User interview questions ux: best questions for discovery interviews that reveal user experience insights

When it comes to user interview questions ux, starting with strong discovery interviews is essential. The discovery phase lets us dig into real user needs before building anything. I’ve found that the best questions for discovery interviews uncover deep user insights you’d never get from surface-level queries.

Effective discovery means moving past simple answers to understand the whole user journey. Let’s get into the questions—and how to turn answers into actionable insights.

Essential questions that unlock user insights

The right questions can turn a decent interview into a goldmine of information. Here are my go-to discovery questions, whether I’m talking with business customers or interviewing consumers:

• Can you walk me through how you currently solve this problem?
  

  This gets people describing their process, not just preferences. It helps uncover real behaviors and workarounds—especially powerful in B2B where workflows matter.

• What’s the most frustrating part of your current experience?
  

  Stories of pain points reveal what truly matters to users, whether in a finance app or a food delivery service. It’s a spark for B2C users to vent honestly.

• Tell me about the last time you tried to achieve [goal]. What happened?
  

  By anchoring on a real event, people skip theories and give you unfiltered realities. For new products, this makes sure you’re solving actual user problems.

• What other solutions have you considered or used? Why did you switch (or stay)?
  

  This reveals competitive landscape and decision drivers—great for mapping alternatives in crowded markets.

• If you had a magic wand to fix anything about this, what would you change?
  

  Users open up beyond current reality, surfacing needs they might not otherwise voice.

• Who else is involved when you make this decision (or use this product)?
  

  For B2B, this identifies hidden stakeholders; for B2C, it uncovers influencers in the purchase or usage journey.

• What made you choose [our product/another product/none at all]?
  

  This question is crucial for existing vs. potential users, revealing not just “why us” or “why not,” but what value or friction tips the scale.

Open-ended, exploratory questions invite storytelling. People share not just “what” they do but “why.” That’s where the real user insight lives.

Always follow up by probing deeper. A simple “why?” or “can you give an example?” can surface motivations and pain points you’d otherwise miss. 89% of UX researchers rely on user interviews in nearly every study, which shows how fundamental these questions are to great research. [1]

How AI follow-ups turn surface answers into deep understanding

In classic interviews, we sometimes miss out on chances to dig deeper—either because we’re following a script or too focused on time. AI-powered interviews flip this on its head by instantly generating tailored follow-up questions. Here’s what this looks like in action:

• Scenario: You ask, “Tell me about the last time you had trouble ordering from a food delivery app.”
  Initial response: “It took longer than I expected and I wasn’t sure if my order went through.”
  AI follow-up:

  Could you share more about what made you unsure the order went through? Was it a missing notification, or something else?

• Scenario: You ask, “What’s the most frustrating part of your current workflow tool?”
  Initial response: “Setting up projects takes too much time.”
  AI follow-up:

  Can you walk me through a recent time when setting up a project felt especially slow? What steps took the longest?

• Scenario: You ask, “What’s holding you back from upgrading your plan?”
  Initial response: “I’m not sure I’d use the premium features.”
  AI follow-up:

  Which premium features have you considered, and what makes you feel unsure about needing them?

These AI-powered follow-up probes, like the ones in Specific’s automatic follow-up questions feature, make every interview fluid and adaptive. AI can catch nuances and double meanings that even an attentive interviewer might miss—especially at scale.

Conversations with natural, intelligent follow-ups help users open up, turning surveys into real dialogues. It’s no wonder 45% of UX teams now use AI-powered chat interfaces for user experience research. [2] Respondents feel heard, not just “surveyed.”

From questions to insights: streamlining your discovery process

If you’re running lots of interviews, jumping between custom surveys and expert-made templates is key. Templates help when you want to run a proven set of discovery questions ASAP, while custom AI surveys work best when research goals are unique or evolving.

Specific’s AI survey generator offers a library of expert-made templates for UX research, covering everything from journey mapping to NPS. You can kick off with a template, or instantly build custom questions and follow-ups by chatting with the AI builder.

What’s great is how you can adapt follow-ups or question logic as you go—in real time—especially with tools like the AI survey editor. Tweak, add, or clarify questions without losing momentum.

Running international studies? Built-in localization lets you reach users in their preferred language, making global user research possible with zero translation hassle—a huge win if you want truly representative insights. 68% of companies now use AI to personalize user experiences across different languages and markets. [3]

Mining gold from your discovery data

If you’ve ever finished a round of interviews and stared at a mountain of sticky notes, you know the biggest challenge is analysis. Qualitative responses are rich—but can feel overwhelming when you need fast insights. This is where AI-powered analysis shines.

With Specific’s AI survey response analysis, you can ask GPT to summarize key patterns across all interviews, surface top quotes, or categorize pain points. A few practical example prompts I use:

Summarize the top three user frustrations mentioned across all interviews.

What emerging themes are there in how users describe switching from a competitor’s product?

Identify unmet needs or suggested features that users described in their responses.

I like spinning up multiple analysis threads for usability, motivations, and product blockers in parallel, so we surface insights faster and from all angles. The best part? You can chat with the AI, ask follow-up questions, and pivot your analysis anytime—this leads to breakthroughs a traditional “report” might miss.

Teams can move quickly, digging deep to uncover the “why” behind behaviors—no spreadsheet wrangling required. 58% of UX designers report increased accuracy in user research through AI data analysis. [4]

Related: Learn more about creating conversational survey pages or embedding in-product conversational surveys for ongoing feedback.

Launch your first AI-powered discovery interview

Transforming the quality of your discovery interviews starts with asking the right questions—but it’s conversational, AI-powered follow-ups that set great research apart.

Conversational surveys draw out richer stories, clarify needs, and adapt in real time—especially vital at the early stages when you just can’t afford to miss a single user insight. Missed opportunities for learning here can derail product direction, so don’t settle for shallow forms or slow, manual interviews.

Ready to make smarter product decisions, fast? Create your own survey and unlock the kind of discovery insights that drive breakthrough user experience.