Why are people using one feature three times more than another? Why are they falling off the wagon on the last step? Why are customers using your product less frequently than before?
Don’t you wish you could just… Ask them? Well, you can.
That’s what product feedback is all about.
Company lacking feedback?
You’re wrong.
It’s in your reviews, your support queries, your community forums... You just have to look for it. This is considered unsolicited feedback. It’s typically text-based and requires some effort to organise. It’s worth it though. And much like unsolicited advice, we don’t always like it. But in business, nothing is personal. Right?
There’s also solicited feedback. This means you ask your customers for it. How? You could send out a survey or hold interviews. You could host panel discussions and support groups. Or, you could even just have a rating option. There are many ways.
In this scenario, less is not more. You want to include both types of feedback from a variety of channels. This will help you get a well-rounded understanding of how your product is interpreted by users. Balance.
Feedback: Check. Now what?
Now, give it meaning. Few companies actually take action. Be one of them. By closing the loop, your customers know that they’ve been heard. Plus, you’ll set yourself apart from your competitors. Why? Because you’ve made it clear that you care.
Gather your feedback, turn it into insights, and send it off to your product team. They’re responsible for product decisions, right? So make sure your insights reach them. Get more feedback (and brownie points) by showing your users your new and improved product.
Need help with your feedback strategy? Here are 3 questions to ask yourself:
- Who needs to be involved in gathering feedback, and what role will they play?
- Think of churn, growth and other data. Which sets will you use to make decisions?
- What’s the best way to update your team about your progress, and your users about your improvements?
Analyze.
Easy? Nope. There are a lot of challenges when analyzing feedback. Seriously. If done manually, it can take a helluva long time. Also, each bit of feedback rarely fits into one category, if ever. Why? Because humans love to mention a bunch of different themes in their reports. Plus, visualizing this data is tricky.
Do we have advice? Of course.
Group your feedback into quantitative data.
Yes, even if it’s qualitative. If one user can’t find the checkout and another user can’t find the product, tag them both with an “improve search.” Take care not to overlap with your teammates though, a slight difference in linguistics could cause an unnecessary delay. And we don’t want that. So, no “poor search” and “improve search” tags. Pick one.
All feedback was (not) created equal.
What this means? You’ve got to link your feedback to demographic and behavioural customer data. Is this a new or old customer? How often do they use your product? How did you acquire them? Consider all aspects of who your customers are.
Who cares about feedback?
Honestly? Everyone. Feedback is a two-way street. You get feedback, then you return it... In the form of an update. It’s really valuable. Just as valuable as data. Why? Because it’s a form of data. When feedback is gathered, analyzed and actioned correctly, it works in the exact same way as data. True story. Testing hypotheses, discovering insights and aligning teams becomes easier with feedback. Sound familiar?
Give the people what they want.
You’ve got access to so much information about your users. Seriously. So there’s no excuse for not knowing what they like and dislike. It’s at your virtual fingertips. Take advantage of the data available and do something with it. Building a great product and marketing it well is only half the job. The other half? Committing to a customer-centric culture. Without your users, your company would be pointless. Be sure to find, analyze, share and implement feedback across your brand. Internal communication is key during your feedback journey, which should be a consistent and ongoing one.
Fun fact? Your support team always understands more about your customers’ needs than your product team. Always.
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