When you have a specific idea in mind, it's a mistake to zoom in on it too early in the interview. You need to establish if the person has the general need or a problem before zooming in.
E.g. when you need to talk about a gym app, you need to make sure that person even cares about staying fit in the first place. Otherwise the answers they'd tell you won't carry any value.
Sometimes, you might know the problem is there before the interview (e.g. prospect/customer shared a feedback). Then it's safer to zoom in on it from the start: It's the difference between asking: "What are your biggest problems in X right now?" vs. "What are your biggest problems in right now?"
Basically start broad and don't zoom in until you've seen a strong signal that the other person cares about that problem.
Tags: user research customer interviews
ID: 2021-0602-0755
References:
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