Whenever you are trying to develop a new product or reinvent an existing one, it makes sense to ask the people who you hope will use it. To do this, most product developers conduct extensive user experience, or UX, research to learn important insights about their products. One of the most useful ways to do this is through the use of a UX interview.
Although interviews are somewhat like focus groups in the fact that they are interactive; interviews tend to dig deeper into issues and identify patterns with the use of one-on-one discussion. If you are thinking about UX research methods and want to know more about UX interviews, here are six reasons why you should conduct them.
1. Identify Knowledge Gaps
One of the best parts about using interviews to obtain your data is the way they let you figure out what your users really think. Given the casual nature of this approach, it can be easy to engage in a back and forth conversation while also figuring out how to identify and close knowledge gaps between products, users, and developers.
2. Discover Best Features
Conducting user interviews is a great way to discover some of the best features that your product offers. Many times, developers do not even realize what some of the potential benefits are until asking someone else.
3. Get First-Hand Knowledge
Quite possibly the greatest reason for conducting a user Interview is because doing so will allow you to get first-hand knowledge that you otherwise would not be able to. Even if you have spent hours creating your product, if you have not spent hours as a genuine user, your perspective is skewed.
4. Revise Personas
Whenever you interview users and obtain details about their experiences, it also gives you insights into your research process as a whole. For example, take a look at your personas. After analyzing your interview feedback, do they really represent your target audience? If not, make some changes!
5. Explore Ways To Improve
In the same way, interviews can be useful because they are an effective way to explore ways to improve overall. Because feedback can inform ideas, personas and journey maps, among many other factors, it is wise to conduct an interview before you start brainstorming with your research team.
6. Better Understand Problems
Lastly, UX interviews also rock because they have product developers better understand consumers’ problems. In term, this provides developers with the opportunity to revise current work to make improvements that can allow it to be more efficient in the future.
If you have been thinking about UX research and the possibility of conducting interviews, it can be a solid place to start. Although this list provides six pretty awesome benefits of interviewing, there are numerous others as well. At the end of the day, the research method that will work best for you will depend on your unique situation. However, interviews are definitely worth your consideration.
Read Also: How to Improve Your Selection Process for Hiring?
