Why make your customer feedback system public?

Customers are the power users of your product. They know when it works for them and when it doesn’t. They want you to care when they have a problem or a suggestion.

If you establish a transparent culture for customer feedback, then your customers feel valued. Even when you don’t follow through on their ideas.

And valued customers are less likely to churn and more likely to cheerlead your product.

Increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%

Harvard Business Review

But why make your customer feedback system public?

A lot of your feedback is already public: on social media, in forums, on question and answer sites and on review sites.

You can’t keep feedback about your product private. So why not shape the conversation instead?

Here are 3 more reasons for keeping user feedback public:

1. A transparent culture shows confidence

By inviting customers to publicly give you feedback, you’re showing confidence in your product – and in your customers.

You are showing that you are genuinely interested in what your customers have to say.

In this example, smart notebook company Rocketbook asks customers to suggest new product ideas and new app features (using a Feature Upvote feedback board).

2. Customers can feel valued even as their ideas sink without trace

When customers see the feedback of other people it can subtly help calibrate their expectations. When they see ideas they love it can make them feel happy and part of the right tribe: “I’m so upvoting that! It’s great so many people think this is important.”

A public feedback system is also a good way to deal with demanding customers. They can see their ideas have only niche appeal if they don’t get upvotes from other customers. You don’t have to spell it out for them.

3. Customers love having a heads-up about what you’re working on

A good marketing tactic is to tease customers with ‘early access’ to new products and developments. So why not give your customers a heads-up about what you’re working on?

If you use a product ideas board, you can give status updates for feedback (like ‘under consideration’ or ‘planned’), so customers know what you’re working on.

Yes, competitors can see as well. But if your competitors try and outperform you by copying your features they really won’t get very far. Company culture, brand loyalty, customer service, product performance, pricing… all these and more are reasons why customers choose your product.

What does a public customer feedback system look like?

You have lots of choices when it comes to customer feedback software (here are 30 options). Most are aimed at companies where management likes the idea of feedback, but only behind closed doors.

However, if you want a different more transparent model, then you’ll need to look at one of the simplest customer feedback options: product feedback boards. They help you consolidate feedback in one public place, and surface the best ideas through a voting system.

Feature Upvote

We provide simple feedback boards with built in voting functionality. Get started immediately. No learning curve for users.