Why User Feedback Matters: Evidence of Its Effectiveness and Methods of Collection

Collecting quality information from users helps business owners validate their idea during the research phase and allows the brand to grow, scale, and improve alongside user needs and preferences for the entire remaining life of the product. This requires effective software development. After all, your product exists primarily to solve customers' problems.

The Importance of Customer Feedback for Business

We all know that displaying positive user reviews on your product/service website makes your company more trustworthy. Many companies do just that.

But is that the only benefit of collecting customer feedback? Of course not. Here are 4 more reasons why customer feedback is valuable for your business to thrive.

They reveal areas needing improvement
Simply guessing or following your gut is not a reliable basis for any business decision, whereas collecting user feedback can help determine which product area should be optimized.

Taking user opinions about your company's product into account allows you to track overall customer satisfaction and gain a clear picture of what buyers specifically want. Use the collected information to identify pain points and effectively address issues users face. When users have a positive experience, they not only return to your product or service again and again but also recommend it to friends and family.

For example, to solve the "login" issue (high churn after free trial), Groove, a SaaS customer service platform, decided to add one question to the welcome email: "Why did you sign up for Groove?"

The numerous responses from potential customers not only guided the company on how to better structure the sign-up process but also helped uncover which product features customers expected to see in their software.

Increasing customer loyalty
In the age of smartphones, buyers conduct more research than ever before. According to a study by marketing agency Fan & Fuel (2016), 90% of online shoppers read reviews before making a purchase decision. 84% of people trust online opinions and reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 74% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust local businesses more.

Buyers turn to reviews to better understand the product. The more positive reviews you have, the better. Regardless of industry, positive reviews boost trust in a company and help strengthen its reputation as an industry leader.

Helping improve customer experience
A satisfied customer is one who quickly and easily solved their problem with your product/service. A thoughtful customer experience (CX) at every touchpoint is a key factor in successfully achieving the user's goal. Consequently, the better the customer experience, the happier the users, and the more successful the business.

To improve CX, you need to know which areas are underperforming and what needs to be prioritized for improvement. The simplest and most effective way to find out is to ask those who use the product and encounter all issues in real life.

By taking the time to review your product, users are more likely to feel loyal to you and keep coming back. By leaving feedback and thereby building a relationship with the company, customers feel they are part of the organization and that you value their opinion.

Customers kind of fulfill a social duty toward other customers by providing them with honest information about their experience using your service, while also giving the business motivation to improve for its customers.

In 2018, Mozilla decided to rebrand Firefox. To do so, they created two design variants of the system and asked their users to choose which one they liked better. By involving customers in Firefox's growth, Mozilla increased user loyalty and gave a sense of familiarity with the new design.

How to Collect User Feedback

After discussing why collecting customer feedback is important, it's time to move to more practical knowledge and master a few effective methods that encourage users to collaborate with you.

Surveys

A survey is one of the most commonly used methods for collecting feedback. It involves compiling a list of questions and sending them to customers via email, placing them in the app, or asking through UX support. Moreover, there are many survey tools that simplify this process, such as SurveyMonkey, SurveyKing, Google Forms, and others.

However, designing an informative survey is quite challenging. After all, you need to:

• make the person want to respond. For example, Slack shows a brief introduction before the survey, making the user feel important, and indicates the exact amount of time required.
• avoid boring or intimidating users with questions. For instance, Uber keeps its in-app surveys short and to the point to retain users.
• if you want feedback about a website/app, ensure the survey appears on the relevant screen the user is currently viewing. Google Meet asks about audio and video quality right after you leave a meeting.

Live Chats

Collecting feedback via chat is quick and easy because you don't actually need to ask or persuade customers to do anything. Users start chatting with you when they need to: the moment they encounter a difficulty, have a question, notice changes in product performance, etc.

Another advantage of chats is that in this brief live conversation, you can quickly ask an important question. Such customer feedback is crucial for determining directions for improving minor, ongoing issues.

User Interviews