In this article, we return to the fundamentals of interviewing, exploring the main client feedback interview methods in more detail and how the choices you make influence both the nature of the questions asked and the quality of insight gathered.
Face‑to‑face interviews
In the professional services marketplace, face‑to‑face (in‑person) interviews are typically qualitative and most often used with VIPs, key accounts and strategically important clients. As a result, they are usually conducted with a relatively small number of clients, focusing on depth of insight rather than volume. This interview style is commonly semi‑structured or flexible. A skilled interviewer will allow the client to set the agenda while observing body language and other non‑verbal cues to steer the discussion appropriately. Where multiple interviewers are involved, a discussion guide is used to ensure a consistent structure, support comparability, and aid later reporting. Outputs are most commonly presented in written narrative reports.
The insight gained can sometimes be constrained by:
- The limited number of clients interviewed
- Geography and travelling
- Feedback being highly tailored to individual relationships, making it harder to determine relevance across the wider client base.
The choice of interviewer is critical. Interviewers need strong listening and probing skills. Natural sales‑people should generally be avoided, as interviews can drift into sales conversations. Likewise, individuals too closely involved in the client relationship may avoid difficult questions or turn the meeting into a project review.
Effective interviewers are often independent of relationship management or service delivery teams, allowing them to focus fully on client listening and accurate note‑taking. Face‑to‑face interviews are typically conducted by two people (an interviewer and a note‑taker) or by an experienced interviewer using a recording device, subject to consent.
The rationale for face‑to‑face interviews includes:
- Enables in‑depth, client‑led conversations
- Shows defference to a client by investing your time
- Body language and non‑verbal cues can be observed
- Signals to clients that their views are valued
- Typically achieves high completion rates
Constraints include:
- Time‑intensive for both interviewer and client
- Higher cost compared with other methods due to travel and time commitments
Virtual interviews
Virtual interviews (conducted via platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom) have become a well‑established alternative to face‑to‑face interviews, combining many of the benefits of in‑person conversations with greater flexibility and efficiency. They are particularly effective where senior clients are time‑pressured, geographically dispersed, or working in hybrid environments. Virtual interviews are usually qualitative or semi‑structured, with discussion guides used to maintain consistency across multiple interviews.
While body language is less visible than in person, skilled interviewers can still observe tone, facial expressions and pauses, and can probe in real time to explore issues in depth. Sessions can be recorded (with consent) to support accurate reporting and quality assurance. It can be difficult to maintain good eye contact during an interview and follow a discussion guide.
The rationale for virtual interviews includes:
- Maintains a personal, conversational interviewing style
- Removes travel time and associated costs
- Easier to schedule with senior stakeholders
- Suitable for geographically dispersed client bases
- Can achieve response rates comparable to face‑to‑face interviews
- Recording supports accurate capture and consistency
Constraints include:
- Limited visibility of full body language
- Reliance on technology and connectivity
- Potential for distraction if participants are not in a private setti
Executive telephone interviews
Executive telephone interviews offer an efficient way to gather rich client feedback without the cost and logistics of travel. With consistently high response rates, they are well suited to programmes involving geographically dispersed clients. Telephone interviews may be free‑flowing and bespoke, but more commonly follow a semi‑structured format so that insights can be aggregated and analysed across multiple interviews. Quantitative elements can be incorporated, enabling organisations to track changes over time, benchmark internally or externally, and, with sufficient sample sizes, generalise findings beyond the interviewed clients. Computer‑Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology is often used to guide interviewers through question paths tailored to the interview context. When implemented well, the process is unobtrusive to the participant and supports consistency across interviewers and time periods. These interviews are typically conducted by prior appointment rather than as cold calls, ensuring clients are prepared and engaged.
The rationale for telephone interviews includes:
- Demonstrates that clients’ views are valued
- Enables probing and clarification of responses
- More personal than web surveys
- Ideal for geographically dispersed clients
- No travel time or travel costs
- Supports multilingual programmes
- Scales more cost‑effectively than in‑person interviews
- Easier to monitor consistency across multiple interviewers
- Interviews can be recorded with consent
Constraints include:
- No observation of body language
- Overseas mobile interviews can incur higher costs
Web-surveys
Web-surveys are an efficient way to reach large numbers of clients at relatively low cost across a wide geography and in different languages. Email invitations can be sent quickly and at scale, and surveys allow participants to respond at their convenience. However, while web-surveys can include open‑ended questions, they are primarily a structured data collection method. As a result, feedback often lacks the depth and nuance achieved through interviewer‑led approaches. Clients are frequently exposed to web-survey requests across many services/markets, which can lead to lower engagement and variable data quality. Survey length, question design and visual presentation all influence how questions are interpreted and answered. Once completed, responses are automatically stored within survey platforms and available for analysis.
The rationale for web surveys includes:
- Lower cost than telephone or in‑person interviews
- Well suited to multilingual audiences
- Participants can respond in their own time
- Fast distribution and data collection
- Near real‑time reporting and analysis
Constraints include:
- Significantly lower response rates compared with interviews
- No interviewer to clarify or probe responses
- No observation of non‑verbal cues
- Survey invitations may be blocked or filtered by email systems
- May be answered by an unknown respondent