Conducting consumer interviews: your guide to actionable insights

Consumer interviews are the most powerful method of understanding how a product or service fits around someone’s life. Through interviews, a researcher gets a rare opportunity to observe facial expressions, emotions, and a broader perspective on what value a product brings to the consumer.

However, why would consumers give you time and believe their inputs will be taken into consideration? How many interviews is enough for relevant research? How can you avoid biases?

These questions come alongside consumer interview planning, and it can be daunting. But we can help you with this CXM guide on conducting and analysing consumer interviews. It is an unavoidable method for any CX (customer experience) practitioner.

What is a consumer interview?

Consumer interviews in the context of CX can be defined as a market research tool which helps businesses understand users’ needs, wants, and frustrations. However, interviews are also a scientific method used for centuries by social scientists. As a qualitative method, interviews are essential in finding out how people understand the world around them.

Conducting consumer interviews is a skill that comes with dedicated preparation. Experienced interviewers often use academic literature as a guidance to set ethical codes and identify biases. Doing interviews right means creating an environment for people to share their honest opinion, and feel engaged in the process.

The skill of interviewing doesn’t come as a second nature to everyone, but it can be bettered with time. Understanding the type of interviews one can conduct helps in finding suitable formats for different personalities; but also research goals. Let’s explore them.

What are the three types of consumer interviews?

The most common classification distinguishes three types of consumer interviews: structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. Let’s unpack one by one:

1. Structured interviews

This type of interview is typically applied in user testing sessions, where testers have a list of tasks they need to conduct. Structured interviews are strict in terms of respecting the way a conversation is introduced, what opening questions should be asked, how long should the interview last, etc. Conducting a structured interview means that the interviewer has a script with well-designed questions that have to be asked in the listed order.

2. Semi-structured interviews

Semi-structured is the most common type of interview. Researchers use them when they want to leave space for surprise and spontaneity while still following the script. The name itself indicates that a researcher will still have a script with the questions that will be asked, but will allow space for improvisation, and sub-questions. The interview can take un unexpected turn and last longer than initially planned.

3.Unstructured interviews

It is safe to say that the purpose of unstructured interviews is to allow discovery though conversation without much rules. This still means that the interviewer will have the general theme in mind, but will not have a conversation flow planned, and no questions prepared. The unstructured interview is closer to a friendly conversation – a reciprocal act where the interviewee also asks questions. The interview gets to decide how long the conversation will last and what course it will take.

Designing questions for a consumer interview

A person analysing what type of consumer research to apply.

This article will further focus on the structured interviews, as they are most used in the business context. Before diving deeper into the complexity of questionnaire construction and interview procedure, let’s go though all the steps that come beforehand.

No interview sessions come without the main research plan with clear objectives and goals. While the purpose of this article is not to discuss the preconditions of an effective research plan, it is fair to mention them:

Elements of a research plan

Setting research objectives and goals
Identifying the optimal number of participants (In most cases, it will be enough to interview up to eight people. Of course, this can be further discussed in the context of research objectives.)
Sampling: gender diversity, age, cultural context, professional background, connection to the brand, etc.
Duration of a research project
Other research methods that will be applied
Budget available to the research team

How to ask good questions

Asking good questions is what determines if a researcher will get invaluable insights. The rule of thumb is to avoid asking so-called leading questions. It is crucial for questions to be non-directive, which will allow people to describe experiences in their own terms. Let’s take the following example:

Directive question: Do you read magazines online or do you prefer physical copy?

Non-directive question: How do you prefer reading magazines?

What is the problem we identify in the first question? By asking directive questions, the interviewer is offering two choices and is forcing consumers into categories that they won’t necessarily identify with. This could be a survey instead.

Another tip that will allow you to better comprehend how a product or a service fits customers’ lives is to invite them to show you how they interact with it.

There are phrases you can use to ask open-ended questions and get more insights:

When was the last time you did X?
Walk me through the process of doing X
Show me how you use X
How does X make you feel?

How to structure consumer interviews

Like any good article or presentation, the interview comes with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Each phase aims to – bring you closer to the subject; create a pleasant atmosphere; help you gather quality information; and close by covering all research objectives.

Beginning

A good researcher knows that building a rapport with the consumer is the most important step in the interviewing process. This part is often intuitive and will vary from person to person.

However, making sure that the interviewees understand the purpose of the research and how their insights will be analysed and shared builds trust between two sides. This is the time to remind the person that the interview might be recorded. If you plan to use their quotes or testimonials, you should ask for their consent. In some cases, this might be covered with an agreement both sides sign before an interview.

Apart from the introductions, the opening questions should help us understand a person better. What are their daily life routines, habits, current life context, etc. Here are some examples:

– How does your working week routine look like?

– Can you walk me though your day from the early morning to the end of the day?

If you have the opportunity to conduct the interview in the consumers’ homes, you should definitely observe the environment, items, and relationships between objects in their houses. This is still doable if you host an online interview with cameras on.

People like to bring objects to the camera and show you how they use something, where they keep it in the homes, offices, etc. These are all important aspects of a consumer interview and it brings us a step closer to the ethnographic research that is slowly but steadily getting an important place in CX.

Middle

The middle of the interview is where you want to focus on the main research objectives. Typically, you will want to have up to four research objectives for an interview of about one hour. Each objective comes with a few relevant questions. Let’s see an example:

Research objective 1: Understand reading habits of users aged between 25 to 35

Question 1: What was the last article you read? Tell me about it.

Question 2: How do you decide what article you will read?

Research objective 2: Identify points of frustrations in using digital reading devices

Question 1: What reading platforms do you use to read online magazines?

Question 2: How would you describe your overall experience of using X platform?

End

You want to finish by asking the interviewees if there is anything they will want to add or ask you. This is another opportunity for you to discover topics outside of predefined categories.

At the end of an interview, you can remind the consumer how their data will be used, and what are the next steps of your research project. If you consider interviewees a good source of feedback, you can ask if they are interested in participating in other projects.

Final thoughts

The power of human connection through conversation will remain a unique skill. Interviewing can even be seen as an art of conversation. If done ethically and with empathy, its primary goal is to understand and build relationships.

While in the upcoming years, we will talk more about how advanced technologies help us analyse complex unstructured data. It will be challenging to find a substitute for deep listening combined with observation and judgement informed by emotions only humans can feel. Conducting consumer interviews is a scientific method, marketing tool, and a skill anyone who wants to understand people should master.