Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#1

Post by atomiomi » Wed, Apr 27, 2022, 11:22 AM UTC

One of the problems I faced when I had my first users on [just-diary.com](http://just-diary.com) is that I didn’t have any way to talk to them. Like getting feedback on using the product, asking them questions about what they want from it, and sharing some tips on how to use some features.

Does anyone have the same problem? If yes, how did you solve it?

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#2

Post by Techonomicon » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:23 PM UTC

Assuming they sign up for an account. Email them, and ask. There are tons of products out there to allegedly help with this within your site: i.e feedback popups, chat popups, etc. But the easy way is simply to email them!

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#3

Post by cl42 » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:27 PM UTC

I need to give you my email address to sign up. Can't you email me and ask me to hop on a call, fill out a survey, etc.?

Also, if no one replies to your request, that's a data point as well.

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#4

Post by muunbo » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:30 PM UTC

I teach coding tutorials on my website and have a few subscribers. I occasionally send out a mass email asking them what they’d like to learn. Sometimes I send a tiny survey instead of asking such an open ended question. Every time I’ve received at least a couple of responses.

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#5

Post by phat_gopher » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:34 PM UTC

People are suggesting emailing users that have signed up which would be the best way imo. I also suggest creating a twitter account for your site if you dont already have one. If someone tweets feedback, questions, etc, you can direct message them there as well.

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#6

Post by groffee » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:34 PM UTC

Be careful what you wish for. I've had the 'second coming of Jesus' email me, and an ungodly amount of abuse, also a lot of people who I think don't even know what a computer is, and lonely people who just want to talk.

Talking with your customers lets you build relationships and brand loyalty which is valuable, but I'm also not sure if that outweighs the downsides.

But for your situation just create a survey with Google forms or something and send it out to everyone. If you don't have many customers yet take the time to personalise each one.

Since your product is a journal, maybe have a public forum/journal to build a community with as well?

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#7

Post by Humdeee » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:35 PM UTC

Can't really speak for desktop or web, but I have a series of mobile apps that I have a 'contact' button that pops up the email client with some prefilled data and lets them fill anything in. I find if people are enthusiasts, they'll reach out to share. It's a mixed bag of emails. I get maybe 20-25 emails a month of suggestions, appreciation, and mostly questions on the content. It contains an in-app purchase for almost $50 and if the user simply asks, I'll give the unlock for free (and ask for an honest posted review, well worth it imo). Past a certain point, I don't really care about the money, just to make it better without being confusing. They do quite well without marketing or ads anyway.

I used to deal with and include all the tracking, analytics, logs, etc., but it's all just bloatware for me since it's relatively small apps. I don't require login or accounts and don't want to spam and make everything voluntary in the end, and not force it. It will take time, and the focus is on being as non-predatory as possible. I keep things slim and simple and people seem to like that. Making sure a user has a good experience with software that I write is always #1. All of these points collectively I feel is inviting for people to socialize their thoughts to me.

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#8

Post by kareemm » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:45 PM UTC

Back in 2015 I noticed SaaS companies asking for in-app feedback and started compiling screenshots. Here are 51 examples from companies like Shopify, YNAB, Customer.io, Stackshare, Mailgun, and more compiled over the past 7 years:

https://www.savio.io/blog/how-saas-companies-get-in-app-prod...

At my co we ask for feedback:

0. When someone books a demo (email)

1. When a user signs up (in-app and via email)

2. When a user converts from trial to paid (email)

3. When a user cancels (email)

We also:

1. Use Intercom and lots of feedback comes in there

2. Have several in-app callouts to vote on features on our voting board or contact support

3. Close the loop with customers when we ship a feature they asked for, and ask for feedback

We could definitely do a better job on the in-app feedback collection side.

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#9

Post by simonw » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:53 PM UTC

I've been running office hours sessions on Fridays for this. I've been running them for over a year now and they have been incredibly useful.

I have a Calendly which people can book a 20 minute conversation with me about my project.

I've had at least 60 high value conversations now, with people all over the world.

I don't promote them heavily at the moment so I sometimes get just 0-2 a week, but in the past I've had days with 3 or 4.

I wrote about this pattern here: https://simonwillison.net/2021/Feb/19/office-hours/

Re: Ask HN: Do you find it challenging to talk to your users?

#10

Post by jrvarela56 » Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 8:54 PM UTC

The pattern I have seen (which imo is not annoying) is that the welcome email comes from the 'CEO's address and you can reply or book a call.

Most people will delete it. But I don't find it dishonest because it's literally an offer to help and you can ask anything you like (I have always gotten replies as a consumer).

I'm assuming once this doesn't scale you can just do the same with support agents (no fake here, just put their names and emails) so the inbound is handled by different people with the same goal in mind.