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Hallway uses conversational AI to conduct voice interviews on your behalf. Respondents have a natural conversation with an AI interviewer that asks questions based on your research objectives.

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The Respondent Experience

When someone clicks your interview link, they go through a simple process:
1

Review Project Context

Respondents see your project name, research description, and estimated interview duration. They also review a privacy notice explaining how their responses will be used.
2

Provide Contact Info (Optional)

Respondents can optionally enter their name and email. This helps you identify responses later, but is completely optional.
3

Select Attributes (If Enabled)

If the project has respondent attributes enabled, respondents select their demographic information (e.g., department, role level) from dropdown menus. Required attributes must be selected; optional ones can be skipped.
4

Have a Conversation

The AI interviewer greets them and guides a natural conversation. Respondents speak directly into their device’s microphone while the AI listens, responds, and asks follow-up questions.
Attributes are configured per-project. If you want to collect demographic data, enable attributes when creating your project. See Workspace Settings to configure attribute categories.

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What Respondents See

During the interview, respondents see:
  • Visual feedback showing when they’re speaking vs. when the AI is speaking
  • Live transcript of the conversation as it happens
  • Time remaining so they know how long is left
  • End Interview button to finish early if needed
Interviews work best on desktop or laptop computers with a reliable microphone. Mobile devices work too, but a quiet environment helps ensure clear audio.

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How the AI Interviewer Works

The AI interviewer is powered by your interview guide, which includes:
  • Opening script - How the AI greets respondents and sets context
  • System instructions - The AI’s personality and interview approach
  • Probing instructions - How the AI asks follow-up questions
  • Closing script - How the AI wraps up the conversation
The AI adapts to each respondent’s answers, asking relevant follow-up questions to dig deeper into topics that matter for your research.

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Interview Duration

Each interview has a configurable time limit (default is 10 minutes). Respondents see:
  • A countdown timer showing time remaining
  • Visual warnings when 2 minutes remain
  • A final warning at 30 seconds
The interview automatically ends when time runs out, or respondents can end early by clicking the “End Interview” button.

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What Happens After

Once a respondent finishes:
  1. Their audio recording is securely uploaded
  2. The interview appears in your Responses tab
  3. You can process the session to generate a transcript
  4. AI extracts key insights from the conversation
  5. Findings are added to your project synthesis
Process sessions promptly to keep your insights up to date. You can process individual sessions or use bulk processing to handle multiple at once.

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Privacy & Security

Hallway takes respondent privacy seriously:
  • Interviews are accessed via secure, unique links
  • Audio recordings are stored securely and only accessible to the project owner
  • Respondents can end the interview at any time
  • No account or login is required for respondents
  • Contact information is optional

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Next Steps