You need to get more user interviews planned in
Here's exactly how and what platforms to use
Hi there,
I’m a bit user research obsessed.
Why? Because as incredible as quantitative research and analysis is (I love a good pivot table) it won’t always tell you the why behind what you are seeing.
Why are customers acting that way?
That why is crucial to working out the how:
How to improve your click-through rate
How to reduce product page dropoff
How to improve first to second order rate
But people veer away from customer research for many reasons.
One of which: the challenge for getting participants.
For non-customers
Now for user testing / interviews with non-customers, my biggest tip if you have the budget is respondent.io. I’m in no way an affiliate (don’t even know anyone who works there) but it’s great.
For $39 per participant (and they usually give you 3 free when starting out) and another $40 reward (about £60 / €71) you’ll get a huge pool of participants that you can narrow down automatically with screening questions.
One example is a UK natural hair care brand I did a user testing project for, we wanted 9 participants and got 161 respondents with 18 strictly pre-qualified leads within 48 hours. We had the whole project completed in about 1.5 weeks.
If you don’t have that budget: dare to ask, in communities, friends and family. Heck, I’ve even asked people in a cafe once for a pension brand and in a dog park for a dog brand. A free coffee or product can go a long way.
For customers (or previous ones)
This is where it gets trickier and most brands really struggle, especially unsatisfied customers. Here I had a different project that was particularly tricky for a high-end ecommerce brand recently and resulted in me having to pull out on the tips, tricks and persistence I had. We got a few interviews in the end, enough to get some valuable insights. This was what helped:
Plain text, personal email
Very easy and quick to book in (something like Calendly)
Having a good amount of slots for them to book in
Keeping it short (max 30 minutes, you might even want to try 15-20 minutes for previous customers)
A non-product reward (you can offer both options but especially for non-customers don’t just offer your own product)
Don’t be afraid to follow up a few times
If you still struggle I would suggest instead:
A very short survey with a small reward per participant or the option to win a non-product reward
Talking to customer care and seeing how they can help ask the questions to help you learn when talking to customers
When I do the above I have a very strong success rate.
Recommendation
I have a course designed to make user interviews really accessible and well-priced for startups, guiding you through user interviews from start-to-finish, with actionable tips and all templates on what to do before, during and after the interviews.
What you’ll get out of it?
Understand the value of user interviews including when to use them in conjunction with other types of research
A framework of questions to ask to learn more about pains, gains, competitors and the user journey
Confidence in dealing with the unpredictable side of user interviews including picking up on non-verbal cues, thinking on the spot and dealing with negative feedback
A broader sense of what this research can tell you as well as how to use it to improve your messaging
You can complete it in about 2 hours, and can get access for your whole team here.
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There you have it - a few less excuses to not conduct user research. I love a user research project, especially talking to users in user interviews and user tests. It is so insightful and invaluable. Having that call with the natural hair care brand and seeing how happy and excited he was with the insights and ideas was amazing, seeing that even a bigger, more established brand could get so many new insights from 9 calls.
So if you haven’t talked to your customers recently, this is your sign,
Daphne