If you have reached the point where it is necessary to do something in order to improve your web site your best shot is the user’s opinion. Nevertheless if you are the owner of the web site or you are a developer – you should always take in consideration user’s recommendations. Do not ever underestimate their ideas. However, that is not as easy as it may sound.

Usually there are two types of obstacles that may occur while you are trying to listen to the users:

• How to establish a connection between you and the users
• How to distinguish the worthy feedback from all the responses you get

Collecting user feedback

It is a common understanding that the website owners are sure what the users want. However, in most cases that is not even close to reality. Think about when was the last time you have asked someone about their honest opinion?

Here are some tips about how you can effectively collect feedback form users:

Face to face

Face to face meetings are not a common practice and usually they are not easy to be arranged. However, the benefits you can get from such events can be greater than you have originally thought. The live communication with users is very helpful and useful. That way you can actually see them, hear their voices and get an idea of what kind of people are they. As mentioned before those meetings are not common but it will be good for you if you do it at least one time.

Web stats and search queries

Analyzing web logs and search queries may sound a little bit boring but do not underestimate it. Reading the web stats correctly can give you tips how to improve your visibility and can save you much time when trying to resolve problems concerning usability, accessibility and so on. Reading the web stats can give you information about what the users want and what they use to reach your web site.

Questionnaires and surveys

One of the oldest and most used methods to collect user’s feedback is the survey/questionnaire. They can be used to identify broad trends and will provide you with valuable information which is similar to the web stats.
However, provoking sympathy among the users is an important detail and tracking broad trends does not encourage them.

Note that there can be always some sort of misunderstanding. Very often users say one thing when they actually want another thing. While they call for various features and want more functionality, they still want a user-friendly interface. Thus, there is no way to be aware of this unless there is a two-way interaction between you and them.

Another important issue is that the users are not willing to complete a survey unless they have a well-formed opinion. Maybe that is the way it should be because otherwise the results will be useless.

Of course that does not mean that surveys/questionnaires are something you should give up but sometimes you will need to read between the lines in order to get a clear idea of the real situation.

Third party web applications

The last method used to collect user’s feedback involves the use of a new type community tools. For example, you can use Sites like Get Satisfaction and User Voice. On one hand these web applications allow users to submit their opinions and requests and on the other hand you can respond them using the same way and the best thing about it is that everyone can take part in the debate.

Maintaining this “open form” of debates will definitely encourage more people to participate and will give you the chance to communicate more effectively.

If you use surveys you actually oblige users to respond in one or another way and they don’t have the freedom to express their opinion in more words. However, there are different types of surveys and some of them allow various interpretations of the results. 

Nevertheless which method you have chosen to apply to your web site in order to collect user’s feedback you need to decide what is worthy and what is useless.

Assessing user feedback

Once you have collected users’ feedback you will have to distinguish various suggestions and recommendations. Below are 4 possible criteria which may help you to decide which suggestion needs your attention:

• Level of feedback – What is the number of people who are making a similar suggestion? If there are more people with the same request then you should consider it carefully otherwise you may think twice before applying it.
• Source of feedback – Look who is responding? Make sure you pay more attention to the suggestions made by your actual audience and not by accidental visitors.
• Cost of implementation – Think over the cost you will pay if you decide to apply a suggested idea and consider what the benefits to your business are.
• Impact – Review the possibility of applying new type of functionality. Will it bring more complexness to your site? Will it be suitable with the rest of the web site? Make sure you know the answer because the results of applying new ideas are sometimes unpredictable.

Once again, users’ feedback can be very useful source of information if you want to improve your web site. However, you still need to choose which way you are going to use in order to collect it.