Good user interview questions
Preparing good user interview questions can be challenging, especially if it’s your first user research study. These questions are gathered from the web to spark your inspiration for what to ask during user research interviews. Remember to prepare your questions in advance and be confident that you didn’t miss anything.
We’re all full of assumptions, and user research helps us check our instincts. Don’t be afraid of the unexpected. And never, ever be scared to ask a question.
UX research interview questions can help you determine what user thinks about your product, prototype, app, or web page and how that solution will work based on their prior experiences. The point is to capture what users are thinking or experiencing when they have a particular task to complete.
What user interview questions you use will depend on the context of your hypothesis and defined goals. First, you need to specify the goal of the study; only then can you determine questions and decide on metrics.
TOP 40 user interview questions.
Questions for starting user interview:
- What do you think as you look at the web page?
- What’s your (first) impression of this feature?
- What do you think this [button] does or will do?
- Where do you start?
- When and where do you think someone would use this [tool]?
- What do you expect to benefit from using this [product]?
- What would keep you from using this [product]?
- Do you feel this [product] is similar to another one?
- Do you trust this company?
Questions to gain more information:
- You [shook your head/ looked confused] when I showed you the product. What caused this reaction?
- What are the most important tasks you need to perform using [product or application]?
- How would you describe your experience with [tool, website, or application]?
- How often do you use [website/application]?
- How do you usually get to [project website or application]?
- If the answer is a direct URL, ask – Do you use a bookmark for this?
- If the answer is web searching ask – What terms do you typically search?
- If the answer is a link on another site, ask – What sites?
- If the answer is a bookmarked link, ask – Do you remember how you first obtained the URL?
- What devices do you normally use when visiting/using [website/ tool]?
- Do you use other websites and resources for the same purpose as [project website or application]?
- Is there anything you often look for on [project website or application] that is missing or hard to find?
- What is the most important when you look for [proudct]?
- Is there any way [project website or application] isn’t supporting your needs currently?
- If you had a question regarding [topic], do you know who to contact?
- If yes – how do you know?
- If not – how would you go about contacting someone?
- What do you think is the primary function of the [project website or application]?
- What do you like about the current [project website or application]?
- What don’t you like about the current [project website or application]?
- Are you aware that [project topic, website, or application] offers [particular feature]?
- How long do you expect the process to take?
- Under what circumstances would you want to receive a notification in [process in the project]?
- What do you think will happen if you do this [task]?
- What different method would you use to perform [task]?
Questions to close the user interview:
- What more would be valuable for us to know?
- Was anything amusing or didn’t perform as expected?
- Is the interface easy to understand?
- What was the easiest task to accomplish?
- What was the most challenging task to complete?
- Do you feel this product is created for you? Why or why not?
- What was the one thing you liked the most about [web page, design, prototype]?
- What was the one thing you disliked the most about [web page, design, prototype]?
- If you could change one thing, what would it be?
- Would you download/use this product if the change(s) were made?
- Do you feel this is something for the desktop, mobile, or both?
- Would you recommend it to a family, colleague, or friend?
You may need further follow-up questions with the user’s responses in each case. They drive the conversation further, help you find the root of the problem, and validate your assumptions.
When in doubt, always ask, “why?”
Also, please know that we have prepared templates for your unmoderated user research needs. No need to start from scratch- choose a template that fits your needs and adapt it for your project!
