Key information uncovered through interviews

For example: you interview a father of two who practices mountaineering. He tells you that the pictures of the shoes he bought on a site were important to him, especially the profile. Why? Because safety is important to him. So instead of selling 'adventure' on your site, it may be wise to emphasise and explain the safety aspects of your items in particular. For example, in the photo use, don't show daredevils, but calm climbers who are over 30.

Interviews help you decide how to present your product and what you are going to say about your product. If you know why exactly people buy or don't buy a particular product, you can capitalise on this on your site.

Without interviews, you wouldn't have easily uncovered this information. But what should you pay attention to when conducting an interview? What interview questions do you ask? In short, how do you go about it?

Semi-structured interviewing: the STAR method

In an interview, you take a semi-structured approach. Don't ask too many closed questions, but do think about the topics in advance. The interview should be fun and informal, but at the same time you have a clear idea of what information you want to bring up.

We often use the STAR method, a method recruiters also use in job interviews. It helps people specifically name things they have experienced or done in the past. Above all, try to talk to people who have actually experienced the situation rather than having a conversation about a hypothetical situation.

1. Situation: get to know the interviewee better

The S stands for Situation. We map out the situation around the interviewee so that we can put ourselves in the person's shoes and understand what actions they are taking. We then zoom in on the item we are interested in: mountaineering equipment in this case.

You ask interview questions such as:

• When was the last time you went on a mountaineering holiday?

• Where did you go?

• How often do you go on a mountaineering holiday?

• Since when have you been going on a mountaineering holiday?

• With whom do you do this?

• When was the last time you bought a mountaineering item and which item was that?

• Why did you buy that item?

These are all questions that are not so much related to the site yet, but create context.

2. Task: find out what tasks people performed

The T stands for Task. Here you want to know what people want to achieve and what demands they have. What things do they all do before, during and after a mountaineering holiday. What tasks do they perform (online)?

Suppose the interviewee told you in the previous phase that he climbed Mont Blanc with a friend last summer. You then ask interview questions such as:

• What exact steps did you take before you went on holiday?

• What did you do before you booked online?

• What happened after you booked the hotel?

• What did you do after the first climb?

• What did you do after the first climb?

• What did you do when you landed?

You actually ask continuously: what did you do then, what happened beforehand, what happened afterwards. You want to get a global overview of all the tasks people did. Not thinking from website visits, but from the mountaineering holiday. The website is part of the whole flow.

You can write down the answers in a process diagram, which is easy to make yourself with, for example, Post it yellow cards (see figure). You stick all the main tasks next to each other and in the next phase you go on to ask questions about them.

3. Activity: what steps have been taken

The A stands for Activity. You ask the interviewee to describe in detail the steps he carried out to achieve his goal. You elaborate on some of the main tasks identified in the previous phase.

You then ask interview questions such as:

• You bought your mountaineering boots online, can you tell us a bit more about them?

• How did you start your search?

• How did you know which shoes you had to have?

• How did you pay for them online?

• Did you already know the site or did you use a search engine?

• What keyword did you use?

• What sites did you visit and why those?

• Did you consider buying multiple items?

It is important here to encourage that mostly facts are mentioned. Postpone value judgements and opinions for a while, they will come in the next phase. It helps if you update the process diagram on the spot (these are the orange post it notes in the image).