How to plan and conduct a user interview 

User or customer interviews are a great way to gather in-depth qualitative data that helps us understand ‘why’ something is the way it is or what people want from something. They only typically require a small number of participants given how in-depth they are. This guide will provide details on how to plan a user interview and what to expect when conducting an interview. 

Note: Customer and user interviews are different from user testing, which is covered in another article. 

What you’ll need: 

• 60-90 minutes to create, 2-4 weeks to run the interviews. 

• (If online) video conferencing software. 
• Pens, notebook, laptop, or your preferred notetaking method. 
• (If possible) a friend or partner to support the interview. 
• A friend to review your progress. 

Planning an interview: 

Define a clear and attainable goal for your interviews. 

Make sure you are clear on what you want to want to discover, and make sure you’re asking ‘why’ questions. Make sure you’re using the interview to yield lots of insights. For example, “I want to understand what coffee students drink the most” is not an effective use of an interview. Instead, asking “I want to understand what students are thinking when they order coffee, why they make those decisions, and how aware they are of the environmental impact of the coffee they drink” will yield greater insights. While you might want to ask a few ‘how many’ questions with a specific answer, these should largely be answered in surveys.  

List out all the questions you want to answer. 

Get all the questions you want to answer in one list. This will help you prioritise and organise them appropriately. When you’re listing all your questions, think about asking open questions rather than closed questions. Having open-ended questions will allow participants to talk at length, giving you more thematic insights to analyse. 

Now, start to organise your questions into a loose script. 

Your questions should follow thematically from each other. For instance, don’t ask someone what they would change about a service before asking them whether they enjoy the service or not. Make sure that you’re leaving room for the participant to explain their answers. You can have sub-questions under your leading questions. During the interview, it is okay to go off-script, but you want to have consistency across your interviews. 

Add in an introduction section. 

When you start an interview, you should introduce yourself, explain why you’re conducting the interview, and if the participant is happy to have their responses noted down. If you’re recording the interview, you would obtain permission now before carrying on. It is good practice to explain that you’re coming from a neutral perspective and encourage the participant to be as open and honest as possible. If you work for an organisation. The introduction section should also cover how their data is being stored, and for how long. See the article on protecting data for more information. 

Decide how you’re going to conduct your interview. 

Are you going to do them online using video conferencing software or will you do them online? Whatever your decision, make sure you that you make the appropriate accommodations. Avoid conducting focus groups unless you’ve received facilitation training, as it can be difficult to manage social desirability bias otherwise. 

Recruit participants for your study. 

Now it is time to go and recruit participants for your study. Make sure you are reaching out to your intended target audience. There are multiple ways you can recruit participants: making posts in online groups or forums or using physical signs. 

Running an interview: 

Introduce yourself. 

Before you start permission, introduce yourself and explain the purpose of the interview. It is also good practice to invite the interviewee to be as open and honest as possible, and that you’re all working towards the same goal. At this point, you’ll also want to explain how the interviewee’s data is being stored and ask permission to record the interview. 

Stick to your script – but follow the conversation. 

Make sure that you’re asking each participant the same questions, but feel free to follow the conversation. If a participant says something interesting or is talking at length about a specific subject, don’t be afraid to ask more questions and inquire further. 

Make sure you check in. 

If the participant says something and you’re not sure what they mean, ask for clarity or more detail. If they use certain terms or acronyms, it is worth checking in just to double-check you’re discussing the same things. If the participant has spoken at length, it can be good practice to summarise what they’ve said and ask if there is anything missing. 

Never mention what other participants have said. 

Don’t mention what you’ve heard from other interviews – it can bias responses and is a breach of the participant’s trust. 

Allow the participant to steer the conversation. 

Don’t go into the interview attempting to verify your own personal beliefs. Don’t ask leading questions and leave questions broad to allow the participant to speak at length. Providing long pauses can also help your participants share more of their opinions. 

Thank your participant and explain the next steps. 

At the end of the interview, thank the participant for their time and explain what will happen next and if there is any follow-up. This is also a great opportunity to allow the participants to ask any questions of their own. Explain to the participant how long the data will be stored and assure them that any responses will be anonymised. 

 

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