{"id":1192,"date":"2012-07-16T17:59:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T17:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2020-07-30T13:04:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T12:04:05","slug":"3-rules-for-customer-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/3-rules-for-customer-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"3 rules for customer feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gathering useful timely feedback from customers can be a long process. Intercom makes it faster and easier than ever before but just because it’s now easy to ask it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to waste your customers\u2019 time. Answering a question well is always tougher than asking it.<\/p>\n

When users take time to offer useful feedback, you have to consider what their experience is like. Usually it’s the ones who care most that take their time to send you thoughts and ideas. By ignoring them, you’re telling your best customers that you don’t care. Hardly what you set out to do. If you’re gathering feedback only to look<\/em> like you care, then ironically it just highlights that you don’t.<\/p>\n

The balancing act<\/h2>\n

Reading feedback is difficult. On one hand, you have to be willing to keep the faith and deliver on your vision<\/a>. On the other hand, if eleven people out of twelve are telling you that they need time tracking, then it\u2019s possible that your vision has a blind spot.<\/p>\n

1. You have to be ready<\/h2>\n
\"Does<\/div>\n

Never solicit feedback unless you\u2019re able to act on it. If nobody is available to start coding or designing within the foreseeable future, then you\u2019re not in a position to act.<\/p>\n

It feels constructive to run surveys, but if their only purpose is to make you feel busy, then you\u2019re fooling everyone. Feedback must result in action. Turning the feedback into a to-do list with no one responsible, or sticking it on a whiteboard of \u201cstuff to do someday, maybe\u201d is the equivalent of saying \u201cwhatever\u201d to your users. They won\u2019t be keen to talk you again.<\/p>\n

2. You have to be be open<\/h2>\n
\"Are<\/div>\n

If you only ever implement feedback that you immediately agree with, you probably don\u2019t need the feedback in the first place. For feedback to be useful, you must at least consider implementing changes you don\u2019t agree with. The whole idea is to solicit opinions that you didn\u2019t come up with yourself. How else will you discover your blind spots?<\/p>\n

A simple test to see if you\u2019re open to feedback is this: if lots of feedback asks for a feature or change you don’t like, will you discard it, or will you explore it? If it\u2019s the former, then you\u2019re not open minded\u2026 you just like playing with survey tools.<\/p>\n

3. You have to ask the right customers<\/h2>\n

All customers are not the same. All feedback is not equal. This is what all general surveys get wrong. They treat all customers equally, lumping a large customer with 20+ teammates in with a solo freelancer, and a 36 month veteran in with yesterdays sign-up.<\/p>\n