Students who have read "Lean Startup" and "Four Steps of Entrepreneurship" will find that user interviews run through the entire life cycle of the product, and the interview results will play a decisive role in the direction of entrepreneurship. As a startup company, there are not enough resources to hire or outsource full-time user research to conduct user interviews, but getting first-line user feedback is extremely important for a product manager/entrepreneur.
Isn't it just chatting with people? What's so hard about this?
For myself, I have done many on-the-spot interviews, but found that there are a hundred Hamlets in the eyes of a hundred people.
Different interviewers may lead to different biases in user elaboration (using leading questions or using open-ended questions); even for the same elaboration, different interviewers have different understandings, which leads to great bias. As a PM, how to ensure a high-quality interview and output? This article is written for non-professional research PMs.
Purpose of the interview
Sometimes, the purpose of user interviews seems to be to “get a hand and go”: you go to a place where users gather, and then go home happily with a bunch of fresh needs. People need X and Y, so all a product manager has to do is add both X and Y to the product. Please keep this in mind a wrong idea.
So what exactly is the purpose? The real purpose of an interview is to reveal the truth behind the user's understanding of a question, or motivation, desire, or emotion. Depending on the product stage, the value of the interview varies:
Helps you discover new opportunities when you don't know what to design yet.
When you have some ideas about the product you are designing, help you optimize the idea.
When the product is already available, help you redesign and launch new products and services.
principles of interviews
1. Don’t ask users what they want.
This is the classic "get it and go" question, don't ask what the user wants, because that will only give you the wrong idea. You can only harvest the solution that the user envisions, but you can't find the root cause of the problem.
It is recommended to ask the following three questions:
Question 1: What are you doing/solving? Why are you doing it?
(In order to dig out the root cause of product usage and problems, we keep asking users "why they do this" until we really understand the user or customer pain point)
Question 2: How do you currently solve the problem?
(Understanding the workflow and organizational structure can help us determine where to start to solve the problem)
Question 3: What can help you do better?
(Most research is actually over before you even think about it. This question is for users to give you hints in which areas they need help the most. Of course, this question can also help you confirm or disprove your team's product architecture certain assumptions)
2. Use open-ended questions – Why, How, What, When…
Don't ask closed-ended questions like "yes/no." However, the question should be as detailed and specific as possible, not too broad. Let the user clarify the situation he describes through specific examples, so that more valuable discoveries can be made.
bad case: What are the three reasons you like to take the bus?
good case: Can you tell me about your experience with public transport?
The reason why the first question is not good is because we don’t know if the user likes to take the bus or not, and the user may subconsciously give a vague answer along the question.
3. Uncover the reasons behind the behavior, but don't ask "why" too often.
During the interview, the user's behavior and attitude are not the focus, but the reasons behind these behaviors. The reasons are the key to our thinking.
However, even if we really want to know the reason, we cannot use the word "why" frequently, and occasionally replace it with expressions such as "How did you think about this?", "What is the reason for thinking this way?" to ask questions. Keep asking why, it will make users feel disgusted. If I like it, I like it, and if I do it, I will do it. How can there be so many whys?
4. Embrace the user's worldview.
Respect the user, go to the user, use the user's language, and try to accept the user's tea or drink when it is safe to do so.
Don't judge users, don't show negative reactions to users' behaviors, opinions, doubts, contempt, sarcasm, etc., such as "How can this be?" "What do you mean?" Don't you think it's strange to do this? "Haven't you discovered this function?" Otherwise, users will have concerns and will seal up their true feelings and are no longer willing to express their true self.
5. Talk about yourself in moderation.
In the interview, you can definitely hear things that you strongly agree with, such as Wang Baoqiang and Ma Rong's divorce or complaints about a certain app.
Remember this is not an interview about you, so try to control your expressiveness as much as possible.
But in situations where the interview is going hard, or talking about yourself makes it easier for someone to share something, then you should definitely do it.
interview process
Before the interview
1. Clarify the purpose of this user interview
Conduct interviews with the company's stakeholders (such as superiors - product directors, partners - R&D managers, etc.) to dig deeper. Included:
(1) The business objectives of the product/project The specific problems that need to be solved in this survey
(2) Views on users and potential solutions
(3) Organizational or political obstacles that need attention
2. Identify and invite interviewees
For target users, generally 6-8 people, try to be as diverse as possible within an appropriate range (male and female, age, background, etc.).
Try to match the interviewee's time when inviting the interviewee, rather than letting the interviewee indulge himself. For example, in the fabric industry, most of the stalls are free in the morning, which is suitable for interviews; but after 4 pm, it is extremely busy, and the store manager has no time to talk to you.
3. Design a list of interview questions
Based on the objectives and respondents, develop a list of questions for this interview.
(1) From the shallower to the deeper: the interview is like asking users to do questions, and it should be from the shallower to the deeper. If you ask difficult questions at the beginning, users are prone to fear, which is not conducive to the in-depth interviews later.
(2) From scattered to gathering: When you first ask questions, you should start with open-ended questions, and don’t limit the questions to too much at once, otherwise it is easy to put users into the cage of thinking. After the answers are gradually approached in one direction, they gradually shrink inward, keep asking in detail, and focus on asking questions, in order to ask for more valuable information.
(3) Control time and quantity: Generally, one-on-one interviews should be controlled within 30 minutes to one hour, not more than one hour. Too long interview time will be a burden to users, and users will answer hastily in order to quickly end the interview.
Finally, make full preparations and arrive at the interview site ahead of schedule as agreed.
During the interview
1. Introduction
Introduce the background, content and reasons of the interview. Tell users that there is no right or wrong in today's discussion. Whether it is a good opinion or a bad question, it is important information for you to improve the product. Please speak freely and do not hide your true thoughts. Make users aware of not giving feedback that is inconsistent with reality in order to cater to you.
2. Ask questions and listen
Maintain a positive body stance (lean forward) and acknowledge their comments with a nod or "hmm". Also try to frame each question as a follow-up to the previous answer, such as: "Before, you told us..." or "I want to go back to what you just said..." This not only helps respondents know that you Thinking about the previous question can also show that you are really paying attention to what they have to say, that you remember it and that you are interested. If you want to change the subject, say, "Okay, I want to move on to a different topic."
3. Invite users to operate in person
Philosophers have a saying that "language is a vague hint", and it can be recalled that when we go to interviews or face leadership questions, we often fail to express our meaning. Therefore, the best way is to let the user operate in person, and you can quickly get√ the user's point.
After the interview
1. Analyze and synthesize your data
After the interview, review the interview recording and process in time, and organize the interview record. The dimensions of finishing can be drawn from the following five categories:
opinion
question
opportunity
need
Quote (a description of the user)
2. Export your results and influence
Output the results to as many people as possible and expand the influence. This is extremely beneficial both for the company and for you personally. If it involves questions, suggestions, or needs from other teams, be sure to give the key people who will drive the change to the product.
Remember: the ultimate purpose of an interview is action! Even the most insightful user interviews are worthless to stakeholders if the problem uncovered cannot be solved or the business opportunity it uncovers is ignored, so a successful handover of user interview results is worthwhile for the entire team is critical, and a successful user interview report should make it easy for key people to remember key points from the research and put them to use .
The above are some of the experiences of learning from user interviews. Finally, I recommend the books and articles for reference. They are all very good. Many good methods have not been described in detail, and it is worth reading carefully. If there are any mistakes or deficiencies, please PM/users to correct them.
References
"Insight into the Heart: The Secret of Success in User Interviews" (Added) by Steve Portigal, translated by Jiang Xiao, etc., Electronic Industry Press, published in October 2015
Design Psychology 1: Everyday Design (US) by Norman, translated by Xiao Ke, CITIC Press, published in May 2015
The Complete Interviewing Handbook: How to Do User Interviews in UX? ", author: oftodesign, http://www.woshipm.com/user-research/662209.html
"Don't ask users what they want! 3 Basic Questions for User Interviews, To Product Managers, by asqi1, http://blog.csdn.net/asqi1/article/details/38317621
"What is User Research? ", by psyuly, https://www.jianshu.com/p/747d123e2c63
Mr. Wen Bright (WeChat public account: Mr. Bright, who has worked in Baidu and Oracle for many years)