Having customers who are willing to give feedback about your product or service is a potential gold mine for your company and its growth. The important part is knowing when to listen to the customers and when and how to use their feedback to help your company become better. There are many different ways to accomplish this, and each one has a benefit. The input that you may need might depend on your company's current stage. It also could depend on the tools that you have to collect that information.
We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council for some insight on what to look for in customer feedback and how best to use it when it becomes available. What each approach had in common was leveraging a customer's willingness to offer information that could make the difference in a product becoming better or a product or service not evolving to be the best that it could be. Whether you choose to implement a handful of these suggestions or just one or two, you are bound to find a useful path toward better products and services and increased success.
1. Search Your Archive Of Customer Service Requests
For business owners, your archive of customer service requests is a treasure trove of new ideas. Here, you can find feedback that helps you improve existing products but also suggestions for completely new offerings your customers demand and can't find elsewhere. Take some time to identify the most common requests customers make about existing products and recurring problems they face so that you may develop solutions that alleviate their pain points. Customers also provide a perspective that you as a business owner might not have, giving you insight into new ways to innovate and deliver happiness. - Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep
2. Use Iterations And Control Groups
As founders, we tend to get caught up in our grand vision of what a product or feature should be, but that is all delusion. The truth is, everything in your head is a hypothesis that needs to be tested with raw feedback from the market you wish to serve. Without that, it may as well be useless. You need a system to capture that feedback consistently over time. This should be done at least monthly for early-stage startups and quarterly for growing startups. You can use phone surveys, web surveys like Survey Monkey or even in person feedback sessions with pizza and beer. You want customers to talk about the product and point out its flaws and their personal experiences in front of you as you take notes. You get to show you care and you can rapidly improve what you're building. It's a win-win. - Dan San, Meural
3. Don't Be Afraid To Say No
Believe me, customers will let you know when they dislike a feature or product. In my professional experience, I have received a never-ending stream of criticism, some more constructive than others. It can be demoralizing to see a massive amount of negative feedback, making it tempting to cave and adopt different features. In situations where you can afford to adopt these new changes, then do so by all means. However, if you've already invested so much of your finite resources into a product or service that is getting hate, it would be more cost-effective to push through. Pick your battles and know when and when not to respond to customer feedback; in some cases, customers don't even know they want something until you make it. - Bryce Welker, CPA Exam Guy
4. Add Feedback To The Product Building Process
When we get customer feedback on new feature ideas, changes or bugs we put them into a "need to prioritize" pipeline. If it's something new, a new story gets created for it by our customer service team. If it's a feature we had already added to our product backlog, then it gets pulled out and labeled "need to reconsider." Every week, our Product Manager makes sure to take all of this into consideration and adjusts our plans accordingly. Then we meet with him to get an update on those changes. Of course, not all feedback is good feedback, but we do keep tabs on those just in case someone else brings it up. Then we dig deeper and see if there's something there. We are aiming to build something our users will love and not just what we think they'll love. This process has really helped us out. - Adelaida Diaz-Roa, Nomo FOMO
5. Create A Customer Advisory Board
It's important to maintain a high level of connection with the people who we provide service to. Every week, I dine with a new group of current customers, answering questions about our brand, asking them what they want to see next, and what they think of our latest ideas for products. I take this general information back to the team, work on product ideas, and then get more specific feedback from our customer advisory board. On this board, we have power users that we can ask specific questions about features. But beware, power users are not always representative of who your normal customer is. People who are obsessed with your product may use it quite differently than the majority of your users who make up this revenue stream. Proceed with caution and trust your gut. - Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences
6. Follow Feedback When Possible
Your customers are the ones that pay your bills. One of the major downfalls in my companies has been when the personal interests of your marketing team or decision maker outweighs the direct feedback and demand of the customer. For example, you may be redesigning your website and would like a field of pretty flowers on the hero banner, but your customers would prefer to see an arrangement of flowers in your storefront. Your customer feedback is a direct answer to questions that will come up among your team when you’re strategizing on how to create this new product or feature. What’s being demanded the most, supply it. - Daniel Griggs, ATX Web Designs, LLC
7. Usability Test Your Product
It's always important to elicit feedback from customers. But so much potential feedback is lost long before the customer ever formulates his/her thoughts. If possible, it's well worth watching others use whatever product/service/website you offer. You may learn that your product is used in an unintended way, or that there are pain points that aren't well communicated. Visit some customers on their own terms (in their office, etc.) and just observe and take notes. If customers consistently use your product the "wrong" way, you'll probably want to rework your product. - Jacob Drucker, Supply Clinic
8. Utilize Great Tools
Make sure that you have tools in place so your customers can leave feedback in any way they choose. You should have a "contact us" link on your website, and it needs to be accessible via mobile. You also need social media accounts set up for that purpose as well. Also, having live chat and email address options available will help as well in order to better take feedback into account for your new product or feature. - Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
9. Leverage A User Experience Research Platform
It has never been less expensive or more accessible to get feedback from your target market. When we want feedback on how customers view newly launched features or to find out what features will better serve our customers, we use a service called UserTesting.com. The cost per user test is $49 and for this, you get to choose your target market, ask about 15 questions, and watch users as they interact with your website or application for about an hour. During the video results provided, you hear the tester answer your questions and talk through their thoughts and feelings regarding your product or service. The testers are reviewed on how helpful they are so you will find the results to be above and beyond expectations. Using this service, we've identified bugs, confusion points, and additions needed to further refine our service. We typically conduct five tests at a time for new products or features and the results have been amazing. - Brian Greenberg, True Blue Life Insurance, Inc
10. Create A Minimum Viable Product
One of the most effective development strategies to employ when building a new software product is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) technique. MVP means developing the bare minimum of features necessary to make your product of sufficient value for early adopters to be willing to use it. They can then provide valuable feedback regarding what features can be improved and which new ones should be developed. When developing using MVP, customer feedback is key to determining the direction your development will take. As such, it is extremely important to extract as much value as you can from your customer feedback. Early adopters are often surprisingly generous with their time when helping to develop a product they see potential in. Be proactive in ensuring their input doesn’t go to waste. - Thomas Smale, FE International
11. Focus On Long-Time Customers
In most cases, the success of a business is based on the strength of its long-term relationships with clients. Return and recurring business are the most important, and the reasons people come back are the most important to look at when creating your next product or feature. The best way to get this information from your customers is through a survey, perhaps with some discounts as an incentive. Find out from them what keeps them loyal to your company, and what makes them feel valued. These are the areas you really want to develop an expertise. - Adam Steele, Loganix
