How to get the best out of user interviews?

Question

Hey there 👋

I am starting to give access to the early users of the #buildpublic waiting list. I added a Calendly link, so they can book a call with to have a demo and gather feedback about it 😄

What are the main questions that I should ask them?

Should I let them go around and see their behaviour without saying nothing?

Should I give some tips?

Do you use other tool apart from Calendly?

Any tip is more than welcomed 🏄‍♂️

Swizec Teller · Accepted Answer

Strongly suggest reading The Mom Test. Great book on user interviews and how to get them working.

Jankees van Woezik · Answer

I was also about to recommend that book.

Jason Leow ~ plugins.carrd.co · Answer

Maybe firstly could be to try to define your objectives for the interviews, as time with them is pretty short. To test the UI for usability issues? Or to understand their broader needs/painpoints to find opportunities for features? Because the questions and activities are different

Ramon Morcillo · Answer

Hey @jasonleow, thanks for that one. I think the main objective for now would be the second one, "to understand their broader needs/painpoints to find opportunities for features".

For now we ask something like "How would you achieve X" and see how they use the platform and work on top of that.

However, there are probably better questions to ask and flows 🤔

Could you suggest me some? 😄

Ramon Morcillo · Answer

Thanks @jasonleow , these questions are gold!

We will make sure of asking them on the interviews 😄

Ramon Morcillo · Answer

Thanks @swizec, just added to the list with high prio 😉

Jason Leow ~ plugins.carrd.co · Answer

I see. So more generative research than evaluative research. That's great! I think it's good to do more generative research at the beginning especially, when still looking for product-market fit. Some questions could be:

- how do you do X now? What are your current workflows and work-around, what current apps do you use (not your app)?
- how much time do you usually spend on these workflows?
- where are the bottlenecks and painpoints based on your experience?
- where are the points where it's easy and fast?
- were there situations in the past when a painpoint for the workflow got so frustrating you decided to pay for a solution? Tell me more...
- how much did you pay for the tools/apps?
- how did you go about comparing between competing apps? (to find out their mental models rer: pricing)
- in a perfect world, what would an ideal app for this workflow do?

Remember to ask for their direct experiences, not opinions.

Ramon Morcillo · Answer

Thanks for confirming how good it is @Jankeesvw 😄

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How to get the best out of user interviews?

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