Feedback loop is important across different stages of every organization, whether it’s about getting to know the audience better for improving products or services, predicting future behavior, increasing sales or conversion. The most common gaps I’ve seen working across e-commerce, SaaS, health-tech, fin-tech & NGOs are:

1. response rate

2. quality feedback

Here's how...

First, let’s take a look at best practices for response rate.

Personalize based on audience values. When I changed “Take our survey” to “We’re interested in your experience with x as a new mom. Can you share some feedback?” the response rate shot up.
Cognitive capacity and motivation decrease with time which means people might not complete the survey or apathetically answer (especially the ones towards the end of the survey). Ask important questions second. Keep questions short and simple. More on this in the next section.
Share purpose. Personalize based on audience values. When I added “Your feedback helps other parents make more informed decisions” response rates skyrocketed. Adding the why behind your ask (example: helping others) is meaningful to your audience.
Shorter surveys will result in a higher completion rate. Eliminate unnecessary or duplicate questions and combine asks where you can.

When it comes to quality feedback, most people focus on what they’re asking. While the what is important, you also have to focus on the when, where, how and why. Let’s look at some of these, starting with when and where.

Question order matters.

Anchoring can affect answers unknowingly. In an app for a fin-tech co, I asked users how much they’d be willing to set aside each month as savings. Previous field required them to enter a pin. Those with a higher pin entered a larger amount.
Priming can set the tone for the rest of the survey. When asked to describe a positive user experience first, the overall NPS question later in the survey was more positive 95% of the time vs when asking NPS first.
Serial-position effect is real. The first and last question receive more attention. During the first question, the audience has the highest cognitive capacity and motivation. The last question will be freshest in their memory. Choose wisely.

How you ask matters.

Beware the intention-action gap. While people love being consistent in their judgment and identity, we often say one thing but do another. Asking questions like whether they'd buy a new product or how much they'd pay can be misleading. Take this grocer, for instance. An affluent neighborhood in greater LA had a problem. Their closest supermarket was 17 miles away. Some entrepreneurs got together to solve this issue. The residents were surveyed to see if they would purchase from a more high-end, fully organic grocer that was much closer. 98% of residents responded positively. Millions were spent in constructing and then stocking the grocer. During the first week, sales were robust but slowly started to wane. Six months in, the grocer was losing money just staying open with only a $19 AOV and less than 100 customers each week. Why? When residents’ purchase habits were observed, almost all of them drove 17 miles away to the larger supermarket. While people had every intention to shop at a healthier and more expensive grocer, it was easier to drive 17 miles away to pick up everything in one go.
Shorter surveys have a significantly higher completion rate than longer ones. Sometimes, though, it can’t be helped. If your survey has to be long, include progress updates. From my own experiments, I’ve noticed that adding a simple progress bar can increase completion rate by at least 15%.

Why they answer matters.

As you learned earlier, cognitive capacity declines as survey goes on. Remind audience of their motivation or incentive along the way to increase completion AS WELL AS quality of feedback. When a yes/no question about ease of use was replaced with ‘The biggest question potential customers ask is if this was easy to use. Sharing your experience will help others decide.’, the feedback immediately become much more relevant and usable.

A feedback loop is essential for growth, innovation and much more. How you design this system makes a significant difference in how effective it is. These best practices should ensure you’re getting the most out of your time and your audience’s time.