When developing a new app, it can be challenging to receive honest feedback from your new or prototype app users. Feedback is essential for developers to know whether they are on the right track and if they are fulfilling the needs of the user. It can be a struggle to find users who are willing to provide honest and useful feedback regarding your app nowadays. Everyone is so busy that they don’t often have time to assist other companies.
While surveys were always a popular option in the past, it can often be difficult to reach the number of responses you are aiming for. While they are cheap to create, distributing them can be time-consuming and costly.
However, there are now some much easier ways to collate high-quality feedback to help you adjust your prototype or new app to fit consumers’ needs. Keep reading to find out our top suggestions for generating user feedback and reviews for your app.
Why do you want to generate user feedback?
Before you go about the task of generating user feedback, it’s important to ask yourself why you want to receive this feedback. This can help you to ask your users the right questions and minimise the risk of failure.
You need to find effective ways to ask your target audience about their satisfaction with the app which should give specific feedback in identifying problem areas.
The testing phase is a great time to bring in users to get feedback about your product. While your team of developers will, of course, find issues within the app, they may not be the target audience who would download and use your app daily.
Define your target audience
To generate useful user feedback, you need to have a clear idea of who your target audience is. There’s no point getting the wrong age group to test an app that’s specifically designed for a small segment of the population. Their feedback may not be relevant to your product and its goals.
When curating feedback, the first questions you ask should help to filter out people from your survey, so you can gather the most useful data from your users. Surveys are still a good way to receive feedback, but by using this filtering system, you can minimise any wasted time over this market research.
A good screening question or two will help to better target users and provide you with data that will be more relevant to your product.
Eliminate obvious issues before receiving feedback
Before you even go about getting feedback on your app, ensure you eliminate any bugs or issues with your team of developers.
There’s no point receiving feedback on obvious issues that you could resolve yourself. Instead, you want to focus on the usability and usefulness of your new app. Just a few users are needed for the alpha-testing phase which will help eliminate your app of most unwanted issues.
Receive feedback within the app
The best way to get feedback on your app is while users are using the app in real time. You’ll find this generates immediate and relevant feedback. Critiques and concerns will be at the front of your user’s mind while they’re busy using it.
Many apps utilise this feedback method with a quick message or pop-up requesting feedback or to complete a survey. Any app developer should be able to add this into your app. You’ll find this the best method for collecting data from users.
Online Reviews
App stores are one of the easiest ways to find reviews for your new app. Many users like to use this feature without being prompted. Consumers are usually very honest in these types of reviews, and you can quickly analyse what they like and dislike about the product. Instead of focusing on the rating a customer gives, also read every comment left.
Positive comments also show areas that don’t need adjusting and whether your product is providing the service you hoped it would.
You’ll also find other online review sites and blogs are great for providing in-depth feedback about your app. Try to find specialist blogs within your app’s niche that will be written by someone familiar with your industry.
Social Media
For immediate feedback, social media is one of the best places to consult. There are two ways to go about collecting feedback on social media: initiate the conversation yourself or see what users are posting organically.
Post a question or poll on social media asking what users enjoy about the app and what they dislike. From there, you’ll also want to take the time comment back to users.
You can use this to establish a relationship and keep them coming back to your app over and over again. Search social media sites using your app’s name as a hashtag and you may find reviews and comments regarding your app within conversations and posts already on the site. These are likely to offer you honest feedback. But be prepared as they can sometimes be tough but will provide the best feedback.
Where to from here?
Generating user feedback doesn’t have to be a difficult or time-consuming job, thanks to the ease of using social media and app store reviews to collate user feedback. Once your app is launched, use social media as a tool for promoting your app. Thereafter you can interact with consumers to spread the word about your new app and receive feedback.
These methods are cost-effective and will minimise the time and effort it takes to receive feedback and improve your app for users.
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