We can study detailed web analytics, review the pretty demographics charts given to us by Marketing, and devise colourful personas to guide our work, but until we’ve actually spoken to our customers – preferably face-to-face – our understanding of their needs remains limited. It’s not just interaction designers, user experience practitioners, and marketers who can benefit from conducting customer interviews. Content strategists and content creators too can gain an enormous amount from asking customers the right questions and knowing how to interpret their answers. I'll be giving this talk again at CS Forum in Melbourne in October 2016 (http://csforum2016.com/). I hope to see you there! If you'd like me to give this talk – or any other – at your conference or organisation, please get in touch.

1. Customer interviews for content strategists
Kerry-Anne Gilowey
Collective · Atlanta GA · 10 June 2016
Talk to the People
@kerry_anne

2. Why interviews?

7. Hi! I’m Elizabeth.
I use your product.
Uh… hi!
Can anyone
hear me?
IS THIS
THING ON?!

8. The voice of the customer.

9. WHAT INFORMATION
DO THEY NEED?

10. WHAT’S THEIR CONTEXT?

11. HOW DO THEY SEE THE WORLD?

12. SURVEYS?
Can’t we
just use
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebees/

13. Sure we can!
It was gr8! |
Question 13: Tell us about your
experience with Snuggle Blankies.

14. Sure we can!
It was okay. Please call me to let
me know how much I still owe on
my account. Tonight would be fine
after 7pm. |
Question 13: Tell us about your
experience with Snuggle Blankies.

15. Sure we can!
The saleslady Anita was very
friendly. But I got a better deal at
Blankies R Us. |
Question 13: Tell us about your
experience with Snuggle Blankies.

16. Non-verbal cues are valuable.

17. Crouching
customer,
hidden
needs.

18. MUCH LIKE THIS VEHICLE,
SMARTS AND ASSUMPTIONS
WILL ONLY GET YOU SO FAR.

19. Interviews for content?

20. FIRST UP, WHAT DO WE
MEAN BY “INTERVIEWS”?

21. FIRST UP, WHAT DO WE
MEAN BY “INTERVIEWS”?

22. FIRST UP, WHAT DO WE
MEAN BY “INTERVIEWS”?

23. FIRST UP, WHAT DO WE
MEAN BY “INTERVIEWS”?

24. Interviews can help us to…
• Shape our content to
support the user journey

25. The user journey

26. Interviews can help us to…
• Shape our content to
support the user journey
• Know what information to
include

27. Key messages
Content types
Instructional content
What information?

28. Interviews can help us to…
• Shape our content to
support the user journey
• Know what information to
include
• Decide how to deliver and
present that information

29. Delivery and presentation

30. Delivery and presentation
Tone

31. Delivery and presentation
Tone
Terminology

32. Delivery and presentation
Tone
Terminology
Channels

33. Delivery and presentation
Tone
Terminology
Channels
Format

34. Planning and preparation

35. HOW MANY INTERVIEWS?

36. GO TO THEM.

37. They may be
working
under difficult
circumstances

38. Or
surprisingly
easy ones.

39. USE PROPS.

40. PERHAPS MORE LIKE THESE.

41. PACE YOURSELF!

42. THINK
CAREFULLY
ABOUT
RECORDING.

43. SET EXPECTATIONS.

44. Interviewing basics

45. 50% 50%
Empathy Objectivity

46. BE WARM.
CONNECT.

47. IT’S NOT A
SCIENCE
EXPERIMENT.

48. MAKE SMALL TALK.
“The more confident you are at talking to
different types of people, the better you’ll be at
research interviews and truly listening to what
people have to say. If small talk isn’t your strong
point, maybe it’s an excuse to go to more parties
- for research purposes, of course.”
– Cennydd Bowles and James Box
(p.29, Undercover User Experience Design)

49. “NO, REALLY, I’M DOING
RESEARCH.”

50. START WITH A
CUP OF TEA
AND A
COOKIE.

51. EXPLAIN THE FINE PRINT.

52. LISTEN.

53. Original image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/

54. DON’T INTERRUPT.
... and I mean, I like
the blankies and all, but I just
wonder if they couldn’t be a bit
bigger. Sometimes I find that my
toes stick out at the bottom
and --
Hot today,
isn’t it?

55. BE AWARE OF YOUR BODY
LANGUAGE.

56. MIRROR THEIR FEELINGS.

58. GET COMFORTABLE WITH
SILENCE.

59. IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T
SUCCEED, ASK, ASK,
AND ASK AGAIN.

60. DON’T SHY
AWAY FROM
HUMOUR.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/

61. Questions to ask

62. 2+2=?

63. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR JOB.

64. MARRIED? CHILDREN? PETS?

65. HERPTY DERPTY DERP?

67. NOT SO FAST, LITTLE BUDDY.

68. IF XYZ, THEN WHAT?

69. WHO INFLUENCES THEM?
Your
customer
Mother-
in-law
People on
Twitter
Best friend
Facebook
friends
Newspapers
Colleagues
Spouse

70. DON’T BE AFRAID TO
GO OFF SCRIPT.

71. KEEP ASKING WHY.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidrn/

72. Sample questions
How did you first hear about Snuggle Blankies?
Did you try any other similar companies, like Blankies R Us or Blankie Hut?
What are the most important things you need from Snuggle Blankies?
Have you ever had to call 0800-SNUGGLE?
What was the worst thing about your experience with Snuggle Blankies?
What was the best part of your Snuggle Blankies experience?
Was there anything you found confusing?
Is there anything else we haven’t covered that you’d like to mention?

73. Sample questions
How did you first hear about Snuggle Blankies?
Did you try any other similar companies, like Blankies R Us or Blankie Hut?
What are the most important things you need from Snuggle Blankies?
Have you ever had to call 0800-SNUGGLE?
What was the worst thing about your experience with Snuggle Blankies?
What was the best part of your Snuggle Blankies experience?
Was there anything you found confusing?
Is there anything else we haven’t covered that you’d like to mention?

74. Sample questions
How did you first hear about Snuggle Blankies?
Did you try any other similar companies, like Blankies R Us or Blankie Hut?
What are the most important things you need from Snuggle Blankies?
Have you ever had to call 0800-SNUGGLE?
What was the worst thing about your experience with Snuggle Blankies?
What was the best part of your Snuggle Blankies experience?
Was there anything you found confusing?
Is there anything else we haven’t covered that you’d like to mention?

75. Difficult situations

76. 1. THE QUIET ONES

78. So hey, how
was your day at
school?
Fine.

79. 2. THOSE WHO WON’T OPEN
UP TO YOU

80. “IF I ASKED YOU
TO NAME ONE
THING YOU
DIDN’T LIKE,
WHAT WOULD
THAT BE?”

81. 3. THORNY TOPICS

82. CHANNEL
YOUR INNER
DOCTOR

83. 4. THE UNEXPECTED

84. 5. VERY
ANXIOUS
PARTICIPANTS
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/

85. STAY CALM
YOURSELF
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/

86. What to listen for

88. I want a
faster horse,
please.

89. READ

90. “OBVIOUSLY...”

92. Obviously you’re
just a small,
hairless cat.

93. Obviously the
blankets aren’t big
enough for me because
I’m very tall and have
extra-long toes.

94. Obviously all
blankets are
basically the same.

95. What words do they prefer?
blanket vs blankie
warm vs snug
mail vs post
shipping vs delivery

96. What type
of language
do they
relate to?

97. What type
of language
do they
relate to?
I like a really comfy,
schnuggly-wuggly
blankie.

98. What type
of language
do they
relate to?
I have a preference
for deep pile
microfleece bedding
material.

99. WHAT ARE THE STORIES THEY’RE
TELLING THEMSELVES?

100. Blankie
feels a bit
weird.
WHAT ARE THE STORIES THEY’RE
TELLING THEMSELVES?

101. Blankie
feels a bit
weird.
I’m probably
just the wrong
shape for
blankies.
WHAT ARE THE STORIES THEY’RE
TELLING THEMSELVES?

102. Patterns and trends

103. WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO THEM?
Blah blah blah
SOFT blah blah
FLUFFY blah blah
SOFT blah blah
blah WARM blah
blah SOFT blah
blah.

104. HOW DO YOU FIT INTO
THEIR WORLD?

105. HOW DOES YOUR CONTENT
MAKE THEM FEEL?

106. WHAT ARE
THEIR
QUESTIONS?

107. HOW DO THEY SEE THE
STRUCTURE OF YOUR
ORGANISATION?

108. HOW DO THEY SEE THE
STRUCTURE OF YOUR
ORGANISATION?

109. Artifacts and action steps

110. MAKE NEW PERSONAS

111. REFLECT THEIR WORLDVIEW

112. MAP THEIR JOURNEY

113. CHOOSE YOUR CHANNELS
Twitter
Blog
SMSFacebook
Email
Face to
face
Call
centre
Snail mail
Print

114. WRITE VOICE AND TONE
GUIDELINES

115. MAKE TERM LISTS
CORRECT INCORRECT
blankie blanket
snug warm
mail post
shipping delivery

116. USE SPECIFIC, REAL QUOTES
WITH STAKEHOLDERS
“I want to throw my phone out of the
window when I try to order a blankie on
your site. I can’t see the buttons properly,
and the boxes are too small to type in!”
– Elizabeth, customer for four years

117. PLAN YOUR CONTENT

118. ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS
The statement
“I’m a bit worried
about ordering a
Snuggle Blankie
online because I
might not like it
when it arrives.”
The underlying
question
What happens if I
don’t like my
blankie when it
arrives?
The result
Can I return my blankie if
I don’t like it?
Yes, absolutely. Just put it
in the envelope provided
and you can return it to us
free of charge. We will
refund you, or you can
choose another blankie.

119. Thanks for listening!
Kerry-Anne Gilowey
kerryanne@augustsun.co.za
http://augustsun.co.za
@kerry_anne