How to conduct effective user surveys and interviews
User surveys & interviews are a popular technique for getting user feedback, mainly because they help collecting data directly from the end-users.
As a part of day 019 of 100 days of UX, the challenge was to learn about User Surveys & Interviews, and how to carry them out in an effective manner.
What is user interview and user survey?
A user interview is a UX research method during which a researcher(or designer) asks the user questions about a topic of interest with the goal of learning about that topic. It is the part of Qualitative Research in UX Design.
A user survey is a set of questions, asked to a targeted group of users, that probes their attitudes and preferences. Surveys can be a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to obtain data questions you ask. It is the part of Quantitative Research in UX Design.
What is the need of conducting surveys and interviews?
Interviews and surveys give insights into what users think, what they expect and how they feel about a product or service. They can point out what site content is memorable, what people feel is important on the site, and what ideas for improvement they may have. They can be done in a variety of situations:
- Before you have a design, to inform personas, journey maps, feature ideas, workflow ideas
- To enrich a contextual inquiry study by supplementing observation with descriptions of tools, processes, bottlenecks, and how users perceive them
- At the end of a usability test, to collect verbal responses related to observed behaviors
Steps to create surveys and interviews effectively
There are a few steps which should be taken care before you jump onto conduct a survey or an interview, such as:
- Set a goal for the interview: Ask product stakeholders what they want to learn. From their desires, determine the main goal, ensuring that it’s realistic. A concise, concrete goal related to a specific aspect of the users’ behavior or attitudes can bring the team to consensus, and direct how you’ll construct the interview.
- Create a rapport with the user: People are more likely to remember, talk, and let their guard down if they feel relaxed and trust the interviewer and the process. Keep in mind that there’s a big difference between rapport and friendship. The user does not have to really like you, think you’re funny, or want to invite you out for a cup of coffee in order to trust you enough to be interviewed.
- Prepare questions before the interview: While you will likely think of follow-up questions while sitting and talking with the user, do bring to the interview a list of questions you aim to have answered.
- Avoid leading, closed, or vague questions: Ask questions which are open ended and have possibility to extend. Avoiding any preference to the answers would not give accurate data and can turn out be biased.
Ways To Improve User Interview Questions
1. Have open discoverable questions like:
- “Tell me about yourself”
- “Could you describe to me how you… / your experience with…?”
- “How often do you…?” “How much/many…”
- “What … do you use / do ?”
- “Why do you …”
2. Understanding user behaviour by asking:
- “Can you describe how you / how you would [task]?”
- “What are all the things you need to do in order to [task?]”
- Sequence: “Walk me through [task], how would you?”
- Comparison: “What is the difference between [task 1] and [other task]?”
3. Balance Past issues and Future expectations by:
- “Can you recall a situation when you …, what did you do?”
- “Can you tell me about your most significant/ memorable experience/interaction with…?”
- “How do you think … is going to help you?”
- “Could you describe the ideal product / experience…?”
4. Ask for their opinions and ideas:
- “What do you think about …?”
- “What do you like/dislike about…?”
- “What would your friend/partner/colleague think of that?
- “Some people …, other …, what is your opinion on that?”
- “Last week I interviewed people who did // said … What do you think of that idea // how do you feel about this approach?
5. Empathise with their pain points:
- “How does this problem impact you?”
- “How did you solve that issue ?”
- “What’s the hardest / most frustrating part about …?”
- “If you had a magic wand, what would you change?”
The Takeaway
It’s not easy to conduct user interviews and surveys. It takes some thought and effort to make sure you’re doing it right. The key points of my learnings on this topic are:
- Be clear with the goal for which you are conducting research
- Write clear and simple questions
- Make sure your questions are targeting towards your findings
- Make the survey short and sweet
- Avoid introducing bias
- Empathise with user and try to put some of your insights while asking follow-ups.
So that’s a wrap for Today!
Thank You for reading this article. This is the part of 100 days of UX Challenge(Join the challenge). I hope you liked it and found it useful. Support me by following me here and showing some love by hitting that clap button 😊
My Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayushiverma13/
Behance portfolio: https://www.behance.net/ayushiverma713
