A customer who found your website but contacted the business another way can reveal something valuable about the enquiry journey. They may have called because they preferred a conversation, asked a colleague because the service description was unclear or delayed contact because they could not establish whether you covered their location. Those situations need different responses.
Interviewing these customers helps explain the decisions behind the route they chose. It cannot tell you what every anonymous visitor thought, and it does not prove that a design change will increase enquiries. Used carefully, however, it gives you specific questions to investigate through content review, usability testing and business records.
Define the behaviour you want to understand
Start with a clear research question. For example: why did customers who visited a service page telephone the office instead of using its enquiry form? This is more useful than asking whether customers like the website. The question connects a known situation with a decision the business could improve.
Separate different routes and outcomes. Someone who phoned immediately has not necessarily failed to convert. Someone who abandoned a form and later contacted a salesperson through a referral may have encountered a genuine obstacle. Record what you know before interpreting either behaviour.
Choose the part of the journey the interview can illuminate: finding information, judging suitability, deciding when to contact you or using the contact route. Keep the scope small enough to explore real examples rather than collecting general opinions about the whole brand.
Recruit people whose experience matches the question
Ask recent customers or suitable prospects whether they viewed the website before contacting you through another channel. Do not assume every caller did. A short screening conversation can establish the service they considered, approximate timing and route they ultimately used.
Include different relevant situations, such as first-time buyers, existing customers and people planning different types of work. Keep track of those distinctions when reviewing findings. A returning customer who already knows your team may have little reason to read the same information as a new visitor.
Remember the selection limit. People who eventually became customers are available to interview, while many people who left without contacting you are not. Their accounts provide evidence about their own journeys. Avoid presenting them as a representative sample of all visitors who did not enquire.
Keep the invitation separate from a sales pitch or support dispute. Explain that you want to improve the information and contact experience, participation is optional, and their answers will not affect the service they receive. Agree the appropriate handling of notes and recordings before the session.
Reconstruct a recent journey before showing the website
Begin with the actual situation that prompted the search. Ask what the person needed to arrange and which questions they had at that point. Then explore how they found the business and what happened next. A chronological account is often easier to interpret than a request for a list of website improvements.
Try an open question such as: “Tell me about the first time you looked for information about this service.” Follow the account with questions about the page they remember, the device they used and the information they were trying to establish. Allow uncertainty instead of forcing precise recollection.
Ask what led to the eventual contact route. A customer might say they wanted reassurance from a person, needed an answer that the site did not provide or simply already had your telephone number. Explore the specific reason without assuming the form was the problem.
Use open, neutral interview questions grounded in real examples. For website enquiry research, investigate the customer's sequence of decisions rather than asking them to validate your preferred redesign. Record observations separately from your interpretation. Our user research and discovery guide provides the related checks.
Avoid questions that suggest the answer
“Was the form too long?” introduces a possible explanation before the customer has described one. Ask what they tried to do and what happened instead. If they mention the form, explore the point at which they stopped and what they understood about the next step.
Do not defend the current site during the interview. Explaining that the answer was available under another menu item can turn the session into a lesson about your website. First establish what the person expected to find and why they chose the route they did.
Distinguish remembered behaviour from suggested future behaviour. “I would probably use a shorter form” is an idea, not evidence that the customer will submit one. Record it as a suggestion and test the relevant design rather than treating the statement as a forecast.
Ask about trade-offs too. A person may prefer a call despite understanding the form perfectly. A website that supports that preference can be successful. The aim is to remove avoidable friction and uncertainty, not to make every customer follow one route.
Use a separate activity to observe the current experience
After discussing the remembered journey, you can ask the participant to attempt a realistic task on the current site. Make the change of activity explicit. What they do now is a fresh observation, affected by the interview and any familiarity they have gained.
Choose a task tied to their original need, such as finding whether a service covers their area and establishing how to request an assessment. Let them choose the route. Asking them to click the enquiry button immediately removes the opportunity to observe how they find it.
Record the information they inspect, any hesitation and the questions they raise. If they do not reach a useful next step, explore what they expected at that point. Keep intervention limited so that you can see the page's actual explanatory strength.
Use suitable test arrangements if the task involves submission. Prevent accidental customer records or messages, and explain when the activity will stop. The session should reveal the journey without creating confusion for the participant or the team receiving enquiries.
Turn accounts into evidence you can assess
Keep three things distinct in your notes: what the participant said, what you observed and what you infer. For example, a customer said they were unsure about coverage; you observed them looking at the contact page; you infer that the service page may need clearer area information. The inference still needs review.
Look for recurring decision problems across relevant interviews. Group findings by information need or obstacle, rather than by the page you hope to redesign. Missing eligibility detail, uncertainty about response times and difficulty correcting a form are different issues with different owners.
Retain exceptions and contradictory accounts. If some customers found a price explanation useful and others misunderstood it, examine their circumstances. Averaging those accounts into a vague preference may conceal an important difference in the service being considered.
Compare research with operational evidence
Review enquiries, form errors and customer questions alongside the interviews. If people repeatedly telephone to ask about coverage, the operational pattern can strengthen the case for improving that explanation. Check that records cover the same period and service before connecting them.
Analytics can help identify where to investigate, but a page exit does not reveal a person's motive. They may have found the number they needed, completed a task elsewhere or become distracted. Use interviews to develop plausible explanations and targeted tests, not to assign a motive to every session.
Prioritise changes by their effect on the customer task and the business's ability to respond. A clearer availability statement may help more than a different button colour. Give each proposed change an owner, supporting evidence and a check that will indicate whether it helps.
Make improvements and revisit the research question
Test proposed content or layouts with people who match the intended audience. Check whether they can establish suitability and choose an appropriate contact route. Review the business process too: a clearer promise needs a team that can deliver the next step.
After release, compare relevant enquiry quality and recurring questions over a suitable period. Record other changes, such as campaigns or seasonal demand, that could affect the result. A before-and-after movement alone does not establish that the website edit caused it.
Giraffe Digital's website design service connects content and structure with useful customer journeys. Interviews make that work more specific. They help explain what real customers needed, where the website supported them and which uncertainties deserve a better answer before the next visitor arrives.
Frequently asked questions
How should we define the behaviour you want to understand?
Start with a clear research question. For example: why did customers who visited a service page telephone the office instead of using its enquiry form? This is more useful than asking whether customers like the website. The question connects a known situation with a decision the business could improve. Separate different routes and outcomes. Someone who phoned immediately has not necessarily failed to convert. Someone who abandoned a form and later contacted a salesperson through a referral may have encountered a genuine obstacle. Record what you know before interpreting either behaviour. Choose the part of the journey the interview can illuminate: finding information, judging suitability, deciding when to contact you or using the contact route.
How should we reconstruct a recent journey before showing the website?
Begin with the actual situation that prompted the search. Ask what the person needed to arrange and which questions they had at that point. Then explore how they found the business and what happened next. A chronological account is often easier to interpret than a request for a list of website improvements. Try an open question such as: "Tell me about the first time you looked for information about this service." Follow the account with questions about the page they remember, the device they used and the information they were trying to establish. Allow uncertainty instead of forcing precise recollection. Ask what led to the eventual contact route. A customer might say they wanted reassurance from a person, needed an answer that the site did not provide or simply already had your telephone number.
How should we use a separate activity to observe the current experience?
After discussing the remembered journey, you can ask the participant to attempt a realistic task on the current site. Make the change of activity explicit. What they do now is a fresh observation, affected by the interview and any familiarity they have gained. Choose a task tied to their original need, such as finding whether a service covers their area and establishing how to request an assessment. Let them choose the route. Asking them to click the enquiry button immediately removes the opportunity to observe how they find it. Record the information they inspect, any hesitation and the questions they raise. If they do not reach a useful next step, explore what they expected at that point.
How should we turn accounts into evidence you can assess?
Keep three things distinct in your notes: what the participant said, what you observed and what you infer. For example, a customer said they were unsure about coverage; you observed them looking at the contact page; you infer that the service page may need clearer area information. The inference still needs review. Look for recurring decision problems across relevant interviews. Group findings by information need or obstacle, rather than by the page you hope to redesign. Missing eligibility detail, uncertainty about response times and difficulty correcting a form are different issues with different owners. Retain exceptions and contradictory accounts. If some customers found a price explanation useful and others misunderstood it, examine their circumstances. Averaging those accounts into a vague preference may conceal an important difference in the service being considered.
How should we make improvements and revisit the research question?
Test proposed content or layouts with people who match the intended audience. Check whether they can establish suitability and choose an appropriate contact route. Review the business process too: a clearer promise needs a team that can deliver the next step. After release, compare relevant enquiry quality and recurring questions over a suitable period. Record other changes, such as campaigns or seasonal demand, that could affect the result. A before-and-after movement alone does not establish that the website edit caused it. Giraffe Digital's website design service connects content and structure with useful customer journeys. Interviews make that work more specific. They help explain what real customers needed, where the website supported them and which uncertainties deserve a better answer before the next visitor arrives.
