User interview notes that keep the quotes

Why no bot matters in research

People share less when they feel watched. A bot in the participant list makes a relaxed conversation feel like a recorded session, and customers in some companies are not allowed to let one in at all. A tab-based note taker leaves only the people in the call.

That does not replace consent. Tell the participant you are taking notes, and how you will use them (what to say and a line to paste). Many research teams already have a consent script; add one sentence about AI notes to it.

A customer interview template

Pick the customer interview template after the call. It sorts what was said into the parts you need for synthesis:

Customer interview — [participant / segment], [date]

Context: who they are, their role, how they use the product
Goals: what they are trying to get done
Current workflow: the steps they take today, tools involved
Pain points: where it breaks, in their words
Workarounds: what they do instead, hacks, spreadsheets
Quotes: exact lines worth sharing, with the speaker
Surprises: anything that went against our assumptions
Open questions: what to ask in the next interview

The full template, with tips on each part, is on the user interview template page.

Quotes that jump to the moment

Ask AI about an interview: “What did she say about exporting reports?” The answer quotes the lines, and each quote jumps to its moment in the transcript. You check the context in a second: was it a complaint, a joke, or an answer to a leading question?

Maria (participant) 14:07 — Honestly, I export it every Friday and then fix the dates by hand. It takes me most of the morning.

That is the line you put on the synthesis board, with the meeting it came from. No “paraphrased from memory”.

Across all interviews

A study is ten or twenty conversations, not one. All of them sit in your journal with search. Ask one question across them: “Who mentioned switching from another tool, and why?” The answer quotes each interview it found. It is a quick first pass for affinity mapping, and it shows you which participants to read in full.

Keep your own judgement in the loop. The answer shows what was said; deciding what it means for the product is still the research.

Interviews in other countries’ languages

Research in a new market means talking to people in their own language. Trippi Notes hears 68 languages and writes a translation line under each line in your language, so a researcher who does not speak Japanese can follow a session run by a local moderator. The summary is written in the language your team reads, and the original line stays next to the translation, so you can quote the participant exactly.

Share with the team

• Markdown export. Copy the summary and quotes into your research repository or wiki.
• Tasks. Send follow-ups (for example “check the date format bug”) to Linear, Jira or Asana.
• Team plans. Team S, M and L give a shared space where the team reads the same interviews and leaves comments.