Ask Follow-up Questions

A follow-up can mean asking more about an answer, asking about something a user just did, or inviting them back after an interview. Choose the case below.

Ask more about an answer

Talk steps follow the participant's answers using your research goals and interviewer instructions. You do not need pre-debrief analysis for an ordinary conversational follow-up.

1. Open the Study's Research goal and state what you need to understand.
2. In Interview flow, add or edit a Talk step.
3. In What the interviewer should do, enter:

Ask what happened the last time they faced this problem. Ask one question at a time. If an answer is vague, ask for a specific example. Follow up on what they did next and what they expected. Do not repeat questions they have already answered or suggest the answer.

4. Save and try it yourself. Give an incomplete answer such as “Setup was confusing.” Check whether the interviewer asks which part and what you expected, rather than moving straight to another topic.

Use the complete discovery script as a starting point.

Ask about something the user just did

Use Speak → Observe → Talk → Speak: give the task, stay quiet during product use, ask about it afterward, and close.

1. Copy the complete usability script, or build that sequence in Interview flow.
2. Set the Observe task and Duration cap. Tell the participant to choose Done when finished or ready to stop.
3. In the Talk step's What the interviewer should do, ask about specific observed moments and what the participant expected. Tell it to ask for an explanation when the captured context is missing.
4. Open Talk defaults → Runtime experiments and enable Pre-debrief analysis. Save the Study. In JSON, the canonical usability script sets experimental_capabilities.realtime_analysis to true on the Talk debrief.
5. Run the task yourself, take a detour, and choose Done. Check that the debrief asks about a supported moment. Compare it with the recording and timeline afterward.

Pre-debrief analysis prepares a running private summary of preceding activity for the planned Talk step. It does not interrupt Observe or coach the participant. If no usable summary is available, the debrief can ask the participant to explain what happened; it should not invent details. See Study Runtime.

Invite someone back after an interview

Review the original recording and transcript first. Write down the specific uncertainty you want to resolve.

Create a focused Study using the discovery recipe, with the relevant background in Private notes for the interviewer. Attribute it clearly: “In the previous interview, this participant said they exported the report to finish the task. Ask what they needed to do with the export.” Include that background only in a Study intended for that participant; otherwise write a general question that applies to everyone invited.

Choose Recruitment link, save and activate the Study, and send its link through your own email or messaging tool to a participant you can contact. Follow the email invitation steps.

This starts a new interview. Do not assume the previous transcript is automatically loaded, that the link identifies its recipient, or that UserTold sends a follow-up message. Supply the necessary context in the new Study and check its opening question before sharing the link.