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User Interview Questions
A quick guide (and helpful chart) for writing user interview questions.
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Writing questions for a user interview shouldn't be hard. In theory, the purpose of these interviews is for two precise things: Getting a user persona and finding out in-depth information about the user's wants, needs, and opinions about your current or future product.
To do this you need to follow this simple process:
1. Figure out what you want to know.
List these things in priority. Base your questions off of what you wrote down. Branch off these questions for more in-depth or more out-of-the-box interview questions as well.
2. Find Users to Interview and Schedule Interview Times.
I like to schedule anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half per interview. Keep in mind that interviews are not usually done in front of the product. If you are asking a user to complete a task in your product during this interview, that is a user test. That is not the purpose of a user interview. A lot of users like an incentive to spend their time with you. If their boss is not telling them that they have to do it, offer a gift card or cash for taking time out of their day to help. (If you do offer a gift, make sure you get it approved by your company first.)