User communication and feedback

Recommendations on how to approach communication with your end-users and gathering feedback.

After reading this article, you’ll know:

• How communication with your end-users is related to your application success

• The methods and approaches to user communication

• What you need to consider when creating user manuals and documentation

• How to establish a proper feedback loop

• In what way you can measure user satisfaction

Effective communication with users from the launch phase through hypercare and into the maintenance phase of an application is important for several reasons. It helps to tackle the issues with your platforms, establishes expectations, helps users adapt to the new features, etc. The culture of gathering feedback is equally important as it guides the development team towards user preferences, and reveals pain points, and emerging needs. In this article, we will discuss some of the ways you can build a tight relationship with your end-users and benefit from it on the whole.

User communication

Post-go-live user communication can be divided into several categories:

• Hypercare communication, during which continuous communication aids in swiftly addressing any emerging issues, providing users with real-time support and bolstering their confidence in the application.

• Later, as the application enters the maintenance phase, ongoing communication maintains transparency about updates and improvements, keeping users informed and involved in the evolution of the platform. Clear communication and instructions help users adapt to new features, reducing friction and enhancing their overall experience.

Means of communication

Let’s look at the most popular ways of communicating with the application’s end users.

• Email notifications:

  • Employ automated emails to notify users about system changes and upcoming maintenance.

  • Create concise and informative content, outlining the nature and impact of the changes.

• In-app messages:

  • Employ real-time in-app messages for immediate communication.

  • Design guided tours to assist users in navigating new features seamlessly.

• Documentation:

  • Maintain a centralized knowledge base accessible to users.

  • Generate detailed release notes for every update, ensuring transparency and clarity.

End-user guides and documentation

Approach providing the guidelines depending on such factors as the size and complexity of your application. For the smaller ones, like the ticket reservation system, the troubleshooting sections of FAQ might be enough while complex education platforms will most likely demand multi-layered documentation, along with video tutorials or interactive guides.

In any case, there are some general recommendations for creating end-user guides and documentation:

• Organize content logically

  • Structure information in a sequence mirroring typical user workflows.

  • Categorize features based on user roles for streamlined learning.

• Use a user-friendly tone of voice

  • Employ language that is accessible and free of unnecessary technical jargon, unless it is aimed at pro-coders

  • Incorporate real-world examples to illustrate concepts

• Enhance with visual elements

  • Integrate screenshots, diagrams, and charts as visual aids.

  • Visual elements act as roadmaps, guiding users through the application landscape.

Feedback

Collecting user feedback plays a significant role in both quick bug fixes during the hypercare phase, and providing future updates for your product. Therefore, it should be established right from the beginning and led sustainably.

Encouraging your users to leave feedback is a challenging task, especially if you want to receive constant loops of feedback. Although approaching it with special care and strategy can bring a lot of benefits for the application maintenance. Let’s break down some of the strategies you may want to consider.

• Feedback channels

  • Establish multiple ways for users to submit feedback, such as in-app forms, community forums, and dedicated feedback emails.

  • Make sure that users can choose the channel that best suits their preferences and comfort.

• Use in-app feedback forms

  • Embed concise and user-friendly feedback forms directly within the application interface.

  • Prompt users to share their experiences, report issues, and suggest improvements effortlessly.

• Conduct regular surveys

  • Implement periodic surveys to measure overall user satisfaction and pinpoint specific pain points.

  • Pose targeted questions to extract nuanced insights about specific features or aspects of the application.

Reassuring users that their input is valued will encourage them to do it continuously. Also, you can find ways to communicate the improvements that were made as a result of user feedback. If you make the feedback loops sustainable, it will serve as a huge help in terms of Agile iterative development.

User satisfaction

By choosing the correct approach for measuring user satisfaction, you can transform user insights into the number of action points. Sometimes it’s hard to say which way will succeed in the long run but there are some best practices you might want to follow:

• Integrate non-intrusive surveys

  • Make sure these surveys are brief and strategically placed to encourage user interaction without disrupting the user experience

  • You can start with very general evaluations (like rating the app) and later get to more specific points (asking to rate a particular feature)

• Review survey results regularly

  • Create a consistent schedule for reviewing results to identify trends and patterns in a moment

  • Use the insights to pinpoint areas of success and those that need improvement

• Define KPIs:

  • Clearly define key performance indicators related to user engagement, application performance, and overall satisfaction and track those regularly (see more below)

• Qualitative and quantitative data

  • Combine these two types of data to gain a complete picture

• Strategy of continuous improvement

  • Develop a strategy for turning user satisfaction metrics into a continuous improvement cycle

  • Align development priorities based on both direct user feedback and measurable satisfaction indicators

KPIs for measuring user satisfaction

Although KPIs for measuring user satisfaction highly depend on the kind of product, there are some common ones.

• Net promoter score (NPS) measures the likelihood of users recommending the application to others. NPS provides a straightforward and standardized measure of overall user satisfaction and loyalty.

  • Calculation: Users are asked to rate, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they are to recommend the application. The scores are categorized as promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), and detractors (0-6). The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score measures users’ satisfaction with a specific interaction or the application as a whole. CSAT is useful for evaluating satisfaction at specific touchpoints, allowing developers to identify areas for improvement.

  • Calculation: Users are asked to rate their satisfaction on a scale (e.g., 1 to 5 or 1 to 10).

• Time on task measures the average time users spend completing specific tasks within the application. Longer time on task can indicate user engagement and satisfaction, but excessively long times may suggest usability issues.

  • Calculation: Total time spent on task / number of users

• User feedback metrics are quantitative metrics derived from user feedback, including the number of submitted feedback forms, average rating, and sentiment analysis. Feature adoption rate measures how quickly users adopt and regularly use new features.

Final thoughts

Once the application is released, you need to find your own pace of communicating with your end-users, gathering important feedback, and defining the ways for future improvements. From the initial launch through the hypercare phase and into the ongoing maintenance stage, transparent communication acts as the backbone, tackling platform issues, establishing expectations, and guiding users through new features. With the right approach, the culture of feedback collection becomes a guiding compass, unveiling user preferences, illuminating pain points, and emerging needs.