Going out and talking to people (customer and non-customers) twice a month is scary, but we can do a lot to improve our interviewing skills as well as our relationship with customers. View this slide show to gain some insight into optimizing your user testing sessions to gain deeper understanding of our customers to best deliver value.

1. Conducting Valuable
Customer Interviews
Melissa Phillips
3.23.18

2. What are customer interviews?
Limits of customer interviews
It’s not user testing!
Step 1: Set Goals
Step 2: Decide on a format
Step 3: Identify customers
Step 4: Compose a script
Introduction
Topics
Closure
Step 5: Reflect
Step 6: Report
Agenda
{ {
Question Types
Defining the problem
5 Whys
Critical Incident
Query Effect
Current pain points
Steering the conversation

3. Allow you to explore
general attitudes or
discover the way
customers think about a
problem.
Give insights that fuel
your ability to design
features that help to
solve customers’
problems.
Provide clarity on
problems or pain points
customers experience
Customer interviews…

4. Users are pragmatic
and concrete. They
typically have no idea
how they might use a
new technology based on
a description alone.
People can’t remember the details
of how they used a website, and
they often tend to make up stories
to rationalize whatever they do
remember (or misremember) so
that it sounds more logical than it
really is.
Limits of customer interviews

5. The way to assess features
is to have people use
them. Definitely pay
attention to users'
comments while they're
engaging with the features.
Interviews are great
supplements to other
usability methods. If you
could do only one thing, I
would always
recommend user testing.
It’s not user testing!
Testing your solutions
as prototypes bring
further clarity on how
to refine the solution
further.

6. Step 1: Set Goals
The customer interview is a method of research used
primarily during the discovery phase of the design
process.
What are your goals, and what do you want to find
out from customer interviews?

7. Conducting interviews in person allows us to perceive
a range of expressions and emotion which provide
more valuable insights and clues as to what to
discover next.
Step 2: Decide on a format

8. Step 3: Identify customers
What type of customers will give you the insights you
need?
Who do you already know- or who can you ask- who
may know this type of customer?
People that have a common connection are more
likely to participate than those who don’t.

9. Step 4: Compose a script
Having a script prepared will give you the confidence
and organization necessary to gather the information
you’re looking to get. Keep in mind, the script is just a
guide and doesn’t need to be followed exactly.

10. Introduction
Introduce yourself and allow your interviewee the
chance to introduce themselves to you. This will break
the ice and ease any potential anxiety your
interviewee may have.
Step 4: Compose a script

11. Outline specific areas you want to cover in your
interview, defining and ordering questions based on a
conversational sequence.
Topics
Step 4: Compose a script

12. Ask open-ended (descriptive answer) rather than
closed-ended (yes/no answer) questions.

13. In one famous study, Microsoft asked customers to
suggest new features for Office 2007 before starting
work on that product. Most of the requested “new"
commands already existed in Office 2003, so the
design team correctly concluded that their main
problem was the discoverability of the existing
functionality.

14. The “5 Whys” to find the root case (use case)
1. Whydid the robot stop?
The circuit was overloaded
2. Whyis the circuit overloaded?
There was insufficient lubrication on the bearings
3. Whywas there insufficient lubrication on the bearings?
The oil pump on the robot is not circulating sufficient oil
4. Whyis the pump not circulating sufficient oil?
The pump intake is clogged with metal shavings
5. Whyis the intake clogged with metal shavings?
Because there is no filter on the pump.

15. Ask customers to recall specific instances when they
faced something difficult, or when something
exceeded their expectations. Extreme cases are
remembered more clearly and will often include
details needed for useful features.
The Critical Incident Method

16. If you quiz people about your visual
design, they may comment about the
colors, even if they're not particularly
important to them.
On the other hand, if you hear
people mention the colors
(unprompted) while they're using
the site, then there's probably
something to consider.
Beware the Query Effect

17. Ask:
“Can you show me how you currently do this?”
“Can you show me what’s frustrating about your
current process?”
Identify Current Pain Points

18. Subtilely steer the conversation so that you can move
through topics in a reasonable timeframe
“Thanks for that insight! If we
can take a step back and
discuss…”
“That’s interesting. I’m curious
about…”
“Moving on to the topic of…”

19. After main topics are covered, allow a few minutes to
review the conversation and let any additional
comments surface. Ask if the interviewee would like
to add anything else- often these insights are the most
interesting.
Closure
Step 4: Compose a script

20. Step 5: Reflect
Insights are truths about a topic that reveal a
customer’s motivation, hopes, or disappointments
concerning a specific issue. What important insights
were revealed?

21. Step 6: Report
Qualitative data can be compiled with mind maps or
word clouds. Written reports can outline the key data
and share minor issues in appendices.

22. How to Conduct User Interviews | Interaction Design Foundation
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/how-to-conduct-user-interviews
The Art of the User Interview – Springboard
https://medium.springboard.com/the-art-of-the-user-interview-cf40d1ca62e8
How to nail user interviews in a UX, HCD or Design Thinking process ...
https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-nail-a-user-interviews-in-a-ux-hcd-or-design-thinking-pro
How to Conduct UX Research | CareerFoundry
https://careerfoundry.com/.../ux.../how-to-conduct-user-experience-research-like-a-pr
Interviewing Users - Nielsen Norman Group
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/interviewing-users/
How to Conduct User Interviews – Prototypr
https://blog.prototypr.io/how-to-conduct-user-interviews-d099f3688615
Resources

23. Thank you!