How To Use User Feedback To Improve Your Online Products And Services

Any information that comes from customers is important for business. Whether it's positive reviews, negative comments, or any kind of opinion from recipients - rather, you want to know what the world and especially the users of your products and services think of you, yes?

That's why we've been collecting input from our customers for many years now and have used it for different purposes. But are we doing it right? Is there something we can improve while collecting user feedback? We’re about to find out!

What is User Feedback?

User feedback is a type of opinion that is given from a person to a specific company in order to help improve the overall experience. It contains qualitative and quantitative data that have a big value for every business as it shows what clients like, dislike, want, and what their needs are. But it can also include additional information like bug reports, support requests, or many valuable suggestions. Therefore it’s a great source of insights that can help a brand change even the entire product strategy.

This type of feedback can be collected manually or with the help of dedicated tools. It can be gathered from many different channels and in many varying forms, like:

surveys,
phones,
emails,
chatbots,
comments on social media,
interviews,
focus groups.

User feedback is strongly related to people’s experience of using the company’s offer. Therefore, it’s used by many various teams in order to help developers, designers and marketers understand how people use their products and services. Thus, this can help them make many improvements and develop the whole offer.

But collecting such amounts of data by hand can be a long and tedious task, which will not bring many results. That's why we recommend using the right tools, such as BetterFeedback.

Such systems effectively discover what customers want, think, and have problems with. Furthermore, they organize all comments in one place, so you will be able to get insights from them quickly and, as a result, will make better decisions.

Why Is User Feedback Important?

User feedback is crucial because it gives businesses much information. For free. When they comment on your posts on social media. And you can’t pass by such a source of data indifferently.

Have you ever been wondering what your audience thinks about your products and services? In such a saturated market, how competitive are your services? Perhaps you were also thinking about why your product isn't selling as well as you thought it would? Or the opposite, you would like to know how your services perform so well. All of these questions can be answered by this type of feedback.

If it weren't for user-provided data, you'd have to guess at the answers or spend a significant portion of your budget for marketing and product research. Meanwhile, you can simply listen to the voice of the people.

Therefore, this information can help brands make improvements and can also help them to attract new customers.

What Are the Benefits of User Feedback?

The benefits of consumer responses can be seen in a number of ways.

#1 User feedback can help to improve the quality of a product or service.

As you already know, such a contribution is integral to any product or service development process. That’s why it can significantly help to boost the quality of single items or the whole offer. By providing clients’ input to developers, people in a real way can help a company, by making sure that the product they are using meets everybody’s needs. In this way, it’s possible to guarantee high quality and meet the market's expectations.

In addition, you are meeting the expectations of your audience. And if your competitors aren't doing it, you can stay light years ahead of them and win new fans.

So, businesses must listen carefully to user feedback in order to improve their offerings. By taking opinions from clients into account, brands can create products that meet the needs of their customers and improve overall quality.

#2 User feedback can help identify and eliminate company offer problems.

The second benefit of incorporating suggestions from the public is also unbeatable - such input plays a huge role in the process of identifying and eliminating problems at an early stage. By gathering responses from users, you can identify any issues that may be connected with your business or its services and make necessary corrections. External information coming from your audience can also help to improve their satisfaction with your product or service.

Customers are not just people who purchase your products. They are also the ones who help you refine these products and sometimes catch bugs that even your specialists have not found. You can then record and manage the issue with a bug tracking tool.

Mistakes almost always happen, and it’s worth being aware of them. Even if your application passes all the tests and so, it’s possible that some bug went unnoticed and is still hidden somewhere. But, by listening carefully to people's opinions and being ready to apply them quickly, the company keeps its hand on the pulse and is prepared for the many dangers and quick fixes of mistakes that may await it.

#3 User feedback can help to create a more engaged and loyal customer base.

Our last proposition is about making clients more engaged and turning them into loyal ones. By understanding what prospects want and how they feel about a product or service, a business can boost their satisfaction and, as a result, it will keep them coming back. Information from users can also be used to identify areas where they need help and can be shared with employees so they can better serve customers.

Imagine you're having trouble making a doctor's appointment because the app has some error in the form and you can't submit it. You then call the hotline and describe your problem. Then it turns out that you are already another person calling with such a problem, but the consultant is prepared for it and, in a few steps, tells you what to do or makes the appointment on your behalf. In this way, the service is efficient, you have quickly achieved your goal, and the bug report has been reported to the right people.

So, in this case, such feedback was essential for creating a better customer experience.

How Can You Use User Feedback?

There are many ways that you can use user opinions depending on the enterprise you are running. However, there are three aspects that will tell you how to use such input.

#1 To improve your offer

One way is to use it to improve your product. For example, if you have a product used for online banking, you may want to use user feedback to improve its design, find out what new services are desired for online banking, or if they have encountered any bugs. This will make your offer more attractive and encourage potential recipients to use it.

#2 To improve customer service

Another way is to use it to improve customer service. If the public has problems using your product, they may simply leave your service and go to a competitor. Therefore, it's a good idea to investigate what caused the problem and make changes so it doesn't happen again. Take out as much as possible from these suggestions from users and you will contribute to keeping them with your company and increasing their satisfaction.

#3 To improve your brand’s appearance

In addition, user feedback can be used to enhance a brand’s appearance. There is much information that illustrates what position an organization has in the market and how it’s perceived by those around it. Therefore, you can use valuable comments from the public to improve your company's performance and climb higher and higher above the competition.

Conclusion

Customer feedback is essential for us to make the best product possible. It helps us in many cases and in many fields, when, for example, identifying and addressing problems before they become widespread or improving the user experience and creating a better product in the end.

Among all these advantages and benefits, it’s almost impossible to pass by such an opportunity as collecting comments from your audience. Make this task easier by using BetterFeedback, a tool that can be your biggest help!

User Feedback Frequently Asked Questions

What makes user feedback valuable?

User feedback can provide valuable context for product development. What’s more, it can help developers understand how the audience is using the program, what features are popular, and where potential improvements may be. Additionally, this type of information can help developers identify and address problems early, which can result in an improved product experience.

Why is it important to get user feedback?

Getting user insights is key to enhancing a product. It allows businesses to understand the problems and needs of their prospects, as well as what features are popular and which need updating. Obtaining data from them is also vital as it can assist a brand in identifying and addressing problems in advance, resulting in lower service expenses.

How do I collect user feedback?

There are a number of ways to collect such input. Depending on the product, customers may be able to provide suggestions through surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, or chatbots.

Surveys can be used to obtain data about people's opinions and experiences with the product or service. Questionnaires can ask them about their views and experiences with the product or service. Another way to get feedback is to conduct focus groups. Focus groups can help you understand how consumers use the product or service and what they think about it. Finally, chatbots can get a deeper understanding of the website or the purchase process, but you must consider chatbot data privacy.

But such responses can also be collected using special tools, such as BetterFeedback, which uses AI technology and helps you extract the most information from simple comments and reviews on social media, for example. This is a much more efficient way to collect and manage insights about your services.

What should I do if I receive negative user feedback?

In most cases, companies should try to listen to client criticism with an open mind. However, if there are specific concerns or if the input is harmful in nature, organizations should investigate what caused the problem and make changes so that it doesn't happen again. What's more, you shouldn't leave such complaints unanswered - it's a terrible idea and can negatively affect brand perception and customer service reputation. In such a case, a good solution is to thank the person for the contribution they made providing it and promise that as soon as possible, your employees will get around to fixing the error.

Which questions should I ask users for feedback?

There is no one best question that businesses should ask all of their users for opinions. It all depends on what information you want to get. However, some common questions include these ones about the product, service, app, website, etc.;

how the product is working,
if there is anything that can be improved in the execution of the service,
what features are most important to the customer,
how the person uses the product,
what could be improved,
how easy it’s to navigate the interface,
how the layout of the application presents itself,
whether the delivery time is adequate,
and more.

What are the most common mistakes with gathering user feedback?

It’s possible to make a few mistakes when gathering this type of insight. The first is not setting goals and expectations properly. If users don't know what to expect from the feedback process, they may not be as willing to offer their thoughts. Additionally, it's important to make sure the response is anonymous, if possible so that individuals can provide honest criticism without fear of retribution.

The second mistake is not taking the time to read and analyze the comments. As a result, you may not figure out which areas need improvement and you won’t start working on addressing them right away.

The third mistake is not sorting the opinions and putting them in one box. You probably have multiple goals for getting responses, so you also need to sort the messages you get smartly. This will give you a clear overview of the situation without any chaos. However, if you do this manually, you will subject yourself to complicated and tedious work, so consider using the right tools.

Finally, it's crucial to keep in mind that user feedback isn't always correct - sometimes, it's necessary to try something different before settling on an idea that people like.