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

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

#51

Post by NikolaNovak »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #50

I launched a crowdfunded product back in 2017 that has kept going for the past 5 years, and I've never had this problem at all. Random people email me all the time (at least 3-5 times per week, even now) with information about bugs/feature requests, or just to say hi/thanks and show off their projects made with it. Comparing my site ( https://espotek.com ) to yours, yours is much more "corporate" looking and doesn't…

I never thought about this consciously, but there's something there.

If I feel a product is made by one or few close-knit people, there's a sense of empathy. I want to support the underdog, show gratitude, establish contact. So just the aura of small shop invites and encourages me to contact.

A large company, no matter how friendly, does not make me eager to write/contact/feedback: There's an implicit subconscious assumption that my feedback will get lost in gears of the massive machine; that whoever receives feedback has no input on development or product; and that best I'll get an insultingly cheerful copy&paste from their customer service 3 ring binder.

My 2 cents :)

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

#53

Post by cebert »

I work on emergency software and we get the opportunity as developers to do “ride alongs” with firefighters and police officers. They’re pretty open with their feelings about the software. Riding along with then as they do their jobs while using software you wrote gives you a different perspective of the criticality of it.

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

#55

Post by patiiipot_ »

jason_zig wrote: post #41

As a solo founder I have a couple of startups[0] and I built Zigpoll[1] to help with this problem. It lets you embed a non-obtrusive micro-survey / contact us form directly into your website. You can use our javascript API to make it appear based on sign up, time on site, exit intent, etc... it's up to you. You could also email it out to your customers if you prefer. Also I have to point out there are other competito…

Wow Jason! That's so cool. I might want to use that for my website. I'm kind of upgrading it XD. My peers from Founders Cafe might also want to try Zigpoll. We're a bunch of founders that help each other with problems and we even share stories about our startup journey. You might want to join too so many people can use Zigpoll :D

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

#56

Post by autoexec »

I don't get it, you've got a website people go to on a regular basis and you collect contact info. Why not just throw up a giant box after users log-in saying:

"Hey $user, you've been an active user of our site since $signup_date and we'd love to hear what you think about how we're doing and what we could be doing better?"

Add buttons for "Sure", "I'm busy right now, but ask me later!" and "No thanks" and call it day.

People love to give their opinions on things. They'll go out of their way to do it. Look at how many people (myself included) are doing it right here in this thread. It takes minimal effort to get people talking (and even less to get them complaining). If you've got enough users people will even do it themselves. They'll create entire forums and subreddits just to discuss your product/service all on their own. It might not be a bad idea to set up a space for that kind of thing yourself. Discord is a good place to start.

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

#57

Post by jason-phillips »

cebert wrote: post #53

I work on emergency software and we get the opportunity as developers to do “ride alongs” with firefighters and police officers. They’re pretty open with their feelings about the software. Riding along with then as they do their jobs while using software you wrote gives you a different perspective of the criticality of it.

Yes, very much this. I always found that it was critical for me to walk/live/breathe with my users to design the best software for them.

Whether it's shadowing the parts warehouse guys while they do inventory counts in a supply chain management system or getting to know the chief compliance officer and chief counsel while designing a regulatory system for them that's mandated by the SEC, their experience as human beings relayed to me as users of my software was invaluable.

It's all about the empathy one has for one's users and how you use that information to take care of them. They will love you if you are successful in doing that.

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

#58

Post by tchock23 »

Nathanba wrote: post #49
meristem wrote: post #28

You need to make it absurdly easy and in-flow. Otherwise you are stuck sending emails to users asking for feedback, and the return on those in my experience is below 4%. If what you want is to have a lengthier conversation please remember time is money--remunerate the user for their time helping you.

Ha, I've had two companies ask me for a 1h and even 2h(!) timeslot do discuss my feedback in depth. In return they'll give me a 20$ gift certificate. I actually worked for a competitor of them for a while, my feedback would have been insanely valuable.

Lowballing an incentive is worse than offering no incentive. Either pay a fair hourly rate and run fewer interviews, or skip it entirely. Charity donations can also be effective if you offer a reasonably sized donation.

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

#59

Post by autoexec »

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #14

From my experience working as a PM with a medical/educational/hardware/software product, I think everyone finds this process is extremely challenging. First surprising thing I learned is that users don't usually actually have the will to spend any amount of time giving feedback. But they will avoid admitting it. The second discouraging thing is that when you do get them to sit down and talk, you will find that they'r…

> First surprising thing I learned is that users don't usually actually have the will to spend any amount of time giving feedback.

People love to give feedback, and they especially to complain. If you have enough users they'll do it entirely on their own, creating forums and subreddits to discuss a particular program or service. Get your users talking to each other about your stuff and it's much much easier.

When I dismiss a plea for leaving feedback it's usually because I was bothered with the request while in the middle of a task I was trying to complete, I was asked to hand over personal information (like an email address) to some random 3rd party hired to collect the data, or it seemed like a scam (like "rate/review my product and get a free X!"

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

#60

Post by tchock23 »

junofan wrote: post #39
ilaksh wrote: post #21

I have a link to the Discord server on the web page and I always have that open. Once every week or two someone will ask me something, usually really basic, about how to use the system. Mostly it seems like they want to make sure there is support for the product. So the questions are usually easy to answer. People do also occasionally message me with feature requests or put them in the public room. I will say though…

FWIW I’ve had success just DMing tons of people on Discord. Asking people as a group might be tough.

People can be very relucatant to share feedback in groups for fear of their ideas being shot down publicly.

I don’t understand the appeal of Discord for feedback. As a user I have to sign up, figure out your channel structure and rules and then publicly post with no context on whether what I am asking has been asked before (and there is no way I’ll spend time searching endless posts to see if it has).

It’s possibly the worst experience for a user that just wants to share some feedback and engage with the product creators in a somewhat private setting.

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