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8 tips for managing customer feedback

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This is a different type of essay, one that is literally a tweet thread. Click on the first tweet to read it on twitter, or enjoy the "expanded version" below.
Something I recently noted. Many startup founders receive plenty of feedback but don't structure it so they can learn from it. This can lead to recency bias, chasing the wrong users, and feeling like you're making no traction.
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There are many proven and simple ways to improve what you learn from feedback. Don't worry, I'm not saying to just blindly make exactly what users ask for, I'm saying find what resonates and see where friction exists. Here are a couple tools ๐Ÿงฐ for managing feedback for startups:
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  1. Ditch your default note app ๐Ÿ“. Not really, just stop using it as the only tool. Review your notes, pull out the important learnings, and add them to a spreadsheet.
  1. Be sure to know who is asking? ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿ’โ€โ™€๏ธ What persona are they, what demographic? Are they the person you sell too? Or are they a user w/o influence? Are they even the right market!? Figure it out and assign them a persona. If they're not your market /dev/null ๐Ÿ—‘ the feedback.
  1. Ask the right questions! โ‰๏ธ It's easy to ask what users want, but better to ask what brought them in and what keeps them here. Superhuman's Product Market Fit engine does a fantastic job at this. You'll notice 1 & 2 fit this nicely.
  1. While we're talking about interviews, go read about Jobs to be Done. This is the answer to figuring out what users are trying to do instead of asking what features they want. #JtbD
  1. Now that you have all your feedback in one tidy place, classified by persona, and you're asking the right questions, analyze it. Look ๐Ÿ‘€ for themes and trends
  1. Look over a span of time ๐Ÿ•ฐ, this will fight recency bias. Hone in on why users keep using your app, figure out what is giving them friction. Double down on what they love and reduce that friction. These are your new product ideas.
  1. Finally, find a way to prioritize Input ๐Ÿ”ข for numbers. I'm a fan of the Kano model, but RICE works great too. Kano brings in the users voice more but does require a bit more work. RICE is super fast.
  1. Finally, finally ๐Ÿ˜‰ It's fine to "build on your gut feeling" but after that, double down on what users love and figure out what fits the market. Aka, see 1-7.
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Copyright ยฉ 2022, Bryan Smith, All Rights Reserved
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