This morning in the always fast-paced tweet chat run by Buffer, an interesting topic came up that I feel is often overlooked by community builders and brands. The subject of the conversation was Nir Eyal‘s Hook Model, which essentially helps brands build habit-forming products.
A question was raised concerning how to figure out the current pain points of users of a platform or product, and the number one answer, of course, was to “ASK!!!”
Asking is, of course, the first part of the answer to this question, but it certainly isn’t the only one; and I don’t even think it’s the most important one. Having led community input efforts for Scoop.it’s redesign last year, I learned the importance of the next two steps of the community feedback loop.
1. Ask
It’s still important to address the fact that you can and should be asking your community about some of the pain points they’re facing with your product. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that are most often overlooked, or transparently asking is frowned upon. This first point just serves as a little reminder that asking your community what’s bothering them is a-ok, and is in fact considered a best practice these days.
2. Follow up
Some might call this step “listen.” When you ask something of your community, especially when it has to do with a negative sentiment they might be feeling about your product, it’s super important to make sure you acknowledge their response. You can even take it a step further and ask questions about why they consider this a pain point and what might make it better for them. Conversations are a two-way street and this is no exception. But, it doesn’t stop there.
3. Take action
You asked, you listened, you even engaged. Guess what, though? Your job is still only 2/3 done. When consumer are asked about issues they’re facing they want two things in return: a response and/or a conversation, and an action to fix it. Addressing the responses that you receive when asking about pain points is great, but it could very easily end up feeling like an empty gesture if months have passed and nothing has been done about it.
When asking for feedback from your community, it’s important to make sure that you and the rest of your team are ready to take that feedback into consideration and make a change in the near future.
[Of course, you shouldn’t be expected to get rid of every single pain point, or implement every single suggested feature – that’s where managing expectations comes in, which is a whole different blogpost!]
Do you use your community as an active feedback loop? How do you ensure that they’re not left feeling ignored? Let’s discuss in the comments or on Twitter!
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
Great post, Ally! I would elaborate on one part of it. That’s if you are not in a place to seek out, listen and accept feedback from your community, then don’t pretend like you want it. That also goes for being willing to accept and listen to feedback, but never doing it anything with said feedback or promising things that never happen. That’s a lot more damaging to the community’s health in the long-term than a simple, but polite no thanks.
You are allowing them to steal our ancestral pasture and grazing land in Israel. Land is being stolen, ranches attacked and cattle mutilated! A donation of $250 from 1100 of you will begin to end this nightmare; the same donation from 2,000 of you will solve this problem with the Israel Longhorn Project. Robin 650-631-9270 httplonghornprject.org Texas Longhorn cattle will allow our ranchers to use less land, feed and water while at the same time producing the same amount of beef. Robin Rosenblatt M.Sc. Hebrew University, School of Agriculture The Longhorn Project 22 Yarnall Place Redwood City, CA 94063 Tel:… Read more »
Shalom, I was just told that I cannot advertise the Israel Longhorn Project because it is to political. So, I really need your help with this, please share it. Help Bring Texas Longhorns to Israel. Israeli cattle ranches and their passive European cattle are under attack by jackals, wolves and Arabs/Bedouin. And they are stealing our ancestral pasture and grazing land. These cattle do not fit Israel’s hostile desert environment. The Israel Longhorn Project can solve these problems. Texas Longhorn cattle have a smaller carbon footprint; they use less water, less land and are adaptable to Israel’s very hostile desert… Read more »