A user interview template for stories, not opinions.
Opinions are cheap; stories are data. This template keeps the interview anchored in what users actually did, not what they think they'd do.
Built for generative research interviews — understanding how users live and work, not validating a mockup. The discipline: ask about specific past behavior ("tell me about the last time"), never "would you use…". Fill this in during the interview if you can, immediately after if you can't.
User Interview — Template
Context
- Role, team, company size — enough to place them in the segment
- How they got to their current workflow
The last time
- "Tell me about the last time you [did the thing]" — a specific instance, start to finish
- What triggered it, what tools they touched, who else was involved
- Where it took longer or went sideways — and what they did about it
Pain
- What's the worst part of that process? Get the specific example
- What have they already tried or bought to fix it?
- How much does it cost them — time, misses, frustration? Their number
Quotes worth keeping
- Verbatim lines in their words — you'll want them for the report
- Especially: how they describe the problem (not your vocabulary)
Wrap
- "What should I have asked that I didn't?" — always ask
- Permission to follow up; referral to anyone else worth interviewing
The interview, captured — the archive, searchable
Fluent records the interview — in the field or across a table — and produces the transcript, the notes, and a searchable record. Every participant's exact words stay findable across the whole study instead of buried in one doc.
Fluent for user researchersQuestions
How many interviews is enough?
Five per segment surfaces most of the pattern space; eight if the domain is complex. Stop when new interviews stop producing new information.
Should I share the questions in advance?
The topics, yes — it calms participants and gets better stories. The exact questions, no — prepared answers are opinions, and you're here for stories.
Keep exploring
Fluent for user researchers
Field notes that write themselves — searchable across the whole study.
Candidate interview template
The hiring-side interview — same listening discipline, different goal.
People profiles
What Fluent builds per participant — patterns and evidence that compound across sessions.
Recording consent
Disclosure language for research sessions — including consent-form wording.
Interview, don't transcribe.
Fluent captures the session and surfaces the patterns across all of them.
See Fluent pricing