User Interviews: How, When, and Why to Conduct Them

Want to build products people actually love? Start talking to the people who use them.

User interviews help you understand what your customers need and what frustrates them. These conversations reveal problems you might miss by just looking at data.

User interviews are a qualitative research method used to understand users' mental models, motivations, pain points, and latent needs. You learn how people think and what matters to them.

This article shows you how to conduct interviews that provide genuine insights. The quality of the data collected during interviews directly impacts the insights you gain and the decisions you make.

You'll learn when to do them, what questions to ask, and how to turn feedback into action.

Key Takeaways

User interviews are a powerful way to improve products. They help teams understand what users need, like, and struggle with. Here are the key reasons why user interviews matter and how they help:

1. 1.

   They Reveal What Works and What Doesn’t
   User interviews show which parts of a product people enjoy and where they get stuck or confused.

2. 2.

   They Help Teams Make Smart Choices
   Talking to users removes guesswork and helps teams focus on features that actually matter.

3. 3.

   They Go Deeper Than Data
   Interviews provide personal stories and honest feedback that surveys or analytics can miss.

4. 4.

   They Strengthen Product Design
   Teams learn how people think and act, leading to better and more user-friendly products.

5. 5.

   They Save Time and Money
   Catching problems early through interviews avoids costly changes later in the process.

User interviews aren’t just helpful — they’re essential. They guide better decisions, lead to stronger products, and keep users at the heart of the design process.

Why User Interviews Matter

User interviews are the backbone of smart product decisions. Talking to real users shows what they need, where they get stuck, and what delights them.

Analytics tell you what happened. Interviews tell you why. A drop-off rate shows a problem.

Don’t mix up interviews with usability tests. Usability tests watch people use a design to uncover usability issues. Interviews use open-ended questions to surface motives, needs, and pain points.

Interviews help teams build the right things. You stop guessing and learn which problems matter most. That focus saves time and money and leads to features people actually use.

Do You Know Your Users?

Insights from interviews shape more than UI. They inform workflows, messaging, onboarding, and even pricing. You learn how your product fits into real lives - and how to make that fit feel natural.

Interviews also build loyalty. When you ask for input and act on it, customers feel heard. Trust grows beyond a single release.

Plan interviews carefully to get honest, deep answers. Ask clear, non-leading questions. Listen more than you talk. The quality of your decisions depends on the quality of your questions - and how well you hear the answers.

Advantages of Conducting User Interviews

There are various benefits to interviewing users within a product development setting, the most notable being that it provides direct input, which is invaluable in understanding their needs and wants.

Recruiting and engaging interview participants is crucial to ensure a representative sample of users and gather meaningful insights. The information gathered during these sessions can help organizations learn more about usability feature prioritization.

Another advantage of this approach is that you can test different concepts or prototypes before launching them as products/services. When users participate in interviews, companies can obtain feedback on potential ideas for improvement to adapt before release, especially where several versions have been developed over time.

Participants in user interviews can earn varying pay rates depending on the study and their specialization, with payment options including cash and gift cards.

How to Conduct User Interviews

Finally, user interviews can help firms gain customer loyalty through developing user relationships. Product groups can establish valuable connections that contribute to the betterment of their products and increase customer satisfaction levels by talking to them during all the phases of development, from idea generation to launching.

When to Conduct User Interviews

Timing matters. Talk to users at key points to get the best insights.

Early in development, interview people before you build. Ask about their problems and needs. Learn what they wish existed. This helps you avoid features nobody wants and reveals real opportunities.

During design and testing, show early drafts or prototypes. Watch how people react and listen to their questions. These sessions expose confusion early, so you can fix issues before they get expensive.

After launch, keep talking to users. Learn how they use the product in daily work. Find what works well and what still needs improvement. Post-launch interviews reveal gaps between your vision and reality and help you set smart priorities for the next updates.

8 Types of User Interviews

8 Types of User Interviews

User interviews can be classified into eight types: structured, unstructured, semi-structured, contextual, expert, remote, group, and stakeholder interviews.

Different interview styles are more effective for achieving other goals. Select the approach that best suits your learning needs.

1. 1.

   Structured interviews follow a fixed set of questions. Everyone gets asked the same things in the same order. This makes it easy to compare responses. Use this when you need specific information from many people.

2. 2.

   Unstructured interviews flow like natural conversations. You start with broad topics and follow interesting threads. The discussion adapts based on what each person says. Unstructured interviews enable participants to express themselves freely, facilitating a qualitative exploration of their thoughts and experiences.

3. 3.

   Semi-structured interviews blend both approaches. You prepare key questions but stay flexible. You can dig deeper when something interesting comes up. Semi-structured interviews can cover a range of multiple topics or themes, offering both breadth and adaptability.

4. 4.

   Contextual interviews take place in the user's own environment. You watch them work and ask questions in the moment. This reveals the real context where your product lives. You see the tools they use and the interruptions they face.

5. 5.

   Expert interviews involve engaging with individuals who possess specialized knowledge relevant to the design context.

6. 6.

   Remote interviews happen over video calls. They're convenient and let you reach people anywhere. You lose some body language cues but gain flexibility in scheduling.

7. 7.

   Group interviews involve multiple participants at once. You hear different perspectives and observe how people respond to one another's ideas. Use these carefully since group dynamics can influence what people say. One-on-one interviews allow for deeper, more personal insights compared to group interviews.

8. 8.

   Stakeholder interviews include individuals with a vested interest in the project's success, ensuring alignment between design goals and organizational objectives.

How Long Should a User Interview Be?

Most interviews work best between thirty and sixty minutes. This gives you time for depth without exhausting participants.

Shorter fifteen- to thirty-minute sessions are effective for providing quick feedback. Use these when you need reactions to something specific. They're suitable for busy individuals who don't have much time to spare.

Sessions of sixty to ninety minutes are more suitable for complex topics. You might need this time for detailed workflows or multi-step processes. Just remember that people get tired. Build in breaks if you need more time.

The right length depends on what you're exploring. Simple topics need less time. Complex subjects require more. Always respect your participant's schedule.

User Interview, User Research & UX: A Qualitative Research Method

User interviews are vital for any UX team because of their ability to give direct feedback from the end users. User interviews are one of the many research methods used in user research. Talking with real people who use a product or service team gives insights about how they interact with it and what should be improved.

Run user interviews throughout the product lifecycle. Start at the idea stage and continue after launch. Use what you learn to shape usability tests and other research.

Write questions that spark open conversation. Keep them neutral. Avoid leading questions. Open-ended prompts reveal richer stories about real use.

User interviews are a core UX method. They uncover needs, motives, and context. You learn where, when, and why people use a product. You also learn what they dislike and what they want next. This shows which features matter, which ones do not, and where new ideas could help.

Interviews give teams direct input from customers. You can find weak spots in the product and fix them. You also capture feelings and opinions that analytics cannot measure. This qualitative insight should be gathered often.

Talking with users builds relationships. People feel heard and valued. That trust raises retention and revenue over time.

Things to Avoid During a User Interview

Use interviews to set priorities early. Ask people who use similar products which features they need most. Set goals that match those needs.

Keep interviewing during design and testing. Ask how navigation feels. Ask which features slow them down. Use this feedback to remove friction and improve satisfaction.

After launch, keep the loop going. Learn how customers use the product in daily life. Find bugs, pain points, and missed expectations. Turn these findings into updates and better marketing choices.

Interviewing at each stage gives product teams a clear view of reality. Decisions align with how people actually use the product. The result is a better experience and smarter investment of effort.

Define Research Goals

Defining research goals is a crucial step in conducting user interviews. It involves identifying the specific objectives and questions that the research aims to answer. Research goals should be clear, concise, and actionable, aligning with the overall project objectives.

To define research goals, ask yourself what you want to learn from the user interviews. What are the key UX research questions that you need to answer? What are the specific objectives of the research? Consider the following steps:

1. 1.

   Identify the Research Objectives: Determine what you want to achieve through the user interviews. Are you looking to understand user behavior, gather feedback on a new feature, or identify areas for improvement? Clearly outline these objectives to guide your research.

2. 2.

   Define the Research Scope: Establish the boundaries of your research. What topics will you cover during the user interviews? This will help keep the interviews focused and relevant.

3. 3.

   Determine the Research Methodology: Decide on the type of user interviews you will conduct. Will you use structured, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews? Each methodology has its advantages, so choose the one that best fits your research goals.

4. 4.

   Identify the Target Audience: Define your target audience. What are their characteristics, needs, and behaviors? Understanding your audience helps you tailor your interview questions to gather meaningful insights.

5. 5.

   Develop Research Questions: Based on your research objectives, scope, and methodology, create a set of research questions. These questions should be designed to elicit detailed and insightful responses from participants.

Tips for Ensuring a Successful User Interview

Run interviews with clear goals. Ask open-ended questions tied to the team’s objectives, and skip anything off-topic. Keep prompts specific so answers stay useful.

Choose participants who reflect your users. Diverse backgrounds reveal different behaviors and needs. Use focus groups to test early ideas and hear how people react together, but keep one-on-one interviews for deeper, personal detail.

Stay neutral. Don’t lead or argue. Listen, probe for examples, and capture facts in the user’s own words. Openness gets you honest feedback and better insights.

A Structured User Interview Guide

It is important to have a well-structured interview guide in place to make your interviews more effective. An interview guide serves as a roadmap for the interviewer, providing a consistent framework to follow during each session.

It helps maintain focus, ensures all relevant topics are covered, and allows for easier comparison and analysis of responses across different participants.

6 Steps for Conducting a User Interview

Here are some key elements to consider when creating a structured interview guide:

• Set a clear objective. Decide what you want to learn and why. Write it down so your questions stay focused.
• Prepare a core question set. Keep questions open-ended so people can share needs, pain points, preferences, and habits in their own words.
• Plan probes and follow-ups. Use prompts like “Can you tell me more?” and “Why do you think that?” to dig deeper and clarify vague answers.
• Order the flow. Start broad to build rapport, then move to specifics, and finish with a brief wrap-up.
• Stay flexible. Let participants raise topics they find important. Adjust your questions when new insights appear. Invite their questions too.
• Practice and refine. Do a dry run with a teammate. Fix awkward wording, tighten the flow, and improve the guide after every session.

Source: Kate Oseen on Unsplash

User Interview Tools

Effective user interviews require the right tools to schedule sessions, record conversations, analyze insights, and collaborate with teams. Here are some of the best tools to streamline the process:

1. Scheduling and Participant Management

• Calendly – Simplifies scheduling by allowing participants to book available time slots.
• Google Calendar – Helps coordinate interview schedules and send reminders.
• Doodle – Useful for finding the best meeting time when working with multiple participants.
• User Interviews – A recruitment platform that connects researchers with participants.

2. Video Conferencing and Recording

• Zoom – Popular for remote interviews with built-in recording and transcription options.
• Google Meet – A free, easy-to-use alternative for video calls with live captions.
• Microsoft Teams – Great for corporate environments with collaboration features.
• Whereby – A lightweight video conferencing tool that doesn’t require downloads.

3. Transcription and Note-Taking

• Otter.ai – AI-powered transcription tool for real-time or recorded interviews.
• Rev – Offers high-quality human and AI-generated transcripts.
• Descript – Provides automatic transcription with editing and screen recording features.
• Notion – A flexible workspace for organizing interview notes and insights.

4. User Research and Analysis

• Dovetail – A research repository for tagging, analyzing, and synthesizing interview insights.
• Airtable – Customizable database to store and organize user interview data.
• Miro – A digital whiteboard for mapping insights, creating user personas, and analyzing themes.
• NVivo – A qualitative data analysis tool for coding and structuring research findings.

5. Collaboration and Sharing

• Slack – Helps teams discuss and share interview findings in real-time.
• Trello – Organizes user research workflows with task management boards.
• Google Docs – A simple way to document interviews and share notes with teams.
• Figma – Useful for linking research insights directly to UX design processes.

Choosing the Right Tools

The best tools depend on the research process, team size, and project goals. For small teams, a combination of Zoom, Otter.ai, Notion, and Google Docs can be effective, while larger teams may benefit from Dovetail, Miro, and Airtable for deeper analysis and collaboration.

FAQ

Q: What Makes User Interviews a Valuable Research Method?

User interviews offer direct feedback from real users, helping teams understand needs, behaviors, and pain points in ways surveys or data often miss.

Q: How Do User Interviews Improve Product Development?

They uncover what users truly want and highlight issues early, allowing teams to design better products with less guesswork.

Q: When Should You Use User Interviews in the Product Lifecycle?

User interviews are useful at every stage — from idea generation to post-launch — to guide decisions and improve the user experience.

Q: How Are User Interviews Different from Focus Groups?

Unlike focus groups, user interviews are one-on-one, allowing for deeper, more personal insights into user behavior and preferences.

Read more

• UI vs UX: What's the Difference and Why It Matters
• UX Researcher: Who They Are and How to Start Your Career in UX Research
• What Is a UX Writer? Bridging the Gap Between Design and Content

Conclusion

In conclusion, interviewing users is a great way to gather feedback for the product team. It is important to remember that these interviews are qualitative and should be used as information to help make design decisions.

By conducting research with users, asking relevant questions throughout development stages, and following some conversation guidelines, teams can get direct input about what users need or want from their products, enabling them to optimize their products better.