How do you get meaningful user feedback if your product is free?
I’ve launched a free tool for career exploration in tech (AI-powered, no sign-up needed).
Users try it, but very few leave feedback.
What’s worked for you to gather early signals without forcing people to fill long forms or hop on calls?
I’d love to improve the experience but don’t want to nag users.
Replies
Start with a feedback form that has just 3 multiple choice questions & tell upfront that the survey has only 3 multiple choice questions taking 20 seconds. Take if from there. Getting feedback is extremely tough -- so you are not alone.
minimalist phone: creating folders
It would be great at least to ask for their email address in the first phase when you want to receive any feedback, to have contact to ask them directly via DM or ask 2 or 5 people to jump on a call and ask them to use your tool sharing the screen so you can understand how they "comprehend" you UX/UI etc.
The key is making feedback feel valuable to them, not just you. Here's some tips.
Micro-feedback at the right moments:
- Single question pop-ups right after they get a result: "Was this helpful? Yes/No"
- If they click No, immediately ask "What would make this better?" (while they're still engaged)
Make it feel like beta testing:
- "You're one of our first 100 users - mind sharing what you'd change?"
- People love being early adopters and having input
Incentivize without being pushy:
- "Leave feedback and get early access to our next feature"
- Or offer a small bonus (extra analysis, PDF export, etc.)
Use behavior as feedback:
- Track where people drop off - that's feedback
- See which features get ignored - also feedback
- Heat maps and session recordings tell you what surveys can't
Make it conversational:
- Instead of "Rate your experience 1-10", ask "What surprised you most about your results?"
The best feedback often comes from the 5% who are genuinely excited about what you built. Focus on making it easy for those people to speak up rather than trying to squeeze feedback from everyone.
What type of career exploration does your tool do? Might have some specific ideas based on the use case.