Man-on-the-Street Interview Questions by Goal

Key Takeaways

• Start with the business goal, then develop the interview question around the response you need from viewers.

• Use broad questions for relevant awareness and more specific questions for leads, purchases, or app installs.

• Ask problem-led questions to help potential customers recognize their own needs.

• Use product tests, comparisons, and demonstrations to give viewers visible evidence.

• Measure questions through watch behavior, clicks, conversions, lead quality, and acquisition cost.

• Work with an agency that can connect question strategy, production, editing, media buying, and iteration.

The question at the beginning of your man-on-the-street interview determines far more than what the respondent says.

It influences who stops scrolling, how long viewers remain, which emotions enter the conversation, when your product can appear, and whether the call to action feels relevant.

That’s why your team needs to start with a commercial purpose. Do you want people to recognize a problem? Understand a new category? Watch a product demonstration? Reconsider an assumption? Submit their information? Install an app? Purchase something?

Each goal calls for a different type of question.

At Street Poller, we begin with the desired customer action and work backward. We then develop question angles, capture enough public responses, create multiple hooks and narratives, and test the resulting ads through paid media.

This guide organizes man-on-the-street interview questions by goal so you can see what each question needs to accomplish for your brand.

Ready to scale your paid social campaigns? Book your strategy call

Why you should choose the goal before the question

Before you decide what to ask, think about what you want viewers to do after hearing the answer.

A street interview can generate comments without generating customers. Ask a provocative question about dating, politics, money, or social behavior, and people may rush to share their opinions. Yet those viewers may have little interest in your product.

Commercially useful questions connect three elements:

1. The viewer: The subject matters to someone your brand wants to reach.

2. The respondent: The person on the street can answer naturally and credibly.

3. The offer: Your product or service has a logical place in the conversation.

The balance changes according to your campaign goal.

An awareness question can remain broad because its job is to introduce the category and build a relevant audience. A lead-generation question should identify people who recognize a particular need. A product-conversion question needs to create a clear path from the response to the offer.

This framework is what we typically use as a starting point:

One question may support several goals. You should still assign one primary job to each ad.

Goal 1: Generate brand and category awareness

If you want to introduce your brand to a broad audience, begin with a subject people can understand without knowing your company.

The question should attract attention while remaining close to your category. If it becomes too general, you may build reach among people who have no reason to remember the brand.

Here are some awareness question examples:

• “What is one app you could never delete?”

• “What purchase has improved your daily routine the most?”

• “Which wellness trend will still be popular in five years?”

• “What is one product you wish existed?”

• “Which everyday task takes more time than it should?”

• “What is one thing every new homeowner should know?”

• “What makes you try a brand you have never heard of?”

These questions allow respondents to establish the category in familiar language. Your product can appear as an example, alternative, or answer after viewers understand the topic.

For an app, “What is one app you could never delete?” can introduce a discussion about daily habits before you demonstrate a new digital tool. For a home-services company, asking what first-time homeowners underestimate can reveal needs the service addresses.

Your awareness ad should still give viewers something concrete to remember. A broad conversation followed by a small logo may generate weak brand recall. The transition needs to connect your company to the idea viewers found interesting.

Goal 2: Encourage comments and shares

If you want viewers to join the conversation, ask something they can answer before the Reel or ad finishes.

Choices, rankings, predictions, and disagreements work well because viewers can participate without extensive category knowledge.

Questions designed to encourage participation include:

• “Which one would you choose?”

• “What would you never spend money on?”

• “Is this product worth the price?”

• “Which generation has the best money habits?”

• “What is the most overrated item people buy?”

• “Would you trust AI to make this decision?”

• “What popular opinion do you completely disagree with?”

• “Which feature matters most to you?”

Make sure the discussion supports your campaign idea.

A debate about whether expensive skincare is worth buying can give your beauty brand a natural opening for a blind test. A question about trusting artificial intelligence can help your technology company introduce the protections or human oversight within its product.

The comments can also show you what to create next. Viewers may raise objections, describe personal experiences, request features, or use language that communicates the problem more clearly than the original brief.

However, engagement needs commercial interpretation. A controversial question may produce thousands of comments from people arguing about an unrelated issue. Your agency should assess whether the discussion strengthens product relevance or merely increases activity around the video.

Goal 3: Help viewers recognize a problem

Your potential customers may live with a problem for months before they actively look for a solution. The right question can help them recognize that problem within seconds.

The respondent describes the frustration, cost, delay, or emotional effect. Viewers who share the experience begin qualifying themselves before your product appears.

Problem-led questions might include:

• “What purchase do you regret the most?”

• “Have you ever given up on a refund because it took too long?”

• “Which monthly expense worries you most?”

• “What part of buying a home confused you?”

• “How much time do you waste on this every week?”

• “What usually stops you from staying focused?”

• “What is the hardest part of managing your business?”

• “When was the last time a company made cancelling difficult?”

You will usually get stronger material from a specific experience than a general opinion.

“Do you find budgeting difficult?” encourages a predictable response. “Which expense surprised you most last month?” can uncover a story, number, or emotional reaction.

We used conversations about regretted purchases for Coverd, a fintech app focused on refund recovery. According to our published campaign information, the creative helped reduce CPI from approximately $20 to between $3.24 and $3.51 within 60 days, depending on the case-study page referenced. These company-reported figures describe one campaign and do not guarantee the same results for another advertiser. You can see how problem-led street polling was used for Coverd.

Problem-led questions can also support lead generation because they help filter the audience. Someone who does not recognize the issue may keep scrolling. A viewer experiencing it may remain for the solution.

Goal 4: Explain an unfamiliar product or category

If your product needs several sentences to explain, use the interview to begin with something your audience already understands.

The respondents can then create a bridge between a familiar problem and your unfamiliar solution.

Questions for product education include:

• “How do you currently solve this problem?”

• “When did you first hear about this category?”

• “What do you think this service actually does?”

• “How would you explain cryptocurrency to a friend?”

• “What would make you trust an AI security tool?”

• “How do you normally compare these options?”

• “What happens after you request a quote?”

• “Which part of this process confuses people most?”

Your respondents do not need to explain the product perfectly. Their uncertainty may reveal what the audience needs to learn.

If several people misunderstand the same feature, your ad can correct that misconception. If someone explains the category clearly, the response can become the body of an educational edit.

For MoonPay, street-level conversations helped make cryptocurrency purchasing feel more approachable to mainstream audiences. Our published case study attributes more than 25 million views and over 400,000 funded wallets to the wider campaign. These results reflect a specific brand, offer, budget, and execution. You can review the MoonPay street polling campaign.

Keep each educational ad focused on one important idea. If you try to explain your entire platform through one interview, you may overload viewers. A series of focused questions can introduce separate benefits, concerns, and use cases.

Goal 5: Demonstrate product value

If customers can understand your product by seeing someone use it, let the interview produce visible proof.

A taste, touch, feature, speed, price, or side-by-side comparison can show the benefit inside the conversation.

Product-proof questions include:

• “Which one tastes better?”

• “How much do you think this costs?”

• “Can you tell which one is the premium product?”

• “Which result would you choose?”

• “How long do you think this task will take?”

• “Would you use this feature in your daily routine?”

• “What changed after you tried it?”

• “Which option feels more comfortable?”

• “What surprised you most about the product?”

Ask respondents to be specific.

“I like it” provides limited persuasive value. Someone noticing that a beverage is less sweet, an app completes a task faster, or a wearable feels lighter gives viewers a reason to understand the preference.

Blind tests can work particularly well because the response occurs before the brand reveal. Our public case-study library highlights blind taste tests and real-world trials for food, beverage, beauty, and ecommerce campaigns.

For example, our published results for Rav & Co report a 4.8x ROAS from a campaign using street polling and blind taste tests. Individual outcomes vary according to the product, offer, audience, media strategy, and other factors. You can explore our ecommerce and CPG street interview case studies.

Your production partner should capture the product closely enough for viewers to understand the test. Even an excellent reaction loses value when the item is difficult to see or the comparison remains unclear.

Goal 6: Build trust and answer objections

Your prospects may already understand the product and still hesitate because one concern remains unresolved.

Objection-led questions bring that concern into the open and give your campaign an opportunity to respond credibly.

Questions for trust and objection handling include:

• “What would stop you from trying this?”

• “What makes you skeptical about this category?”

• “Would you trust a company to handle this for you?”

• “What makes an online offer feel suspicious?”

• “Which claim would you need to see proven?”

• “What would make the price feel worthwhile?”

• “Why would you choose your current option instead?”

• “What would make you change your mind?”

A skeptical respondent can strengthen your ad when the product answers the concern convincingly.

Someone may doubt that an app can save meaningful time. A live demonstration can show the result. A respondent may question a product’s price. A comparison can clarify the quality or long-term value. A person may distrust a financial service. Your ad can explain the process, protections, eligibility requirements, or limitations.

Avoid steering respondents toward an artificially positive conclusion. Viewers recognize when skepticism disappears too easily.

A credible outcome may be a qualified response such as:

“I would consider it if I could see the fees upfront.”

That answer identifies the condition your brand must satisfy. It can also help your team improve the landing page or offer.

Goal 7: Generate qualified leads

If you need leads, ask a question that helps the right viewers identify their need before you invite them to submit information.

A broad question may produce inexpensive form submissions with limited sales value. A more specific question can qualify the audience before the CTA appears.

Questions for lead-generation campaigns include:

• “Which monthly expense causes you the most stress?”

• “What would an extra $300 per month change for you?”

• “When should someone speak with a financial advisor?”

• “What is the biggest repair your home needs?”

• “How long have you been putting off this decision?”

• “What would make you request a professional estimate?”

• “Do you know which options you may qualify for?”

• “What is stopping you from booking a consultation?”

Your question should frame the need without making unsupported promises.

For regulated or sensitive categories, your agency also needs to review the wording, respondent claims, on-screen text, disclosures, targeting, and landing-page message. Meta maintains detailed advertising standards that can affect whether creative is eligible to run.

Match the CTA to the viewer’s readiness. “See which options may be available,” “Request a quote,” or “Book an assessment” may feel more appropriate than an immediate purchase instruction.

You should then measure contact rates, qualified opportunities, appointments, closed sales, and revenue. Platform CPL gives you only the first part of the story.

Ready to turn real conversations into qualified demand?

Book your strategy call

Goal 8: Drive purchases or app installs

When you want immediate conversions, your question should make the use case clear and give viewers a reason to act after the reveal.

The opening still needs curiosity, but the connection between question and offer should emerge quickly.

Questions for purchases and app installs include:

• “Which app saves you the most time?”

• “Would you download an app that could do this?”

• “How do you currently complete this task?”

• “Which product would you buy after trying both?”

• “How much would you pay for this?”

• “Would this solve a problem you have every week?”

• “Who would you recommend this to?”

• “What would make you switch from your current option?”

You can test different levels of product visibility.

One edit might begin with the question and delay the reveal. Another can show the product within the opening seconds. The delayed version may attract broader curiosity, while the product-led version may qualify viewers sooner.

Judge the winner through cost per purchase, cost per install, conversion rate, and customer value. Watch time alone cannot tell you which version contributes more revenue.

Our published technology case studies include campaigns for BeReal, Revo Madic, Polymarket, and other app brands. The reported results include more than 45,000 organic installs for BeReal, over 500,000 installs for Revo Madic, and more than 1.1 million installs for Polymarket. These company-reported outcomes should be considered within the context of each engagement. Read more about Street Poller technology case studies.

How we evaluate a question before filming

You can hear a question in a meeting and immediately think it will work. The street may give you a different answer.

Before approving an angle, we consider how quickly respondents will understand it, whether different people can answer it meaningfully, and how the product can enter the conversation.

We evaluate each question against these criteria:

• Does the target customer care about the subject?

• Can a stranger understand it immediately?

• Will the answer produce more than yes or no?

• Can the respondent provide a story, reaction, choice, or explanation?

• Does the question allow multiple points of view?

• Can the product appear without forcing the transition?

• Can the concept produce several ad variations?

• Does the wording comply with applicable rules?

• Can we evaluate performance against a business goal?

We also prepare follow-up prompts. “Why?” may uncover the strongest part of the answer. “What happened next?” can turn an opinion into a story. “What would make you change your mind?” can expose the objection blocking conversion.

The opening question creates the opportunity. The interviewer’s judgment determines how much useful material comes from it.

How we test question performance

Once your street interview ads enter the market, you need to determine whether the question attracts potential customers or simply curious viewers.

At Street Poller, we commonly create five to ten hook variations per concept. We may test different opening respondents, answer sequences, brand-reveal points, text treatments, lengths, and calls to action.

Creative metrics help us diagnose the question:

• Early hold

• Average watch time

• Completion rate

• Replays

• Shares

• Comments

• Click-through rate

Commercial metrics determine whether it scales:

• Cost per purchase

• Cost per install

• Cost per lead

• Cost per qualified lead

• Conversion rate

• Return on ad spend

• Customer quality

• Creative lifespan

If a question earns comments but weak conversions, it may be too broad. Strong clicks with poor landing-page performance can indicate a message mismatch. One respondent group outperforming another may guide your location and respondent strategy for the next shoot.

We return those findings to question development. We keep strong angles, remix promising ones, and replace questions that attract the wrong audience.

Ready to scale your paid social campaigns? Book your strategy call

Choose questions that move your campaign forward

When you choose a man-on-the-street question, ask whether the answers can move viewers closer to your desired action.

Awareness questions should make the category interesting. Problem-led questions should help viewers recognize themselves. Demonstrations should provide visible proof. Objection questions should build trust. Conversion questions should clarify why someone should take the next step.

We develop these questions as part of a wider performance system.

Our street pollers capture real responses. Our editors turn the strongest moments into multiple ad variations. Our media buyers test those variations against commercial outcomes. The results then inform the next round of questions.

That is how a short public conversation becomes scalable performance creative.