Uncover the art of handling SaaS feedback on social media and forums.
Elevate your strategy to harness user input for business growth and customer satisfaction.
This guide is your key to refining your approach to SaaS feedback management.
1. Monitor your online presence
Regularly monitor your business' presence on forums and social media to stay up-to-date on customer feedback or comments.
This can help you identify trends and recurring issues that need to be addressed.
Some tools can help you monitor. For example, for Twitter, you can use the free tool Warble.
Warble is a tool that allows you to receive emails with tweets that match specific search criteria you set. You can use it to stay up to date on important topics, track mentions of your brand or handle on Twitter.
2. Respond promptly
When receiving product feedback online, responding as quickly as possible is essential. This is what you would normally do with messages received on like Facebook Messenger too.
Promptly responding to feedback is vital for:
- Enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Addressing issues before escalation, avoiding negative reviews or churn.
- Identifying problems swiftly, improving user experience and satisfaction.
- Establishing trust, reinforcing the company-customer relationship.In essence, quick feedback responses ensure customer contentment, issue resolution, and product enhancement.
3. Acknowledge the feedback
Even if you cannot address a specific issue or concern, it's essential to acknowledge the feedback and thank the customer for bringing it to your attention. This can build trust and improve the customer's experience with your business.
A. The process to record the feedback
The best way to ensure that feedback is not falling through the cracks and that you forget about this customer is to add their input in ProductLift.
1. Add the feedback
Enter the information about the feedback (such as bug information or feature information) inside of ProductLift.
ProductLift will return a link you can share later with the user. Here they can track any progress or updates themselves.
2. Add the reference to this social media post or forum thread
You use references to keep track of feedback locations, e.g., a Tweet, forum post, or online review. We don't have their email address so we can't automatically inform them about updates. However, we can do this manually. Later on, we will go back to the original location and let people know that the new feature is ready.
Note that if you have their email address, you could vote on their behalf. ProductLift automatically invites them and adds their vote to the post.
3. Add a comment that you added it to your wish list
Your wish list is a location where users can upvote the features they desire.
B. Respond
Reply to the user on the online location and tell them that you take them seriously. Make sure to share the link to the post on ProductLift so the user can view progress at any time.
Remember that more users and potential customers will read the forum or social media so they know where to go for updates.
Sample reply
Here is a sample message you can use to thank someone for their feedback:
Dear [Name],
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide feedback on our [product/service].
I just added this request to [product/service]'s wish list. New integrations and features are being planned and built from that wishlist. We will look at the number of votes an idea has and prioritize based on that.
You can follow progress on your feature request on this page: [link to the created post]
When you vote on that page for your request, you are automatically kept up to date.
Thank you again for your valuable feedback.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Reply when the feedback is already in your portal
Often, people give similar feedback. This is useful to know because it means it is more important.
When the feedback already exists, you can alter the message a bit.
We use something like:
Dear [Name],
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide feedback on our [product/service].
This request is on our wish list. New integrations and features are being planned and built from that wishlist. We will look at the number of votes an idea has and prioritize based on that.
Make sure to upvote the post. Then you will get automatic emails to keep up to date about the progress.
Thank you again for your valuable feedback.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
4. Use the feedback to improve your product
Take the time to carefully review and consider the feedback you receive and use it to inform product development and decision-making. This can help you improve the quality and satisfaction of your product for your customers.
You should not only listen to your customers. You should build a product vision and add new features that fit into the picture.
For this, you can use the Prioritization Matrix in ProductLift.
It helps you to visually identify which features are the best to work on next.
5. Follow up with customers
If you have addressed a specific issue or concern a customer raises, it's a good idea to follow up with them to inform them that their feedback was heard and acted upon. This can help to improve the customer's experience further and build loyalty.
You have multiple moments where it does make sense to follow up:
- Planning the feature on your roadmap
- Asking follow-up questions about the feedback
- Finishing the work and adding it to your changelog
5.1 Planning the feature on your roadmap
A. Update the status of the post
People are hoping you add the desired feature. And as this is now planned, it is good to let them know.
You should update the status of the feature in ProductLift. ProductLift will then automatically email all of them with this great news.
With the status update, you automatically move the feature to your roadmap (in the correct column).
It is great that you use it directly in two locations:
- With the post in the comments
- On the roadmap
B. Update people online
The initial feedback came from a Tweet, so you want to inform people on Twitter about the great news. They will be amazed that you remembered to tell them.
Check the references
You saved the references in the earlier steps, and now you can easily see where you need to go to update people.
Sample reply
Here is a sample message you can use after you plan the feature on your roadmap:
Dear [Name],
Thank you again for your feedback on our [product/service].
We have planned this feature on our roadmap for Q3. This means that we will start working on this soon.
I will let you know here when the feature is ready!
You can follow the progress on your feature request on this page: [link to the created post].
Thank you again for your helpful feedback.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
5.2 Asking follow-up questions about the feedback
You may have further questions or want to test some design options before delivering the feature.
In this case, it depends on whether you want to go back online to Twitter or elsewhere to ask the question.
It could be enough to ask your question on ProductLift and let people answer there.
5.3 Finishing the work and adding it to your changelog
A. Update the status of the post
People are hoping you add the desired feature. As you did so, now it is time to let them know.
You should update the status of the feature in ProductLift. You can directly add an email to all followers, and ProductLift will automatically email all of them with this great news.
With the status update, you automatically move the feature to your changelog.
You can add a comment with a nice changelog-like description of what is done.
It is great that you use it directly on two locations:
- With the post in the comments
- On the changelog
Tag a comment
Click tag for Changelog (so this comment will be used on the changelog)
Comments list
This is what it looks like on the feature comments:
Changelog
This is what it looks like on the Changelog (you can adjust this design to your liking).
B. Update people online
The initial feedback came from a Tweet, so you want to inform people on Twitter about the great news. They will be amazed that you remembered to inform them.
Check the references
You saved the references in the earlier steps, and now you can easily see where you need to go to update people.
Sample reply
Here is a sample message you can use after the feature is ready:
Dear [Name],
Thank you again for your feedback on our [product/service].
We just updated our product and incorporated your feedback.
[Add here unique information about how the feature works]
You can read more details about this feature on this page [link to the post in ProductLift or your documentation].
Sincerely,
[Your name]
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Conclusion
Overall, it's vital to approach product feedback received online with an open mind and a willingness to listen and improve.
By actively engaging with customers and using their feedback to inform product development, you can create a better experience for your customers and improve the overall success of your business.
