Gathering Customer Feedback Strategies for Software Teams

Customers are an integral part of any organization, and central to business growth. SaaS companies in particular gain their success from meeting customer needs. Thus, customer feedback is a gemstone. With customer feedback, businesses gain an awareness of what customers need, providing direction for product development.

The problem is that not every customer shows a willingness to provide feedback. Businesses struggle to acquire meaningful feedback, with low responses becoming the status quo. This creates a challenge: Customer feedback is vital, but difficult to have.

Consequently, your software team needs an effective strategy to gather good feedback. This article offers some methods you can include after we understand customer feedback.

An Overview of Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is best explained as information customers provide on a product or service. In the context of SaaS, feedback exposes the thoughts of the software users. Through feedback, users state their opinions, complaints, appreciation, and suggestions for further growth. Every business that operates on a customer-centered model needs customer feedback.

There are different types of customer feedback:

• Direct feedback

  is the most popular form. Here, the business communicates directly with the customers through emails, calls, and other means.

• Indirect feedback

  is gotten from the user’s reviews and opinions on platforms like social media. It can also stem from informal conversations. However, it doesn't involve direct contact between the business and customers.

• Inferred feedback

  is more analytical. Here, the business gathers feedback by studying customer behavior and patterns.

Methods of Gathering Customer Feedback

The best strategies implement numerous methods to gather a variety of feedback. Do not be limited to one method; find creative ways to use these methods. Here are 7 of them:

Method 1: Quick Surveys

Surveys are one of the most frequently used tools for gathering feedback. They are also easy to develop and administer, providing data from several participants. Surveys address elements like how customers engage with your software, how the software can be improved, and customer satisfaction.

Surveys cannot be long and should not consist of more than ten simple questions. They should be brief, covering all aspects to motivate the participant. In addition, write the questions according to your objectives. Collect both quantitative and qualitative data through open- and close-ended questions. Quantitative data provides surface-level information, while qualitative data brings more details.

There are various kinds of surveys such as Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Customer Effort Score (CES), and Net Promoter Score (NPS). We would consider the last one as a separate method.

Method 2: Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The Net Promoter Score determines how ready customers are to recommend your software. It revolves around a simple question: “How likely are you to recommend this product on a scale of 1 to 10?” The Net Promoter Score measures customer loyalty.

There exist three categories of NPS scales. Detractors are the most dissatisfied and are likely to defect to a competitor. Passives (7-8) are comfortable but may not endorse. Promoters score the highest and are your loyal customers (9-10). Your NPS is calculated by the difference between promoters and detractors. High NPS means a high level of customer satisfaction, while low NPS reflects a need for changes.

NPS is collected through a variety of sources, such as email, links, and in-app questions.

Method 3: Social Media

Social media is useful for all forms of customer feedback, from direct to inferred. Direct feedback can be gathered through polls, surveys, and direct messages to your loyal customer base. Use different social media platforms to gain a rich tapestry of responses. Examples include LinkedIn, Facebook, and TikTok.

For indirect feedback, monitor social media conversations, user reviews, tagging your software, and relevant comments. Social media monitoring grants you access to unfiltered communication, offered in real-time. The benefit is obvious. People tend to be more open when they don’t feel supervised. Some monitoring tools are Sprout, Brandwatch, Keyhole, and Mention.

Inferred feedback on social media measures Click Through Rates (CTR), likes, shares, comments, and even hashtags. It analyzes users’ online sentiments on the software, also free of biases.

Method 4: Support Calls or Chats

Support calls or chats are other avenues to gather feedback, especially for bug fixes and other technical problems. Users contact customer service to report problems, granting an opportunity to collect useful feedback. Simple, open-ended questions do the trick.

Support calls and chats require trained agents with communicative skills, ready to diffuse tension and encourage the individual to provide additional feedback. The feedback collected during customer support interaction serves as a basis for improvement. An alternative approach is to prepare a short survey after the call or chat. Some customers may feel on edge with verbal communication, preferring written. A good rule of thumb is to allow users to make the feedback choice.

Method 5: Customer Advisory Board

A customer advisory board is made up of customers who act as advisors for a business. Businesses create this board from their more loyal customers, who they gather for a meeting based on customer feedback. Each customer on a customer advisory board offers their thoughts on the software and the business at large.

The customer advisory board is often small, with around 12 members or a bit less. These customers should be highly engaging and also know your software. Choose customers who have already dropped feedback before. From this board, expect detailed conversations and productive feedback. You can spice things up with incentives.

Method 6: In-App Feedback

In-app feedback has risen in popularity, mainly due to its accessibility. It enables users to drop suggestions without exiting the app, making the process easy. People are likely to give feedback when the process is easy, making in-app feedback more of an advantage.

Several tools within the app serve as avenues for feedback. One example is the in-app chat where users communicate with developers. Another tool is the feedback form, an avenue for users to drop their ideas. Lastly, the change log contains new information users can comment on.

Method 7: Feedback Rewards

If the feedback response is slower than you expect, consider adding some rewards as incentives. Rewards are meant to encourage and benefit both parties. Be creative with your rewards. The more appealing it is, the more users will respond. Rewards also increase the bond between users and the brand. Some rewards include gift cards, tagging as “Product Expert”, gift cards, and early access to new features.

Method 8: Casual Conversations

Casual conversations take the pressure off the feedback process, allowing users to be expressive in an informal setting. The feedback quality differs too. In casual conversations, users tend to be more expressive. That said, casual conversations should not be random. Your representatives should ask purposeful, open-ended questions to get the best answers. Have these conversations in a relaxed environment, like a café.

Method 9: Tracking Tools

Tracking tools are also called analytics tools. They collect inferred feedback, monitoring how customers interact with the software without any communication from the users. Tracking tools detect any navigating difficulties, the features users prefer, and what the next update should include.

Tracking tools are important, but partner them with other methods to avoid assumptions.

Method 10: Updates and Changelogs

The feedback process continues after you’ve gathered data. Users gain more confidence with proof that their opinions matter. Communicate product updates to keep them involved in the process, and note the improvement their feedback brought.

Conclusion

Customer feedback promotes a better understanding of customer needs. Customers switch to partners as they provide insights, creating a community of enthusiastic users who willingly rate 5 stars and recommend the product to others. Use different methods, and be sure to think outside the box!