Every good design decision traces back to something learned from a real user. Interviews are the fastest way to gather that raw material — but only if you ask questions that reveal behavior rather than fish for compliments. This lesson covers planning, asking, and listening like a researcher.
Recruit for Relevance Not Convenience
Five conversations with people who actually face the problem beat fifty with whoever was nearby. Write one sentence describing your target user, then find participants through communities, customer lists, or personal networks that match it. Screen with two or three quick questions so you do not spend an hour interviewing someone outside your audience.
Ask About the Past Not the Future
People are unreliable predictors of their own behavior but decent historians. Replace would-you-use questions with tell-me-about-the-last-time questions: the last time they booked a trip, tracked expenses, or abandoned an app. Follow the story with open prompts — what happened next, what was frustrating, what did you do instead — and let silence pull out details.
Capture and Debrief Immediately
Record with permission or bring a note-taker, because memory flattens everything into what you expected to hear. Within an hour of each session, write down the three most surprising things you heard and any exact quotes worth keeping. Those surprises are the research payoff; the confirmations are just comfort.
Action Step
Write a one-sentence target user description and a script of six past-behavior questions, then run one practice interview with someone who fits and debrief your three surprises in writing.
Educational content only. Platforms and tools change their features over time — adapt these workflows to the current versions. No audience-growth, professional, or income outcome is promised.