In the ultra-competitive world of SaaS, where data is everything, collecting and utilizing in-app feedback is the fastest way to close the gap between what you’re building and how your customers are interacting with it.

Where do you begin, though? What kind of user feedback do you need? How can you make sure your efforts aren’t wasted? And, what in-app feedback tools are available for you?

This article examines all of these questions in detail.

What is in-app feedback?

In-app feedback is a system that enables users to provide feedback on their experience with an app while using it. This system can either replace or complement the more traditional feedback collection methods.

In general, the feedback you collect from users can be grouped into two:

General or relationship-related in-app feedback

These surveys focus on the app as a whole and are often used to gauge user satisfaction levels. They include customer satisfaction surveys, NPS surveys, and feature requests, among others.

This means asking questions like “How happy are you with our product?” or “How likely are you to recommend this product to others?”

Contextual or transaction-related in-app feedback

Contextual feedback is directly related to a specific app feature, experience, or interaction. It is displayed right after a user completes a specific process or interacts with a particular feature.

It includes everything from a new feature survey to an onboarding experience survey, customer service surveys, etc.

Why should you collect in-app feedback in SaaS?

There are many benefits of building your feedback mechanisms into your users’ in-app workflow. Some of these include:

• Higher response rate: In-app surveys catch users when they’re already engaged with your product. This makes them more likely to discuss their concerns/queries/delights with you.
• Real-time feedback: In-app surveys can be made available around the clock, making them convenient for all users and more likely to be honest and accurate.
• Contextual feedback: The best time to ask about a user’s experience is right after the experience—in-app feedback tools like Userpilot feature targeting and triggering options for contextual feedback collection.
• Uncover friction points and pain points: Similar to the above, in-app feedback widgets make it easier for users to inform you about bugs and other product usability issues.
• Improve user experience: Ultimately, as you better understand your user’s needs and concerns, you’ll be equipped to improve the user experience.

How to collect surveys in-app

In a world where customer satisfaction is crucial to your marketing efforts, many product teams have devised a variety of methods for collecting in-app feedback. These can be summarised into two:

Use in-app microsurveys to collect feedback

Also known as popup surveys, microsurveys are short forms with a few questions. They only appear when triggered, are typically very brief, and are often contextual.

Microsurveys are, thus, ideal for collecting feedback on a specific feature, gauging specific experiences, gathering customer satisfaction data, and more. NPS, CSAT, CES, and other contextual surveys fall into this category.

Use an in-app feedback widget for on-demand feedback collection

A feedback widget is a perpetually available tool that helps you collect real-time feedback. You can place a feedback widget anywhere within your app – perhaps as a standalone icon or as part of a resource center.

Feedback widgets provide users with a simple and convenient way to provide feedback on their experience with your app. This makes it ideal for feedback on-demand as customers can share their ideas and report issues at any time.

Best practices when collecting in-app feedback

Now you know the different types of surveys you can collect in-app, let’s consider some best practices to observe to ensure your surveys are insightful and impactful.

Gather in-app feedback from different segments

Not all users will be able to give you valuable feedback in every situation. Therefore, it’s important to identify and target only the right users for your feedback questions.

For example, you can’t ask a new user to provide feedback on an advanced feature they’re yet to use. Similarly, you can’t ask a power user to rate the onboarding experience they had long ago.

Collect in-app user feedback contextually

Contextual feedback collection is where in-app feedback especially excels over traditional collection methods. It enables you to collect user feedback when the experience is still fresh.

Trigger surveys contextually after an event has occurred to get the user’s thoughts before they fade. For example, you can trigger a customer service survey immediately after a user interacts with your customer support team.

Make sure your feedback widgets are easily discoverable

Feedback widgets work best when they are easily discoverable and accessible. When placed in a consistent and accessible location, they encourage more users to share their thoughts.

You can place them in page headers or footers, as an icon on the app’s sidebar (as in the picture below), as a top-level menu item, or as part of your in-app resource center.

Then, you can direct new users to the widget using a simple tooltip to ensure they don’t miss it.

Collect user feedback periodically

As users become accustomed to your product and you implement certain changes, their opinions on the product may change. It’s important, therefore, that you collect feedback periodically to track these changes.

For example, you can send NPS surveys once every two or three months to track how your NPS score has evolved over that time. Similarly, you can trigger CSAT surveys each time you roll out new features.

The goal here is to see how users’ opinions change over time and determine whether you’re moving in the right direction. An increasing NPS score, for instance, is proof you’re doing something right – and vice versa.

Automate feedback collection

To collect customer feedback contextually, you need some level of automation. Automated surveys pop up in real-time within the context of the user’s actions, prompting users to share their thoughts while fresh.

For example, you can automate churn surveys to appear whenever a user clicks the “Delete account” or “Cancel my Subscription” button. This will give you a clear insight into their reasons for churn before they forget it.

Measure customer satisfaction with an NPS dashboard

NPS surveys go beyond regular customer satisfaction surveys to measure customer loyalty. Satisfied users may like your app but will be willing to switch when they find something better.

Loyal customers, on the other hand, are less likely to switch. They’re also more likely to recommend your product to others who may need them.

The typical NPS survey question reads, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to a colleague or friend?” Ratings of 9 or 10 are promoters or loyal customers, while 7/8 are passives (satisfied but not loyal), and 1 to 6 ratings are known as detractors.

By regularly conducting NPS surveys and visualizing the results on a dashboard, you can track how well your product does over time.

Analyze customer feedback with survey analytics

Gathering user feedback is only helpful if you analyze it and act on it to improve your product. Survey analytics helps you go beyond raw feedback data to identify patterns and meanings in responses.

For example, after launching a churn survey, analytics can help you identify the most common reasons why users churn. As you work to address it, you can also track how that reason evolves.

Thus, analytics can help you prioritize your efforts and measure your progress. It can also help you uncover hidden gems or unexpected patterns that reveal new opportunities or issues.

Couple open-ended questions with close-ended questions for better insights

Although close-ended questions are easy to answer and analyze, they often miss out on the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’. Paired with an open-ended question, it allows users to elaborate on their responses.

For example, an NPS or CSAT survey can tell you how a customer views your brand (through their rating) but not why they view it that way. A follow-up open-ended question, however, reveals the reason for their rating.

Avoid bad survey questions when collecting user feedback

Crafting good survey questions is crucial for collecting accurate and valuable user feedback. To ensure your questions are of good quality, here are some bad questions to watch out for:

• Leading questions: These questions subtly nudge respondents towards a specific answer. For example, the question “Don’t you think our new feature is amazing?” nudges users towards a positive response.
• Loaded questions: These questions contain biased language based on an unverified assumption. For example, “What makes our product so much better than [competitor’s] product?”
• Double-barrelled questions: These are two questions fused as one, thus confusing the respondent. For example, “How satisfied are you with the app’s features and ease of use?”
• Biased questions: These questions favor a particular viewpoint through their structure, wording, or answer options. For example, “How was your experience with our customer service? [Excellent, Very Good, or Good]”
• Questions with double negatives: Using two negatives in a question can lead to confusion about the true meaning of your question. For example, “Was the [product feature] not unsatisfactory?”

Always close the customer feedback loop

Closing the customer feedback loop involves responding to their feedback, and acting on it. This demonstrates to your customers that you listen, value, and act on the feedback you receive.

Closing the feedback loop increases trust in your brand and encourages users to share feedback in the future. Thankfully, it isn’t a complex task to complete, as you can automate a follow-up message.

Sometimes, though, you may need to trigger a more detailed message afterward to address concerns in the user’s in-app feedback.

Follow up on negative customer feedback with an email

Go beyond generic follow-up messages to show users with negative feedback just how much you care.

Thankfully, the Userpilot-Hubspot integration enables you to set up seamless email triggers. Trigger an automatic email when users leave a low score to reassure them of your concern and get more information.

Your goal should be to identify the root cause of their concern and address it, potentially turning them from naysayers or detractors to promoters.

In-app feedback tools to gather customer feedback

Selecting the right in-app feedback tool is crucial to the success of your in-app feedback collection efforts. Consider a few tools available for your use:

Userpilot: Best for in-app feedback collection

Userpilot is a product growth platform designed to help you collect, analyze, and act on a variety of user insights. One way it does this is by helping you collect in-app feedback.

Userpilot’s in-app feedback tools and features include:

• In-app survey templates: Choose from a library of pre-made survey templates and customize them to reflect your brand style and theme.
• NPS + dashboard: Create and launch NPS surveys and track user’s responses from an easy-to-use dashboard.
• Segmentation and triggering options: Segment your users and select which user segment sees a survey. You can also set up a custom event(s) as a triggering condition for your survey.
• Feedback widget: Create an in-app feedback widget as part of your resource center. Offer support on-demand, collect user feedback, and provide helpful resources.
• Survey analytics (coming in q1 2024): Starting in Q1 2024, you’ll also be able to drill into survey responses to view insights from a certain user segment, company, or timeframe.

Doorbell: Best feedback widget software

Doorbell is an easy-to-use tool for creating in-app feedback widgets. The embedded feedback button allows users to submit their feedback at any time, with screenshots attached if necessary.

Some key features include:

• Customize the text and look of your feedback forms
• Trigger automatic responses to feedback
• Receive screenshots of the customer’s action at the time of their feedback
• Track and filter through feedback responses

Survicate: Best for mobile app feedback collection

Described as a flexible feedback collection tool, Survicate is an all-in-one customer feedback platform. It lets you create and launch microsurveys on your web and mobile apps.

Some key features include:

• Advanced targeting and triggering options for popup surveys
• Run surveys once or set them to repeat
• Create a customized feedback button
• Send surveys via link and email
• Track and analyze survey responses on a real-time analytics dashboard

Usersnap: Best for customer communication

Usersnap is an excellent tool for collecting and analyzing different forms of user data. Amongst other things, it enables you to:

• Create customized feedback buttons and widgets
• Create and launch targeted popup surveys
• Send surveys via email or web links
• Quickly analyze feedback using reports and filters

Conclusion

Collecting and analyzing in-app feedback is crucial to ensuring you’re on the right path. By observing survey best practices and choosing the right in-app feedback tool, you can be sure to receive fresh, valuable insights from users.

Ready to begin? Book a demo today to learn more about the different ways Userpilot helps you to collect, analyze, and act on user feedback.

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