WEBVTT 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:02.873 - [Instructor] Now that you have 00:00:02.873 --> 00:00:05.550 your initial feature opportunity hypotheses 00:00:05.550 --> 00:00:07.050 you need to refine them. 00:00:07.050 --> 00:00:08.700 In this section we'll walk through 00:00:08.700 --> 00:00:12.000 how to refine your hypotheses about user value. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.850 Refining user value hypotheses requires you to 00:00:14.850 --> 00:00:17.160 engage directly with users. 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:18.570 There are several quantitative 00:00:18.570 --> 00:00:22.260 and qualitative methods PMs can use to engage with users 00:00:22.260 --> 00:00:23.460 but the one we'll focus on 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:25.950 in this program is user interviews. 00:00:25.950 --> 00:00:28.380 You can find information on other research methods 00:00:28.380 --> 00:00:32.130 in the user insights for product decisions program. 00:00:32.130 --> 00:00:33.900 Interviews are a foundational tool 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:35.340 for product managers. 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:36.690 They enable us to dive deep 00:00:36.690 --> 00:00:38.520 into the problems users are facing 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:40.290 and build empathy for them. 00:00:40.290 --> 00:00:42.870 Understanding problems from a user's perspective 00:00:42.870 --> 00:00:45.240 ensures we're not just operating on assumptions 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:48.603 but grounding our actions in the actual user experience. 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:52.470 There are four steps to productive user interviews. 00:00:52.470 --> 00:00:54.240 Together, these four steps ensure 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.040 that you're gathering the right insights 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:58.080 about the right users. 00:00:58.080 --> 00:01:00.240 The first step is to determine your interview 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:02.040 audience to ensure that you're talking 00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:05.070 to the right users for this specific opportunity, 00:01:05.070 --> 00:01:06.960 and the second step is to recruit users 00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:09.960 from that target audience to speak with you. 00:01:09.960 --> 00:01:12.210 Third, structure the interview to ensure 00:01:12.210 --> 00:01:14.970 that you ask the right questions for the opportunity. 00:01:14.970 --> 00:01:17.550 The right questions will get you the right data. 00:01:17.550 --> 00:01:20.970 And finally, debrief and synthesize insights. 00:01:20.970 --> 00:01:23.370 This step bridges the gap between what users said 00:01:23.370 --> 00:01:26.040 in the interview and what you need to learn. 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:28.140 At the end of the user interview process 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:30.870 you'll be able to build a user value map. 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:34.350 The map includes three key components, user profile 00:01:34.350 --> 00:01:35.730 which includes descriptions 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:38.010 of the demographics, firmographics 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:38.843 and product behaviors for your target audience, 00:01:38.843 --> 00:01:43.843 user problem which includes the severity of that problem 00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:47.280 and key alternatives to address the problem today 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.480 and user goals 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.390 which includes qualitative and quantitative metrics 00:01:51.390 --> 00:01:54.630 as well as any non-goals for this opportunity. 00:01:54.630 --> 00:01:56.910 By conducting user interviews, we'll be able to 00:01:56.910 --> 00:01:59.100 pressure, test and refine our understanding 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:02.520 of the user profile and user problem for our feature. 00:02:02.520 --> 00:02:05.190 We can then add these refined hypotheses to our 00:02:05.190 --> 00:02:09.030 user value map and use them to make any necessary updates 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:11.340 to the user goals we set out to achieve during 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:12.633 the manager briefing. 00:02:13.470 --> 00:02:16.050 In this section, we'll walk through how to complete the four 00:02:16.050 --> 00:02:19.290 steps necessary to conduct effective user interviews 00:02:19.290 --> 00:02:21.723 and build out your user value map. 00:02:21.723 --> 00:02:24.420 You can use the refined user value template to 00:02:24.420 --> 00:02:26.790 complete the steps for your feature. 00:02:26.790 --> 00:02:29.460 Along the way, we'll practice applying these concepts 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:32.370 using a real feature opportunity from Gusto, 00:02:32.370 --> 00:02:34.680 a platform that provides payroll, hiring, 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.490 and benefit solutions for small to medium sized businesses. 00:02:38.490 --> 00:02:41.520 Before we jump into the four step process, we'll start 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:44.010 with some context about this example. 00:02:44.010 --> 00:02:45.840 The feature opportunity being explored 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:48.210 at Gusto was an improvement to the new employee 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:50.160 onboarding experience. 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:52.560 Let's take a look at a condensed version of the user 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.440 value hypotheses that the Gusto PM documented 00:02:55.440 --> 00:02:57.390 during their manager briefing. 00:02:57.390 --> 00:02:58.800 This opportunity addresses 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.980 a problem for fast growing businesses on Gusto. 00:03:01.980 --> 00:03:02.813 The team believes 00:03:02.813 --> 00:03:05.640 that the primary user problem here is that a ton 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:09.090 of setup work is needed to onboard a new employee, so much 00:03:09.090 --> 00:03:11.970 so that it's easy to make mistakes that ultimately hurt 00:03:11.970 --> 00:03:14.760 both the new employee and the employer. 00:03:14.760 --> 00:03:16.770 To address this problem, the team wants to 00:03:16.770 --> 00:03:19.440 build an onboarding solution that makes it easier 00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:21.480 for employers to track all the tasks 00:03:21.480 --> 00:03:24.090 and deadlines necessary to give a new employee 00:03:24.090 --> 00:03:26.610 a smooth onboarding experience. 00:03:26.610 --> 00:03:28.830 We'll illustrate how the Gusto team validated 00:03:28.830 --> 00:03:32.040 these hypotheses throughout this lesson. 00:03:32.040 --> 00:03:34.530 The first step to running effective interviews 00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:37.290 is to determine the right audience for the interview. 00:03:37.290 --> 00:03:40.620 When determining their audience, PMs often make the mistake 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:42.990 of reaching for the low hanging fruit. 00:03:42.990 --> 00:03:45.690 They speak with the most convenient audience instead 00:03:45.690 --> 00:03:47.250 of taking the time to determine 00:03:47.250 --> 00:03:49.530 the right people to speak to. 00:03:49.530 --> 00:03:51.390 This means they end up talking to users 00:03:51.390 --> 00:03:54.810 from previous user panels assembled for other projects 00:03:54.810 --> 00:03:58.020 or they interview the most active and enthusiastic users 00:03:58.020 --> 00:03:59.970 or they collect anecdotal evidence 00:03:59.970 --> 00:04:01.710 from people who have left reviews 00:04:01.710 --> 00:04:03.840 or contacted customer support 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.110 and assume that represents the general population. 00:04:07.110 --> 00:04:09.360 But all of these users aren't necessarily 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:13.140 the ones experiencing the problem the PM is trying to solve. 00:04:13.140 --> 00:04:16.170 It's not enough to choose just any active user and hope 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:19.080 that they will help you learn what you need to know. 00:04:19.080 --> 00:04:21.300 Determining the correct interview audience 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:24.810 will help you get the most helpful insights the quickest. 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:28.050 For example, a very common mistake PMs make is to 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:29.460 interview existing users 00:04:29.460 --> 00:04:31.527 about the features they would ideally want 00:04:31.527 --> 00:04:34.860 and try to use that information to figure out why prospects 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:38.670 aren't buying, but these are completely different audiences. 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:40.500 It's impossible to apply insights 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:42.390 from someone who decided to buy 00:04:42.390 --> 00:04:44.910 to someone who decided not to buy. 00:04:44.910 --> 00:04:46.140 Instead, they should talk 00:04:46.140 --> 00:04:49.110 to people who ultimately did not choose to buy the product 00:04:49.110 --> 00:04:51.390 and see what can be learned from them. 00:04:51.390 --> 00:04:53.100 Here's another example. 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:55.320 Uber started in the US and did plenty 00:04:55.320 --> 00:04:57.300 of user research to gather insights 00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:59.700 on how to recruit drivers locally 00:04:59.700 --> 00:05:02.100 but when they wanted to expand to other countries 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:05.070 these insights didn't necessarily translate. 00:05:05.070 --> 00:05:07.710 Interviewing people in the US did not provide them 00:05:07.710 --> 00:05:10.260 with the insights that they needed to recruit drivers 00:05:10.260 --> 00:05:12.210 In India, for example. 00:05:12.210 --> 00:05:15.090 To learn what it would take to recruit drivers in India, 00:05:15.090 --> 00:05:17.970 Uber needed to interview potential drivers there to find 00:05:17.970 --> 00:05:19.233 out what motivated them. 00:05:20.460 --> 00:05:23.280 To determine the right interview audience for your project 00:05:23.280 --> 00:05:25.110 you need to do three things. 00:05:25.110 --> 00:05:27.857 Start with a target user profile for your company or product 00:05:27.857 --> 00:05:29.580 as a whole. 00:05:29.580 --> 00:05:32.400 Let's call this the company user profile. 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:35.460 Then identify how the target audience for your project 00:05:35.460 --> 00:05:38.400 differs from the company user profile. 00:05:38.400 --> 00:05:41.760 Finally, identify secondary attributes that add diversity 00:05:41.760 --> 00:05:44.070 to your project's target audience. 00:05:44.070 --> 00:05:46.440 Let's start with the first part, your company's 00:05:46.440 --> 00:05:47.940 user profile. 00:05:47.940 --> 00:05:50.190 It's important to determine the user profile 00:05:50.190 --> 00:05:52.950 for the company first because you need to understand how 00:05:52.950 --> 00:05:56.550 your new target audience fits into or stands out from the 00:05:56.550 --> 00:05:58.200 company's audience. 00:05:58.200 --> 00:06:00.690 In other words, you need to establish a baseline 00:06:00.690 --> 00:06:03.360 from which to expand or find a subset. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:04.860 To establish this baseline 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:08.520 we'll define two types of attributes for the user profile. 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:11.280 We'll define demographics such as age, gender 00:06:11.280 --> 00:06:14.310 or geography for B2C companies 00:06:14.310 --> 00:06:18.120 and firmographics such as company size, role, or industry 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.100 for B2B companies. 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:22.320 We'll also define product behaviors 00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:24.990 such as user status, frequency of engagement 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:26.640 with the product or feature, 00:06:26.640 --> 00:06:30.990 device or platform type or paid versus free users. 00:06:30.990 --> 00:06:33.690 The next step is to identify how the target audience 00:06:33.690 --> 00:06:37.530 for your project differs from the company user profile. 00:06:37.530 --> 00:06:39.120 There are two common scenarios 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:40.650 in which your audience will deviate 00:06:40.650 --> 00:06:43.500 from the company's existing user profile. 00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:45.810 One is when you're trying to expand the existing 00:06:45.810 --> 00:06:48.240 profile to include a new segment. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:50.220 The attributes of that new segment would then 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:52.680 determine your project's target audience. 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:54.360 Take Hims, for example 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:56.790 a US startup that provides medical services 00:06:56.790 --> 00:06:58.470 and products for men. 00:06:58.470 --> 00:07:00.300 When the company launched Hers 00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:03.240 it expanded its company user profile to include women 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:05.160 of all ages who had not been a part 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.590 of Hims' initial customer base. 00:07:07.590 --> 00:07:10.320 The Hers product team would need to conduct user research 00:07:10.320 --> 00:07:12.690 with women whose telemedicine behavior 00:07:12.690 --> 00:07:14.340 and needs might look very different 00:07:14.340 --> 00:07:16.710 from the original male user base. 00:07:16.710 --> 00:07:19.200 The second common deviation is when you're trying to 00:07:19.200 --> 00:07:23.010 solve a problem for a subset of the existing profile. 00:07:23.010 --> 00:07:24.510 In this case, the attributes 00:07:24.510 --> 00:07:28.080 of that subset determine your project's target audience. 00:07:28.080 --> 00:07:30.120 Let's imagine you're a PM at Bumble 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:32.340 and you're working on a feature to increase the number 00:07:32.340 --> 00:07:34.440 of user profiles, specifically 00:07:34.440 --> 00:07:38.550 for 25 to 35 year olds living in suburban areas. 00:07:38.550 --> 00:07:41.820 Your interview should specifically focus on this subset. 00:07:41.820 --> 00:07:42.660 Speaking with folks 00:07:42.660 --> 00:07:45.750 in the broader Bumble user population won't bring you closer 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:49.470 to refining user value for this particular opportunity. 00:07:49.470 --> 00:07:52.200 For each key attribute of your existing audience 00:07:52.200 --> 00:07:54.630 you can determine how your project's target audience 00:07:54.630 --> 00:07:56.850 is similar or different. 00:07:56.850 --> 00:08:00.240 Finally, layer on secondary attributes that add diversity 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:02.610 to your project's target audience. 00:08:02.610 --> 00:08:05.970 At this stage, you want to identify one or two attributes 00:08:05.970 --> 00:08:08.610 that vary within the target audience you've defined 00:08:08.610 --> 00:08:12.600 and may have an impact on the user's behavior and problems. 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:14.550 It's important to have diversity like this 00:08:14.550 --> 00:08:16.860 within your target audience because you want to 00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:20.130 get as many relevant perspectives as possible. 00:08:20.130 --> 00:08:22.740 Otherwise, you'll end up with a biased view which could 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:26.580 result in a solution that doesn't fully address the problem. 00:08:26.580 --> 00:08:29.700 JZ remembers her team benefiting from a diverse user 00:08:29.700 --> 00:08:32.460 research audience when they were trying to improve the host 00:08:32.460 --> 00:08:34.342 experience at Airbnb. 00:08:34.342 --> 00:08:37.640 The team included international users in their research 00:08:37.640 --> 00:08:40.980 and discovered that some geographies use mobile phones more 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:44.160 often for transactions and interactions. 00:08:44.160 --> 00:08:46.470 Effectively delivering value to these users 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:49.290 would require an optimized mobile experience 00:08:49.290 --> 00:08:52.590 in addition to an optimized desktop experience. 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:53.887 JZ shares, 00:08:53.887 --> 00:08:56.250 "If we had only talked to hosts in the US 00:08:56.250 --> 00:08:58.800 we would've gotten a biased view of the problem 00:08:58.800 --> 00:09:01.500 and might have come up with a solution that wasn't relevant 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:03.495 to all of our target audience." 00:09:03.495 --> 00:09:05.550 Let's define the research audience 00:09:05.550 --> 00:09:07.920 for Gusto's onboarding feature. 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:10.770 Gusto's company user profile is small to medium 00:09:10.770 --> 00:09:11.880 sized businesses 00:09:11.880 --> 00:09:16.170 or SMBs that are looking for people management solutions. 00:09:16.170 --> 00:09:17.700 This feature's audience differs 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:20.220 from the overall company user profile 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:22.440 because it targets a specific subset, 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:25.470 SMBs that are growing headcount rapidly. 00:09:25.470 --> 00:09:28.440 As such, the team defines the research audience 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:30.930 as SMBs that are doubling their headcount 00:09:30.930 --> 00:09:32.580 over the next year. 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:34.350 An onboarding solution will likely be 00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:36.480 of high value to these businesses 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.700 since they'll need to onboard more new employees 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:41.010 than a slower growing business. 00:09:41.010 --> 00:09:43.530 The team then identifies some key attributes to 00:09:43.530 --> 00:09:46.170 build diversity into the target audience. 00:09:46.170 --> 00:09:47.610 First, they plan to talk 00:09:47.610 --> 00:09:50.458 to different types of decision makers within companies. 00:09:50.458 --> 00:09:53.340 For example, they can interview people leads 00:09:53.340 --> 00:09:56.070 and chief people officers who own the functions 00:09:56.070 --> 00:09:58.200 that will primarily use the tool. 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:00.240 In addition, they can speak to CFOs 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.810 and CEOs who might own the final purchase decision depending 00:10:03.810 --> 00:10:05.580 on the company size. 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:07.470 Beyond different decision makers 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:09.660 the team also plans to ensure diversity 00:10:09.660 --> 00:10:11.850 and company size and stage. 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:14.520 They want to speak to earlier stage startups as well 00:10:14.520 --> 00:10:16.920 as more mature SMBs to understand 00:10:16.920 --> 00:10:18.900 whether their needs are different. 00:10:18.900 --> 00:10:21.420 After defining your target interview audience 00:10:21.420 --> 00:10:25.050 you can move to the second step: recruiting interviewees. 00:10:25.050 --> 00:10:27.150 You can follow the three S's when recruiting 00:10:27.150 --> 00:10:28.830 your interview audience. 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:31.800 The first is to source or find possible participants 00:10:31.800 --> 00:10:33.930 that match your target user profile. 00:10:33.930 --> 00:10:35.190 Then screen. 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:37.050 Reach out to possible participants 00:10:37.050 --> 00:10:40.800 and screen them for their fit with the target user profile. 00:10:40.800 --> 00:10:42.750 Finally, schedule. 00:10:42.750 --> 00:10:44.040 Create an interview schedule 00:10:44.040 --> 00:10:47.580 that maximizes your ability to gather insights. 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:50.250 Let's start with sourcing users to interview. 00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:53.010 In sourcing, we start by answering this question: 00:10:53.010 --> 00:10:56.040 How do we find the people we want to interview? 00:10:56.040 --> 00:10:58.230 To find potential interview participants 00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:01.920 you can use either internal data or third party data. 00:11:01.920 --> 00:11:04.710 The internal information approach tends to work best 00:11:04.710 --> 00:11:07.800 when your audience is past or present users. 00:11:07.800 --> 00:11:10.530 Your access to internal data may differ depending 00:11:10.530 --> 00:11:12.120 on your company. 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:14.550 As a new PM, you'll need to determine whether you 00:11:14.550 --> 00:11:17.490 can gather this data yourself or whether you'll need help 00:11:17.490 --> 00:11:19.530 from an internal partner. 00:11:19.530 --> 00:11:22.260 Then you can narrow down possible participants based 00:11:22.260 --> 00:11:25.320 on the attributes you outlined in the last step as long 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.230 as you can tie the information to their contact information, 00:11:28.230 --> 00:11:30.090 like an email address. 00:11:30.090 --> 00:11:31.170 For example, 00:11:31.170 --> 00:11:34.560 Dropbox has a beta program where existing users can sign 00:11:34.560 --> 00:11:37.020 up to test upcoming features. 00:11:37.020 --> 00:11:40.110 Dropbox PMs can then easily source users from the beta 00:11:40.110 --> 00:11:43.710 program who match their target audience, but internal data 00:11:43.710 --> 00:11:46.230 may not work so well in instances where you want to 00:11:46.230 --> 00:11:49.230 target a new audience or where you don't have a linkage 00:11:49.230 --> 00:11:52.050 between users and their email addresses. 00:11:52.050 --> 00:11:54.600 Third party data comes in handy when you want to speak 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:56.820 with people who have not used the product 00:11:56.820 --> 00:12:00.150 or when you can't identify users in your data. 00:12:00.150 --> 00:12:02.790 For example, say Instacart wants to talk 00:12:02.790 --> 00:12:05.730 to users that didn't sign up for their service. 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:07.530 Since they have no contact information 00:12:07.530 --> 00:12:10.860 for the people who arrived at their page but didn't sign up 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:13.470 they'll need to go to an external source. 00:12:13.470 --> 00:12:15.330 Instacart could use research firms 00:12:15.330 --> 00:12:17.010 and their demographic data to track 00:12:17.010 --> 00:12:20.580 down users who aren't signing up for their service. 00:12:20.580 --> 00:12:22.950 The ideal outcome of the sourcing process is 00:12:22.950 --> 00:12:25.830 that you end up with a list of names, a way to contact them 00:12:25.830 --> 00:12:29.940 and which pieces of the target audience profile they match. 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:32.310 After determining how to find this audience 00:12:32.310 --> 00:12:34.350 the next question to answer is: 00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:37.050 How many people do we need to contact? 00:12:37.050 --> 00:12:39.360 On average, you only really need to talk 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.190 to about six people to get a sense 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:43.320 of what your users are thinking. 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:45.540 While individual results may vary 00:12:45.540 --> 00:12:46.950 once you're over six people 00:12:46.950 --> 00:12:49.650 you're more likely to start hearing the same thing over 00:12:49.650 --> 00:12:52.410 and over again, which means you're getting less value 00:12:52.410 --> 00:12:54.570 out of each conversation. 00:12:54.570 --> 00:12:57.060 Let's do some quick back of the envelope math 00:12:57.060 --> 00:12:59.760 working backward through the recruitment process to figure 00:12:59.760 --> 00:13:02.100 out how many people you need to source. 00:13:02.100 --> 00:13:02.970 For simplicity, 00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:05.460 let's say you want to be able to talk to six people 00:13:05.460 --> 00:13:08.790 per audience and you have two distinct audiences. 00:13:08.790 --> 00:13:09.990 This means you want to talk 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:11.940 to 12 people in total. 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:13.650 While rates differ dramatically, 00:13:13.650 --> 00:13:16.553 Here are some pretty typical numbers for illustration. 00:13:16.553 --> 00:13:19.470 Let's say that about one third of people who respond 00:13:19.470 --> 00:13:22.560 to your initial contact and screener are a bad fit 00:13:22.560 --> 00:13:25.410 so you decide not to speak with them right away. 00:13:25.410 --> 00:13:27.540 Two thirds are a good fit, so 00:13:27.540 --> 00:13:30.210 if you want to speak to six people per condition 00:13:30.210 --> 00:13:33.270 you'll need to hear back from nine people per condition. 00:13:33.270 --> 00:13:36.090 But an average response rate to a cold initial contact 00:13:36.090 --> 00:13:39.360 and screener email is about five to 10%. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.490 We'll assume 10% here. 00:13:41.490 --> 00:13:42.323 With that math, 00:13:42.323 --> 00:13:45.240 if we want to hear back from nine people per condition 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.240 we'll need to reach out to 90 people per condition. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:49.800 That's the bad news. 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:50.633 It takes a lot 00:13:50.633 --> 00:13:53.220 of upfront work to identify possible participants 00:13:53.220 --> 00:13:54.600 and recruit them. 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:56.610 While the numbers may be slightly different for you 00:13:56.610 --> 00:13:59.610 and your organization, this is a helpful starting point 00:13:59.610 --> 00:14:01.980 for planning out your recruiting efforts. 00:14:01.980 --> 00:14:05.550 What do you do when you simply can't find this many people? 00:14:05.550 --> 00:14:09.090 That's when you shift focus to increasing the response rate. 00:14:09.090 --> 00:14:11.160 You have several levers at your disposal to 00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:14.640 help get people's attention and to get them to respond. 00:14:14.640 --> 00:14:17.070 You might increase the compensation you're offering 00:14:17.070 --> 00:14:20.730 or add more context and a personal touch to your email, such 00:14:20.730 --> 00:14:23.186 as why you think their input specifically would be helpful, 00:14:23.186 --> 00:14:26.040 or you might look for warm introductions 00:14:26.040 --> 00:14:29.130 so people are more inclined to respond to you. 00:14:29.130 --> 00:14:32.010 If you're talking to an existing user, an introduction 00:14:32.010 --> 00:14:34.500 from someone they already have a relationship with 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:37.050 like their account manager could go a long way 00:14:37.050 --> 00:14:39.840 to helping you get a response from them. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.330 The next step is to reach out to a random subset 00:14:42.330 --> 00:14:44.610 of the possible participants you just sourced 00:14:44.610 --> 00:14:46.710 and screen them effectively. 00:14:46.710 --> 00:14:48.030 Contacting usually ends 00:14:48.030 --> 00:14:50.790 up being a bit of an iterative process. 00:14:50.790 --> 00:14:53.430 A good rule of thumb is to email half of your audience 00:14:53.430 --> 00:14:57.030 in the first send and then follow up with more as needed. 00:14:57.030 --> 00:14:59.220 You don't wanna send all the emails at once 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:02.850 in case you have a higher response rate than you'd expected. 00:15:02.850 --> 00:15:06.510 Effective contact emails have two parts, a short description 00:15:06.510 --> 00:15:08.880 of why you want to talk to them specifically 00:15:08.880 --> 00:15:10.860 and a screener questionnaire. 00:15:10.860 --> 00:15:13.530 The screener doesn't need to be exhaustive 00:15:13.530 --> 00:15:15.540 but should be just enough to confirm that they're 00:15:15.540 --> 00:15:19.080 both interested and a good fit for the conversation. 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:20.790 Not only do you wanna make sure you're not 00:15:20.790 --> 00:15:23.190 wasting your own time, but you also want to 00:15:23.190 --> 00:15:25.980 make sure you're not wasting users' time. 00:15:25.980 --> 00:15:27.120 Someone who is a good fit 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.790 for your interviews needs to match your audience 00:15:29.790 --> 00:15:31.470 and also encompass some degree 00:15:31.470 --> 00:15:34.710 of diversity within the profile if applicable. 00:15:34.710 --> 00:15:36.600 So the questions in the screener should ask 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:38.820 about any attributes of the target audience 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:41.550 that you need participants to self-report on, 00:15:41.550 --> 00:15:42.960 things you aren't able to confirm 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:44.940 through other data sources. 00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:46.980 For example, it's common to ask 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:49.350 whether or not someone is the final decision maker 00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:51.480 in small business surveys. 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:54.660 You can look up their title, company size and industry 00:15:54.660 --> 00:15:55.770 but you have to ask them 00:15:55.770 --> 00:15:58.680 if they have the authority to make purchasing decisions. 00:15:58.680 --> 00:16:01.650 You can't get that information any other way. 00:16:01.650 --> 00:16:03.870 As responses come in, you can start following 00:16:03.870 --> 00:16:06.930 up with people who are a good fit for your interviews. 00:16:06.930 --> 00:16:09.000 Primarily, you're looking for confirmation 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:12.270 that people are interested and match your target audience. 00:16:12.270 --> 00:16:14.580 Then you want to ensure that you're getting a suitable level 00:16:14.580 --> 00:16:17.610 of diversity within the target audience. 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:19.890 The final stage is scheduling. 00:16:19.890 --> 00:16:21.360 Here you want to be intentional 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.940 about how you stagger your interviews. 00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:25.800 We'll give you a few good rules of thumb 00:16:25.800 --> 00:16:27.270 for scheduling. 00:16:27.270 --> 00:16:30.030 First, schedule time internally for debriefing 00:16:30.030 --> 00:16:31.920 after each interview. 00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:33.480 Practically, this means spacing 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:35.490 out your interviews so they're not all back 00:16:35.490 --> 00:16:37.110 to back to back. 00:16:37.110 --> 00:16:39.090 Context switching takes energy, 00:16:39.090 --> 00:16:41.880 so minimize that as much as possible. 00:16:41.880 --> 00:16:43.920 It's helpful to talk to similar profiles 00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:46.920 on the same day since that makes it easier to compare 00:16:46.920 --> 00:16:48.840 and contrast their perspectives. 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:51.450 Being thoughtful about the gaps between interviews 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:54.360 and the ordering of interviews will help you get as much 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:55.773 out of them as possible. 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:58.590 We've now covered the first two steps 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:00.660 of the user interview process: 00:17:00.660 --> 00:17:03.840 determining the interview audience and recruiting them. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.490 In the next lesson, we'll walk 00:17:05.490 --> 00:17:08.390 through how to structure and conduct effective interviews.