Why is Website Feedback Important?
Website feedback is essential because it helps you understand what your visitors are looking for, what they like and don't like about your site, and how you can improve their experience. With website feedback, you can make informed decisions about how to optimise your website for the best possible user experience, which ultimately leads to increased conversions, higher engagement, and improved customer satisfaction.
Collecting Website Feedback
Now that we've established the importance of website feedback, let's look at some ways to collect it effectively.
Website Feedback Tools
Another way to collect website feedback is by using specific tools designed for this purpose. There are many different types of website feedback tools available, including:
- Heatmap tools: These tools track where visitors click on your site, providing insights into what areas are most popular and what needs improvement.
In the last few months, expensive heatmap tools like Hotjar have been overtaken by Microsoft Clarity, a free heatmap and session recording tool - A/B testing tools: These tools allow you to test different versions of your website to see which performs better and collects feedback from visitors.
For the last few years, the free Google Optimize A/B testing tool was a great way to get started with testing. Google have announced that Optimize will no longer be available from September 2023, leaving services like VWO and Optimizely as the main options for non-technical audiences.
For those with more technical capabilities, LaunchDarkly is a powerful and affordable way to launch A/B testing. - Feedback widgets: These are small pop-up windows that appear on your website and ask visitors for feedback.
By using these tools, you can gather valuable data on how your website is performing and what you can do to improve it.
Video Feedback Tools
A separate category of feedback tools that are becoming an increasingly critical source of valuable user feedback are video feedback tools. These allow a user to share a recording of their screen and of their voice, so you can see exactly what they’re seeing, and the exact actions they’re taking on your website. The combination with the recording of their voice allows you to understand what they’re saying about it, and also to get a sense of any frustration (or delight!) they’re experiencing.
Loom is a great way of sharing video feedback, although it is usually restricted to account holders within the same organisation.
The Question.to video feedback feature uses Loom’s API, allowing users to access all of Loom’s functionality, but without requiring the user to have an account. This means that any visitor to your website can leave a recording via Loom without needing to create a Loom account, and you’ll receive their recordings. Even better, you don’t need to have your own Loom account to receive the recordings.
Website Feedback Surveys
Another effective way to collect website feedback is through surveys. Surveys allow you to collect data from a large number of visitors and provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of how your website is performing. When creating a website feedback survey, make sure it's short and to the point, and ask only the most important questions. Some good examples of website feedback survey questions include:
- How easy was it to find what you were looking for on our site?
- How likely are you to recommend our site to others?
- Were there any technical issues you encountered on our site?
By using website feedback surveys, you can gain a better understanding of what your visitors are looking for and what you can do to improve their experience.
Read our guide on the best user feedback questions to help understand the right questions to be asking.
Google Forms offers a free way to get started with feedback surveys. For more advanced and bespoke feedback forms, Tally and Typeform offer powerful and flexible survey functionality.
Read our best practice guide to designing feedback surveys to find out how to supercharge your surveys.
Read our guide on the best user feedback questions to help understand the right questions to be asking.
Google Forms offers a free way to get started with feedback surveys. For more advanced and bespoke feedback forms, Tally and Typeform offer powerful and flexible survey functionality.
Read our best practice guide to designing feedback surveys to find out how to supercharge your surveys.
Ask for Feedback
Sometimes the best way to get feedback is to ask for it. Whether you run a new website with low traffic, so have low traffic to your site, or because you are pre-launch, asking users and clients for feedback is sometimes the best option to get feedback on your website.
We’ve written this article covering our tips on getting feedback from clients before you have website traffic.
Here are some of our top tips when you ask for feedback:
Be Specific
When asking for feedback from users and clients, be specific about what you're looking for. For example, if you're looking for feedback on the checkout process, ask users specific questions about that process. By being specific, you can get more targeted feedback that is relevant to the changes you want to make on your website.
Timing is Key
When asking for feedback from users, timing is critical. You want to ask for feedback when users and clients are most engaged with your website or product. For example, after a purchase is made or after a user has completed a significant task on your site. By timing your feedback requests strategically, you can maximise the number of responses you receive and ensure that the feedback is relevant.
To get feedback from users who appear to be having issues on your site, consider exit popups, which appear when a desktop user’s cursor indicates that they’re about the leave your site, or adding time delays to popups so they appear once a user has spent more than a certain period of time on a page.
It also helps to have an ever present feedback button easily accessible to users at all times during their time on your site.
Keep it Short
When asking for feedback, keep your requests short and to the point. Users and clients are more likely to provide feedback if it's easy to do so. Make sure your feedback requests are concise and that users and clients can provide feedback quickly.
Thank Users and Clients for Their Feedback
When users and clients provide feedback, make sure to thank them for their time and input. Showing appreciation for their feedback encourages users and clients to provide more feedback in the future and can help build a positive relationship with your audience.
Provide Incentives
If you're having trouble getting users and clients to provide feedback, consider providing incentives. For example, you could offer a discount or coupon code to users who provide feedback or enter them into a prize draw. By providing incentives, you can encourage more users and clients to provide feedback and increase engagement with your website.
Automating User Feedback
Another critical step to beating the competition with user feedback is being able to action customer feedback in real time without requiring considerable human effort.
Automating user feedback loops achieves this by automating tasks like:
- Sharing feedback with relevant members of your team as soon as it is sent by the user
- Sending an immediate follow up email to the user after they submitted their feedback, thanking them for sharing it
- Following up with users who left a certain type of feedback with additional questions, or by asking them to leave a product review for you on a public service like Trustpilot
- Creating bug tickets in your project management tool when a user reports an issue.
Lots of feedback tools will come with native integrations, allowing you to initiate workflows and processes automatically when a user submits feedback. However, these integrations vary in terms of quality and number of other tools integrated with.
One of the simplest ways to integrate with all of your existing tools in Zapier. Zapier integrates with over 5,000 apps, and allows you to link your feedback to services like Slack, Trello, Productboard and Mailchimp, and to automate workflows using those tools.
One of the simplest ways to integrate with all of your existing tools in Zapier. Zapier integrates with over 5,000 apps, and allows you to link your feedback to services like Slack, Trello, Productboard and Mailchimp, and to automate workflows using those tools.
The question.to Zapier integration allows you to automate actions in a range of different software applications when a user leaves feedback via your question.to widget. For example, if you use Hubspot, there are over 75 different actions you can choose to automate after someone submits feedback via your question.to widget.
Analysing User Feedback
Once you've collected user feedback, it's important to analyse it effectively to gain insights into what changes need to be made on your website. Here are some best practices for analysing user feedback:
Categorise Feedback
The first step in analysing user feedback is to categorise it into different buckets. For example, you may have feedback related to navigation, design, checkout process, and more. By categorising feedback, you can identify areas of improvement and prioritise changes that will have the most significant impact on the user experience.
Another way to categorise feedback is into bugs, issues, feature requests and opportunities. This can then be mapped to a longer term strategy, where you balance issues holding users back from those that could help open up new opportunities for your product.
Look for Patterns
As you're categorising feedback, look for patterns or recurring themes that emerge. For example, you may notice that many users are having trouble navigating your website or that they're frustrated with the checkout process. Identifying patterns allows you to address the root cause of the problem and make changes that will improve the user experience overall.
Prioritise Feedback
Not all feedback is created equal, so it's essential to prioritise feedback based on its impact on the user experience. For example, feedback related to the checkout process may have a more significant impact on conversions than feedback related to the colour scheme of your website. By prioritising feedback, you can focus your efforts on the changes that will have the most significant impact on your website's success.
Read more about how to analyse website feedback.
Read more about how to analyse website feedback.
Incorporating User Feedback into Website Changes
Once you've analysed user feedback, it's time to incorporate it into your website changes effectively. Here are some best practices for incorporating user feedback into your website changes:
Incorporating User Feedback into Website Changes
Once you've analysed user feedback, it's time to incorporate it into your website changes effectively. Here are some best practices for incorporating user feedback into your website changes:
Make Data-Driven Decisions
When making changes to your website based on user feedback, it's important to make data-driven decisions. For example, if you're making changes to your website's navigation based on user feedback, use data to determine which changes will have the most significant impact on the user experience. By making data-driven decisions, you can ensure that your changes are effective and have a positive impact on your website's success.
Our guide covers how to incorporate feedback into product development in more detail.
Test and Iterate
When making changes to your website based on user feedback, it's essential to test and iterate. For example, if you're making changes to your checkout process, test different versions of the process to see which one performs the best. By testing and iterating, you can ensure that your changes are effective and optimise the user experience.
Incorporate into Customer Acquisition
The more you know about your users, the more you know about what they want from your product and service, and how they found you. This knowledge makes it easier to attract more of your ideal customers. You can find out more about how to incorporate user feedback into SEO in our guide.
Communicate Changes to Users
When making changes to your website based on user feedback, it's important to communicate those changes to your users. For example, if you're making changes to your checkout process, let users know about the changes and how they will benefit from them. By communicating changes to users, you can improve their experience and build trust with your audience.
Read more about how to use customer feedback to identify and address customer paint points
Read more about how to use customer feedback to identify and address customer paint points
Conclusion
In conclusion, website feedback is crucial for any business that wants to improve its website's user experience and overall success. In this article, we've explored why website feedback matters and provided tips on how to collect it effectively. By asking specific website feedback questions, using website feedback tools, and conducting website feedback surveys, you can gain valuable insights into what your visitors are looking for and how you can improve their experience.
Moreover, analyzing user feedback and incorporating it into your website changes effectively can help you optimise the user experience and increase conversions. Finally, we discussed the best practices for asking users and clients for feedback. By following these tips, you can maximise the number of responses you receive and ensure that the feedback is relevant and actionable. Remember, website feedback is an ongoing process, and the more you collect and analyze it, the more successful your website will be.
Start collecting feedback