Design your feedback loops

Wanting feedback is easy. Build the system that turns it into decisions.

Instructions

After launch, the most important thing you can do is make it easy for users to tell you what they think. Not by surveying them to death — but by designing the right touchpoints, at the right moments, that capture the signals you actually need.

The problem with most early-stage feedback setups is that they're passive. A contact form that nobody uses. A survey that went out once. Analytics that capture events but not the reasons behind them. Passive feedback misses most of the truth. People don't volunteer frustration until it's bad enough to matter. And the people who don't say anything — who just leave — are often your most important data point.

Good feedback design is about reducing friction for the user and creating habits for you. It means knowing which channels capture whi...