Oct 22 2008
Do We Encourage Feedback?
For about a year now, we’ve been talking about feedback mechanisms on our website. We finally decided on something quite simple and will be implementing it, hopefully, by the end of next month.
There are so many options out there that it’s hard know what’s best for your website. Something is better than nothing, though.
For the users, the easiest way to give feedback would arguably be a simple feedback link of some sort on every page. If they have an issue, no matter where they are, they can give you that feedback. But, before we dive in, let’s quickly run through the main types of feedback mechanisms.
The two major types of feedback mechanisms are passive and active. The difference is how people interact with it.
Passive Feedback Mechanisms
A passive system is initiated by the user. A feedback link at the bottom of the page or on the contact us page, for example. OpinionLab is an example of a passive feedback mechanism.
The advantages of a passive system is that they can be (and should be) continuous. They can also be page-specific. Not saying active systems can’t be page-specific, but it’s easier with a passive system.
The disadvantages of a passive system is that you get mostly negative feedback. Think about it this way, if the user has to initiate the feedback session, odds are they will only do so when they are having an issue with something.
Active Feedback Mechanisms
An active system is initiated by the website, so, in theory, it gives you a better overall picture of what’s good and bad with your website. Pop up surveys are examples of active feedback mechanisms. 4Q (iPerceptions) or ForeSee, for example.
The advantages of an active system is that they give you a better overall pictures because you get positive feedback as well as negative. An active system is good for new websites or sections of websites as well because you can control where they go on your website. If someone visits the new section, serve up the survey to get instant user feedback about the new section.
The disadvantages of an active system is that you have to put a pop up survey on your website (I can hear the collective “ugh” right now). Active feedback mechanisms should probably not be left up indefinitely, either (although there are conditions you can put into them – like not serving up the pop up if the user has already seen it).
So, which one is best? Why not try a combination of both? I think we can all agree that having some sort of feedback mechanism on your site is a good idea (no matter what it is). Definitely put a feedback link up. Then, for benchmarking, try the survey for a bit of time … say, a month. Take it down, make some improvements, then put it up again and measure the difference.
The question is, can you handle the feedback? I’m not saying, “can you handle the negative feedback.” I’m asking if you can handle the volume.
Before implementing a feedback mechanism answer these questions:
- How do you respond to the user?
- How do you make sense of all that data?
Some systems like OpinionLab, 4Q, and ForeSee can integrate directly into analytics packages like Omnture and WebTrends.This makes reporting and analyzing much simpler.
So maybe there’s no money in the budget for the brand names. If not, create your own. Make sure to:
- Create a process for feedback *before* implementing the mechanism.
- Make sure there are some quantitative *and* open-ended questions.
If the link is on every page, track what page the user is on when they initiate the feedback. Track the users browser and OS. That way you can quickly troubleshoot any simple issues.
User feedback is such an important part of your web analytics. Without the *why,* we can never get to the bottom of the *what.*
Disclaimer: Yes, I know I don’t have a feedback mechanism on my blog yet. Shame on me. I’m working on one now and it will be up by the end of the week.
