We've said it before, and we'll say it again: It's not your customers' job to give you feedback. Instead of directing users to some deserted feedback forum, we capture feedback in situ:
in si·tu : in the natural or original position or place
The key to in situ feedback is connecting typical, natural customer actions to your feedback channel. When a customer writes to support asking how to do something, for example, you should capture that feedback right then and there.
We can take this a step further by connecting actions to feedback, using Intercom tags as a bridge between the two. Layering intent on top of customer actions uncovers value without forcing customers to shoulder the feedback burden.
Actions > Intercom tags > Feedback
Userfeed's two-way Intercom syncing makes connecting users to feedback as easy as applying Intercom tags. So the process looks like this:
- Find (or create) a feedback post for the feature or customer need you care about
- Identify action(s) that indicate interest in that feature or customer need
- When a user takes the action(s), tag them with the post's Intercom tag
And just like that, you're capturing user interest automatically!
A practical example
We recently started testing a new Userfeed feature we're rolling out. When we start a test, we enable the feature internally to iron out wrinkles and hone our solution. When a customer tries to use the feature, we prompt them to chat to support and discuss it from there.
This works well, but what if a user tries to use it and never chats in? You know, "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around" and all that. We know when they take a certain action, they are expressing interest in the feature. So why not capture that?
Here are the steps for doing so:
- The user takes an action we don't support yet
- We tag that user automatically via Intercom's API
- The Intercom tag we use links the user to a feedback post managed in Userfeed
- As users flow into this segment, we can send them status updates or reach out for research purposes
Code-less feedback capture via bots and zaps
In our example, we're tagging users directly via Intercom's API. But what if you can't make code changes? Or you want to iterate on this type of feedback capture more quickly?
Anything that can apply Intercom tags becomes a tool for capturing feedback. Intercom bots, for example, let you automate conversation flows with users and perform actions (including tagging) on those users. Zapier is another great option, as it enables you to incorporate third-party apps into the process.
If you'd like to set any of this up, we can help! Shoot us a note via Intercom, or feel free to leave your email below to get templates like this sent straight to your inbox: