7 Tips for a Great Customer Interview
At PayPal, we’re training our product development teams to transition from the old top-down roadmap method to the process of continuous discovery. A big part of this transformation requires teams to talk to customers more frequently. With this initiative well underway, now is a great time to share the top tips we’ve found helpful for teams at PayPal when it comes to interviewing customers.
Tip 1: Start with clear goals
This is a great time for the team to ask, “What do we want to learn?” To create clear goals, start by sharing existing knowledge in a meeting or workshop where domain experts are invited to share what they already know, and answer questions like, do we have analytics showing current behavior? Are there recent surveys? How have users responded when asked about this in the past? Internal experts can verify assumptions and clarify what is still unknown. Be sure to contact the User Research team to see if there is existing research on the topic.
This is a great time to ask, “What do we want to learn?”
Tip 2: Write a project brief
A brief goes into detail about the research goals, timeline, and resources for recruiting and conducting the research. Preparing a brief ensures all members of the working team are on the same page. It should explain:
- Goals: What are the goals and expectations of the interviews?
- Resources: Who on the team is responsible for what? Keep the process transparent and everyone accountable.
- Timeline: When will the research take place? This will help recruiting set expectations and give deadlines to the working team.
- Stimuli: If you are testing with some kind of prototype or design, ensure the team knows what is needed to begin testing. Does the team know when to have the prototypes ready?
- Methodology: An idea of what kind of research method to use will help further clarify who is involved, what needs to be prepared and when to be ready.
Tip 3: Screening and Recruiting
A screener is a survey to give possible participants over the phone or by email. The questions on the screener will narrow down the list of possible participants to those that best match your target customer. Collaborating with the User Experience Research and the Recruiting team is the most reliable way to find the best customer for a particular need.
At PayPal, we typically plan for a two week lead time for recruiting that can be done by internal recruiters. Lead time can be longer for recruiting by an external company in order to get a quote from the vendor.
Tip 4: Create a Discussion Guide
Using a guide for customer interviews ensures consistency and structure for each interview. The guide ensures you don’t forget anything while also allowing for unexpected responses. It’s best to keep each interview similar, so you can analyze answers across respondents and look for trends. All team members conducting interviews should ask the same questions.
A discussion guide ensures everyone asks the same questions.
When the team is looking to discover the problems of the customer, the questions should be broad and contextual. Try to understand the customer’s current workflow, their needs and frustrations, and whether they have any workarounds or solutions they have come up with on their own.
Alternatively, if the team is nearing a product design solution, depending on how robust the prototype is, you’ll want to ask them to complete a task, just listen and observe, and then ask follow-up questions.
Tip 5: Record what you learn
It’s likely you’ll want to record customer interviews. If that’s the case, be sure to tell the participant the session is being recorded for research purposes. Ensure you have software to record the session or a camera is set up to capture the action.
Capture the customer’s exact phrases and quotes, make observations about their environment, non-verbal details, and reactions to any concept you may be sharing with them.
Even though teams intend to go back and re-watch sessions, that can take a lot of time, so take detailed notes. Capture the customer’s exact phrases and quotes, make observations about their environment, non-verbal details, and reactions to any concept you are sharing with them. It’s good to record if you hear a sigh of resignation or a laugh of delight. Use one format for all the notes, like a spreadsheet or handwritten note template. Don’t forget quotes. Recording the actual words the customer said helps when the team summarizes what was learned.
Tip 6: Plan to be prepared
Come prepared for the interview by doing a dry run with your team ahead of time. Know who you are speaking with, their role and background information, and contact details if you need to locate them. Be on time or early, and respect their time, ending at the chosen time, even if participant is late. Have your discussion guide, recording software, note-taking templates and any concepts or prototypes ready to go.
Tip 7: Don’t ask leading questions
Try to phrase questions so that they can be answered positively or negatively — or even in a way you couldn’t have anticipated. Here are some examples of how to change a leading question into an open-ended question.
Instead of “How much do you like the current reports?”
Ask, “Tell me about a time you used the current reports.”
Instead of, “How often would you use this app?”
Ask, “Tell me about why you would or would not use this app.”
Instead of, “Do you have any problems with the product?”
Ask, “Tell me about how you would use this product.” or “Show me how you use this product.”
This reduces biased questions and allows the participant to answer in whatever way they want. An additional benefit is that by asking open-ended questions, it keeps the conversation going. If you unintentionally ask a Yes/No question, follow up by asking “Why?” afterward.
Bonus Tip: Team roles for the interview
Another best practice at PayPal is to assign roles to everyone on the interview team, taking turns so that everyone has an opportunity to learn each role.
Moderator / Interviewer: The interviewer should be familiar with the discussion guide and the objectives of the research. They ensure the participant feels comfortable and heard, guiding them through the different discussion topics. Maintains a friendly rapport and keeps reactions neutral.
Note Taker: Makes sure everything observed in the session is recorded through writing or typing, so that it can be shared with the rest of the team after the research.
Observer: The observer can help with recording, screen capture, and take still pictures during interviews. Keep in-room observers limited, since too many people can make a participant nervous or overwhelmed.
We hope you’ve found these tips valuable to prepare for your next round of interviews with your customers. PayPal teams are already feeling the confidence from learning these best practices, improving their ability to solve problems for customers by working as one team.
This article is a collaboration by Stephanie Smith and Laura Ward
Stephanie Smith is a Senior User Researcher at PayPal, partnering with product and design to ensure user-centric enterprise tools. She is a self described methodology geek guiding research at every stage of the design process. Stephanie has been amplifying the voice of the merchant at PayPal and Braintree since 2017.
Laura Ward is Principal Design & Discovery, delivering training and tools that are easy to understand and implement on any team, whether they are just getting started on a vision, or right in the middle of launching a product. Laura has been leading teams and designing products at PayPal since 2005. She has a deep passion for facilitation, visualization, and driving conversations to enhance understanding and build empathy for customers.
