How do you research your users to better understand them and find their problems?

@kpyto Hi, Andrew! Thanks for replying. How do you do deep interviews? Can you tell me?

@hollie_youlden Hey, Hollie! Thanks for sharing that! That’s really helpful! What’s the hardest part about doing these customer interviews for you?

@shashcoffe Getting over the initial feeling of intimidation was the hardest part – I wasn't sure if customers would want to talk to me and I was nervous about actually speaking to users. But the interviews were surprisingly enjoyable so I quickly got over that!

@hollie_youlden Hollie, I really appreciate your answer! I have the same problem =) I get nervous before, but enjoy during! Can we have a Zoom call to chat about that topic? I'd like to know more about how you conduct these interviews, what questions you're asking and how you extract information afterward.

@shashcoffe I ask many of the same questions suggested in that URL I shared, though tailor them somewhat to what it is I need to know. I record the Zoom interviews so that during the interview I can give the customer my full attention. Afterwards, I save the audio from the interview, listen to that again with plenty of time to pause and replay, and write my notes.

@hollie_youlden Hollie, how many interviews did you conduct that way in Dec?

@vera_mirzoyan Hello, Vera! You are very very helpful to me! Thanks for your replying. What type of user research works best for you? What’s the most difficult type?

@shashcoffe Thanks Alexey! The the most productive and still the most difficult type is the direct interviews with the active and potential customers. It is difficult as they are not always able to explain the points clearly but they are still productive as during such interviews the customer problems become as obvious as possible. While for instance in the case of a review it is not always possible to clearly get the point.

@vera_mirzoyan Vera, can we have a Zoom call to chat about direct customer interviews? I’m curious to know how you conduct them, what questions you ask, and how you extract insights afterward.

@shashcoffe Thanks for the offer Alexey, I have your calendar, and will book a meeting when I find time. You know, it is the end of the year and busy times.

@lior_galante_cohen Lior, thanks for your answers, as always! You are very, very helpful to me! 😊🙏🙌 You already answered me about customer interviews in a previous discussion. Now I'm curious how do you do extensive market research? Can you tell me?

@rucha_joshi8 Hello, Rucha. Thanks for sharing your best practices! Much appreciated. Can you tell me more about how do you conduct user interviews?

@shashcoffe So since the pandemic I have only been conducting video call interviews over Zoom. - I prepare an outline of all the things I am most curious to uncover and create a rough interview script. Mom test is a good book on crafting good interview questions - make sure you make the interviewee feel at at ease and ask 'Why questions' follow them up the interesting answers. - I always record my calls and use our own tool - Listener to create short video snippets right then and there and share the highlights with my team almost immediately.

@rucha_joshi8 Rucha, thank you so much for answering. Is Listener your internal tool or can I use it too? How does it work? Can we have a Zoom call to chat about customer interviews? I’m curious to know more about how you conduct them, what questions you ask and how you extract insights afterward.

@shashcoffe Sure, I have sent you a twitter dm.

@rucha_joshi8 Awesome, Rucha!