# Turn Customer Interview Transcripts into Insights and Themes

Upload interview recordings and transcripts to Deck and get insights linked to verbatim quotes and grouped into themes. Run it in the app or with your AI agent.

- URL: https://getdeck.io/playbooks/import-interviews
- Author: Matt Teixeira
- Published: 2026-11-01
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Stage: Set up

## How Do You Analyze Customer Interview Transcripts?

Upload each recording or transcript to one place, keep the participant's words exactly as spoken, and let Deck pull out the insights. Each insight links to the quote that supports it, and insights group into themes across all your interviews. You then read patterns across calls instead of rereading every transcript before a planning meeting.

## Why Interview Insights Get Lost After the Call

Interview notes end up in docs, recordings sit in a drive, and the best quotes live in one researcher's head. A month later, nobody can say how many customers raised the same problem. So decisions lean on the last call someone remembers, not on everything customers said.

## How Deck Turns Each Interview into Evidence

Deck transcribes each recording, extracts insights, and links every insight to the verbatim quote behind it. Insights join your existing themes or start new ones, next to support tickets, surveys, and other feedback. When you open an interview, Deck highlights the transcript passages connected to each insight.

Deck features used:

- [Themes](https://getdeck.io/product/themes)
- [Evidence](https://getdeck.io/product/themes)

## How to Analyze Interview Transcripts in Deck

### 1. Pick the Right Upload Path

Recordings and transcripts go through Manage → User Interviews → Add Interview. Many transcripts in one table go in as a CSV of the type User Interview. Sales calls in Gong and interview notes in Notion come in through those integrations.

### 2. Check What Deck Already Has

Look through Manage → User Interviews for the participant before you upload, so nothing is processed twice. Interview processing uses credits, so for a batch of more than 10, check Settings → Billing first.

### 3. Clean Each Transcript

Put one speaker turn on each line as “Speaker Name: spoken text” and keep the labels consistent. Remove timestamps, join notices, and recording disclaimers. Never summarize or change what the participant said.

### 4. Upload the Recording or Transcript

Choose Interview Video for MP4, MOV, MP3, WAV, and other recordings up to 500 MB each. Choose Interview Transcript to upload a .vtt, .txt, or .docx file or paste the text. A transcript needs at least 100 words and 10 lines.

### 5. Fill In the Interview Details

Add the Interview Name and Interview Date, which are required, and the User Email if you have it. You can pick a segment here too. Then submit.

### 6. Review the Insights

A transcript takes about 2 minutes and a recording about 5. Open each processed interview to read its insights, the highlighted quotes, and the themes they joined.

## Import Interviews with Your AI Agent

You need:

- Deck MCP connected to your agent

Your agent starts with the `list_sources` tool.

Paste this prompt into your agent:

```text
Use Deck MCP. Fetch and follow https://docs.getdeck.io/docs/agents/workflows/import-interviews.md
```

Full agent workflow: https://docs.getdeck.io/docs/agents/workflows/import-interviews.md

## Interview Transcript Prep Checklist

### Interview Transcript Prep Checklist

```text
FOR EACH INTERVIEW
Interview Name: [Participant or session name]
Interview Date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
User Email: [optional]
Segment: [optional]

TRANSCRIPT FORMAT
Interviewer: [spoken text]
Participant: [spoken text]

BEFORE UPLOAD
[ ] Not already in Manage → User Interviews
[ ] One speaker turn per line, as Speaker Name: spoken text
[ ] Speaker labels consistent (Interviewer and Participant when names are unknown)
[ ] Timestamps, join notices, and recording disclaimers removed
[ ] Participant's words unchanged, nothing summarized or added
[ ] At least 100 words and 10 lines, at most 50,000 words
[ ] Recordings: a supported format, 500 MB or less

AFTER PROCESSING
| Interview | Status | Insights | Top themes |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Interview Name] | Complete / Failed | [Deck count] | [Theme], [Theme] |
```

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Which file types can I upload?

Recordings in MP4, MOV, AVI, WEBM, WMV, 3GP, MP3, WAV, M4A, WEBA, or OGG, up to 500 MB each. Transcripts as .vtt, .txt, or .docx files, or pasted text. Deck detects exports from Zoom, Google Meet, Otter.ai, and Lookback.

### How long does processing take?

About 2 minutes for a transcript and about 5 minutes for a recording. You can leave the page. The interviews list updates as each one finishes.

### Does importing interviews use credits?

Yes. Interview processing uses credits. For a large batch, check your balance in Settings → Billing before you upload.

### What if a transcript is too short?

Deck needs at least 100 words and 10 lines, and supports up to 50,000 words. Do not pad a short transcript with extra text. Upload a fuller transcript or the recording instead.

### Can I put interviews in a customer segment?

Yes. Pick a segment in the Interview Details step when you upload. Your agent can also set segments afterwards. It shows you the plan and asks first, because the change replaces the manual segments on that interview's insights.

### Can my AI agent run this?

Yes. With Deck MCP connected, paste the prompt on this page. The agent prepares each transcript, gives you the upload link and details, tracks processing, and lists the insights and top themes per interview. You do the upload in the Deck web app, and the agent never changes what a participant said.

## Related Playbooks

- [Import Survey Results from Typeform, Qualtrics, or SurveyMonkey](https://getdeck.io/playbooks/migrate-surveys.md): Move survey exports from Typeform, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, or Google Forms into Deck as CSV uploads, and turn free text answers into insights and themes.
- [Centralize Customer Feedback from the Tools You Already Use](https://getdeck.io/playbooks/connect-feedback-stack.md): Connect Slack, Intercom, Zendesk, Gong, and your other feedback tools to Deck, then confirm the data actually arrives. Do it in the app or with your AI agent.
- [Theme Taxonomy Review: Clean Up Duplicate and Stale Themes](https://getdeck.io/playbooks/taxonomy-review.md): Find duplicate, vague, oversized, and stale feedback themes in Deck, decide one fix for each from real counts and quotes, and apply only what you approve.