5 Ways to Collect and Manage Customer Feedback For SaaS

SaaS businesses rely heavily on customer feedback to improve their products and services.

In the competitive market of SaaS, customer feedback is essential to understand the needs and pain points of the users, to develop better solutions, and to increase customer retention. This feedback can come in various forms such as surveys, reviews, support tickets, social media comments, and more.

By collecting and analyzing this feedback, SaaS businesses can gain valuable insights into what their customers like, dislike, and want, allowing them to make data-driven decisions to improve their products and services.

In this blog, we will explore the importance of SaaS customer feedback, how to collect it effectively, and how to use it to improve your SaaS product or service.

What is customer feedback?

Customer feedback is the voice of your customers. It is the information they provide about their experiences with your business, products, or services.

Whether it is positive, negative, or neutral, customer feedback is crucial for businesses to understand their client’s needs and expectations. It helps reduce churn and build a better and more useful product for your users.

Here’s a breakdown of the two main types of customer feedback:

• Direct feedback – the feedback that you ask for, such as surveys, focus groups, or interviews.

• Indirect feedback – the feedback you receive without asking, such as online reviews, social media activity, or referrals.

By combining both direct and indirect feedback, you can get a helpful understanding of your customers’ experiences. This helps shape your business strategy, improve customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive success.

So, if you want to stay ahead of the game, make sure to keep your ears open for what your customers have to say. Their feedback is the key to unlocking a more customer-centric approach and a brighter future for your business.

Benefits of collecting and managing customer feedback

Your customers are the heart of your business and the key to understanding your product. Analyzing their feedback helps you better solve their problems, making your product more valuable and attractive to them.

But the benefits of customer feedback go beyond just product improvement. It can also:

• Strengthen customer relationships by demonstrating that their opinions are valued and making them part of the process.

• Drive sales and revenue growth by allowing you to outperform competitors through effective feedback management.

• Help make more informed decisions by providing valuable insights into product development and improvements.

• Enable proactive problem-solving by identifying and fixing issues before they escalate.

And the list goes on…

So, make sure to give your customers a voice and let their feedback guide your journey to success!

5 ways to collect customer feedback for your SaaS

Here are the five ways to collect customer feedback for your SaaS business:

1. In-app feedback

With the rise of SaaS together with mobile and web applications, in-app feedback has become one of the most popular methods of effectively gathering feedback.

In-app feedback allows for collecting customer feedback directly within an application or website. It is usually done with the help of user feedback tools like the Featurebase.app which offers various feedback-collecting and managing solutions.

These include feedback boards, pop-up surveys, and rating systems, which can be integrated into your website or app.

Advantages of in-app feedback

What business owners really love about in-app feedback is its convenience. Customers can leave feedback quickly without leaving the website or app itself.

Providing a seamless feedback experience also increases the response rate compared to more traditional methods like emailing surveys.

In-app feedback also provides real-time insights allowing you or customer support to quickly address any issues and make improvements. If done correctly, it can become the single biggest sales driver in the early stages of your startup.

Good word-of-mouth of your personal approach will travel fast and far. And by showing that your business values your users’ opinions, in-app feedback can also improve customer engagement and loyalty.

How to effectively collect in-app feedback

To get the most from in-app feedback, make it as easy as possible for the customer. Use simple language and avoid asking too many questions. The feedback portal should be easily findable and user-friendly.

Respond as fast as possible. Address any feedback received quickly, and provide a resolution if needed. As said before, this is a very important aspect of customer feedback as it can increase sales and reduce churn.

Don’t forget to regularly analyze the feedback received, identify trends, and take action to make improvements.

2. Surveys

Surveys provide a simple, yet efficient way to gain insight into what your customers are thinking. They help businesses to make data-driven decisions and improve their products or services.

So let’s look at the benefits of using surveys for customer feedback and what types of surveys to use. We’ll also cover the ways of effectively conducting them and what questions to ask.

Advantages of surveys

Surveys are a handy tool for all types of businesses. Big companies love them because they can reach a lot of people at once.

Yet they are perfect for early-stage startups because they are budget-friendly. In fact, many online survey tools like Google Forms and HubSpot’s Free Online Form Builder help conduct surveys for free.

Surveys also provide neutral and organized data, removing opinions or biases that may arise in other forms of feedback. You can build them to meet your exact specific needs, choosing between different types of questions, rating scales, etc.

Types of surveys to use for SaaS customer feedback

There are several different types of surveys to choose from when looking to gather customer feedback. It is important to keep in mind your objective when choosing the type of survey to use for each situation.

Here is a list of the most useful types of surveys for SaaS companies and what they are for:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) Surveys: Quickly measure customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your product to others on a scale of 1-10.

• Product Feedback Surveys: Gather feedback on specific aspects of your product to improve customer satisfaction and measure product success.

• Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Measure overall customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

• Post-Purchase Surveys: Used to learn about customers’ satisfaction with the purchase process.

• Source of Lead Surveys: Usually conducted after the customer has converted, to know how customers became aware of your product. This helps determine effective marketing strategies and double down on them.

• Exit Surveys: Used to ask churned customers the reasons they left, and to make improvements based on the reasons.

How to effectively conduct surveys

Conducting a successful survey requires more than choosing the right type for it. To gather valuable insights into your customers’ opinions, it is important to choose the right channels and also the right questions.

You have several options including email, website, and social media. To succeed, define your objectives and consider your users’ demographics or segments.

For example, if you want to gather information on your customers’ loyalty, consider using an NPS survey. You can send it via email to a segment of your customer list who have been using your product for more than a month. Or you could add it as a pop-up in your app only shown to users who have used the product regularly.

Make sure that your questions are clear, short, and relevant to your objectives, as they determine the quality of the data you gather. Avoid asking leading or biased questions and consider using a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.

Finally, remember that your survey is only as valuable as the actions you take based on the results. Analyze the data, and make improvements for your company, and customers. Show them that their feedback is valued and that you are committed to providing the best possible experience.

3. Social media monitoring

It is a common misconception that social media is just a marketing side task, to kill some extra time. Especially when talking about B2B companies targeting organizations rather than individuals.

But behind every business and role, there is a person, who uses social media in their everyday life. In today’s fast-paced world, people are turning to different social platforms to express their opinions and feedback about everything including brands and products.

So by monitoring it, you can tap into the pulse of your customers, and connect with them.

Advantages of using social media for customer feedback

As hinted before, people jump straight to Twitter or other platforms to express themselves. And by ignoring that, you will not only miss out on important feedback but also risk damaging the business’s reputation.

Negative comments and complaints left unaddressed on social media can spread quickly and negatively impact your brand’s image.

On the other hand, if you actively monitor and respond to feedback on social media, then you’ll demonstrate commitment. Besides, it usually results in lots of warm leads and useful connections that can later contribute to your success.

How to effectively monitor social media for customer feedback

To save hours of time and manual work, we suggest setting up alerts and notifications for your brand name and product categories. This will allow you to stay informed of any customer feedback or concerns and respond on time.

To make things even simpler, you can use social media tools such as Hootsuite. These tools can help you track customer feedback in real-time, analyze trends, and measure the impact of your social media presence.

It is important to monitor social media for people’s opinions regularly. Be transparent and open with your customers, and treat them with respect and professionalism, even in the face of negative feedback.

Bonus tip: Besides, social media, there are many forums and communities like Reddit, Quora, and even different Slack and Discord channels where people go to share their opinion.

4. Live Chat

Whether you are a startup or an established business, live chat is one of the most valuable assets in improving customer satisfaction.

Customer support tools, such as Intercom and LiveChat, make it very easy to integrate into your website. And their mobile application helps you respond to clients on the go.

Advantages of using live chat for customer feedback

The live chat widget is extremely convenient for customers because of its easy accessibility. It is also a rather personal approach compared to previous methods as in you’ll have a conversation with the client. After the customer has gotten valuable help from you, they’ll be much more likely to leave feedback if asked.

We at Featurebase genuinely believe that fast and personal customer support can help your startup sales early on. This is why we recommend keeping it in-house, at least first.

Live chat is primarily for helping clients. Although doing it yourself as a founder or manager, will warm up the communication between both parties. And quite often these leads end up as your most loyal customers entirely because of your exclusive hands-on help, which is rare among founders in the SaaS community.

Best practices for live chat

If possible, we suggest doing it yourself at the beginning. You know more about your product than anyone and can offer better help.

Also, employees tend to cost a lot. If you can’t do it yourself, then make sure that your live chat agents are trained well.

Offer 24/7 support no matter the day or at least as much as possible. And, to make submitting feedback easier, make sure your live chat option is easily accessible on your website.

Don’t forget to regularly review and analyze live chat transcripts, which can help you identify patterns and trends in the feedback.

5. Customer interviews

Customer interview is an effective method for building rapport and understanding your customers’ experiences, pain points, and needs. This method involves having direct conversations with your client, either in person or over the phone, or via video call.

Advantages of customer interviews

Customer interviews offer a more in-depth and personal approach than any other of our listed methods. It’s not always the most comfortable solution, but most of the time, it beats other methods due to the amount of comprehensive knowledge you can get.

Face-to-face customer interviews are one of the best ways to build lasting relationships with your customers and show that you value their opinions. But even online video calls can do the job perfectly.

How to conduct customer interviews effectively

To conduct effective customer interviews, it is important to have a clear objective and plan. Determine what information you want to gather and the questions to ask.

When selecting customers to interview, consider factors like product usage, customer satisfaction, and demographics. Choose clients who have recently used the product and have fresher memory, likely to provide better feedback. Ideally, you should also have done some background research on the client, which at the very least will show them that you’ve prepared.

Make sure the questions are open-ended and not leading, allowing the customer to freely express their thoughts. Actively listen to the customer and take notes or ask a partner to do so. You can also ask follow-up questions to gain a deeper understanding of their feedback.

It is important to show your customers that their feedback is valued and that you are committed to improving based on their input. After the interview, analyze the data and take action to make changes to your product or service.

How to manage customer feedback effectively

Correctly managing customer feedback can save you hours of tiring work hours. It is crucial to get the necessary overview, helping to make informed decisions.

Here are some tips from industry professionals to help you manage customer feedback effectively:

1. Centralize feedback

Store all feedback in a single, centralized location for easy access and analysis. You can do this with the help of a customer feedback tool or even a spreadsheet.

Having all feedback in one place makes it easier to keep track of and analyze the feedback you receive.

2. Prioritize feedback

Analyze and categorize feedback based on its impact and urgency. Not all feedback is equal, and it is important to prioritize it based on the level of impact on your business.

This helps you to focus your efforts on the most important issues and make sure that you are making the most of your time and resources.

3. Communicate with customers

Keep your users informed of any updates or changes based on their requests. Many customer feedback tools, make this easy with features like public roadmaps and changelogs.

Communication helps to build trust and establish a positive relationship with your customers.

4. Sort different types of feedback

Divide the feedback intro categories, such as bug reports and feature requests. This helps you prioritize and categorize feedback based on its type and importance.

For example, bug reports should be given high priority as they directly impact the functionality of your product.

5. Track and measure progress

Keep track of the feedback received and measure the impact of any changes made based on that feedback. This helps you to see how and whether your changes have had an impact on your customers.

You can use metrics such as customer satisfaction, churn rate, and NPS score to track and measure progress.

By following these steps, you can effectively manage customer feedback and use it to improve your product and customer experience. Remember, customer feedback is an ongoing process, and it is important to continuously collect and analyze feedback.

Key takeaways

Customer feedback is an extremely useful tool for any business. The best ways to effectively collect user feedback include in-app feedback, surveys, social media monitoring, live chat, and customer interviews.

Each method has its benefits and can provide valuable insights into your customers’ opinions, preferences, and experiences.

To make the most of your customer feedback, it is important to collect it in one place. Prioritizing and sorting different types of feedback, will help make better-informed decisions. Customer feedback tools are a great way to save time on effectively collecting and organizing feedback.

Excellent customer feedback often puts in motion amazing word-of-mouth that boosts your sales and grows the business. Give your customers a voice and see it for yourself!