If you build your mobile application and you wish for it to be successful, you should constantly gather feedback from your app users to refine and improve your product.
Still, obtaining useful feedback from users is more difficult than you think thus it has to be performed in a proper manner.
When talking about collecting feedback, one of the best ways to do it is via in-app surveys. These surveys provide valuable user insights, increase engagement and take the predictions out of the way for your app to grow.
In this article, we will provide you with the best practices to create a mobile app feedback form and tips on how to act upon the collected feedback.
Why Are In-App Surveys Excellent for User Feedback
Mobile web surveys have very low response rate (1-3%) while in-app surveys record an average 13% response rate. If you enable your users to leave feedback without having to leave the app will add value by increasing time spent in your app.
In-app surveys enable targeting specific users – the more you narrow your audience, the better. You should target based on app version, completing certain in-app actions or subscription level and more.
Since you ask specific questions within the context, user feedback is more concrete and actionable.
Feedback will help you to prioritize certain tasks in your product roadmap and also reach smarter decisions on how to invest your resources.
Not only that, but with options to target specific audiences and user pain points, you will be able to improve user experience significantly and boost retention rates.
With in-app surveys, you will be able to identify both happy and unhappy users – it will give you an opportunity to respond to unhappy ones directly without having them complaining within the App Store and improve your Store ranking.
The most important benefit of all is that users’ feedback will give you more insights and deeper understanding on how and why people use your mobile app.
With these details, you will be able to meet their expectations and build more meaningful relationships with your users.
Such an approach can convert your users into loyal customers.
Mobile In-App Survey Best Practices
If you plan to implement in-app surveys, follow some of these essential practices for the best results.
Get the Timing Right
If you wish to implement app surveys, be careful with the timing – you do not want to annoy your users with pop-ups. Be patient, do not interrupt your users in the middle of any task and do not ask for a survey too soon, for example immediately when they open the app. It will definitely be a negative point for you and it can potentially trigger a lost user.
Avoid asking for the feedback when the user has just launched your app for the first time, or if they are in the middle of any process like making a purchase, sharing content or similar.
Once the users completed their desired action, then it is the right time to ask for feedback. For example, if the user has just received a shipment, beat a new game level or finished streaming a movie then it is the right time to discreetly ask them to rate or comment on your app.
If you do not bother or interrupt your users, they will be more prone to provide their feedback.
Keep it Short
Mobile is different from laptops, desktops or tablets. Mobile screen is smaller thus not ideal for a comprehensive survey or many questions.
You should keep it as short as possible – ask 1-2 questions to boost response rates and choose the questions which can be answered with a single tap. If you see the room to replace text answers with visuals or emojis, make sure to do it.
In-app survey questions should be simple and straightforward, letting users reply with a single tap on the answer or emoji. It also has to be discrete, not to take over the entire screen giving the opportunity for uninterested users to dismiss it easily.
You can also add follow-up question(s) to get more in-depth feedback, but it is not necessary.
You can also send a message to your users that you’re interested in their individual responses by asking to provide their contact details. Just make sure to reply or send a thank you note to each user who sent you their feedback this way.
Make Your Surveys Noticeable
You can also include pop-ups as constant additions to your mobile app. These pop-ups should be apparent without cluttering the UI – you can achieve this by adding them to your top menus, headers or footers and more.
You can choose polls or similarly featured surveys in your app – Twitter has done related polls in its newsfeed to gather feedback but it was done in such a way so it does not interrupt the user experience, which is the most essential thing to pay attention to when creating in-app surveys or polls.
Make Actionable Feedback
You have gathered the feedback and how to make it actionable?
Firstly, create categories of users based on your survey responses and then you can follow and better engage your users.
For example, if any users requested a certain feature to be implemented, you can invite them to beta test it or notify them once it is launched. You can invite your satisfied users to join your loyalty programs, share content or recommend your app to their friends thus acting as your brand/app ambassadors.
Dissatisfied users can be followed up with a personal approach from your support or can be notified if the problem within the app was resolved.
Listen to Your Users for Real
Your users do not have to provide feedback and you should understand that THEY are doing you a FAVOR by providing it.
Always thank them for their feedback in your communication or send personal emails and show them your appreciation for their interest in improving your product.
This applies to both positive and especially negative feedback.
Negative feedback must get special attention – your team should reply in detail to the user showing your dedication to resolve issues and ensure that your app satisfies your users’ needs.
You can also make announcements or write blog posts thanking your users for their feedback and assuring them that every comment was heard and taken seriously.
Be Simple but Do Not Limit Users
The common practice is to keep it as simple as possible but sometimes simple YES/NO questions will not provide the information you need.
Depending on the situation, open-ended questions may give better insights into your users’ thoughts and preferences.
Open-ended questions do not necessarily mean to expect users to submit long answers since typing on mobile is not ideal. Save that type of questions that require longer written responses for email or personal follow ups.
You can also add small incentives to longer surveys as rewards especially if the surveys contain more than 2-3 questions. Incentives can be for example, 10% off the subscription or free trial and similar.
You can send invitations to users to provide you more detailed feedback to a dedicated email address providing them with the opportunity to leave detailed feedback if they wish.
Do Not Rely on Pop-Ups
If you wish to collect user input, keep in mind that it does not have to be a formal poll or a survey. The best strategy would be to incorporate feedback into your app’s UI.
One of the great examples is Spotify – they’ve created a strong value that helps users to discover new music. Spotify included buttons in the shape of heart and cross for their suggested songs within the user’s daily music mix.
Such an approach ensured a quick way to get feedback from their users on how well their suggestions matched users’ preferences which directly improves their suggestions and also discover new favourite music pieces.
Final Word
Mobile in-app surveys have become a common tool in the area of customer feedback and user research.
When designing a survey for your mobile app, keep in mind to provide a seamless experience as the last thing you want is to trigger users to abandon your app.
Besides myriad of benefits, mobile in-app surveys are one of the most effective ways to improve user experience but also your product development.