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NotesbyHugh

How do you talk with your existing users?

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Forms? Email? Chatbox? Jump on the phone? We're currently trying to gather feedback from our users to improve our product but are unsure of the best way to go about it. I personally find it annoying when companies constantly send me emails asking to provide feedback on my experience (who has the time!). So trying to be mindful of my own preferences when reaching out to our own customers. Any advice is appreciated!

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Arda Bayram
I prefer sending emails to loyal customers e.g. a user who completed 5 or more transactions. They usually accept your video call offer. Also, offering a small gift like a $10 Amazon Gift Card might accelerate the process.
NotesbyHugh
@arda_bayram great point - frequent users of the product have an interest in providing feedback as they can request features they want. Gift cards are a great add. For the solo creator or early-stage entrepreneur, it can be a costly move though?
Dawn Veltri
@arda_bayram @hugh_dawkins I do the same but usually send the gift card before I ask them for a feedback call.
NotesbyHugh
@arda_bayram @dawn_veltri1 upfront value! How often do you do ask for feedback?
Arda Bayram
@hugh_dawkins It can be costly at some point. If your main currency is US$, I believe you can afford 20x $20 Amazon Cards or so. Believe me it will worth it :)
Kavya
Totally agree with you Hugh! Getting emails from companies can be annoying. In fact, we tried sending emails to our users via Hubspot. All we received in return was 'unsubscribe'. What has worked better for us is reaching out to handpicked users on a personal level - either via Twitter DMs or emails. We speak to them on a very specific case and ask them to share their thoughts on a new feature we released or overall ease of use etc. We also embedded a free Hubspot chat on our landing page. But this is mainly for the users to reach us (not the other way around). Hope this helps!
NotesbyHugh
@k_j1 thanks for sharing - that's super helpful! I like the method of reaching out to a handpicked group. Going to give it a go! Embedding HS chat is a great add too - we use Crisp atm.
Elena Cirera
@k_j1 Email from companies could be annoying, but if emails are stuffed with something for customers' benefit, I think customers will not be annoyed.
Alina Ihnatiuk
I use chatbots or email
NotesbyHugh
@antonovna How do you find the response rate on email?
Elena Cirera
@antonovna The chatbot is fast and autonomous; it has its benefits. I think emails and calls are a personalized way to create a relationship with customers.
Ira GI
email
NotesbyHugh
@ira_gi do you find you can gather meaningful feedback via email?
Elena Cirera
E-mail is a good option, but it is even better to create a community of your existing users. To keep them engaged with your product, offer something exclusive for them, I mean some special offers and promotions.
NotesbyHugh
@elena_cirera yes love this! What platforms are you using to host the community? Slack?
Luka Kankaras
what type of feedback you want to collect? only suggestions? Depending on the type of feedback & the size of the audience depends the medium and the messaging you will use. -If you want to collect something specific, e.g. to measure CSAT or NPS, and ask for suggestions afterwards, you might have a specific pop-up showing up after a certain action is completed (more aggressive approach). On another hand, if you want to collect suggestions, bugs, general feedback over time, you can have a feedback button on the screen, allowing users to submit feedback whenever they feel like it (less aggressive), or embed a feedback form somewhere in-product. -An advice for emails - avoid sending purely time-based emails (low response rate), and with the lack of context, people think it's automated. In our case, action-based emails worked so far (e.g. action-based = celebrating wins, such as reaching one of the AHA moments). -Research calls are valuable and you should do them, but they are not scalable, especially if you are a bootstrapped startup. On the other hand, as a reward, we usually offer Amazon vouchers. Hope this helps.