Too often teams treat customer feedback as a one-time effort at the beginning of embarking on a new project. But the best product teams develop a continuous feedback loop: an automated system by which they are continuously receiving and incorporating customer feedback into their product roadmap. Learn how you can develop a robust feedback loop for your own product by leveraging feedback rivers, feedback system of records, and deep synthesis.
4. Jeff Bezos, Amazon
“One thing I love about
customers is that they are
divinely discontent. Their
expectations are never static -
they go up. It’s human nature.
We didn’t ascend from our
hunter-gatherer days by being
satisfied. People have a
voracious appetite for a better
way… You cannot rest on your
laurels in this world. Customers
won’t have it.”
7. 100
We built it, but they
didn’t come
200
We got out of the
building and talked
to our customers
300
We analyze metric
dashboards weekly
& commission
well-designed
research studies
Mastering customer obsession
400
We have a
continuous
feedback process
with a feedback
river, feedback
system of record,
and deep synthesis
8. Why 300-level customer obsession is not enough
Metrics can help
identify what’s
wrong, but not why
Research studies
are infrequent &
quickly out-of-date
11. What is a feedback river?
an open channel for any team member to get
continuous real-time feedback on the product
across a multitude of sources
12. What are the benefits of a feedback river?
Voice of
customer directly
from the source
Real-time
feedback after
product updates
Ability to recognize
patterns across
sources
20. What is a feedback system of record?
a single source of truth for consolidated and
aggregated feedback across a multitude of
sources
21. What are the benefits of a feedback system of record?
Speed up
processing of
feedback
Simplify
incorporation into
roadmap
Avoid recent
feedback bias
25. Sales Navigator’s feedback system of record
Lighthouse Feedback
● Held weekly feedback meeting with representatives from product, design,
engineering, marketing, sales, customer success
● Reviewed newest feedback items as well as updated ranking for features /
problem areas
● Moved important items into bug fix sprints or consideration for upcoming
roadmap
31. Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn / Greylock
“Users are systematically
very poor at understanding
what their reaction will be
to new things.”
32. “If I'd asked people what
they wanted, they'd have
asked for faster horses.”
— Henry Ford
Well, at least we know they
find traveling by horse to
be too slow!
34. User vs business priorities
Acquire
Activate
Engage
Retain
Upsell
Refer
35. Top feature requests that were never implemented
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Export LinkedIn profiles to Salesforce
Provide LinkedIn member email addresses