How startups can gather early customer feedback

Focusing on end users is a key element in achieving product-market fit. Validating a product has become more complex, particularly in a post-pandemic world. The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the way customers perceive not only new products and services but also their customer experiences. We are living in a new era in which businesses are rethinking their positioning around product-market fit and are shifting from face-to-face customer interactions to digital channels.

It has become essential for startups to apply UX methods that keep users' needs at the heart of product decisions. User behavior matters more than ever, and reading it properly has a lasting effect on user sentiment and relationships.

To align with these changing imperatives, startup founders need to treat user experience as a high priority when communicating about product enhancements. Appropriate digital touchpoints are essential for gathering proper user feedback while a product is being conceived. Startups need to capture user experiences throughout the critical early phases of Proof of Concept creation, prototyping and MVP design.

Embracing this approach iteratively provides relevant, timely information and guides product owners toward meeting their target customers' needs. It also draws attention to potential adoption constraints and to how the product is used in context.

The sections below explore how proper user feedback adds cumulative value toward building a viable product. The manner in which feedback is collected differs at each stage because of the nature of the audience involved.

Proof of Concept phase

When creating a proof of concept for a startup, understanding early expectations from different stakeholders is essential in order to build upon it. Following a PoC strategy enables early information gathering about the practicality of an idea and can save valuable time and money later.

Gathering early feedback about the risks surrounding the validation of a product's technical feasibility can also prevent major pitfalls during later stages. Collecting the right feedback from developer groups helps align the product toward functional practicability. In addition, a PoC aims to show all stakeholders that there is a need in the market with a target positive ROI.

Proper feedback should demonstrate and confirm how the core product features address the pain points of a specific target customer audience. Founders can conduct online workshops when presenting a PoC to selected potential early adopters. In parallel, they can put the collected feedback in front of internal developer groups, who can respond with proper analysis and apply the necessary corrections. Recording user sessions is recommended, as it helps reveal user behavior on first exposure to the product idea.

Prototype phase

When using a clickable interactive prototype, the product can be demonstrated easily to potential investors and partners. The aim is to produce a detailed representation of the product to be launched, and the approach helps in receiving useful user feedback so the team can move efficiently to the product implementation.

Getting the feedback right can streamline the validation of the UX and UI design and thereby improve the product user experience.

In this context, online tools can be powerful channels for collecting user feedback and acting on it. Startups can invite people who represent the target audience to interact with a prototype and collect their feedback through private forums, social media groups and webinars. These platforms serve to ask end users and stakeholders directly whether the proposed solution brings the anticipated added value.

MVP phase

Collecting user feedback during the MVP phase is crucial to improve the product implementation, make adjustments as needed and integrate valuable feedback from the beta testers. The following practices support this work.

• Directly asking users to describe problems by conducting video calls, where users can share their screens to show real-life expectations about the new features.
• Creating a WhatsApp or Slack group for interacting with a large number of real users, so that an issue can be shared the moment it appears.
• Backing up findings with data by creating heatmaps, which highlight the most-used content and features and show how people actually use the product. User feedback tools like Hotjar and Clicktale can be used in this case.
• Another possibility is to employ tools like Instabug that make it easier for testers to share contextual feedback. This is helpful when an alpha or beta version of the prototype is available, as a feedback mechanism can be incorporated right into the app to analyze and fix performance, quality or stability issues.

WeaveLines as your ideal partner for faster time-to-market

At WeaveLines, we help founders capture the right user feedback through each step of product development, from PoC to prototype to MVP. Our team assists founders in understanding market dynamics and in gathering early product feedback from early adopters efficiently.