goal.
Source: https://www.thomasvandenberg.nl/cro/het-jaar-2018-als-croer-bij-centraal-beheer
Thomas van den Berg - @Thomas_vd_berg

29. How hard was it to reach your goal? It was easy to reach my goal.
Source: https://www.thomasvandenberg.nl/cro/het-jaar-2018-als-croer-bij-centraal-beheer
Thomas van den Berg - @Thomas_vd_berg

30. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Don’t ask loaded questions

31. How do you rate world class organiser Mark Scully?
(5 = Very good 4 = Good 3 = Average 2 = Poor 1 = Very poor)
o 5 o 4 o 3 o 2 o 1

32. How do you rate world class organiser Mark Scully?
(5 = Very good 4 = Good 3 = Average 2 = Poor 1 = Very poor)
o 5 o 4 o 3 o 2 o 1

33. Which word do you think describes
Business Insider best?
o Surprising
o Useful
o Fun
o Reliable

35. Practice good question hygieneGood question hygiene
Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

36. What’s important
when doing web surveys?

37. Get your time & place right
Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

40. Pop-up survey decision chart

41. Pop-up survey decision chart
Why? When? Where?

43. Pop-up survey decision chart
Why? When? Where?
Top tasks Upon entry Middle

45. Wait! Before you go, we
have 1 question for you.
What is the most
important reason you
didn't make an
appointment today?

46. Pop-up survey decision chart
Why? When? Where?
Top tasks Upon entry Middle
Reasons for leaving Upon exit Slide-in
Middle

47. Pop-up survey decision chart
Why? When? Where?
Top tasks Upon entry Middle
Reasons for leaving Upon exit Slide-in
Middle
Another question Slide-in

48. IT DEPENDS!

49. Confirmation or
thank you page surveys:
in-page

51. Open questions
or
Closed questions?
Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

52. Did you find what you were looking for today?
o Yes
o No

53. Did you find what you were looking for today?
o Yes
o No
What didn’t you find?

54. Don’t set and forget

55. Be nice

57. Keep your own tone of voice
Photo by Maaria Lohiya on Unsplash

60. What’s important
when doing interviews?

62. “Lesson #1: Nothing can replace
talking directly to your users”
Rand Fishkin, Founder of SparkToro and Moz
@randfish

63. Don’t call it an interview.
Call it a chat.

64. Your interview scenario is a
coat hanger, not a crutch.

65. Photo by Trung Thanh on Unsplash
Listen.

66. What are you
trying to find out?
Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

67. Thank you very much!
@els_aerts