8 tips for running user interviews over the phone

Like all qualitative research methods in UX, user interviews conducted over the phone have their pros, cons and challenges. Sometimes they are your best or only option. Weâve all been in situations where weâve had to do the best we can with what we have because it sure beats doing nothing at all. It might be that your participants are remotely located and maybe you donât all have access to the same technology â access to technology is a privilege! Or maybe you do and that technology just isnât playing the game and you have to improvise. Maybe you work in a secure environment that puts all kinds of limitations on your research or maybe itâs something else entirely.
One of the biggest challenges of running a user interview over the phone is that unless youâre doing it via video call, the communication is entirely verbal. Thereâs no body language for you to communicate or observe, you canât talk with your hands or draw something out on a page and you canât control the environment in which your participant dials in from. That said, it absolutely can be done and it ispossible to gather useful and usable insights for your project by running a user interview over the phone. Here are 8 tips to help make it happen.
Itâs very important that you dial into a phone-based user interview from a location that is free from distractions and excessive background noise. You donât want to have to keep asking your participant to speak up or repeat themselves because you canât hear them and they shouldnât have to listen to your colleagues sharing Game of Thrones spoilers in the background. In my experience, quiet spaces arenât always available at short notice and it pays to plan ahead. If you can, book a meeting room in advance, arrive early and make sure you book extra time either side of your interview time slot so that any meetings booked before yours will have ample time to clear out.
It can also help to headphones and try to find a meeting room that is quiet and not right next to another one with glass walls because, as Iâve learned the hard way, sound carries and it can be just as disruptive as dialing in from an open plan office environment! If a quiet space isnât available in your workspace, consider making the call from home if you can or from some other quiet space outside of the office. This might seem obvious, but I see mistakes around call location happen all the time. Participant experience matters and the environment you dial in from can have a big impact on that.
Just like you need to plan your call location ahead of time, itâs also best if your participant does too and youâre the best person to help them do that. I once had a participant dial in from a moving car with all the windows rolled down and another from a busy call center environment â both scenarios could have been avoided. A great way to help your participants plan ahead is to politely ask them dial in from somewhere quiet when you first book the session. You might include this information in the calendar invite along with all the other helpful details youâll be providing e.g., contact details, session details and instructions for any technology you might be using to run the call. Keep it light and friendly and maybe list it as the âwhereâ for the meeting e.g., Where: Please dial in from a quiet location so we can chat.
Sometimes despite your best efforts, a participant may still join the session from a less than desirable location. They might not be aware of how loud the background noise in their office is or they may have forgotten to go somewhere quiet. Maybe theyâve unexpectedly needed to work from home and their dog wonât stop barking. When this happens, it is best to try to see if theyâre able to move to a better location away from the noise and distractions. Toughing it out rarely works and can derail the entire session wasting both your time and the participantâs. Be patient and empathetic with them and consider exploring whether itâs possible to reschedule if it canât be resolved then and there.
Participant responses will be entirely verbal and youâll want to factor in extra time to ask clarifying and further probing questions. If you plan to go in with a pre-prepared list of questions, keep it brief. Itâs totally fine to have a larger overall list of questions youâd like to ask â especially for cases when participants are super articulate and rip through them quickly â but limit the number of âmust-askâ questions as much as you can, otherwise you might not get through them all.
And on that note, tip #3 does not mean you should hold an extra long session to compensate â nobody wants to sit on the phone for an hour! It can be exhausting and you donât know if your participant is having to hold the phone up to their ear the entire time â ouch! Keep the session length to under 30 minutes in total. If you feel thatâs not enough time to get the answers you need, consider diversifying your approach by running your research in multiple parts.
You might follow up with a short survey after your session or you might include a few additional questions in your screener before the interview to gather more context from your participants. Keep these brief, donât ask anything you donât actually need to know and be mindful of taking up too much of your participantsâ time â they are giving you a gift, so donât overdo it.
Some people are quite comfortable talking to complete strangers over the phone and some people arenât. Youâre going to come across all types of people and you may even feel a little nervous before each session â weâve all been there! I think itâs important to recognize upfront that awkward interruptions and silences in the conversation are going to happen and to embrace it with confidence and humor. Itâs not a big deal and your participant will likely be just as nervous as you are. Tackle it together. Keep the conversation light and humorous â make a joke, and if you interrupt the participant, apologize and keep going. Smiling when you talk can also help make you both feel more comfortable â youâll feel better and theyâll hear the warmth in your voice that will put them at ease too.
With all those juicy insights being delivered entirely verbally down the phone, itâs a good idea to record the conversation if you can. You might miss something and recording the session will allow you to go back to it. Iâd also recommend avoiding taking detailed notes during the call. Just immerse yourself in the conversation and type your notes up later from the recording.
Everyone has their own unique approach and style to running research. Iâm someone who finds it hard to focus when talking on the phone and Iâve noticed that itâs much easier if I donât have to do anything else! Do what works for you, but definitely consider recording those sessions where possible to help ensure research traceability and make life easier when sharing with your team. Just note that youâll need to ask your participants if itâs OK that you record the call.
A silver lining to the challenges of running user interviews over the phone is that your participant canât see you. You donât have to worry about how youâre dressed or how youâre sitting or keeping your facial expressions in check. You can have your planning notes and questions lists spread out in front of you or up on your screen without having to worry about them being distracting or potentially leading. You can put yourself on mute if you have to and you get to dial in from a really comfortable place. Make the most of it! Run the session from an environment where you feel relaxed and confident. No matter how many times Iâve done this, I always feel a twinge of the jitters right before I make the call and being in a comfortable and safe space can make all the difference.
Sending a quick thank you note after a user interview conducted over the phone is a nice way to add a human touch to close out the participant experience. Itâs also a good time to deliver or confirm details around how any incentives will be granted to the participant for their time.
So there are 8 tips to help you ace interviewing users over the phone! What are your top tips?