How to ask for product feedback

Let’s kick this blog about product feedback off with explaining what we mean (in this case) when we talk about product. As you are probably aware, Product Managers, Product Marketeers, and Product specialists are job titles that you might need to explain to your friends and families at those birthday parties… and if you work in software, the explaining can be even harder.

As Product Manager you act as the voice of the customer in the organisation, and you make sure that that’s reflected in the strategy, goals, objectives, and communications. Obviously you don’t do that all by yourself, but you collaborate with different teams, like development, marketing, sales and support. As product marketeer you are closer to the communications, as product specialist, like an UXer, closer to the development of the product.

So, when we talk about ‘product’, we’re basically talking about what your company is selling. At Mopinion, we sell amazing feedback software, and we have three ‘products’:

• Mopinion for Web
• Mopinion for App
• Mopinion for Email

As you can enter all products via the same feedback platform, we have a rather small product team. But if you are a company like Amazon, you will have a huge number of products to market, so the product team will be equally huge.

With the basics cleared up, it’s time to answer the main question of this blog: ‘How to ask for feedback?’ And as usual, we will clear things up along the way!

The importance of feedback in product development

Let’s be frank: feedback only works if you’re actually communicating with customers in a way that works for them. That means being open to hearing their thoughts, whether they’re positive or negative, and using that feedback to make improvements.

And it’s not just about collecting feedback – it’s about communicating effectively with customers. You need to make it easy for them to share their thoughts, and then take the time to really listen and understand what they’re saying. By doing so, you’ll be able to create products that truly meet their needs and desires.

Plus, when you have that kind of open communication with customers, they’ll be more likely to feel invested in your brand and products. So don’t be afraid to open up those lines of communication – you never know what kind of amazing ideas and insights your customers might have! Just make sure not to overwhelm them with a gazillion of feedback forms and surveys. Pick the right moments in their journey. Talking about that, we wrote ‘A Guide to Collecting Product Feedback’ that clears that up.

Why Ask for Product Feedback?

Recently, we showed you that there are so many great examples on what questions you could ask for product feedback. But why should you?

Let’s say, just like us, you are in software development. Delivering an exceptional user experience is paramount. Once a product is launched, the work of improving it begins. But where should you start, and how can you ensure you’re making the right improvements?

While built-in trackers, heat mapping software, and other bulk data collection tools provide valuable information, they don’t provide the full picture. It’s important to understand the “why” behind the data to make informed decisions about improvements. This is where product feedback comes in.

It can be frustrating to experience user drop-offs, bugs, or less-than-expected results from a product or release. Gathering feedback from users can help identify pain points, areas for improvement, and opportunities for growth. So, if you want to truly optimize your product, don’t forget to collect and analyse feedback from your users!

There are lots of benefits of asking for feedback within your product, these are the main ones:

When to Ask for Product Feedback

Timing is crucial when it comes to asking for product feedback. If you ask for feedback too early, users may not have had enough time to fully explore and interact with your product and think you are annoying. But if you ask for feedback too late, you might miss out on important insights that could have helped improve the product earlier… Oh, snap!

One good time to ask for feedback is after users have completed a task or used a specific feature. This allows you to get their thoughts while the experience is still fresh in their minds.

For example, if you’re developing a project management tool, you might ask for feedback after a user has completed a project or task. This way, you can learn what worked well and what could be improved for future projects. You could use your jobs-to-be-done framework to plan feedback.

Another opportune time to gather feedback is after a new release or update. This gives users a chance to test out the new features and provide feedback on any bugs or issues they encounter. It’s important to note that not all feedback will be positive – users may encounter bugs or have suggestions for improvement. But by asking for feedback, you show your users that you care about their experience and are committed to making improvements.

It’s also a good idea to consider the frequency of feedback requests. While it’s important to gather feedback regularly, bombarding users with too many requests can be overwhelming and annoying. For example, you actually want to be notified for bugs all the time, so you could leave a passive form behind a feedback button visible all the time.

One approach could be to ask for feedback periodically, such as once a quarter, or after major releases. NPS is a great metric to measure periodically. You can also offer incentives or rewards for users who provide feedback, such as access to exclusive content or discounts on future products. Ultimately, the goal is to strike a balance between getting enough feedback to make informed decisions and not overwhelming users with requests.

So, don’t be afraid to ask for feedback – it’s a crucial part of the software development process. Just be sure to do it at the right times and in the right way to ensure you get the insights you need to create an exceptional user experience.

Active vs. Passive surveys in product development

Briefly mentioned before, passive forms. How they differ from active forms? Well its bit stating the obvious. Active feedback forms are forms that require users to actively engage and provide feedback. These forms are often presented in a pop-up or modal window, and users are asked to provide their thoughts on specific aspects of the product or experience. For example, you might ask users to rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 5, or provide written feedback on a specific feature.

Passive feedback forms are not actively requesting feedback from users. Like the bug example, that form gets only active after a user clicks on the feedback button.

There are other ways to collect passive feedback, like with bulk analytics (like MixPanel), or heatmapping (like SmartLook), but they will not give you the qualitative feedback that you will get from a feedback form or survey.

Let's see how software company Meister does it

A great example on how to use feedback in the at various stages of product development is software company. After implementing Mopinion, they saw an increase of 20% in satisfaction in certain areas.

Read their story

How to Ask for Product Feedback

This brings us to the nitty-gritty of this blog: How to ask for Product Feedback. There are multiple ways to do it, to get quality feedback:

Feedback Forms (you guessed it!)

• Quick and easy
• High response
• Keep them short!

Surveys

• Longer
• Lower response rate
• You can ask more than with Feedback Forms

Focus Groups

• Take some time to set up
• Great in depth information
• Sometimes bias, as usually your ambassadors are in these groups

User Testing

• Same as focus groups, but usually one-to-one

Social Media

• People tend to tell their story on social media and review pages. Always good to monitor
• People might provoke each other
• Takes a lot of time to monitor

We already explained what the best questions to ask product feedback are, but what we didn’t explain is the need for clear and unambiguous questions. For example:

“Can you tell us what you think about the product?”

This question is too general and doesn’t provide any specific context for the user to provide feedback. Users may not know where to start or what aspects of the product to focus on.

“What do you like and dislike about the product?”

This question is a bit more specific than the previous one, but still lacks context. Users may struggle to identify specific likes and dislikes without more guidance.

“Is there anything you would change about the product?”

This question is a bit more specific than the previous two, but still open to interpretation. Users may provide feedback on a wide range of topics, making it difficult to identify specific areas for improvement.

“How can we make the product better?”

This question is very open-ended and may elicit a wide range of responses, some of which may not be practical or feasible.

How to do it?

• Keep it short
• Be specific
• Use a mix of question types
• Test your survey and form
• Personalise your survey and form
• Offer an incentive (with longer surveys)
• Follow up

Take your product to the next level

Congratulations! You’re now armed with all the product feedback questions you need to take your product to the next level. With these tips and tricks, you can become a feedback-pro and start collecting valuable insights from your users. And if you feel like you need some extra help, don’t worry – there are tools available to make the process a breeze. Take, for instance, Mopinion – a feedback software that can assist you in collecting and analysing user and product feedback with ease.

Remember, gathering feedback is not just a checkbox on your to-do list – it’s a continuous process that can help you create a product your customers will love. By utilizing different question types, analysing data, and taking action on feedback, you can ensure that your product is the best it can be.

So, don’t wait any longer! Start gathering feedback today and take your product to new heights. With the right feedback, you can create a product that truly stands out and meets the needs of your customers.