Been running user interviews for our latest feature update and keep catching myself asking stuff like “How much do you love this new flow?”
Obviously getting biased responses. What are some good examples of neutral questions that actually get honest feedback?
Just ask them to show you their phone and walk through how they normally do it.
Ask them about their current process first - let them walk you through it step by step.
Try “How do you usually handle this?” instead of pitching your solution right away. You’ll get honest answers about what they actually do, not just polite responses.
I learned this the hard way after months of useless feedback.
Get them to screen share and show you their actual setup. Watch them do the task you’re trying to fix.
The real insights come from watching them struggle with things they never mention in interviews. I’ve seen users click wrong buttons and get lost in our navigation, then tell me everything’s “fine” when I ask directly.
Try asking “What would you tell a friend about this?” instead of rating scales. People get way more honest when they think they’re giving advice to someone else.
Stop asking about the feature completely. Ask about problems instead. “What’s the most frustrating part of [relevant task]?” - that gets real answers. Then dig deeper: “Tell me about the last time that happened.” Once you get their actual pain points, show the feature and ask “What would you change about this?” People tell the truth about what’s broken but lie about what’s good.
Ask what they did yesterday instead of what they want.