You’ve done it. You’ve created your first product. 💪
It’s so awesome! This product solves people’s problems (you think). It’s easy to use and navigate (you believe). People will love you (you hope).
Your team certainly does. It passed all their checks. So, you’re ready to release your new baby into the wild.
Fingers crossed…
But here’s the thing: despite its features, it still doesn’t address users’ issues effectively. It’s not user-friendly, and dissatisfaction remains high.
Don’t worry, though—it’s not your fault. 🤗 Your product probably performed as intended, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for your target audience.
So, what’s the solution? Next time, make sure to ask them directly.
Collecting product feedback is crucial. It helps you understand user pain points and gauge their overall experience with your product. By asking the right questions, you can discover what truly makes people happy and what doesn’t. This insight is invaluable for refining your product and aligning it with user needs.
And we can show you how to do it right. No matter the type of product you create—be it a mobile app, a website, or even a kitchen robot—integrating feedback into your decision-making process is essential.
Want to learn how to do it effectively? We’re here to guide you through the process.
Table of contents
Why is product feedback important?
How to collect product feedback from customers
How to collect product feedback from team members and stakeholders
Product feedback best practices
How to manage and analyze product feedback
What is product feedback?
In a nutshell, product feedback is your users’ opinions, experiences, and satisfaction levels about your product.
Imagine this: you want to buy a new vacuum cleaner. You don’t know exactly what you want, so you go online and do some research.
In your search, you’re gonna inevitably look at product ratings and reviews. You’ll be more tempted to click on products with four- or five-star ratings instead of the ones and twos.
You’re also going to read user reviews to learn their thoughts on the product’s features.
That’s what product feedback is all about. But it can take many other forms, like a Reddit comment, a complaint on a forum, or a dislike on Facebook.
Anything that describes your product and your customer’s experience with it.
It falls into two categories:
- Solicited feedback — the user feedback you asked for. Think of stuff like customer feedback surveys, user interviews, net promoter score (NPS) surveys, customer support tickets, etc.
- Unsolicited feedback — the uninvited stuff. It’s when users share their thoughts on a product or service without being asked. Think testimonials or ratings on Google, Yelp, etc.
There’s no rule against using both types at the same time. In fact, using it in unison will provide a well-rounded view of your product.
Typically, you can gather feedback from your users at any stage of the development process. From the initial product concept to the final product.
For example, web developers and designers can perform user testing or QA for their products before launch. It ensures their UI/UX design is accessible, easy to understand, etc.
But is product feedback that important?
Think again. Remember what happened to your new invention? 🤔 People didn’t like it.
So, let’s examine why product feedback is so necessary.
Why is product feedback important?
Because it is. Simple as that. Moving on!
But wait—don’t go anywhere! We’re diving into why product feedback is a game-changer and why you can’t afford to ignore it.
Just take a look at this persuasive graphic…
Let’s see what the fuss is about:
- Better customer satisfaction: People will notice if you ask for their thoughts and regularly act on them.
It increases their perception that you value and respect their views. Since they’ll feel valued, they’ll be more likely to engage more with your brand.
This actually increases customer loyalty. 😉
Plus, invested people are more willing to act as brand ambassadors to their friends and family.
- Greater project success: The main goal of a product is to address a need. That’s why it’s important to keep your clients front of mind when designing it.
If you lose sight of the goal and don’t include them … yikes.
Keeping customers involved from start to finish ensures a smooth development process.
As a result, your final product solves the need. It also attracts more clients, delivers higher ROI, and gets you that sweet dough. 🤑
- Better products: Look, it’s simple. You’re attached to your baby. You’ve worked on it since its inception. You see it as perfect. It’s normal not to notice its flaws.
But a customer’s input provides a new perspective. It’ll let you see issues and imperfections you’ve overlooked. And which functionalities you should add.
Before the big launch, you can incorporate their suggestions and fix bugs. So, you’ll create more customer-oriented products.
What do you think now? Still believe that you should skip product feedback altogether?
No? That’s more like it. You’re now ready to move on to the next step of this article.
How to collect product feedback from customers
You hear an ominous bell in the distance.
Ding dong.
You know what this means…
Time to get serious! 🙃
Here’s where we’ll teach you the best methods to collect customer feedback.
Customer surveys and questionnaires
Feedback type: Solicited
Product feedback surveys are the most popular method of gathering qualitative feedback. They’re everywhere, popping up like mushrooms.
When customers scroll through your homepage. In their email inbox. When they purchase a product. You could even ask them for in-app feedback.
You might think surveys could become annoying. But they’re actually a quick and cost-effective way to collect valuable insights at scale.
The secret is keeping them short. And asking only the most relevant questions.
If you put too many questions in your questionnaire, chances are people will give up halfway. Or the opposite. They’ll speed through the survey and give half-baked answers.
What you’ll need:
- A survey tool: Such tools make it simple and easy to gather feedback from customers. It should be ever-present in your arsenal. Think MailChimp or SurveySparrow.
- The right type of feedback: Surveys work best when you want feature-specific product feedback. It helps you identify areas for improvement or user preferences regarding new features.
- Open-ended questions: Essential because they let users fully explain how they feel about your product or service.
Customer interviews
Feedback type: Solicited
Oooh, this one’s spicy. 🌶️ This method allows you to get personal with your customers and pick their brains directly.
People usually don’t go into too much detail in surveys. So, if you want more in-depth feedback, you should try customer interviews instead.
This method helps you collect qualitative feedback in real time. It’s highly useful if you want to dig into specifics. And understand how people truly feel about the new product.
The secret of customer interviews is to let people do the talking. Don’t hog the spotlight; listen to your customers. And try not to interrupt them.
In addition, observe their body language and expressions closely. Look for any visual cue that might hint at their feelings.
What you’ll need:
- Loyal target audience: Customer interviews work pretty well with those who care about your brand. Pick users who are vocal about any issues, as they’ll offer the best insights.
- Insightful questions: Ask the right questions. It’s important to get facts, not opinions. Be as specific as possible, with questions like “Tell me about a time when…” And ask the follow-up question “why” frequently, so you get to explore the root causes.
- Note-taking software: You might need a tool for taking notes or even recording the interview, like Evernote or Notion. It’ll help you later.
Social media polls
Feedback type: Solicited/Unsolicited
Q: What are polls?
A: They’re not only fun but also a quick way to get opinions on user experience, customer needs, and new features.
Polls are hugely popular on social media. They’re great for channels like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok.
You use them to deepen your connection with your audience. You simply ask, “What do you think we can improve on our website?” for example
People then choose from set replies. Users don’t have to come up with ideas themselves, which saves them time and trouble.
Although you can offer an “Other” option that allows them to make suggestions.
What you’ll need:
- A social media platform: Polls don’t work very well if you don’t have an Instagram account, for example. You need a channel that people follow, where they can naturally engage with your polls.
- A goal: Think of the poll’s purpose and what you are trying to achieve. Do you want to find out what the main issues with your site/service/product are? Or to simply discover how people generally feel about it?
- Poll crafting software: Automation helps you a lot when it comes to creating polls. Tools like Typeform or Zoho Survey make it easy to craft the poll you desire and share it with your audience.
Online reviews
Feedback type: Unsolicited
We all base our next purchase on customer reviews. In some cases, it doesn’t matter if it’s not a four- or five-star rating. Generally, the minimum star rating for any business hoping to appeal to potential customers is 3.3 but we’d all like to do better than that.
Of course, you can’t control people’s opinions. Or what they like to post on the Internet.
You might get trolls who want to ruin your reputation. While other people post a vague, “It’s great” — which is nice but lacks any specifics that you can act on.
Still, reviews provide a level of authenticity that a poll or survey can’t match. You get the raw product experience from your respondents and receive valuable customer data that influences your product decisions.
Tip: Monitoring what customers say about your competitors’ products can give you plenty of useful ‘steers’ regarding your own.
What you’ll need:
- Effective encouragement: People might leave comments unprompted — or not. Persuade them to leave a review by offering an incentive. Or add a personal touch to your requests.
- Online reputation management software: You can’t hoard all your reviews in a Google Doc. First, it’ll bloat the file, which will run very slowly. Second, it’s gonna be hard to find what you’re looking for.
A tool or integration that gathers reviews in a single place will make your life easier. Try Trustpilot, Yext, Qualtrics, or Birdeye.
- A relevant review site: Make sure to choose a review site that greatly fits your product. Use Google Play, Trustpilot, G2, and Capterra to collect relevant feedback.
User forums and communities
Feedback type: Solicited/Unsolicited
This is a tricky one. It can be both solicited or unsolicited.
Think of Reddit. You can go to the relevant community and post a question there. Like, “Any tips for improving our product?” This is solicited feedback since you asked someone to tell their opinion about your product.
Unsolicited comes unprompted. Somebody in a community you follow has asked about their top ten content tools. And users jump in and say it’s your product they’d recommend, without you prompting them to give their opinion.
Be warned, though: since feedback on forums is anonymous, people won’t be afraid to tear into your product. You need to go in there prepared to face some harsh criticism — it’s not for the faint of heart.
On the bright side, online forums provide the most truthful feedback. Plus, search engines index all public content. Which means more visibility for your brand. 😉
What you’ll need:
- A community: You can use existing communities to ask for feedback. In fact, you can start from there. But you can also create your own forum where you can engage with people who like your product. This fosters a sense of union that brings you closer to your customers.
- Customer feedback tools: Again, you might need a tool for collecting customer feedback in one place. Choose tools like MarkUp.io, HubSpot, or Hotjar for your needs.
***
We’ve talked about methods for collecting feedback from your customers but what about feedback from your product team?
Don’t worry — we’ve covered all the bases.
How to collect product feedback from team members and stakeholders
Yes, your customers’ feedback is important. But so are the suggestions you collect from your team and stakeholders.
After all, you don’t create a product on your own. You do it with a team of skilled people.
So, every good product feedback loop should include them if you’re to create the best product ever.
With the following methods, you’ll have people saying…
…in no time! 💌
Good old-fashioned meetings
Who doesn’t like an old-fashioned meeting? We do!
It’s so nice to gather everyone in a conference room. Brainstorm ideas that later become a reality. And simply be there for each other.
We’re talking here about face-to-face meetings, not virtual ones via Slack or the like.
Face-to-face is still relevant in this age of remote work. And there are various reasons why.
First, collaboration comes more naturally when people share ideas in person. You feel more comfortable sharing your thoughts. It’s way easier to visually illustrate your ideas on a piece of paper or whiteboard.
Secondly, you limit (and even avoid) distractions. We’ve all seen videos when loved ones barge in during an online conference. While fun, it ruins the mood and distracts you from your purpose.
Speaking of purpose, a great tip for an effective meeting is to have a specific goal in mind. What’s the desired outcome? It helps you figure out if a meeting is truly necessary.
What you’ll need:
- Prepare ahead of time: Creating an agenda greatly helps structure the meeting. Plus, think carefully about whom you want to invite. Maybe you don’t need to invite copywriters just yet; they can come in later in the project.
- Snacks and goodies: Who knows how long you’ll be in this meeting? It’s best to have some food at your disposal, lest people start getting cranky.
- Whiteboard and lots of paper: You need your writing tools to create a great product roadmap. Make sure the conference room has all you need to draft your new ideas.
Using collaboration and feedback tools
What happens when you have a remote team? Are in-person meetings the only way to brainstorm?
Is all hope lost?
A movie about this shows us there’s A New Hope.
Sadly, no Obi-Wan Kenobi will save the galaxy this time. But a collaboration and feedback tool just might.
Such a solution helps streamline the creative process. And help teams work together more effectively.
These tools gather all your stakeholders’ comments in a single place. In addition, you can assign tasks, improve workflows, and share constructive feedback.
Overall, these tools make it easier to work remotely. And boost employee productivity and satisfaction.
What you’ll need:
- MarkUp.io: The best way your remote teams can collaborate. And craft the right product for your target audience.
You simply upload any type of content in the workspace. Share it with your stakeholders for review. And allow them to leave comments.
Now, with their pause capabilities, it’s even easier to focus on addressing existing comments before any new comments are added. Your process is more streamlined and way more clear.
Prototype reviews
Last on this list are prototype reviews.
Uhh, okay, but what are prototype reviews?
Well, good product development starts with brainstorming. Based on the ideas you’ve collected, you create a prototype.
At this point, you’re wondering what to do with it. In your opinion, it looks great. You can just send it to your dev team so they can get started.
Before you do, though, it’s best to put your prototype to the test.
You’ll learn many things from testing your prototypes. You’ll see what works, what you need to improve, and what people like or dislike about your future product.
For instance, you want to find bugs in your mobile app. With a user testing plan, you can let users discover all the imperfections. You can work on them before launch day.
Or, you know, use visual feedback tools for bugs.
Doing this will help you create more human-centered designs. And it saves you so much time and resources.
What you’ll need:
- Compatible user pools: You need to test your prototypes on the right guinea pigs. For example, if your prototype is in the early stages of development, you can just give it to your teammates. In later phases, it’s best to give it to suitable candidates outside the company.
- Prototype testing tools: Test your prototype with real people using the right testing tool. Which could be anything from UXtweak to Maze to Lookback.
***
What do you think? Will you use any of these methods to gather feedback?
We hope you do. It’ll help you, believe us.
But don’t put the horse before the cart. We want to share our best practices for better product feedback management with you.
Product feedback best practices
Sometimes, feedback fails.
A client gives you unclear feedback like “I don’t like these logos. Can you try something else?” What’s that supposed to mean? Or they point out all the flaws in your design while being nasty about it, too.
But there are ways to avoid this.
Use these best practices to create a feedback loop that brings you that sweet customer success.
Implement a continuous feedback loop
Let’s say you have all the product feedback data you need. What now?
You need to start acting on the feedback you’ve gathered. How can you do so? Well, by creating a feedback loop and increasing retention.
By taking the appropriate actions, you can close those dreadful feedback loops. And improve the user experience.
How?
By responding to every piece of feedback you receive, reviewing all the comments, and thanking users for their positive feedback. With a cherry on top. 🍒
You could even reward them for their loyalty, with a discount, for example. Nothing too huge; it’s the thought that matters.
What if people left you neutral reviews? Thank them for taking the time to leave their thoughts. Some might even engage in feature requests that will make the product better in their eyes.
For those who leave negative reviews or bad ratings, you can ask them what went wrong. To prevent churn and improve their customer journey, you’ll need to resolve the issues to please them.
Taking instant action will validate your user’s feelings. They’ll feel like you prioritize their thoughts in whatever you do.
A feedback loop also gives you a holistic view of every stage of the product life cycle.
It can look something like this:
This kind of feedback loop benefits your existing and potential customers. Both groups feel heard and understood, which brings in the good vibes. And will show how capable your brand is.
Plus, you’ll continuously have insights at hand. Even after you bring your current product to market, you can use the opinions to develop new ones. Or enhance the usability of existing solutions.
Encourage specific feedback
Important: ask the right questions.
Imagine you’re a detective trying to solve a murder mystery. You’ve got your suspect but you mess up by asking all the wrong questions. You can’t prove anything and the suspect is back at large. *Gasp*
Don’t worry; it’s all make-believe.
If you want to get specific and detailed feedback, use a mixture of open- and close-ended questions in your feedback forms. It’s the only way to burrow deep into customer behavior, thoughts, and actions.
The big question is: how do you nudge people to leave feedback?
Just ask. Simple as that. Most of the time, people will be glad to be part of your surveys. They want to share their experience with your product, service, or business.
So, don’t be shy. Put yourself out there and ask them via email, NPS surveys, or X/Twitter. You’ll definitely see your response rates going up. 😉
Diversify feedback channels
❌ What you shouldn’t do: use only one channel to gather your feedback.
✅ What you should do: find your sources from different social media to broaden your horizons.
Why should you do so? Because feedback from multiple sources feels more reliable.
For example, people tell you the sky is green. You know they’re mistaken; the sky’s blue! When you go to other sources, however, you notice two more people making the same observation.
They must be pulling your leg, right? 🤔 But a dozen more people insist the sky’s green.
At this point, you have to embrace this new reality if so many people say so.
In addition, feedback from different sources validates or corrects a single point of view. It filters biases and prioritizes authenticity. You’ll surely feel more confident in your opinion if you see it across different media.
Overall, diversity gives you a complete picture of what people think about your product. And whether you’re doing well or not.
So … you have tons of reviews and comments in your product feedback tool (if you use one).
Now, what do you do with it?
How to manage and analyze product feedback
Analyze it, of course! What else? You can’t just hoard it like a dragon hoards its treasure. And sit on a pile of positive and negative feedback.
It’s the only way to make effective improvements. You can do so by:
- Analyzing key CX (customer experience) metrics: These include NPS, CSAT, and CES. Oh, sorry, we mean Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score, and Product Customer Effort Score.
Prioritizing these is a must in any product feedback loop. And it’s how you’ll divide your happy and unhappy respondents.
- Creating reports: You might notice numbers and keywords in customer feedback. But you don’t know what to make of it. It’ll help if you can view the data in the form of a powerful report.
Use tools like a Survey Insights Report and Text Analysis Report to get a better understanding of your customers’ needs and expectations.
- Identifying the common enemy: Sometimes, all reviews have a single common issue. Let’s say people always complain about accessibility all the time. It’s a sign that you and your product development team should keep an eye out for this issue and avoid it in the future.
Take it a step further by examining your product’s strengths and weaknesses. Eliminate the shortcomings and make your product shine through its good points.
Woop, woop! We’re at the end!
Use the right tools for product feedback
Remember MarkUp.io? You do!
Is it any good? Of course!
It’s simply — the only tool you need for your product feedback process. No matter the type of product, MarkUp does it all.
Design feedback. Video feedback. Website feedback. Pick your poison.
MarkUp.io is a solution that lets you collaborate with multiple people in a shared space. You just upload your prototype via the media library or URL.
And invite people to leave their comments. ‘Tis a party! 🎉
So, what do you say? Intrigued? Then, sign up for MarkUp for free using this link.
