Qualitative vs Quantitative Feedback: The Ultimate Guide
Last updated on Thu Dec 19 2024
A business cannot achieve success without incorporating customer feedback. It is an important part of product delivery.
This process help to gain insights into customers' perspectives about your product. Qualitative and quantitative feedback are the kinds of customer feedback. A deep understanding of these terms will help you know how you can maximize them for your product’s success.
These terms are often used interchangeably. This article will make that easy! We will discuss their meaning, pros and cons, and how to collect both kinds of customer feedback.
What Is Customer Feedback for SaaS?
This is the information that customers provide based on their experience with your products. It consists of opinions, complaints, suggestions, thoughts, and insights customers share.
Allow customers to express their feelings about your product to be able to gain insights into their needs. If there is a need for adjustments to the product’s functionalities, you get to know.
Qualitative vs Quantitative Customer Feedback
The two basic kinds of customer feedback that can enhance success are qualitative and quantitative feedback.
What Is Qualitative Feedback?
Qualitative feedback involves the opinions, words, perceptions, and insights that are collected from customers. It is non-numerical, descriptive, and unquantifiable. The information provided is subjective and personal to the user.
It is how customers feel when they engage and interact with your product. Qualitative feedback does not rely on numbers or statistics but enables access to the inner feelings of the user. Qualitative feedback includes information via customer interviews, surveys, and questionnaires.
Pros:
Provides rich, in-depth, and detailed information about users' experiences.
It is descriptive, allowing users to express themselves.
A deeper understanding of users’ specific needs and goals.
Offers insights into users' pain points and how to resolve them.
It is flexible and personalized.
Cons:
Subjective and biased information.
It is time-consuming due to the bulk of the data.
It is labor and resource-intensive.
Difficulty measuring and comparing the information.
What Is Quantitative Customer Feedback?
Quantitative feedback is a kind of feedback that is numerical, measurable, and computational. It deals with numbers and quantities. All quantitative feedback can be statistically analyzed.
One key characteristic of this feedback is how objective it is. Sales numbers, production quotas, and other quantitative measures are evaluated.
Pros:
Fast data collection method.
Easy to compute, measure, and evaluate.
Information can be gathered from a large number of people.
Provides valuable insights quicker.
Objective and very precise
Cons:
It is not descriptive.
Customers cannot freely express their perspectives on the product.
Lack of contextual meanings
The information provided is not rich and detailed.
No in-depth understanding of customers' pain points and motivations.
How To Collect Qualitative Feedback
Now that we have a deep understanding of both kinds of feedback, the next step is adopting the right and effective methods. There are several methods of collecting qualitative feedback. Before deciding on the right one, be sure to define your goal. They are:
Customer Interviews
Interviews are questions that customers need to provide answers to. They could be unstructured, semi-structured, or structured. A good method of collecting valuable information is through customer interviews.
Although they can be time-consuming and tiring, especially when dealing with a large number of people. But it provides insights for data-driven products.
Interviews could be of three types:
Unstructured interview:
this type of interview consists of undefined questions. These sets of questions are not structured and formally put. They flow like everyday conversations.
Semi-structured interview:
It combines both the elements of unstructured and structured interviews. It gives room for flexibility in questions. Questions that are not written in the paper can be asked.
Structured interview:
This involves planned and predetermined questions. It is standardized, strict, formal, and close-ended. Explore more in our SaaS customer service guide
Focus Groups
This involves the gathering together of your most valuable customers to discuss some specific and relevant issues about your product. Focus groups help users share their opinions and perspectives.
You can get a generalized perception of your product when you bring customers together. During discussions and interactions, new insights are provided. Get a moderator that can manage the group and drive discussions efficiently.
Before you adopt this method, ensure that it aligns with your goals. Check out the top customer feedback tools to assist you.
Open-Ended Survey
This is one of the best methods of collecting feedback. Ask open-ended questions to allow your customers to express their thoughts, feelings, and views without constraints.
An open-ended survey can be done face-to-face, online, or on the telephone. It is a quick and fast method of gathering information.
Online Reviews and Social media
In the evolving landscape, online presence keeps increasing day by day. Get feedback from different social media platforms. People will always talk online.
So, they can always air their perception and view about your product. If properly maximized, you will get rich insights that can help enhance customer satisfaction.
Feedback Forms
Add feedback forms within your apps or website directly. When they are at different interactions and touchpoints, responses can be generated.
Although it is a passive method, it can prove effective. This way, you can make informed decisions about your product’s features and functionalities.
How To Collect Quantitative Feedback
Quantitative feedback allows for easy and quick collection of information. It is not as tedious as qualitative feedback. This is attributed to its numerical value.
Some of the methods to consider are:
Surveys and Questionnaires
Surveys and questionnaires as a method of quantitative data collection are useful. A high number of customer responses are collected using surveys and questionnaires. Examples include CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score), NPS (Net Promoter Score), CES (Customer Effort Score), etc.
Modern survey tools help you create surveys in an instant. Once it has been created, the next thing to do is to distribute it across different channels. Channels like emails, websites, SMS, in-apps, and others.
It is important to know the channel your customer spends most of their time for easy accessibility. Check out these types of customer research surveys.
Polls
When quicker decisions are to be made, polls should be used. Create a poll when urgent matters need to be addressed. You must have narrowed down your top choices and just need your customers’ votes.
In a few seconds, you collect the feedback and gain insights into their needs. Consider our feature request tools for a more organized collection.
Website Analytics
Website analytics can be used to know the performance of your customers. It practically shows you the journey of your customer on your product. Learn about website feedback tools for additional insights.
Ensure to use this method alongside any other method.
Which Kind of Feedback Should Be Collected?
Deciding what kind of customer feedback to collect for a seamless customer experience can be challenging. Do not worry. This choice largely depends on your business goals and resources.
Qualitative feedback is best when you want to have a comprehensive and deep understanding of your customers’ needs. If you want to make quick decisions about your product, adopt the quantitative approach. The above pros and cons in this article should also serve as a guide.
However, it is important to use a balanced approach for your product. Combining both qualitative and quantitative feedback is not a bad idea. You will get the best result for using both at the same time. Consider SaaS feedback strategies for more engagement.