What are AI customer interviews?

What an AI customer interview is

Every study starts with an interview guide: the questions you want answered, each with a goal behind it. The AI interviewer works through that guide with one person at a time. When an answer is vague or interesting, it asks a follow-up based on what the person actually said, then moves on.

Because the interviewer is software, you don't schedule anything. You share one link, and each person takes the interview when it suits them. Ten people or a few hundred can take part in the same week, and every conversation follows the same guide.

Here is an example of a follow-up. A respondent says, “It asked me to connect my bank before I could send my first invoice, so I closed it.” A survey would record that and stop. The interviewer can ask what the person expected to happen instead, which is often the answer you needed.

How a study works in Formzed

Setting up a study takes a few minutes. You describe what you want to learn, and Formzed drafts the rest for you to review.

1. 1Describe your study: a title, the goal of the interviews, and who you want to hear from, such as an age range or professions.
2. 2Generate the questions. The AI writes the interview guide, with a goal and follow-ups for each question, plus a short screener. You can edit all of it.
3. 3Choose how people can take part, which languages to offer, the interviewer style (how deep it probes and the most follow-ups per question) and a length limit. Every interview is capped at 30 minutes.
4. 4Publish the study and share the link with your own people, or list it on Paid Research to have Formzed recruit participants.
5. 5Read each interview's summary and the study report, then ask your interview data questions in chat.

Who you interview

You have two options. The first is your own customers, users or community. You send the study link however you like: by email, in your app or in a community post. These interviews use the interviews included in your plan each month, and you can pause or finish the study at any time, which closes the link.

The second is Paid Research, for when you have no one to interview yet. Your study is listed on the Paid Research board, people apply, and Formzed reviews every application. Only approved people get a private interview link. You pay per completed interview, from $60, and half of what you pay goes to the participant. You see each participant's role and answers, never their name or contact details.

Either way, you only pay for completed interviews, which means at least 3 answers. People who open the link and leave early are not counted.

Four interview modes and 20 languages

People can take an interview in the way that suits them, and you choose which modes a study offers. A study can also offer any of 20 languages. People pick theirs on the first screen, the questions and screener are translated for them, and in a chat the interviewer switches if someone starts writing in another language. Reports stay in English, with every quote in the respondent's own words alongside an English translation.

Voice is never recorded. Speech is turned into text in real time and only the text is kept. On the Research plan and up you can record video calls. Respondents are told before they start and can choose chat or voice instead, and Formzed deletes each recording 7 days after it's ready.

The four modes:

• Chat: respondents type their answers in a simple chat, at their own pace.
• Voice answers: questions appear on screen and respondents speak their answers, which are turned into text as they talk.
• Voice conversation: the AI asks each question out loud and the respondent answers out loud, like a phone call.
• Video call: camera on, like a video call. Not recorded unless you turn recording on.

What you get after the interviews

Each interview gets its own summary. The study gets a report with the main themes, how many respondents raised each one, notable quotes and an overall sentiment for each interview.

You can also chat with your data. Ask a question across every interview, and the answer cites the exact quotes it is based on. Because answers are linked to the screener, you can compare how views differ by segment, such as profession or age group, and ask where the product falls short of what people expected.

If you record video calls, the AI can pick the key moments and turn them into short captioned highlight reels, one for each theme. Participants are shown by number, and you can share a reel with one private link or download it as an MP4.

AI interviews, surveys or live interviews

Each method answers a different kind of question. A simple way to choose:

• Use a survey when you already know the options and need numbers: how many people prefer A over B, or how satisfied they are on a scale.
• Use AI interviews when you need the reasons behind behavior from more people than you could ever call, or across time zones and languages.
• Use live interviews when the conversation itself is the work: building a relationship with a key account, or exploring a problem so new you don't know what to ask yet.

Surveys tell you what people chose. Interviews tell you why. AI interviews let you ask why at the scale of a survey.

When a human interview is still better

AI interviews are a strong default, but not the answer to everything. A person is still the better choice when:

• The topic is sensitive or emotional, and the respondent needs to feel heard by another person.
• You need to watch someone use your product in real time and react to what they do on screen.
• The account matters so much that the conversation is also part of the relationship.
• You are running a workshop or co-design session where people build ideas together.
• The interview needs to run longer than 30 minutes.