Mastering the Art of User Interviews: A Guide for Product Managers

Interviewing is one of the most powerful tools in a product user researcher's toolkit, if not the most powerful tool! Together with observation, it forms the foundation of qualitative research, allowing us to uncover deep insights into user needs, behaviors, and motivations.

While anyone can conduct an interview with a bit of training, becoming a great interviewer requires practice, skill, and a deep understanding of the different interview techniques. As Steve Portigal, a leading expert in user research, puts it: To interview well, one must study. I would also add that you want to lean into your partnership with the designers. They have in depth knowledge in this area and the more you partner with them, the better your own skills will get.

I guess my intention with this light guide, is to explore different types of interviews, their role in the product development process, and key strategies you can use for preparing and conducting effective interviews that yield meaningful insights. A beginners guide for PMs so to speak.

Types of Interviews and When to Use Them

Interviews can be classified in different ways depending on their purpose and level of structure, however, in this guide, we'll focus on user interviews, but the principles also apply to stakeholder interviews as well.

The Interview Spectrum: From Structured to Informal

Interviews exist on a spectrum of formality, ranging from highly structured to completely informal. The right approach you choose depends on the research goal.

1. Structured Interviews

Follow a fixed set of questions always asked in the same order with each participant. They provide standardized responses, making them easier to analyze after you are complete. They are also useful when comparing answers across many participants (e.g., usability studies).

Research Goal: Validate a hypothesis about customer behavior Example: A product team wants to understand how often small business owners use a new invoicing feature and what challenges they face. Choice Rationale:

• A structured interview ensures consistency across respondents, making it easier to compare answers.
• If the goal is validation, we need quantifiable insights, which structured interviews provide.
• Questions are predetermined, reducing bias and allowing for statistical analysis.

When to Use:

• When looking for quantitative validation
• When a hypothesis needs a clear yes/no or scaled responses
• When conducting large-scale interviews where uniformity is key

2. Semi-Structured Interviews (Most Common)

You will have to have a prepared set of topics but it should allow flexibility in how questions are asked, which should then enable a deeper exploration of unexpected insights that might come up in the interview. This approach is ideal for early-stage discovery research.

Research Goal: Explore user pain points and motivations Example: A team is exploring why customer retention has dropped after onboarding. Choice Rationale:

• We need some structure to ensure we cover key themes (onboarding experience, drop-off points, customer expectations).
• However, we also want flexibility to follow unexpected insights or user emotions that emerge.
• It allows for pattern recognition while leaving space for discovery.

When to Use:

• When researching customer experiences, pain points, or motivations
• When there's an exploratory component but we still need some structured comparison
• When we have some hypotheses but want room for deeper insights

3. Unstructured Interviews

With these types, you will have no predefined questions; instead, the interviewer guides the conversation based on the participant responses and it goes where it goes. These are used for exploratory research when little is known about the problem space and are especially useful early on in the endeavour.

Research Goal: Discover unmet needs and opportunities Example: A startup is developing a new personal finance app but isn't sure what features would provide the most value to users. Choice Rationale:

• The team doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, so a highly exploratory approach is needed.
• Open-ended conversations allow the customer to lead the discussion, revealing unexpected behaviors, mental models, or pain points.
• It’s useful in the early discovery phase before hypotheses are formed.

When to Use:

• When the goal is to uncover opportunities, not validate ideas
• When entering a new market or product space
• When needing deep, qualitative insights

4. Informal Interviews

These often resemble natural conversations rather than formal interviews and are useful for capturing organic insights in real-world settings, e.g., chatting with users at a coffee shop, or chatting with your engineers to understand more about the tech stack or tools they use.

Research Goal: Gather contextual, in-the-moment insights Example: A team working on a food delivery app overhears customers discussing delivery delays at a café and decides to have casual conversations with them. Choice Rationale:

• The goal is quick, contextual feedback, rather than a formal research session.
• Informal settings reduce response bias—customers speak more naturally.
• It’s a lightweight way to sense-check ideas or assumptions without setting up formal interviews.

When to Use:

• When needing quick, in-the-moment feedback
• When engaging in contextual inquiries (e.g., observing users in their environment)
• When looking for spontaneous, natural reactions

Summary of How to make the Choice

The interview type depends on:

1. Research goal – Are we validating, exploring, discovering, or gathering context?
2. Level of structure needed – Do we need comparable answers (structured) or deep insights (unstructured)?
3. Stage in product development – Early-stage research benefits from unstructured or semi-structured interviews; validation calls for structured ones.
4. User mindset – If we need unbiased, natural responses, informal interviews work well.
5. Ask a Designer?- always partner with your designer as they are steeped in this knowledge

When to Use Interviews

Interviews are versatile and can be used at various stages of product discovery and development:

• Discovery phase: Identify pain points, reframe the problem, and uncover unmet needs.
• Ideation phase: Validate early concepts and refine ideas.
• Redesign phase: Gather feedback on an existing product or service to improve usability.

However, interviews have limitations. They capture what people say, not necessarily what they do. If you need behavioral data, observational methods, such as usability testing, are more reliable.

Preparing for a User Interview

1. Define Your Research Goals:?Before conducting interviews, clarify your research objectives:

• What do you want to learn?
• How will the insights inform your design decisions?

A clear research goal ensures you ask the right questions and stay focused.

2. Create a Discussion Guide:?A discussion guide helps structure the conversation while allowing flexibility. It should include:

• Key themes or topics to explore.
• Open-ended questions (e.g., "Can you describe a time when?" instead of "Do you like this?").
• Follow-up prompts to encourage deeper responses.

Example: Instead of asking "Do you like ice cream?", ask "Can you describe your favorite ice cream and why you like it?" The latter elicits richer, more detailed responses.

3. Structure Your Questions Thoughtfully

• Start with general questions to ease the participant into the conversation.
• Move to specific questions that require deeper reflection.
• Save sensitive or challenging questions for later when rapport is established.

4. Conduct a Brainstorming Session (For Teams):?If working in a team, collaboratively brainstorm potential topics and questions:

• Write down the research goal.
• Have team members generate possible questions on sticky notes.
• Group similar themes and prioritize key topics.

This process ensures the discussion guide aligns with diverse perspectives and business needs.

5. Consider Interview Logistics

• Duration: 45-60 minutes (longer interviews can be split into multiple sessions).
• Setting: In-person, remote, or contextual (in the users natural environment).
• Recording & Notes: Get permission to record the session for accurate analysis.

Avoiding Common Interview Pitfalls

1. The Accuracy Problem:?People don't always recall past actions accurately or predict future behavior reliably.

Example: Asking "Would you use this product?" often yields misleading answers. Instead, ask about past behavior: "Can you describe the last time you faced this problem?"

2. Response Biases

• Deference Effect: Participants may tell you what they think you want to hear.
• Social Desirability Bias: They may give answers that make them look good rather than truthful responses.

Mitigation Strategy: Build trust, remain neutral, and phrase questions carefully to reduce bias.

3. Leading Questions: As an interviewer you want to avoid questions that suggest an answer.

• Leading: "How much do you love this feature?"
• Neutral: "What do you think of this feature?"?

Final Thoughts: Mastering the Art of User Interviews

User interviews are an essential tool for product managers, designers, engineers and researchers looking to build user-centric products. When done well, they provide deep insights into user needs, experiences, and pain points.

To conduct effective interviews you need to choose the right interview type based on your research goals. You will also need to prepare a strong discussion guide with open-ended questions and be mindful of biases and response effects. Lastly, make sure to analyze responses critically & focus on what users do, not just what they say. To do this, you want to make sure you deeply partner with your design person; that relationship between product and design should be tight with daily interaction, debate and planning and one hopes that lead engineer is part of that daily interaction, thigh deep in the discovery with you.

By refining your interviewing skills, you'll uncover powerful insights that drive better product decisions and create experiences that truly resonate with users.