Why I Don’t Ask "Why" in Customer Interviews
I’ve conducted customer research for most of my career, and one question I try not to ask very often is “why?”
That might seem surprising. One common research technique is The 5 Whys. The idea is to ask why, then ask why again, and keep going until you get beyond the initial answer and understand what is really going on.
I like the thinking behind it, but I don’t really like conducting an interview that way. If someone tells me how they do something and I keep asking why, at some point it can start to feel like an interrogation. Remember when your parents asked, “Why did you do that?” You probably knew you were in trouble.
My goal is for the interview to feel more like a conversation. I want someone to be comfortable telling me about their work, the challenges they experience, and sometimes things I didn’t know enough to ask about.
That doesn’t mean I accept the first answer and move on. I still probe, but I try to let the conversation guide my questions. I’ll often reflect back what someone just shared and ask a follow-up question to better understand their experience.
If they mention a challenge, I might ask them to tell me more about it or help me understand how it affects their work. Since I don’t do their job every day, I’ll often ask them to walk me through what they do.
The more I listen, the more I learn what questions to ask next.
I’ve found that people will often tell you much more when they feel like you’re genuinely trying to understand them. The conversation can go places I wouldn’t have known to ask about before the interview started.
I’m still trying to understand why someone does something or why something matters to them. I’m just not always asking them why.
