Ways To Gather User Feedback Without Technical Jargon

Ever started a conversation by asking someone their social security number? That’s what some usability tests feel like. 🕵️♂️🤦♀️ Getting users to open up takes time. And the right questions. Some things I’ve learned about running genuinely useful usability tests: 🕵️♀️ Tailor your pre-test questions to your research needs Don't just ask boring stuff like "How old are you?" Think about what background information will actually help you analyze your results. If you're testing a work tool, ask about company size or role. For a dating or networking app, (non-intrusive) questions about their social life might be a better fit. 🤖 Speak human, not robot Ditch the jargon! Instead of "Did the product's user interface facilitate ease of navigation?", try "Did you find it easy to move around the site?" Your users will thank you for not making them reach for a tech dictionary. 🎭 Go off-script (sometimes) Your discussion guide is a map, not a cage. If a user says something interesting, follow that thread! The best insights often come from unexpected detours. 🔜 Use clear tasks, not vague instructions Instead of saying "Explore the website," give specific, realistic tasks. For example, "Imagine you want to set up a new account. Please go through that process and tell me what you're thinking as you do." This approach mimics real-world usage and helps you identify specific pain points in your user journey. 🕳️ Spot the black holes in your UX Sometimes, the most important thing is what users don't do. If your "revolutionary" filter feature might as well be invisible - ask why. 🤔Ask 'why' "Why did you click there?" can reveal more than a hundred assumptive questions. It can also balance out the quantitative questions. If someone rates a feature 2 out of 5, ask what would have made it a 4 or 5. This combination gives you both the data to spot trends and the insights to understand the reasoning behind those trends. Here are my learnings on what makes a wildly successful usability test + an Airtable question bank that can help: https://bit.ly/4bODMJc How do you get your users to trust you during a usability test? What’s your go-to ‘human-ing’ warm-up question? #usabilitytesting

CSMs, are we asking the right questions? 🤔 Sometimes, we stick to surface-level questions that don’t really get to the heart of what our customers need. But small tweaks can lead to big insights. Here’s how to take your customer conversations from basic to brilliant: Go from: "Are you happy with the product?" ➡️ To: "Can you share a specific example of how our product helped you achieve a recent business goal?" Asking if someone is happy only scratches the surface. The better question digs into the value they get from the product and how it ties into their success metrics. Go from: "Do you have any issues with the product?" ➡️ To: "Can you walk me through a recent challenge you faced while using the product and how you worked around it?" A yes/no question limits feedback. Asking for a specific experience helps you understand user pain points and provides actionable data. Go from: "What features do you like?" ➡️ To: "Which feature did you use most often this past week, and how did it help your team?" It’s not just about what customers like; it's about what creates the biggest impact for their team. Go from: "What are you concerned about during your next board meeting?" ➡️ To: "What key metric are you most focused on reporting to your board next quarter?" Asking this question helps you understand your customer’s priorities and where your product can help them deliver on their goals. Go from: "What metrics are you held accountable to in your specific role?" ➡️ To: "Which metric has been most challenging for you to hit, and how can our product help improve it?" This question shifts the focus to their pain points, giving you a chance to help them leverage your product to overcome obstacles. Go from: "Are there aspects of our product that you feel you are not fully utilizing yet?" ➡️ To: "Is there a feature of our product that you haven’t fully explored but think could be valuable for your team?" This specific question gets customers thinking about how to get more value from your product and where they might need help to unlock new features. --- These updates give you more than answers. They push deeper talks that lead to useful ideas and better connections. What’s one question you plan to improve in your next customer conversation?

How to Ask About Obstacles Without Leading or Biasing Users When you're talking to users, your goal is to uncover truth — not to get validation. But here’s where most people go wrong: They ask biased questions without realizing it. - Did you find that feature confusing? - Wouldn’t it be easier if it worked like this? These kinds of questions signal what you think. Not what the user actually experienced. So how do you uncover real user pain — without leading the witness? Here are 5 ways to ask smarter, neutral questions: 1. Can you walk me through how you used the product the last time? Let the story come naturally. Watch for friction, hesitation, or skipped steps. 2. What were you trying to accomplish? This reveals the user's goal — and helps you spot where the product may have gotten in the way. 3. Was there anything that surprised or frustrated you? This opens the door for users to share their struggles — in their own words. 4. What did you do next? Follow-up questions help you uncover workarounds or hacks users had to invent. 5. If this product disappeared tomorrow, what would you miss — or not miss? A great way to learn what truly matters (and what doesn’t). The key? Stay curious. Not convincing. Your job isn’t to steer them. It’s to understand them. Want weekly insights like this on product discovery, user interviews, and clear thinking? Subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter here: (Subscribe on LinkedIn - https://shorturl.at/9pUGP) PS: The most valuable insights rarely come from the first question. They come from the next one — if you’re really listening. #productmanagement #userresearch #ux #productdiscovery #interviewtips #growthmindset #newsletter #productthinking #buildbetter