One of the most common issues that new digital projects face are insufficient or even nonexistent feedback channels. And we totally understand why it’s such an important issue. If your feedback loop (a structure where feedback is properly used to initiate a change of your product) is weak, it’ll be extremely hard to adjust to the needs of your customers. Investing in various feedback channels pays off – there are several crucial benefits of having an efficient feedback loop:

• Quick bug spotting. No testing can highlight as many issues with your app as your users can, while casually using your product. Don’t get discouraged by this negative feedback – every digital product has some bugs. The point is to use the feedback you’re getting to make your product better.
• Upgraded User Experience. Some of the feedback channels will give you enough information to assess the UX value of your product. A lot of great ideas were ruined by poor UX in the past – don’t let your app  be another one.
• Improved product image. We all know how important a product’s rating is. A good feedback channel can build loyalty from your customers, which can lead to an increased rating of your app. And  you know what an increased rating usually leads to? More customers. That’s all we want, right?
• Increased Retention Rate. The average 1-month Retention Rate of mobile apps ranges from 27% to 43%, but for higher performing apps, that range is 32% to 66%. An efficient feedback loop is considered one of the most important factors to increase the retention rate.
• Get new customers. Several studies show that customers who receive a response to their feedback are much more likely to recommend the app to other people. We all know the power of whisper marketing. It’s time to use it to your advantage.

Feedback channels

Now that you now what are the most important benefits of a proper feedback loop, we can move on to some of the best feedback channels. Keep in mind they all have different purposes and not all of them fit every kind of project. They’re all worth considering though!

On-site activity

The best feedback you can get is when your customers don’t even know they’re giving you feedback. Tracking your users’ behavior can show you their real struggles.

The most common tool to monitor on-site activity is Google Analytics. It was launched over 13 years ago and it’s now the most widely used web analytics service . It gives you a lot of data about who your users are and how they behave on your website. With such  information, you can easily adjust your page to get better results.

Another great on-site activity monitoring tool is HotJar. It has a lot of great features. One of them is HeatMaps. Heatmaps let you check where exactly your customers are clicking on your pages. It’s  crucial knowledge that can remarkably improve your UX experience. Maybe they’re clicking on the thing that they’re not supposed to click on? Maybe the thing that’s your highest priority is completely overlooked by most of your users.

E-mail and customer contact forms

Direct contact with your customers is more of a traditional way of getting feedback. It doesn’t mean it’s not useful, but you need to be prepared for a lower response rate. You also need to remember that the time for long surveys with dozens of questions is over. Keep the whole thing short and sweet.

Even though the response rate might be low,  the advantage of direct contact is that the answers you get are highly detailed. And this form of gathering feedback gives you a lot of power. It’s up to you to ask the things that are most crucial to you.

Looking for a good survey tool? Check Typeform. It’s incredibly user-friendly – for both survey-makers and respondents!

Social Media

Your project’s social media accounts are great sources of feedback. Many people use Social Media almost constantly – it’s just much easier and natural for them to leave a comment or review your product on Facebook than to fill in a long external form.

Never lose the chance to get in touch with your customers on social media. Don’t leave their comments unanswered. Check what they’re saying about your product, in what context they are  tagging you. Social Media platforms like Facebook give your customers a chance to rate your product directly. Don’t forget about this valuable data.

In-App Chat

In-App chat is a fairly new tool to collect feedback from your users. Because it’s live, it usually gives a very high response rate. You have to be quite careful with a tool like this though – while it’s a great feedback channel, it can also be annoying to your users and undermine their experience with your product.

That’s why, when using In-App Chats, it’s so incredibly important to focus on the UX of your product. Even though you might think the little pop-up with a chat wouldn’t make any difference – it can actually be a make or break for the experience of your customers.

Customer Advisory Board

Customer Advisory Board (CAB) is a type of focus group, consisting of your current customers. This carefully selected group convenes regularly to discuss the strategic direction of your project, business trends and issues they (or you) see as priorities.

A crucial step to hold fruitful CAB meetings is to have a clear vision of what you want to get from these meetings. It cannot become a discussion group, with no coherent workframe. You need a list of issues, challenges and trends laid out before starting the CAB.

One of the best tips to hold a high quality Customer Advisory Board meeting is actually simple. Be honest about your projects struggles, bottlenecks and challenges! This approach will encourage board members to also feel free to express their opinions. And that’s exactly what you need from them.

Churn Surveys

Seeing your customers stop using your product obviously isn’t nice but you should at least try to get something useful from such a situation. A churn survey is an awesome tool to check why a customer has left you, and what you might possibly do to prevent further churn. And if you’re not familiar with churn rates – it’s the percentage of customers who have stopped using your service/product within a certain period of time.

As with almost any other feedback channel – be specific! People who are getting rid of the product are definitely not going to spend a lot of time on answering your questions. The most common type of churn survey is a simple “why are you leaving us?” question with a few options ready and a space for people who want to elaborate on their decision. This kind of survey gives you enough data to work with, while being short enough to get a good response rate.

Recap

As you can see, there are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to creating a successful feedback loop. The best option is to combine as many tools as possible – this way you can ensure that you’re getting feedback from many different types of users. Whether you’re looking for a very high response rate, detailed and personalized feedback or a trusted group of customers that can evaluate your moves over a longer period of time – there’s always a tool that can help you achieve that!