This three-part series is looking at why to avoid email interviews, when to embrace them, and how to conduct them (today’s post).
Conducting the Email Interview
It’s possible to get useful information from an online interview if you actively engage the interviewee and you prepare well in advance. Here are a few tips:
- When setting up the interview, get the other person invested. In what way does talking to you help the interviewee? Depending on the person and the type of interview, you may be able to appeal to the interviewee’s:
- Ego. “Everyone tells me you’re the go-to person for this topic.”
- Benevolence (he’s doing you a favor). “I desperately need to get some information on this topic; would you help a gal out?”
- Desire for publicity to enhance name/brand recognition. “This story will be is for the largest circulation newspaper in our metro area, and I know that would be good publicity placement for your work.”
- Desire for publicity for professional prestige. “Your colleagues, friends, and neighbors are going to want to know about your accomplishment.”
- Desire to “set the record straight” and tell his side of a topic that’s in the news. “Person A said this. Wouldn’t you like an opportunity to tell your side? Are you comfortable with how it looks if you just remain silent?”
- Passion for a pet topic. Some people find it easier to talk about favorite topics than about themselves. Tap into their enthusiasm by showing warm, friendly interest and a willingness to learn. “I’m fascinated by XYZ and I can’t wait to learn more when we talk.”
- If possible, call first to establish a rapport and to get a feel for the person. Hint: Have a few questions ready in case the person is feeling chatty right then.
- Research, research, research. It’s more important than ever to know exactly what you need to get out of this interview because people won’t sit still for in-depth email interviews like they will for in-person ones. With email, they can just hit “delete” and turn on their email filters. So it’s critical to prepare in advance so you’ll know exactly how to use your limited email window wisely.
- Send a SHORT list of concise questions — usually five to 10. Too long a list of questions can be intimidating for the interviewee. Use follow-up emails to ask additional questions or to drill down for more details on your original topics. (Disclaimer: I’ve definitely asked more questions initially, but it depends on the topic, the person, my free time, their free time, and my gut feeling. It’s better to ask too few than scare the person off by asking too many.)
- Questions should be a mixture of (a) highly focused questions designed to find out specific information and (b) broad questions that invite the person to get expansive and talk, talk, talk. (I call the latter “blue sky” questions, because the sky’s the limit.)
- Evaluate the person’s tone in email responses and adjust the pace, volume, and content of follow-up emails accordingly. If he goes from warm greetings that use your name to terse answers with no greeting or signature, he’s already tired of messing with you. If he changes his email response pace — suddenly responding with short, immediate answers or abruptly taking a long time to respond — he may be too busy or flummoxed by your questions to participate meaningfully. Try to shift to a “quick phone follow-up” to wrap up the interviewee.
- Discuss a timeline. Set clear expectations so you both understand the expected response time. Be respectful of your interviewee’s time and give him adequate time to respond. But don’t give so long that he procrastinates. I try to give a minimum of three days and have found that a week is usually ideal. If they person can’t respond that quickly (on vacation, etc.), I usually offer to send the questions later on when he’s more free to work with them.
- If some of the questions are going to be intensely personal, inquire whether it’s OK to send them to the recipient’s business address or if a personal email address should be used.
- Ask a variety of types of questions, avoiding yes/no questions. Think: Who, what, when, where, why, and how?
- Ask for a phone number for any follow-up questions. This is also a way to ease into getting a supplementary phone-based interview. At the very least, you can call and get some emotional content for the story — is the person clipped and terse, jolly and giggly, sleepy or full of snap and sizzle?
- Don’t forget to thank the person. Offer to send a soft or hard copy of the story (or a copy of the book) when it publishes. And mark it in your calendar, Day-Runner, PDA, or BlackBerry when you leave so you’ll remember to actually do it.
- One last tip: In follow-ups, be sympathetic and inoffensive by using neutral phrases like, “Help me understand this point” instead of “You’re talking nonsense, dude.”
Take-away question for you:
What are YOUR best tips for conducting a successful interview by email? Tell me in the comments!
Previous Posts in This Series
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