5 examples of the benefits of customer feedback in website development
Customer feedback is an invaluable source of information for website development. It provides direct insights into customer needs and experiences that can't be captured by traditional measurement methods. We present five examples that demonstrate the usefulness of customer feedback in website development.
1. Customer feedback allows you to identify and respond quickly to customer needs
When designing a website, it is impossible to anticipate all possible situations in people's daily lives. Gathering customer feedback provides a quick understanding of issues that did not emerge during the design phase, so that they can be responded to and content can be developed based on genuine customer needs.
HSY, the environmental services provider for the Helsinki Region, offers a Waste Guide service for residents in the area, so that people know how to sort their rubbish correctly when they come to the sorting station.
"The Waste Guide page receives feedback on the different types of waste and items that are wanted in the Waste Guide and new items are added based on the feedback received."
2. Traditional metrics do not answer the question "why"
Numbers from traditional web metrics are a good indicator of where visitors come from and how they navigate the site. However, they do not tell us "why" visitors do what they do.
On one of our client's sites, a visitor wondered why he couldn't find a button to go to the helpdesk.
"We wondered about this among the contributors, because the link to the service was on the page a couple of times, but not in the form of a 'button'. So we then added a button format to the links to the services. On several other sites, the services were found behind a button."
"We wondered about this among the contributors, because the link to the service was on the page a couple of times, but not in the form of a 'button'. So we then added a button format to the links to the services. On several other sites, the services were found behind a button."
3. Customer feedback is concrete and action-oriented
There is no number that communicates a customer's need as clearly as direct feedback, especially if it's collected on every page. The context of the feedback often reveals as much as the feedback itself.
"The feedback and comments received through Askem have been very helpful in evaluating the content of individual pages. When you get several pieces of feedback on the same page about the same thing, you know that something has either been left out or has been explained in a way that customers don't understand."
4. Feedback helps to write understandable, plain language text
Experts are often so well versed in the specifics of their field that it is difficult to produce plain language in a form that the average person can understand. We're no strangers to this problem ourselves.
Feedback is a good way for those responsible for website content to prove to the experts that a text still needs to be made clearer and stripped of unnecessary jargon.
"The tool has helped us to clarify the Finnish language used on the website. The open responses have enabled us to edit texts to make them clearer and to better help citizens. In addition, we have been able to add more information to the page."
5. Traditional metrics may even lead to wrong conclusions
One of our clients was closely tracking a high-traffic article where traditional website metrics were looking good: it was getting a lot of visitors through search engines, bounce rates were low and read times were long. Everything looked great.
However, when collecting customer feedback it quickly became clear that 95% of readers were actually not finding the information they were looking for. With the help of customer feedback, it was possible to immediately track down what visitors were looking for and correct the content.
"Not only do we get information on how many people visit the site or how long they spend reading it, but we can ask users in real terms whether they can use the information on the site in their everyday lives."
"Not only do we get information on how many people visit the site or how long they spend reading it, but we can ask users in real terms whether they can use the information on the site in their everyday lives."
These examples underline the importance of customer feedback in the development of websites. Feedback can help identify and correct problems that are often hidden by traditional measurement methods. It is therefore important that organisations take customer feedback into account when developing their websites.
