Ten emotion heuristics: how to read a participant’s body language

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As user researchers, we take words very seriously and place most of our importance on what our users are saying. While this is, in fact, where our attention should be placed, we should also consider the body language of our users during our research sessions. I’m not talking about “rage-clicking” or clear sighs of frustration (although those are important too), but more of the subtle body language.

A while back, I wrote about how important a user researcher’s body language is during an interview, and now I want to write about the other side: the user’s body language.

Why is this important?

One of the number one principles (at least one of mine) of user research is:

watch what users do versus just listening to what they say

When we focus all of our attention on what people are saying, we can miss what they are actually doing. And, unsurprisingly, what people say and what they do can be quite different.

I have a perfect example of this. I was conducting usability tests on a new flow we were thinking about implementing. One of the main tasks our users had to do was download multiple images at once. We didn’t make this easy and, previously, our users would have to hack downloading them at once. Once we finally had the resources to tackle this project, I was super excited to test our ideas.

We had one idea in particular we thought was a sure winner. I couldn’t wait to test it with users. We showed it at about ten usability tests and, luckily, I had my observation mindset on. Many of the users said they really liked it. They could finally download multiple images at once. HOWEVER, the majority of users, while telling me that they liked it, struggled with understanding the flow and completing the tasks. In fact, three users clicked on many different areas and appeared visibly frustrated, but still said it “wasn’t bad.”

Had I just been listening and using words as data, I would have pushed forward this idea. Instead, I noticed the struggles. During the interview, I was able to dig deeper into the frustrations beyond the surface. This allowed us to better understand where we needed to improve the UX.

It was after that particular test I started looking more into how to observe user’s behavior and body language during research interviews. I wanted more than retrospective or current self-reporting measures. I searched and found a method that relies on real-time observation of behavior and coding of participants’ facial expressions and gestures. Its creators, Eva de Lera and Muriel Garretta-Domingo call their method the “Ten Emotion Heuristics.”

The Ten Emotion Heuristics:

The heuristics are a set of guidelines to help assess what a user is feeling beyond self-reported measures. As mentioned above, there are times where users actions and words do not match up, and you can use the below heuristics as a way to understand what the user is really feeling, beyond the feelings they may be aware of.

1. Frowning. If a user is frowning, it can be a sign of a necessity to concentrate, displeasure or of perceived lack of clarity
2. Brow Raising. When users raise their brows, it can be a sign of uncertainty, disbelief, surprise, and exasperation. While surprise isn’t always negative, we don’t necessarily want our users to be surprised or uncertain of the experience on our platform
3. Gazing Away. When a user gazes away from the screen, they may feel deceived, ashamed, or confused. They could also very possibly be bored with what is on the screen in front of them
4. Smiling. A smile is a sign of satisfaction in which the user may have encountered something satisfying or joyful
5. Compressing the Lip. Seeing a user compress their lips is a sign of frustration and confusion. I see this a lot when a user intends to do something, but it does not work, causing frustration and anxiety
6. Moving the Mouth. If the user is speaking to themselves, trying to understand or complete a task, this indicates them feeling confused or lost in the experience
7. Expressing Vocally. Vocal expressions such as sighs, gasps, coughs, as well as the volume of the expression, the tone or quality of the expression may be signs of frustration or deception.
8. Hand Touching the Face. If a user is touching their face during the interview, they could be tired, lost, or confused. This can also indicate a high level of concentration and frustration with a task.
9. Leaning Back on the Chair. When a user (or anyone, really) leans back in a chair, it is an indication they are having a negative emotion and would like to remove themselves from the situation. This generally shows a fairly high level of frustration
10. 10. Forward Leaning the Trunk. Leaning forward and showing a sunken chest may be a sign of difficulty and frustration with the task at hand. At this point, the user may be close to giving up on a task or experience.

Copyright Eva de Lera & Muriel Garreta-Domingo

How to use these heuristics

The great thing about the ten emotion heuristics is that they are all 100% observable and cost-effective. The best thing you can do while learning these is to practice. Here is how I have learned to incorporate the emotion heuristics in every one of my interviews. These don’t have to be done step-by-step, but could be thought of that way!

• Memorize the different heuristics
• Practice the heuristics with others — both doing them and observing them
• While practicing with others, write down which heuristics you observe and compare notes
• Record each of your participants and assess heuristics AFTER the interviews — compare notes with a colleague on what heuristics you both found and at what points
• Observe and make note of heuristics during the interviews. See if you can dig deeper during those. Assess the interview after as well to see if you were accurate
• Rinse and repeat until you feel confident observing and noting the heuristics in real-time

Some things to note while you are practicing:

• Always record your participants during the interviews. Even when you are a “pro,” you might miss some instances. Make sure you can see their facial expressions in the recording!
• Have a colleague with you to compare notes (especially in the beginning)
• Take it slow! You won’t learn or notice these all over a short period of time

What can we do with this information?

There are a few different ways I like to use the emotion heuristics, and they all have really benefited my analysis of research studies.

1. Observing behavior over words. What people tell you and how they act can be different. The emotion heuristics can give you an indicator of how someone is really feeling at a given moment
2. Some negative emotion heuristics appear outside of the concepts that we are testing. This helps give an indication of where we might need to improve the overall user experience of the product, outside of what we are testing
3. You can measure if there are trends with certain emotion heuristics across the experience. Are the majority of participants exhibiting particular emotions during one task or flow?
4. If many negative emotion heuristics are surfacing during a task, flow, or experience, you can prioritize fixing that issue higher than others
5. By identifying the different cues across the interview, you can rate whether the participant’s experience was overall positive or negative.
6. Give scores to tasks and overall experiences, which can help with calling attention to issues and prioritization

Although it might sound simple, using these emotion heuristics can be quite tricky. You might get a participant who doesn’t display many expressions or a participant who displays too many at once to count. User research isn’t an exact science and you will never get the perfect participant. The best you can do is practice and observe these signals participants are putting out. They won’t be the answer to all your questions and, sometimes, they may lead you down the wrong path, but they are another tool to put in the user research toolbox.

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If you liked this article, you may also find these interesting:

• ACV Laddering in UX Research: A simple method to uncover the user’s core values
• User Research Isn’t Black & White and how to navigate the grey area
• Benchmarking in UX Research to test how an app or website is progressing over time
• How to Assess Your Research Interviews: A framework to continuously improve

If you are interested, please join the User Research Academy Slack Community for more updates, postings, and Q&A sessions :)

Interviewing as a User Researcher

Credit: UX Mastery

To start, we, as user researchers, are a weird niche. We don’t really have too many tangible deliverables we can show people, at least ones we exclusively worked on, we can’t always share insights we’ve gathered at previous companies, our user interview sessions are often confidential and anonymous so we can’t share those and, most times, showing someone a discussion guide example doesn’t give them an actual idea of how you perform interviews.

I’ve discussed how to create a UX Research portfolio through storytelling, but how can you translate your skills to a live interview? What is important to show or talk about during interviews, as a user researcher?

Thinking back to the (many, many) interviews I have taken part in, I have compiled a list of important topics to bring up or give examples of. Of course, this is merely my experience being generalized across numerous variables and situations. However, if you are preparing for your first, or fiftieth, interview, reviewing these ideas may help during the interviewing.

What to bring up in a UX research interview:

1. Start by showing enthusiasm and try to maintain that throughout your entire interview. There is a common idea that researchers should be excited about problem-solving, conversations and challenges. We should bring a spark to a company that helps others get excited about research. If you are enthusiastic about your job, and are personable during your interview, most companies can use this to judge how you may act in a day-to-day environment
2. It is very important to highlight how you have incorporated teamwork into and collaboration in you user research practice. Who have you worked with before? Was it just the product team or did you work across different departments? What was it like to work with others? What were the challenges you have faced? Some of the joys? This is a time I like to reference specific moments in my career. I usually will also bring up how I have managed to get buy-in from team members, as that tends to bring that question naturally into the conversation
3. Similar to teamwork and collaboration, it is important to bring up your skills in communication. This can include many different examples, such as sharing research insights to teams and executives, conveying the value of user research across an organization, or speaking up when you see a need for research
4. I often say and believe I should treat colleagues similarly to how I treat users because, in a way, my colleagues are users of my research. With that, I have to understand what they need and want from me, what they are expecting and any barriers or fears they are facing. I talk through an example of when a team came to me with a very confusing project idea. Instead of getting pigeon-holed into their initial questions, we were able to take the time to discuss what they were really looking for and expecting. I empathize with my colleagues as much as I do users. I don’t expect internal stakeholders to be perfectly articulate when describing what they want from user research
5. Most companies will want to know how I approach problem-solving, of course, since that is a huge chunk of my day-to-day job. This point may be similar to the one just above it — in order to approach a problem, you have to understand where that problem is coming from and have full context. This means, not jumping directly to a solution but, instead, taking the time to speak with everyone involved in order for you to have a proper and deep understanding of the problem in front of you. Even if you are 95% sure you comprehend what someone is requesting from you, there is little harm in double-checking. You can chat about timelines here, as well, how understanding the problem can ensure reliable and useful results are delivered as quickly as possible
6. Give your interviewer(s) concrete examples that reference the past. If they ask you a question, instead of speaking to the skill you have, reference a previous project or moment that highlights the skills they are asking about. By doing this, interviewers are more likely to think of you as a human, just like themselves, and they are better able to relate to what you are saying (maybe it will trigger a memory for them, which could jump start a conversation)
7. I will briefly sprinkle in tools I am familiar with, as I’m brining up examples. This gives an extra boost of credibility, especially if you talk through a challenge you faced (such as remote synthesis sessions with team members) and how you took the time to find a tool to help (mural)
8. If they don’t outright ask you, I try to reference why I am excited about the specific company and opportunity. For example, I tend to talk about how the opportunity could be a great challenge for me, get me to the next level and provide a solid learning experience. Although I do reference how the company or job is different or unique, I do also talk about how there are similar components to what I have done in the past, so I will be able to effectively meet the job requirements
9. Please, please, please ask your interviewers questions, it can be anything, really, but, especially as a user researcher you must ask questions. It can be about the role, the company, the culture, what they like/would improve about the company, it could be about their dog, just ask some questions. Be the curious researcher I know you are, even in the interview process

Take deep breaths and make your interview more of a conversation. Also, remember, you are interviewing them as well. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t always blame yourself.

Exercises/tasks during the interview process

I have seen a few types of exercises or tasks given during user research interviews, but they are generally all relatively similar: “if X team came to you with X problem they wanted to solve or question they wanted to answer, how would you respond? What would your approach be?”

This can be very overwhelming, especially when you are trying to think of your entire process, from end-to-end, in thirty minutes, and then considering about you will be presenting said thought process to a group of people who already know the answer they want to hear.

I believe the biggest reason for these tasks is to understand your thought process. With that in mind, try not to jump right into a solution. Often, I find, there is not as much information as I would like to begin forming a research plan. I always start by brainstorming questions I would have based on the prompt. I often ask if there is prior research done on this topic and note that I would like to have further meetings with the team to really understand their desired outcome of the research. Thereafter, I jump into forming a research plan based on the given information.

I create a research plan because I feel like it includes an overview of how I think about problem-solving and my overarching approach. I am usually able to fit in everything, as well, and I typically dive into more detail as I am presenting. For example, I like to include topics such as objectives/goals, anticipated timeline, target audience (touch upon recruiting, if possible), both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, discussion guide (sample questions or sample tasks), which stakeholders I would include, expected outcome (and expected challenges, if I have time), synthesis and how I would present the insights once the research is done. Once I have this skeleton filled in, it makes it much easier for interviewers to understand my overall approach, and we can dive into the detail behind each section when I present.

An additional note: send a thank you email.

Again, this has just been my experience when interviewing for user research roles and I’m sure I’ve missed some information (as we sometimes do during interviews), but I’m hoping it can serve as a guide to prepare you and make the process less stressful! Happy interviewing!

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