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17 Comments

How do you keep your users informs about new features and get their feedback?

A short introduction 👋

Hi everyone! This is my first post, and I'm really happy to be a part of the indie hackers community.
I'm a web developer, and I'm passionate about my job and side project development.
I develop in PHP and Javascript and work for many companies for 4 years now.

The problem 🤔

While working on many projects, I have noticed that the relationship between the product and the final user could be laborious and especially when a new feature is available.
Indeed, there are some tools to do this (eg: https://www.trychameleon.com/) but which can be expensive and offer too many features for your needs (or sometimes too complicated). I am also wondering about the customer feedback on a new functionality (eg: feedbacks after several weeks/months or several uses).

Your experience 🔨

I am talking to you, maker, to obtain some feedback from your experience:

Are you using a tool?

  • If that is the case, which one?

  • If you use one, are you satisfied with it?

  • Does it give you everything you need?

  • If you don't use one, how do you proceed?

  • Would you like to use one?

  • How much would you pay in such a tool, and what would you expect from it?

I will consider all of your feedback, and I am very grateful for the time you will give me!

Happy Making!

  1. 3

    Hi there. For feature releases, we post on social media (Twitter, Reddit, Indie Hackers...). Our users are the first to know. They receive our newsletter and pop-up messages on our platform. We get feedback via chat and listings.

    1. 1

      Hi @Calista110! Thanks for you feedback 🙏
      Social media seems to be a great and free alternative for many use cases. What are the cons about that ? Is there any feature you are searching for but didn't found in any product?
      And what about the communication between your users about your product (and get their feedback so)?

      1. 1

        The major con is that if you want bigger visibility, you need to sponsor your post.
        It's the whole point of Keypup. We identified a lack of clarity between developer tools and project management tools, so we created a platform that aggregates data from both.
        Getting feedback is one of our biggest challenges. We use Intercom (chat, email, product tours) to stay in touch with our users. We are listed on Product Hunt, Capterra, and BetaList to get ratings.

        1. 1

          And what about some tools like https://canny.io/, https://www.trychameleon.com/ or https://freddyfeedback.com/ ? Have you ever tried one to get customer feedback ? If yes, what are the cons ?

          1. 1

            No, we haven't tried those.

  2. 2

    I post on Twitter & Reddit about upcoming features and get their feedback. I have a Telegram channel of over 100 people for beta testing and a group for beta feedback with 50+ people.

    The beta group provides quite a lot of feedback about the changes and new features.

    1. 1

      Hi @jayrambhia thanks a lot!
      The beta test idea is so cool and use telegram for this is great too!
      How long does this alternative take you?
      And what about product ready new features for customer who aren’t beta testers?

      1. 1

        Since I am making an Android app, it's much easier to do beta testing. I just send them the APK with new features which they can install and use. Once everything is ready for a new release, I upload the APK on Play Store.

        For people who are not beta testers, they leave reviews on Google PlayStore and send feedback / feature request via email. I also started using a public roadmap tool recently - https://taskito.featurebase.app/

        1. 1

          Beta test all make sense if you are targeting mobile users!
          I didn’t know about featurebase.app, I will take a look at that!
          Thanks for taking your time to answer! 🙏

  3. 2

    We have a Facebook group for our users and regularly post in there with new features, questions, discussions, etc. It's a great way to get input regularly.

    1. 1

      Hi @momoko, thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it! 🙏
      You communicate on Facebook to your customers because you started from this? Or you told them to go on this for accessing product actualities ?
      What about a tool for that and announce on your apps when a new feature is available and get customer feedback?

      1. 1

        Our users mostly hear about our product from facebook, so it's just natural that's where we can chat with them.

        We also have a feature announcement notification system, and send aggregated product updates via email. But it's easier to have a conversation and build a community via FB.

        IMO it can be really helpful to see customers discuss with each other vs. siloed feedback via email. Depends on your goal exactly I guess?

        1. 1

          Ok I understand the willingness to chat on Facebook with your users, you are directly facing with the reality and people reactions.

          My goal is to solve a problem that I found on different projects I was working on, and the communication between the users about the product was a part of it.

          I’m going to work on it and see the different possibilities.

          Thanks for your feedback and for taking your time @momoko 🙏

  4. 2

    I dont have a tool, I just post on social media what Im working on and users often chime in :)

    1. 1

      Hey @etiene, thanks for your feedback!
      What about the information on your website/app directly? Do you code custom popups/tooltips to show to your users a new feature? Or a specific blog page?
      Would you be willing to use a tool that does it for you?

  5. 1

    I don't use anything personally but if I did it would probably be https://canny.io, I've heard a lot of good things about it and it looks simple and effective.

    1. 1

      Hey @Harrjm! Thanks a lot!

      I didn't hear about https://canny.io but the features seems to be very cool! The only thing we could fault ATM is maybe the pricing, starting at 50$ each month for "only" 100 users. What kind of features are you searching for ?

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