Pocket-Sized Guide to Understanding the Basics of Feedback

Be it a CEO of a large enterprise in a posh office, or a small business owner working from a cozy corner of their house; their top concern is retaining and acquiring customers. And this concern has only one long-term solution, feedback.

Feedback has so many use cases. But, many businesses struggle to understand how to utilize it properly. So, here’s a guide to help you out.

What is feedback?

Feedback is an account of a user’s experience with a product or service that highlights product improvements, scope for innovation, and the aspects that have found product-market fit. It is a quantitative and qualitative measure of how a product or service meets user expectations and requirements.

Working on feedback helps improve your product and align with user needs. It also gives you inspiration for additions based on user expectations.

Moreover, asking users for their opinions makes them feel heard. And when you implement the changes they suggest, they know their opinion matters here. This increases loyalty and retention.

When a customer appreciates or compliments a business in their feedback, it gives potential customers confidence. Deciding to choose you becomes easy based on the feedback.

Types of feedback

There are two types of feedback we can receive. It can either tell us what is working or what isn’t.

Positive feedback

Positive feedback highlights the qualities and successful aspects of a product or service. It shows what customers like about you. Positive feedback is the strongest social proof you have.

This type of feedback is helpful in marketing, development, and building a brand image. Due to positive feedback, you know what is appealing to the customers.

Therefore, you know what you are promoting in your marketing campaigns. You know what needs to stay because it has acceptance from your users. And, this positive feedback becomes your testimonials which you can flaunt.

Negative feedback

Negative feedback shows the areas of improvement for a product. It conveys what is not up to user expectations.

Negative comments are not always conveyed in the best way. They can also bring up unpleasant emotions. But the truth is, they will tell us exactly what to fix in our product.

Negative feedback is just as important, if not more, than positive feedback. That’s because it shows us the way to grow and fit user needs.

Check out some of the negative feedback we have received that has helped us grow and refine our product.

How to use positive and negative feedback

Let us check out actionable tips on how we can use both positive and negative feedback.

How to utilize positive feedback

• Use it to know what is good and can become better. It also helps you understand the right direction for your product. So, share it with your team, and include it in your development strategies.
• Showcase it on social media. Create a Wall of Love with all the positive feedback you have. Share this on different social channels. Make your brand more trustworthy by showing endorsements from current customers.
• Make your website more convincing with positive comments from your users. It elevates the impact of your entire site. Let your users tell your visitors why they need to choose you instead of you telling them. Also, having reviews on your sites will increase conversions.
• Make positive comments a part of your marketing content. Use feedback specific to features while promoting it.
• Positive reviews are a huge motivator for your team. Share them regularly to let them know their work makes a difference.

How to handle negative feedback

Receiving negative feedback is inevitable. Hence, it is important to embrace it and work on it.

• Don’t be afraid to let people know you are not perfect. In fact, today people question the authenticity of a business if they have no negative reviews.
• Answer each and every negative review you receive with care and politeness. Let them know you will work on making it better. Share your progress with them to let them know you’re fixing it. This helps in retaining your customers.
• Moreover, if you receive a negative review on a public platform like Google or Trustpilot, your response is a deciding factor for people to choose you.
• Collect the data of all negative reviews and list down all the fixes you need to make. Prioritize based on how many people it inconveniences. Use it to create your roadmap. This ensures that updates will make your product more in sync with customer’s requirements.

Final words

Feedback is the most basic step each business has to take to understand their users and provide them value. Theirs is the opinion that matters the most. So, make sure that you check in with your users regularly. Don’t just collect feedback. Iterate on it and ask for feedback again. This ensures that your business stays up to date with the current needs of your users.