Asking the right follow-up questions (#14)

Motivation

In the everyday life of a company, all employees occasionally have to deal with customers, although the frequency varies in different departments. It is crucial to ask the right questions when users and customers communicate their wishes and needs, also known as requirements. This can bring significant benefits cause we are being unintentionally exposed to the field UX research.

Challenge

However, crafting the right follow-up questions can be challenging due to several reasons. Please note that some of the examples overlap between categories, as many good UX questions avoid multiple common pitfalls simultaneously.

Determining User Intent
If a user says the app is slow, instead of simply noting this feedback, ask a follow-up question like, “Could you describe a situation where you felt the app was slow?” to understand the specific issues they’re encountering.

Bias
If you’re testing a new website design and ask, “Don’t you think this new design is much more visually appealing?” You’ve introduced bias by implying the new design is superior. A less biased question might be, “How would you compare this design to our previous one?”

Depth of Inquiry
Instead of asking, “Do you like this feature?” you might ask, “Can you describe a situation where this feature was particularly helpful or unhelpful?”

Contextual Understanding
Instead of asking, “Do you find our app useful?” you might ask, “Can you describe where and when you usually use our app?”

Understanding User Terminology
Instead of asking, “Did you find the UI intuitive?” you might ask, “Were you able to easily find what you were looking for?”

Balancing Open-ended and Closed-ended Questions
An open-ended question might be, “What was your experience using our app?” whereas a closed-ended question could be, “Did you experience any technical issues while using our app?”

Empathy and Sensitivity
If discussing a health-related app, instead of asking, “How many hours do you exercise each week?” you might phrase it as, “Could you tell me about your typical weekly exercise routine?”

Adapting to Individual Differences
If a participant describes themselves as not very tech-savvy, you might need to adjust your questions accordingly, such as, “How did you feel when trying to navigate through our application?”

In each case, the aim is to understand the user’s needs, feelings, and experiences as accurately as possible, providing valuable insights to enhance the user experience.

Conclusion

Asking the right questions presents a variety of challenges, including avoiding bias, understanding user terminology, determining user intent, diving deeper into user experiences, balancing between open-ended and closed-ended questions, capturing contextual understanding, showing empathy and sensitivity, and adapting to individual differences. These challenges require us to be meticulous in crafting questions, while also maintaining a flexible and adaptable approach.

Here is a list of questions that can help you do this: List

Successfully navigating these challenges and asking insightful, appropriate questions is an invaluable skill set in UX research. When we are proficient in this, several benefits emerge:

Accurate User Insights: By asking the right questions, researchers can gather more accurate and useful data about users’ needs, behaviors, and pain points.
Improved Product Design: With more precise user insights, teams can make better-informed decisions about product design and enhancements, ultimately improving the user experience.
Efficient Resource Use: Accurate insights enable teams to prioritize features and changes that will have the most significant impact on users, allowing more efficient use of resources.
Enhanced User Satisfaction: By understanding and addressing users’ needs and problems effectively, companies can enhance user satisfaction and loyalty, leading to higher retention and possibly more referrals.
Competitive Advantage: Companies that understand their users well and can translate those insights into product improvements may gain a competitive advantage.

In conclusion, the ability to ask the right questions, despite the challenges, is a crucial skill set that can drive product improvement, user satisfaction, and business success. It’s a skill that requires practice and deep understanding, but it’s worth the investment due to the substantial benefits it brings.