Balancing user feedback with your own vision can be tricky, but it’s super important. I think of user feedback as a guide, not a rule. One time, I got a ton of requests to add a feature I wasn’t too keen on. Instead of adding it as they asked, I found a way to integrate the concept that still fit my vision. Users were happy because they felt heard, and I stayed true to what I wanted the product to be.
Hi Rupal,
Balancing user feedback with your vision is key. Here's how:
Stay True to Core Values: Keep your main vision intact to guide decisions.
Prioritize Feedback: Focus on feedback that aligns with your vision and adds significant value.
Test Iteratively: Implement changes in small steps to ensure they fit your vision.
Communicate Clearly: Explain your decisions to users to build trust.
@rupal_saini Great question! Based on my experience, here's what we do:
Early Access to Loyal Users: We let our most engaged users test new features before the general release. This helps us gather valuable feedback and makes our loyal users feel valued and involved in the development process.
In-App Notifications: We use in-app notifications to announce new features and updates where users are most engaged. This ensures they see the changes without leaving the app.
Email Newsletters: Regular emails keep our users informed about new features and improvements. We focus on how the updates benefit them, making the emails informative and valuable.
Validation Before Official Release: It's crucial to validate new features before promoting them widely. You can release a new feature to everyone but only actively promote it to your loyal users initially. This way, anyone who finds and uses the feature on their own is likely highly engaged and motivated, leading to more effective validation—up to 30 times more efficient.
I'll evaluate whether that feedback is relevant for our long-term product development. Sometimes feedback is only applicable in the short term, so it's important to choose wisely.
For example, my team and I are developing a networking platform (in addition to our talent platform, which allows users to search for jobs, build their resume and more). During the beta phase, some users suggested adding the job search function directly to the networking space. While this idea kinda made sense, it would detract from the true purpose of 'networking.' Therefore, we decided not to implement this feedback.
I think it's important to consider your long-term goal and take those feedback in with a grain of salt, you can't meet all users' expectations after all.
@rupal_saini I think it all comes back to the product's nature and team capacity. Like in the example I shared above, if any suggestions can highlight the networking function or make it easier for users to communicate, I'll consider it. But normally, I and my team will discuss it before adding it to our backlog. It's good to have more perspectives and to check if the team can build it.
Also, the most important thing is that we do things with an MVP spirit (this I adopted from my ceo @trantorliu), meaning that you simply have to try. This is especially true if you're a small team or startup, imo.
You can never meet every user's needs. When developing a product, it's crucial to stay focused on your positioning and not get sidetracked by individual user comments. However, if you receive a significant amount of feedback on the same issue, it's worth considering whether that feedback is valuable.
I think this is the hardest part of being a founder, at some point in your products growth if you want it to keep being for the people you built it for, you have to sort of hand ownership over to them.
But I also think you have to develop ways to consolidate types of feedback and find the bigger picture rather than paying attention to individual contributions!
I think we need to have an open mind about it, accept all feedback, list it down but also prioritize the ones that are aligned with your product vision (less complicated).
But then again, feedback is there for a reason.
As much as how we want our product to be loved by the users, based on how we develop it, there will also be things that users may want or need from your product, that you may have not thought about it beforehand.
Although it might be overwhelming, at the end of the day, make your product a mirror of your core. You can always do other products that serve other users' interest.
I believe in combining user feedback with my own vision to create a product that meets user needs while staying true to its original purpose. By listening to feedback and incorporating valuable suggestions, we can continuously improve and evolve the product to better serve our users. This collaborative approach ensures that we are meeting user expectations while staying committed to our product vision.
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Balancing user feedback with your product vision is like fine-tuning a recipe - you want to satisfy everyone's taste buds while still keeping the essence of your secret sauce intact! Just remember, feedback is the salt, not the main dish!
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