Introducing Optimal’s New Interviews Tool: Automate Your Research, Accelerate Your Insights

When we set out to understand how teams uncover insights from moderated user interviews, we went all in. Over the course of our discovery phase, we surveyed more than 100 researchers, designers, and product managers, conducted discovery interviews, tested our prototypes, and ran follow-up feedback sessions.

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One thing was clear: teams loved the insights gleaned from interviews but getting there was often painfully slow. We found that: 
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• Video is highly valued, but hard to use!
• Research is moving fast
• Democratizing research is on the rise
• Reports are preferred to be short and low effort
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And the theme that emerged most of all? 
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Analyzing videos and interviews is labor intensive and time consuming. One user told us they spent 170 hours sifting through survey responses and interview footage just to put together insights and reports for stakeholders. Amidst all that effort, they were still discovering “gems” of insight, but it was an uphill battle.
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That’s why we built Interviews focused on speed, ease of use, and bringing user voices to life to bring stakeholders onboard and drive decisions. 
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Now, out of early access, Interviews automates your research and lets AI do the heavy lifting:

• Generate automated highlight reels from your interviews.
• Surface key themes, pain points, opportunities, and insights automatically.
• Get citations and insights backed by supporting video evidence and quotes.
• Explore deeper and ask anything with AI Chat.
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During early access, we learned a lot. Speed and easy access to insights were key priorities so we’ve added more video clip and instant download options to make sharing findings faster than ever. 

Privacy was also top of mind and now you can disable video playback while still extracting insights from transcripts.

And when it comes to trust, we focused on building the best-in-class AI chat experience, so teams can explore patterns and themes confidently.
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Research teams shouldn’t have to spend hundreds of hours extracting insights. With Interviews, your next breakthrough is just a few clicks away. Turn your user videos into insights that inspire action in minutes rather than days.