User interview notes template
Trippi Notes team · facts checked on 2026-10-01
User interview notes go wrong in one way: the interviewer’s ideas end up written as if the user said them. This template keeps the user’s own words in one place and your suggestions in another, so the research still means something a month later.
The template
Copy it into any editor that understands Markdown. The headings and the table come through as they are.
# User interview — [participant / role] — [date] **Interviewer:** **Note taker:** **Language of the interview:** ## How they work today - ## Problems (their words) - "[quote]" ## Workarounds - ## Tried before - [tool or method] — [why it did not stick] ## Reaction to what we showed - [what we showed] — [what they did or said] ## What they said vs what we suggested - Said: - We suggested: ## Follow-ups -
For Word or Google Docs
The same template as plain text. Paste it into a new document, then turn the first line and the section names into headings if you like. There is no file to download: you paste it, and it is yours.
USER INTERVIEW — [PARTICIPANT / ROLE] — [DATE] Interviewer: Note taker: Language of the interview: How they work today - Problems (their words) - "[quote]" Workarounds - Tried before - [tool or method] — [why it did not stick] Reaction to what we showed - [what we showed] — [what they did or said] What they said vs what we suggested - Said: - We suggested: Follow-ups -
What each part is for
How they work today
The steps, the tools, the people involved. The present, not the wish list.
Problems in their words
Quotes, not paraphrase. "I export it, fix it in a sheet, and import it back" beats "data quality issues".
Workarounds
The best signal of a real problem: someone already pays for it with time.
Tried before
What they used and why it stopped. This is your competition.
Reaction to what we showed
What they did, not only what they said. Hesitation counts.
Said vs suggested
If you asked "would a button help?", the yes belongs to you, not to them.
If the interview was in the participant’s language, keep the original quote and add a translation under it. The original wording is the data; the translation is a reading of it.
How to fill it in five minutes
- 1Before: Write the three things you want to learn. Leave the rest of the template empty.
- 2During: Write quotes when you hear a problem. Mark with "?" anything you need to check in the transcript.
- 3Keep yourself apart: Every idea you put forward goes under "We suggested", even if they liked it.
- 4After: Within an hour, pick the three strongest quotes and share them with the team.
A filled example
User interview — finance lead, 40-person agency — 6 Oct 2026
Interviewer: Ana · Note taker: Bruno · Language: Spanish
How they work today: invoices come by email; one person types them into the accounting tool on Fridays.
Problems: "Lo peor es cuando el proveedor cambia el formato." — "The worst part is when the supplier changes the format."
Workarounds: a shared sheet with supplier formats.
Tried before: an OCR app — "it got the totals wrong, so we checked everything anyway".
Reaction to what we showed: liked the review screen; went quiet at the pricing page.
Said vs suggested: Said: errors in totals cost them most. We suggested: automatic matching. She agreed, but did not raise it herself.
Let it fill itself
This is the same shape Trippi Notes uses for its Customer interview summary. Trippi Notes listens to the meeting tab in Chrome — Google Meet, Zoom in the browser or Microsoft Teams in the browser — after one click on its icon, and writes the transcript with speaker names and times. After the call you pick the Customer interview template and build the summary with one click. The template tells it to look for how the customer works today, problems in their own words, workarounds, what they tried before and their reaction to what was shown, keeping what the customer said apart from what the interviewer suggested. The result comes back in the usual parts — overview, decisions, tasks with owners, open questions — in your language, even if the call was in another one.
From there you copy it into this layout, export it as Markdown or plain text, or ask a question about the meeting and get quotes that jump to the moment. Open tasks stay in one action items list across meetings, so last time’s agreements are there when the next one starts.
Summary templates other than the general one, and your own request, are part of the paid plans. It only hears calls in the browser, not desktop apps or phones. Nothing joins the call, so nobody sees a bot in the list of people. Tell them you are taking notes anyway — how to ask.
FAQ
Asked about this.
How many user interviews do I need?+
There is no fixed number. Stop when new interviews mostly repeat what you already heard.
Should I take notes myself while interviewing?+
It is hard to listen and write at once. Use a separate note taker, or a transcript you check afterwards.
Can I interview in the participant’s language?+
Yes, and you usually should. People describe problems better in their own language. Keep the original quote in the notes.
Do I need permission to transcribe an interview?+
Ask at the start and say how the notes will be used. Many teams ask again before quoting someone outside the team.
Read next
Let the notes fill themselves.
Trippi Notes is in the Chrome Web Store. One click on the icon when the call begins, and nothing before that.