User interview template

What is a user interview template?

A user interview template is a structured digital guide designed to help you conduct effective interviews with product users. It is perfect for R&D teams who need valuable feedback from beta testers of a new product or who want current customer feedback to identify opportunities for improvement or optimization.

It combines a consistent question set with space for open-ended responses to offer a powerful mix of structure and flexibility. The result? User research insights that can inform your product decisions, user experience improvements, and overall strategy.

The user interview template helps you:

• Understand user needs: With clear, structured questions, you can dive deep into what needs your users are bringing to your product and how they expect it will help fulfill them.

• Identify pain points: Incisive questions help you pinpoint the challenges and frustrations users face when using your product, helping you prioritize issues to resolve and strategies for fixing them.

• Collect consistent feedback: By using a standardized format, you can ensure that all interviews are conducted in a uniform manner, making it easier to compare and analyze responses.

• Enhance collaboration: Mural’s interactive features enable cross-functional teams to contribute and review interview data in real time, keeping multiple stakeholders aligned on next steps at all times.

How to use the user interview template

Follow these steps to make the most out of your user interview sessions with Mural’s user interview template:

Step 1: Define your goals

Before you start, clearly outline what you hope to achieve from the interviews. Are you trying to understand user pain points? Validate a new product feature? Collect feedback on customer satisfaction for an in-market product? Knowing your objective will help you tailor the questions in the template to your needs.

Step 2: Tailor the questions

While the template provides a general structure, you should customize the questions to align with your specific goals. Add or modify questions based on what you want to learn. For example, if you’re testing a new feature, include specific questions about its usability or appeal.

Step 3: Select a sample population

Choose participants who fit your target user profile. If you’re testing a feature for advanced users, make sure to interview people who use that feature regularly. If you’re gathering general feedback, ensure that your sample reflects a diverse range of users.

Step 4: Conduct the interviews

Use the template as a guide to keep your conversations on track. Start with warm-up questions to make participants feel comfortable, then dive into more specific areas related to your objectives. Ask open-ended questions that encourage detailed responses and elaboration.

Step 5: Record responses accurately

Document the participant’s answers in the template’s notes section. Capture direct quotes, key phrases, and any important observations. If you’re conducting remote interviews, consider recording the session (with permission) for accuracy.

Step 6: Identify common themes

After the interview, review your notes and identify key patterns, themes, or insights. Are there recurring pain points? Do users mention the same features or problems multiple times? Mural AI's Classify feature can help you spot trends and prioritize areas for improvement.

Step 7: Highlight actionable insights

Summarize the most important takeaways from the interview in the template’s key insights section. Organize findings by theme (such as usability issues, feature suggestions, user satisfaction) to make it easier to spot trends and take action.

When to use the user interview template (with examples)

Here are some scenarios where using the user interview template can be particularly useful:

When developing or refining a product or service

Use the template during the product development process to gather feedback on initial concepts, prototypes, or released versions. This will help you understand how users interact with your product, what features they value, and where improvements are needed.

When conducting usability testing

If you’re testing the usability of a new feature or design, the template helps you ask the right questions to identify potential obstacles or confusing elements. It provides a consistent format to capture detailed feedback during user testing sessions.

When seeking user feedback on specific features

When you roll out new features or updates, use the template to gather targeted feedback from your users. This will help you understand their thoughts on the feature’s usability, value, and any issues they encounter.

Tips for running a user interview session

• Ask open-ended questions: To get rich, detailed insights, focus on open-ended questions that encourage interviewees to elaborate on their experiences and thoughts. Instead of asking, "Do you like this feature?" Ask, "What do you like or dislike about this feature?" This helps generate deeper, more insightful responses.

• Be flexible during the interview: Use the template as a guide but stay flexible in your approach. If the conversation leads to a valuable tangent, feel free to explore it. Allowing the flow of the conversation to evolve naturally can uncover unexpected insights.

• Build rapport early: Start the interview with icebreaker questions or casual conversation to make the participant feel comfortable. This helps them open up and share more candidly about their experiences.

• Use Mural features: Leverage Mural’s collaborative features, such as sticky notes, real-time comments, and editing, to keep the session interactive and engaging. This ensures that all team members can contribute and review the interview data in real time.

• Record the session: With permission, record the session to ensure accuracy in capturing responses. This is especially useful for remote interviews, where it’s harder to take detailed notes in real time.