Once you have a group, write a list of questions, dividing them into topics, each of which should have 6 to 10 questions:
Getting to know each other - goals in life, interests and hobbies, family and financial status.
Attitude towards products – questions about motivation to purchase, attitude towards the brand, quality of communication.
Customer experience - what influences kuwait whatsapp numbers choice, what product features are most important.
Attitude to competing companies - a person's favorite brands in a given category, how he explains his choice, what needs are solved by purchases.
Brand loyalty – why did a person choose your product, how did he know about the company, does he have any wishes for changes to the product.
If packaging design is important, questions about it should be put in a separate category.
Once you have managed to formulate questions for an in-depth interview, ask someone you know or work with to answer them to check how long the conversation takes, whether the questions are repeated, and whether they are all easy to understand.
It is important to use a phone with a good speaker, and you can also record the conversation on a voice recorder. An application that saves all phone calls or a laptop voice recorder will do for this purpose. In the latter case, you should talk on speakerphone. If you are talking via zoom or skype, just turn on the call recording. Just in case, stock up on a notepad and pen to quickly note clarifying questions or important thoughts.
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Step 3: Conducting the Conversation
An in-depth interview follows certain rules:
Record all interlocutors in a separate file. You can use Numbers or Excel. Note with whom the conversation took place, who did not want to participate in the interview, what date and time the conversation was rescheduled for.
Don't conduct more than three interviews a day: it's quite a tiring process and fatigue leads to poor research quality. Take 60-minute breaks between each interview, as the conversation can drag on. This will also give you time to write down general information. And rest is also necessary.
Use the guide prepared in advance. How to speak correctly?
Use words like: "What do you mean?", "Why do you think so?", "Give an example", "Suppose that..." and so on. Leading questions can only be used if:
the person answers vaguely and you are not sure that you understood him correctly;
the interlocutor changes the topic of conversation, but you need to return to the original channel;
the person turned out to be taciturn, and you need a detailed answer.
By asking leading questions you can control the flow of the conversation.
Maintain a dialogue with your interlocutor competently. There are several high-quality methods of in-depth interviews for this:
Break and silence . If a person falls silent, you need to support this pause and not continue the conversation. In 25% of situations, this tactic leads to more detailed answers. The duration of the pause can be 1-5 seconds. It is important that it does not turn into confusion.
Support and encouragement . The interviewer can show nonverbally (nodding) or verbally ("uh-huh", "yes") that he/she approves of the interlocutor and encourages him/her to continue the conversation. The main thing is not to be intrusive in this encouragement. You cannot demonstrate automatic support, not fully engaging in the conversation, since the interlocutor quickly notices this and emotionally closes off.
Echo or mirroring . This can be used when you need time to prepare your next question, or when you want to support your interlocutor. The technique involves repeating his last phrase in a questioning tone. For example:
Person: "This product gives me nostalgic feelings."
You: "Nostalgic feelings?"
You shouldn't use this technique too often; it's better to highlight what the respondent himself focuses on, what he emotionally emphasizes.
Synonyms and questions . To make the respondent answer more fully, you can ask the same question in different formulations. For example: "How is this expressed?", "How did it manifest itself?" and so on.
Direct requests . You can ask clarifying questions during an in-depth interview. Example: “What did you mean by that?”, “What else caught your attention?”, “Please tell me more.”
Paraphrases . This method is used to clarify the respondent's words. To do this, you need to convey the essence of the answer in a simple form. For example:
Person: “I stopped by this store because I needed to get to work quickly, and on the way I could buy what I needed for the celebration.”
You: "You went to this store because it was on your way to work? Right?"
Summative questions . This method is similar to paraphrase, but broader. It consists of a brief summary of the respondent's speech and, as a rule, begins with the words: "Let's clarify whether I understood correctly what you said."
Use of visual materials . During the in-depth interview, you can use them for convenience - videos, photographs, posters, packaging drawings, etc. In this way, a person switches from the verbal format to the graphic one and begins to reason.
The advantage of this method is that images help people concentrate when they don’t know how to express their thoughts correctly. You can prepare your own visual materials or introduce an element of play into the conversation by asking the interlocutor to draw, for example, what he thinks the ideal product packaging should look like.
Step 3 Conducting the conversation
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Don't interrupt the previous topic by moving on to the next one. You need to start a new topic softly and logically, summing up what was said earlier. This way you will show that you listened attentively to the interlocutor. It is also worth checking with the respondent whether you repeated everything correctly, or whether he can add something.
People who are not experienced in interviewing often simply read out questions, moving from one topic to another without getting any valuable information from the interviewee. Another problem is the inability to finish a very long monologue in a timely manner.
Guide the respondent if they give an answer that is not relevant to you. You can do this in the following way: “Sorry, you mentioned earlier that… This is very important to us. Let’s talk about this in more detail.”
Follow the logic of the respondent's story . If you notice any discrepancies, find out why this is happening and establish the correct statements. For example:
Person: “I don’t pay attention to price… I recently bought groceries on sale.”
You: "First you said that prices don't matter to you, and now you mentioned that you bought the products on sale. Can you explain this and tell us why you did this?"
Stick to a natural style of behavior . It is easier for a person to talk to a live interlocutor, rather than to a robot programmed to receive answers.
Start preparing for the end of the conversation in advance. For example, you can say: "Before we move on to the last part of the questions...", "In the time we have left...".
End the in-depth interview with the client on a pleasant note. The person should not feel that he was used and abandoned, or, on the contrary, that he has not said everything yet and he has something to share. Be sure to express gratitude and do not forget to say that the interview was very useful.
Hang up slowly. It often happens that after the conversation is over, a person remembers something else valuable and wants to make some additions in a more relaxed atmosphere. Sometimes such clarifications can be more important than everything that was said before them.
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