In this guide, we'll explain how you can prepare for your user interviews.
Requirements for successful interviews:
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A stable internet connection: This is crucial for remote user testing video calls.
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A calm quiet environment: This can be a private meeting room or a conference room. Noisy coffee shops or communal spaces don't work as well.
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Good quality headphones and a microphone. You want to hear your research participants clearly, and you want them to hear you clearly as well. A headset and microphone are preferable to the built-in computer speakers and microphone.
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Make sure everything works: If this is your first time running a user interview in your current environment, be sure to test your setup before your first session starts. You don’t want your headphones to stop working halfway through a session because you haven’t used them for months and they’ve run out of battery! We highly recommend taking a pre-call test within Interviews to ensure everything is working correctly.
Plan ahead
It's a good idea to know what questions you're going to ask. Also, if you're having the participant test a prototype, make sure it's ready to go and the link works.
Spectator/Note-taker
We recommend coming to the remote sessions with an extra person in the call, to be the spectator. This could be a designer, product manager, or programmer, for example. Having this person attend saves time because the spectator can take notes instantly (saving you from having to listen to the whole recording again). Having an extra person also provides an extra pair of eyes during the interview. This is especially useful later on when you’re reviewing the insights of your research.
The spectator feature allows your team members to watch your sessions live. Spectators can't be seen or heard so they won't be able to talk, chat, or interact on the session in any way other than collaborate on notes.
Reschedule, cancellation, no-show
The nature of testing with people is that you might encounter lateness, no-shows, and late cancellations. While we do everything we can to minimize issues like these, the sooner you learn to handle these situations, the less it will disrupt your research.