Ditch the Script: Using Conversational Interviews to Drive Innovation

Written by Jonathan Morgan

The insights uncovered in the early stage interviews of our research form the foundation of our decision-making process throughout a project. These one-on-one conversations with potential future users of our creations prioritize deep listening and participant-led storytelling. They are the primary way we uncover underserved and unmet needs and define opportunities to bring new and innovative products and services to the world. 

Contrary to what you might think, in conversational interviews, we don't meticulously script a laundry list of questions. Long lists of questions distract our attention from the conversation and almost always lead to awkward segues to the next question in the queue. Instead, we: 

• develop a set of learning objectives

• plant the seed of the conversation

• let the participant tell their story

Our role is to listen intently and encourage the participant to elaborate on their reasoning in detail.

Our goal is to understand the participant's experience, their process of accomplishing their Job-to-be-done, the highs and lows of the experience, their objectives at each step, and any personal circumstances that affect their success. We achieve this through conversational interviewing and deep listening.

Let's illustrate this with a scenario.

A Case Study: Retiling a Bathroom

A tile and tiling product manufacturer is looking to identify innovative product and service opportunities for their DIY homeowner customers. Our critical first step is to shift our focus from the things the customer uses to get their job done (e.g., products & services) to the job itself. We might define the job broadly (high altitude) and choose "make my bathroom look new again" or narrowly (low altitude) and choose "apply grout."

For this case, we chose the middle ground with the Job-to-be-done as "Retile My Bathroom." This choice allows us to capture experiences of tiling walls (vertical) and floors (horizontal), and since we used the word "Retile," we can expect that people had to remove or cover old tile or flooring in the process.

With this information, we define who we need to talk to (the Job Performer). In this case, the person responsible for retiling the floor. We recruit a diverse set of Job Performers with varying experience levels, abilities, budgetary constraints, cultural needs, and room sizes, shapes, and configurations. Each participant must have completed a bathroom retiling project within the previous four weeks to ensure vivid memories of their process.

The Interview Process: Start with a Germinating Question

The interview begins by making the participant comfortable sharing their story and describing how they play a role in helping others tile more effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably. To start the main conversation, we ask what Indi Young, author of Time to Listen, calls the 'germinating question.’ This seed of the conversation is simple, open-ended, unbiased, and immediately allows the participant to lead the conversation. The question can be as simple as "Walk me through your process of retiling your bathroom. Start at the beginning." 

We let the participant define what the beginning means to them. We let them describe every minute detail of their process, asking "why" frequently along the way, even when we think we know the answer. Our goal is to understand why they do the things they do in a deeply personal way and their struggles, moments of delight, and emotions that lead to good and bad experiences. We gently guide them to provide a comprehensive landscape of their experience all the way back to their initial decision to retile the bathroom and all the way forward to how they feel about the bathroom now that the project is finished.

Tips for Effective Conversational Interviews

I’ve identified several high-level tips I use as guiding principles to build consistency in my approach and get better with every interview I conduct. I like to quickly review these before every interview.

1. Listen More, Talk Less: Embrace the discomfort of silence. The less you talk, the more the participant will fill the space with deep, introspective information.

2. Encourage Storytelling: Ask participants to recount a recent incident in as much detail as they can remember. This approach reveals rich insights that will likely not emerge in a more structured interview.

3. Let the Participant Lead: Establish the participant as the leader in the conversation. You want to fade into the background as much as you can. This encourages them to share freely without feeling judged. 

4. Focus on Their Problems: Innovation is possible when we can solve people’s sticky problems. Listen for any sign of struggle or frustration, and dig into the details. Understand the problem, why it matters, how it made them feel, and any strategies or tactics they used to overcome it. 

5. Embrace Not Knowing: Don't hesitate to ask 'why' even when you think you know the answer. Delve deeper into their motivations, processes, and tools. 

6. Never Correct the Participant: Assume everything the participant says is true to them. If you believe something they’ve said is inaccurate, dig into the reasoning behind that, but never contradict or correct them.

7. Stay Neutral: Do not agree or disagree with the participant's statements. Validate their responses without expressing your personal opinion.

8. Mind Your Tone: Ensure your questions are harmless and your tone doesn't sound condescending or judgmental. The inflections and emphasis in your voice can alter the perception of your questions.

9. Delegate Notetaking: Avoid taking notes during the interview. It will distract you from truly listening to the participant. Assign a note-taker or record the conversation to review later.

Conversational interviews are a powerful tool for innovation, providing a wealth of insights that can transform struggles into opportunities for new-to-the-world products and services. Deep listening and participant-led storytelling allow us to understand the deeply personal reasons behind people's actions, moments of delight, and struggles. It's a process that is as much an art as a science and, with practice, reveals people's underserved and unmet needs. Embrace the power of conversation and the richness of human experience it can uncover.

I love a good conversation!! Connect with me on LinkedIn if you want to talk more about conversational interviews, innovation, dogs, or anything else.