May 27, 2018

The example that made me stop worrying about how to ask for product feedback

I love inbound messages from my users, but can be at a loss for words when I want to reach out. And I find I'm bombarded with advice on all the ways asking for product feedback can go wrong (focus groups, better horses, blindspots, etc.).

So when I got this message from a business I really like, Notion, it changed my mind on worrying so much. Here's the message they sent me initially:

Subject: Help prioritize our next docs/wiki features

Hey Ben,

We are kicking off a big release focusing on the docs and knowledge base experience in Notion.

So far, these are some of our top requests, but how would you rank them (e.g. >ACFDBE)? And is there something we're missing?

A: User groups (e.g. share via groups like "engineers")
B: Better search
C. Page-level version history
D: Analytics (e.g. which pages are popular? who's been active? etc)
E: More permissions (e.g. lock pages, restrict changes to table setup)
F: Something else we're missing?

Appreciate the help!
Ivan, Founder
notion.so
The all-in-one workspace.

I replied. They replied back:

Thanks for the feedback Ben - mind expanding on what type of analytics you want to see and how you want to see search improved (e.g some content weighted more than others)?

I gave a little more details. They closed it out:

Cool - I'll make sure to share this with the team 🙌

😍


  1. 2

    <3 Notion. Ivan's really cool too, always open to feedback

  2. 1

    Great idea! I've used the "letter technique" (ABCD) when asking how they heard about us.

    I'm gonna use that this week to ask about product-feedback.

  3. 1

    I love this!

  4. 1

    Thanks for sharing this example, Ben.

    This is really simple and genius. What a great way for Notion to get your feedback and for you to feel invested in their growth (since you were able to contribute to their roadmap priorities).

    Will have to add this to my own playbook =)

  5. 0

    Probably not a good time to send emails asking for feedback with all the GDPR emails craze. What do you think?

    1. 2

      The mania will pass. Seems like an evergreen example and I hope that my users are as excited about my product as I am to see through the noise of any inbox 🤩

      How have you been responding to GDPR?

      1. 1

        Good point! Is a hard proof thoug, that's what i mean. Still, I think the idea you shared is really cool!

        Don't know if the last question is sarcastic, but I do open the mails from the services I use and look if there's anything I have to accept, so I don't get bothered later.

        1. 1

          Thanks! Not sarcastic! Was wondering if you changed your behavior in regards to building your own business during these times.