As part of continuous discovery, story-based interviewing allows product managers, designers, and engineers to keep learning about customers and to discover strategic opportunities.
Story-based interviewing is a product skill. It’s not a formal research project for a UX Researcher or other outsourced insight-maker (though if you have a UXR, they can be a huge help in developing great interviewing skills). (And in a world where AI is the hotness, story-based interviewing requires exactly the kind of human intelligence that ChatGPT is far from being able to replace).
Regular (at least weekly) contact with people we serve or want to serve enables us to meet our business objectives successfully. In effective story-based interviewing we’re always focused on actions someone actually took, so we can ground our insights in real experience rather than conjecture.
The first step is to identify the decision that most impacts our business or impact objective. Then we need to talk to people who have made the decision, ideally people who also fit the profile of the customer or client we most want to serve.
Simple but not familiar
We have gotten accustomed to interviewing where we have a script and just ask people the same questions. This might seem ‘less biased’ but a standard, predetermined list of questions is actually less likely to lead to actionable data. Story-based interviewing requires us to follow the unique thought process of our interviewee, to really listen, and to notice our own biasing behaviours.
Story-based interviewing is a skill. It takes practice. Before you go out to customers, practice with your friends, family, and colleagues. You’ll discover that people generally love telling you about something they did in great detail, if you are coming in with pure curiosity, no agenda, and no opinions or need to show what you know about the problem or situation.
Even though there’s no set script, there are some best practices and prompts that will help you to do a successful story-based interview. Do some preparation, practice with your team, and start mapping the outlines of the journey surrounding the key decision point as you speak to more people.
To make it dead-easy to start, here’s a resource to frame your interview. I’ve included sections to help you start the interview, how to get people talking, and what to watch out for as we ask them to tell us what happened.
Story-Based Interviewing Format & Tips
Context-setting:
Thank you for taking the time to talk.
To set the stage a little bit, we are doing these interviews to understand your experience around [...] in a holistic way. You don’t need any special knowledge for this interview because it’s really just about you, your experience, and what you care about. This will help us better serve people like you as they go through the journey.
This isn’t going to be like a ‘regular interview’ where I ask a bunch of predetermined questions. Instead, we’re going to talk about this window of your life story when [...] So please share anything that will help me understand this story, almost as if I was writing a biography of your life at that time. So that we use our time together for the most impact, I may interrupt you at times, please know I am still listening.
Starting prompts:
First, Tell me about the time when you […]
Thinking back to the moment when you[ …] could you walk me through what happened?
Imagine we were creating a documentary of the time when you […] What would we be seeing on screen?
Continuing to fill in the story:
Go through each journey stage and ask what happened during that phase. It’s OK to jump around if that’s how they are answering. Most of your time will be spent around the ‘key decision’ but don’t neglect before and after.
Ask ‘dumb’ questions (say things that “get things wrong” or imply you are confused or a little bit slow on the uptake so they will fill in more details)
Don’t be afraid to ask someone to repeat themselves when talking about critical moments. Ask the same thing in a different way.
Reflect what you heard and ask “what am I missing?” instead of “did I get that right?”
Note emotions, laughter, smiles, frowns, long pauses, etc.
Listen for where they “explain why” but actually did the opposite
Other helpful Qs at each journey stage:
What else did you consider?
What made that important?
What almost made you not [...]
Who else was involved in the decision?
What details do you remember about that?
Tell me more / Tell me more about [...]
What were the tradeoffs you considered?
It sounds like you said [...] but then you also said [contradiction to …] - I think I’m missing something?
Good Qs to get people into thinking about their real experience:
What was that day like? What else was going on?
What was different about that day/situation/moment?
Where were you when you did that? (Get specific- at a desk, in the car, in the kitchen, etc.)
What was happening at that time with your [job/family/other context]?
Don’t forget!
Avoid closed questions. Start Qs with Who, What, Where, How, and When - not “Why” or “Did/Do”
Avoid putting words in their mouth - don’t say what you think they were thinking and feeling, reflect back what they say in their own words
Don’t share your thoughts, experiences, or feelings!
Don’t “agree” or suggest they are ‘right.’ You can encourage with words like “great,” “that’s interesting,” or “thanks.”
Use nods, occasional small sounds, and say “OK,” “thank you,” “I think I got that,” or other phrases that help them feel like you’re listening
Pauses are your friend, don’t worry if you need to take more time to write something down and they are left silent for a moment or two.
Note when they use words like “probably”. Try responding with “probably?” in a curious tone. (This works with almost every word that seems uncertain).
Further Reading
Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres
Motives To Be Met: An Introduction
*photo by Christina Morillo