Amazing products are not built without well-planned feedback and implementation. When you are operating in the SaaS industry, you have to ensure that you fulfill the needs of your customers. 

But here’s a dilemma, how can you tell what issues your audience is facing and what they are looking for in your offerings? Well, the answer to these questions is simple, just ask them! And this is what we call product feedback. 

Product Feedback allows you to understand what your customers want from your product and what they consider a great solution to resolve their issues. It helps you make sure that your products are aligned with your customer’s expectations and requirements.

For this reason, to help you develop an outstanding product and outshine what your customers are looking forward to, in this article, I’ll tell you in-depth information about what product feedback is, the types of product feedback, and how to obtain insightful feedback from your audience.

On top of that, I’ll also talk about how you can implement the feedback into the development process to ensure the end product best matches your audience’s needs. 

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What is product feedback?

Product feedback, as the name suggests, revolves around gathering useful details about what your customers think about your product along with the issues it was able to handle. Additionally, you ask them if there are any features they want to see included and how their experience has been in utilizing it. 

This feedback is important to gauge the expectations of your customers and tweak your product to better fit their needs. You can also use this feedback to inform your customer-facing staff for effective handling of queries and deliver a customer-first experience. 

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Various kinds of product feedback

Since there are various stages in the product development journey, product feedback also varies accordingly. This feedback offers different kinds of insights, allowing you to optimize every aspect of your product. That being said, here are some of the product feedback types:

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Feature requests

Asking for feedback from users about particular functionalities is a great way to design a product that helps them address their issues. These requests will allow you to make future plans regarding the development of the product while ensuring relevance to your customers’ expectations. 

Product feature requests also let you improve on your product in case you left a feature that would otherwise be a good addition to it. If you keep getting requests for a particular feature to be included, you get an idea that many people are looking forward to it and you should implement it firsthand for better product utilization. 

UX feedback

Another aspect that differentiates a good product from a great one is user experience. The ability of users to utilize a product effectively can greatly reduce churn rates and allow you to retain customers for a long time. 

On top of that, understanding how hard it is to use the product can enable your developers to enhance the product experience while ironing out any complexities in making the most of the product. Some common UX feedback includes surveys and interaction metrics to measure how users are interacting with the product.  

Bug reports

No matter how good a product is, it is bound to have some bugs or technical glitches. So collecting bug reports is also considered a type of product feedback that allows you to improve the functionality and reliability of your product. 

You can include a bug report feature within the product, making it easy for users to immediately submit a report should they come across a bug. 

NPS surveys

NPS, or Net Promoter Score is a metric to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. By asking your customers a set of questions, you can determine the probability of current users to continue utilizing your product. 

From time to time evaluation and constant tracking of your NPS, you can monitor how customers feel toward your product and implement proactive measures or timely updates to build a loyal customer base.

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How to collect product feedback?

After learning about what product feedback is and the types of product feedback, it’s now time to dive into the process of gathering the said feedback. However, that is easier said than done. Asking for product feedback from your customers can lead to a lot of complaints or suggestions that might seem too much to handle at the moment. But that is not the case. 

Having said that, let’s look at the ways to gather feedback starting with unsolicited feedback. 

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Unsolicited product feedback

Unsolicited product feedback refers to reviews that your customers leave on public websites. For example, product review websites like Trustpilot, G2, or Capterra. This feedback is not directly asked by you but users are leaving for the sake of expressing their experience with others, helping potential customers understand the features of the product.

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Social media reviews and posts are also great examples of unsolicited product feedback. Your users can leave valuable feedback on how to improve your product. Reviews shared on popular app stores like Play Store and App Store allow you to gauge how well your product is liked by people and what they expect you to enhance further. 

The problem with this kind of feedback is that it’s difficult to take actionable steps based on it. Since these reviews vary a lot, you first have to compile them in a sheet and create a checklist based on which problem is reported the most amount of time. 

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Solicited product feedback

Next is the solicited product feedback, where you reach out to users and ask them to provide their honest feedback on what they think about your product. These feedbacks are more personalized as you can ask tailored questions to help you get targeted feedback about a specific feature or functionality. 

There are numerous ways to connect with users and gather their feedback effectively. Some of the most common ones are:

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Product surveys

Conducting surveys and sending out questionnaires is the easiest way to collect customer feedback. Crafting a tailored set of questions enables you to gain insights into particular aspects of your product, be it user experience, product functionality, or ease of use. 

To create these surveys, you can use free tools like Google Forms to capture and record the responses. However, if you want a personalized form solution to build eye-catching, modern forms that are fun to interact with, Zixflow Forms is the perfect software for your needs. 

The forms made with Zixflow are highly customizable and you can share them as an individual landing page, add them as a chatbot in your website or product, or send them as a modern form to display one question at a time. 

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User interviews

Unlike surveys where you ask your users to submit their responses, user interviews are great to have one-on-one conversations with them, letting you gain an even deeper understanding of their expectations. The difference between a questionnaire and an interview is that you can be much more versatile with your questions and ask users to elaborate in-depth about a particular function of the product. 

In order to conduct user interviews, you can reach out to your customers or hire beta testers who specialize in product development to give you exact information about what you are doing well and what needs further improvement. 

Since interviews require more time from your users in comparison to filling out a survey, giving them some sort of reward or incentive will increase participation. Plus, the users will appreciate that you are valuing their time, allowing you to build solid connections with them in the long run. 

Utilizing customer service tickets

Every time a customer submits a support ticket, you gain meaningful information about your product. These tickets help you identify what type of problems the customers are facing and which aspect of the product requires more attention. 

By having a discussion with your support teams, you can get comprehensive details about customer complaints. Going over service tickets, support history, and call logs to figure out which kinds of problems are occurring frequently and take appropriate steps to ensure the reliability of your product. 

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Evaluating product feedback to improve your product

It won’t mean anything if you don’t use the feedback you have received to improve your product. Also, seeing that you haven’t implemented the feedback that your users have provided, might hurt your credibility since your users spend their time submitting a survey or participating in an interview. 

So, now it’s time to learn how to analyze your feedback and utilize it to make improvements. 

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Fixing immediate issues first

If users are reporting a major problem that can affect the overall functionality of the product, then you have to resolve it as soon as possible. It is crucial that your development team gets on top of these urgent problems and ensure continued usage of the platform. 

Time-to-time updates

All the feedback you receive from your customers doesn’t usually result in immediate action from your end. Feedback like feature requests or bug fixes takes time to implement. So, make sure that you provide constant updates to your products. 

A company that does it great is Apple. Apple has a dedicated page containing in-depth information about each product update they made to its iOS. This way customers can see whether their feedback has been implemented or not and keep them informed about the new features of the product.

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Create a roadmap for fresh features

Since users are expecting new, improved features from your end, it’s a great idea to create a roadmap to accommodate streamlined product development. 

Having a planned process for the developing phase allows your team to work on the product features seamlessly and ensure completion without any delays. 

For example, Microsoft used the product feedback to make major modifications to Windows 8. Customers were not happy with the initial user experience, and Microsoft had to release an update, changing many features after two years.

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Make the most of the product feedback and elevate your product to the next level

Gathering and acting on product feedback is an essential practice for any business striving to grow and innovate. It allows you to stay connected with your users' needs, identify areas for improvement, and create products that truly help your audience. 

Whether through direct surveys, customer reviews, social media listening, or in-app feedback tools, it is important to consistently encourage open communication with your audience.

By learning from real-world examples like Apple or Microsoft, you can see how valuable feedback translates into successful product development. 

Remember, feedback is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. The key to success lies in actively listening and making iterative improvements that build trust among your users.

Incorporate feedback into your product development lifecycle, and you will not only improve your product but also strengthen your relationship with your customers, driving long-term success.