User Interview Protocols

Every PMM knows customer interviews matter. But most ask the wrong questions. Here’s the exact set I use to get buyer insights, not just user feedback: 👇 ✅ Background --> Tell me a bit about yourself and what you do. --> What is the goal of your [job, role, business]?  --> What does your day-to-day look like?  --> How do you keep up with industry trends in your field? --> What content do you consume, and what channel do you mostly use? ✅ Jobs-To-Be-Done --> What are some key challenges you have encountered in your job? --> What have you tried first to overcome the challenges?  --> What was the first time you thought: I need a new solution? --> What made you think that? [Probe here] --> What were you hoping to solve? What was the end game? ✅ Purchase decision --> How did you find out about our solution?  --> How long did it take for you to make a decision? At what point did you decide to purchase our solution? [try to understand the trigger event]  --> What were you looking to accomplish with the product? --> What pain were you looking to solve? --> What was the impression you had about the solution when you came across it?  --> Did you evaluate any other product or solution? --> Why did you choose our solution? --> Who is involved in the buying process? Who would you say is the final decision maker?  --> What were the most important factors you considered when purchasing a solution? ✅ Brand Perception --> Please describe the brand in 3 words - whatever comes to mind! --> If you were in charge of our company, what is one thing you'd change about the brand? --> Have you recommended our solution to anyone? If so, how and what did you say about us? ✅ Product --> Describe our solution in your own words - what is it? --> How would you feel if our solution went away tomorrow? --> What would you do if our solution went away tomorrow? --> Paint me a picture: how are you using our solution? Think of a recent specific time or two: what were you doing?   --> What specific functionalities do you find the most valuable/use the most often? --> What do you love about our solution?  --> What impact has our solution had on your work? --> Who would you say uses our solution the most in your team? How often do you use it?  --> What functionalities are not working well for you?  --> What is missing from our solution if anything? --> What other tools or platforms do you use alongside our solution to run or otherwise support you and your business? --> Under what circumstances, if any, would you switch to a different solution? ---- In summary, Great customer interviews start with open-ended questions, follow up on what’s interesting, and save talking about your product for last. That’s how you get the insights that help you refine your personas, shape messaging, and potentially help guide product direction. ❓ I am curious, what's your go-to question? #productmarketing #customer #interviews #coaching

I’ve seen a lot of enthusiastic designers and product folks jump into UX interviews with confidence just because they’re good at talking to people. The session feels relaxed, the user seems open, and everyone walks away feeling like they learned something real. The problem is that conversations are not data. Users try to be polite, helpful, agreeable, and socially “reasonable.” Without proper training, a UX interview collects stories that sound insightful but have nothing to do with real behavior. You end up designing for what users said politely, not what they actually do. What makes this funny is that in psychology, interviews are treated as one of the most complex research methods. Students spend semesters learning how to interview. They get observed, corrected, and even graded on how they phrase questions, how they hold their face, and whether they accidentally lead participants. Interviewing is a professional skill you learn and practice, not something you do because you’re friendly or curious. The best interviews don’t feel like conversations at all. The interviewer steps back and lets participants think slowly, sometimes awkwardly. A quiet researcher who listens, waits, and asks “What happened next?” learns a lot more than someone who jumps in to be helpful. Silence reveals truth. Polite conversation reveals performance. A semi-structured guide helps a lot. It keeps things focused without forcing yes/no answers. And asking about specific events beats asking for opinions every time. “Tell me about the last time you dealt with a notification” gives you real behavior. “Do you like notifications?” just gives you nice words. Rigor in UX doesn’t have to slow anything down. It just requires discipline. Document the guide. Write down your assumptions. Pair interviews with observation so you can see if words match actions. These little habits protect the findings from your own influence. And please, the “five users is enough” idea only applies to fictional usability testing, it does not work for uncovering real motivations, values, or decision patterns. You stop interviewing when people stop teaching you something new, not when you hit a magic number. In the end, UX interviews look simple, and that’s why they’re tricky. Anyone can ask questions. Very few people can stay neutral enough to uncover the truth behind the answer. When we treat interviews as investigations rather than conversations, our products get better, users get treated more accurately, and teams stop guessing. That’s the whole point of research: not to gather quotes but to uncover reality.

🤔 Useful Questions For Stakeholder Interviews. With good questions to ask when interviewing stakeholders — to understand their needs, key goals, gather requirements and keep them on your side ↓ --- 🔶 1. Design For Listening, Not A Conversation One of the most impactful strategies that worked for me over the years is to design the entire conversation around listening to stakeholders, not speaking about them or even with them. And typically it all starts with only one single question: “Please guide me through the product and explain its key features.” There is no small talk, no introductory questions, no dancing around the topic, no deep-dive into my workflow. I merely explain that in the next 45 mins I'm trying to find severe problems that are worth solving, understand the context about these problems and project goals — and ask for a permission to record the screen for studying it later. This opens the conversation immediately — and then I pay attention to features highlighted, features skipped, and ask plenty of follow-up questions to understand the motivations and the goals that a stakeholder has. --- 🔹 2. My Stakeholder Interview Template Dear Ms. Krajewski, As a UX lead on the project, my team and I are currently in the process of discovery. As we start our work, we’d like to better understand your pain points, expectations and success criteria. 1. What’s the purpose of this project for you? [Interest, engagement] 2. Where does this project fit in your daily work? [Their perspective] 3. What’s the most important thing to get right? [Priorities] 4. How would you describe the target audience? [Their view] 5. If you could understand one thing about users, what would it be? 6. What important insights did you learn about users recently? 7. What does success look like for you and your team? [Metrics] 8. What challenges are top priorities for your team? [Pain points] 9. What’s the success criteria for the project? [Ideal outcome] 10. What constraints or frequent issues should we know about? [Risks] 11. What is your ideal level of engagement for the project? [Max] 12. Anything else you think nobody said to me yet? [Hidden troubles] 13. Is there anybody else who you think I should speak to? [Leads] --- ♦️ 3. The Real Insights Aren’t In These Answers I absolutely love Anton Sten's point that the real insights usually won’t live in answers to all these questions. They live in the follow-up questions and answers — and often in a way of how a stakeholder responds, what they leave out, and what they overstate or repeat a number of times. As designers, too often we see our clients and stakeholders as adversaries. Yet we rarely know how our stakeholders work, so we shouldn’t expect them to understand what we need either. The crucial part is to be genuinely curious, positive and engaged to elicit useful insights. “The other person will only stay engaged as long as you do, and they can sense when you check out.” Useful resources ↓

Let's face it: most user interviews are a waste of time and resources. Teams conduct hours of interviews yet still build features nobody uses. Stakeholders sit through research readouts but continue to make decisions based on their gut instincts. Researchers themselves often struggle to extract actionable insights from their conversation transcripts. Here's why traditional user interviews so often fail to deliver value: 1. They're built on a faulty premise The conventional interview assumes users can accurately report their own behaviors, preferences, and needs. People are notoriously bad at understanding their own decision-making processes and predicting their future actions. 2. They collect opinions, not evidence "What do you think about this feature?" "Would you use this?" "How important is this to you?" These standard interview questions generate opinions, not evidence. Opinions (even from your target users) are not reliable predictors of actual behavior. 3. They're plagued by cognitive biases From social desirability bias to overweighting recent experiences to confirmation bias, interviews are a minefield of cognitive distortions. 4. They're often conducted too late Many teams turn to user interviews after the core product decisions have already been made. They become performative exercises to validate existing plans rather than tools for genuine discovery. 5. They're frequently disconnected from business metrics Even when interviews yield interesting insights, they often fail to connect directly to the metrics that drive business decisions, making it easy for stakeholders to dismiss the findings. 👉 Here's how to transform them from opinion-collection exercises into powerful insight generators: 1. Focus on behaviors, not preferences Instead of asking what users want, focus on what they actually do. Have users demonstrate their current workflows, complete tasks while thinking aloud, and walk through their existing solutions. 2. Use concrete artifacts and scenarios Abstract questions yield abstract answers. Ground your interviews in specific artifacts. Have users react to tangible options rather than imagining hypothetical features. 3. Triangulate across methods Pair qualitative insights with behavioral data, & other sources of evidence. When you find contradictions, dig deeper to understand why users' stated preferences don't match their actual behaviors. 4. Apply framework-based synthesis Move beyond simply highlighting interesting quotes. Apply structured frameworks to your analysis. 5. Directly connect findings to decisions For each research insight, explicitly identify what product decisions it should influence and how success will be measured. This makes it much harder for stakeholders to ignore your recommendations. What's your experience with user interviews? Have you found ways to make them more effective? Or have you discovered other methods that deliver deeper user insights?

A user interview starts well before anyone starts talking. Earlier this week, a friend—customer of a big UK fintech—told me about a UX research session where she was the participant. Let's just say it wasn’t great. She logged into the video call to face 15 silent observers. Not exactly the setup for an honest chat about money. The weary researcher admitted it was his 12th call that day. He kicked off with generic questions she’d already answered on the screener: “What does your business do? How long have you been doing that?” Unsurprisingly, she didn't reveal any deep insights about herself on that call. I get that we’re all pushing for stakeholder buy-in, but don’t treat participants like lab rats. To me, every choice leading up to an interview shapes its success. I’m hands-on with every touchpoint. Here’s how I put that into practice: ✉️ The invite email Craft it yourself—it’s part of the conversation. Make it feel personal (no excuses with CRM/AI tools), introduce yourself, explain why they’re well-positioned to help, and recognise the value of their time. If it reads like a marketing template, expect a low conversion and quality of participant. 📋 The screener Ask a reasonable number of relevant questions (don’t be cheeky and turn it into a survey). DO NOT repeat the same questions in the interview—if you couldn’t be bothered to read their answers, what does that signal? Refer back, show interest, and make them feel like they’re not just one of 35 participants this week. ✅ The consent form/info pack This is a trust-building opportunity, not just a data protection formality. Use it to set expectations—who’ll be on the call, what you’ll be covering, and, if it’s a sensitive topic like money or health, let them know upfront. They should feel fully assured their data will be secure. 🖥️ Arrival on the call Imagine how it feels to dial in and see multiple faces already on screen, with recording or AI transcription already on. I insist on one observer max. If more people want to watch, gather them in a room or pay £30 for a broadcast tool (letting participants know, of course). At the very least, bring in observers after the participant’s had a warm welcome. I’ll stop here! In the past, we’ve written guides on opening a research call and making participants comfortable, you can find these over on Muir Wood & Co: Research and Strategy company page. I’d love to hear from other researchers—where do you go the extra mile to put participants at ease before the interview? And get in touch if you’d like feedback on your pre-interview process and materials. (Cartoon by Dall-E because my iPad battery was flat!)

The first time I ran a user interview, I nearly threw up…but now I’ve led hundreds and I built a script that makes it 10x easier…… I still remember the first time I was asked to lead one. → My stomach dropped. → Anxiety kicked in. → And I had no idea what I was doing. I said yes anyway. Luckily, I’d watched a few senior designers do it before, so I had a general idea of what not to do. Since then, I’ve run hundreds of interviews, and picked up a few tricks that make the whole thing feel way less intimidating. Here are 10 things that helped me get better (and still help to this day): ✅ Prep like it’s a meeting with your boss. Know who you’re talking to, what your goals are, and double check your tech setup and prototypes. ✅ Use a loose script. Having a flexible guide keeps you on track and helps settle nerves. ✅ Don’t read it word-for-word. It’s not a telemarketing call. Use the script as a guide, not like a teleprompter. ✅ Follow the flow of the conversation. Circle back later. Tangents are often where the gold is. Let the conversation breathe. ✅ Tag-team when possible. Alternate with a teammate to reset between sessions, especially helpful for introverts. ✅ Listen more. Talk Less. Embrace the silence. The most insightful comments often come after a pause. ✅ Be relatable. Find common ground. Help them feel like they’re talking to a real human. ✅ Smile. Laugh. Loosen up. This isn’t a courtroom deposition or an interrogation Keep it friendly. ✅ Make them the smart one. I love to poke fun at myself, it lowers walls and opens people up. ✅ Say thank you, often. Show appreciation as you go. It builds trust and keeps the momentum going. User interviews aren’t just a research tool. They’re a business driver. Better insight = better product decisions = better outcomes. Want the exact script I use? 👉🏻 Drop a “Script” in the comments and I’ll DM it to you.

💡How To Capture Users' Emotions During User Research User research is a foundation for any product design process. The better you understand your target audience, the more chances you will succeed in building the right product for them. And capturing users' emotions is crucial for understanding how they feel about a product. Here are 4 UX techniques that can help you capture emotions: 1️⃣ Practice contextual inquiry. Observe users in their natural environment to see how they interact with the product and note their emotional responses 2️⃣ Use emotionally-focused questions during the interview. Include questions specifically designed to elicit emotional responses, such as "How did you feel when you used this feature?" 3️⃣ Do experience mapping. Track the entire experience of using the product, identifying key moments that trigger emotional responses (both positive and negative) 4️⃣ Create emotion-specific surveys. Utilize surveys designed to capture emotional responses, such as the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) or the SAM (Self-Assessment Manikin). ❗ Things to remember ✔ Use a think-aloud protocol to let users verbalize their thoughts and feelings as they interact with the product. ✔ Speak less, listen more. Give people time to express their thoughts. Ask follow-up questions to probe deeper into initial responses to uncover underlying emotions. ✔ Don't take words for granted. What people say might be different from what they really feel. Pay attention to users' body language for additional clues about their emotional state. ✔ Be mindful of surface-level responses (smiling and nodding). Users may smile and nod during the interview to be polite or conform to social norms, not necessarily because they agree or support what is being discussed. ✔ Users often hide criticism and tend to exaggerate positive feedback. It happens because they are uncomfortable expressing their true feelings.  ✔ Don't ask what people like or dislike (i.e., "What did you like about this experience?"). The response rarely matches the actual feelings of the user. ✔ Be mindful of bias. It's important to avoid making assumptions about users' thoughts and feelings based on superficial cues. The goal of UX research is to gain a deeper, more accurate insight into users unique contexts and needs. 📕 Guides and tools: ✔ Implementing Emotional Metrics in SaaS Products (by Odette Jansen) https://lnkd.in/dYaxWSVN ✔ User journey mapping, step by step https://lnkd.in/dNzt3NxX ✔ Feelings Wheel for Figma (by Christian Lunde)  https://lnkd.in/d8krqdcp 🖼️ The Spectrum of Empathy by NNGroup #UX #design #uxresearch #productdesign #design

User interviews are a goldmine for understanding your user's wants, needs, and behaviours. But let's be honest, setting up a good interview can be tricky! Here are 5 tips on what questions to ask for a successful user interview: 1. Putting the user at ease Start your interview by making the user feel comfortable. Ask them about their daily life, hobbies, and work to build rapport and ease into the conversation naturally. • What does a typical day look like for you? • And what about a week? • What do you use the internet for? 2. Topic-specific questions Topic-specific questions help you to understand what problems users face with the topic or problem that your product aims to solve. • What’s your relationship like with [topic … e.g. pets, finances, etc] • How do you currently go about [problem]? • How much time do you typically spend on [problem]? 3. Product opportunity questions If you have a product or prototype ready or want to test a new feature, then product opportunity questions are useful. These questions are designed to gather valid feedback and record the reactions of your user. The collected data can then be used to validate your problem solution. • What do you think this product is about (as an initial reaction to the product)? • What is your (first) impression of this product/feature? • Why do you think someone would use this product? 4. Task-driven questions These are the questions you can ask to check for specific tasks or user stories. These questions will help you determine the flow of your product and its usability. • Could you describe what your first step here would be? • If I´d ask you to perform [task X], could you tell me how you would go about achieving this? • What do you expect to happen if you did [task X]? 5. Product reaction questions These types of questions will help identify suggestions or ideas a user may have. Ideally, you’ll ask these questions after the person has already used or tested the product via a walkthrough or micro-evaluation. • What did you find most appealing about this product? • What was the most difficult part of using this product? • Did you get stuck at any moment? 6. Successful follow-up questions As stated before, it is good to use follow-up questions to dive deeper into topics and learn more about your user's actions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. This is done by asking for a why or why not. Some examples of good follow-up questions are: • You stated [feeling or thought], to what does this apply? • You just mentioned [repeat a user's utterances] what did you mean by this? • You [showed a non-verbal cue] when I showed you the interface, what caused this reaction? What are your go-to questions that always gives you deep and meaningful insights? Let me know in the comments 👇

I've run hundreds of user interviews: at Amazon Capital One my own startup and as a Head of Marketing Here's the simplest sign one is going well: 90% — Stories about the user’s last time they struggled with the problem 10% — You're asking "Tell me more", “What do you mean by this?” and "What happened next?" 0% — You're pitching your idea The moment you start explaining your solution, you stop learning. If your ratio looks different, you're running a sales call disguised as research. You'll walk away confident and with completely wrong decisions.