We’re all about the love, but when we use the tagline “Spread the Love” at Apptentive, we are not just talking about sharing that wonderful feeling. At Apptentive, we use the letters L.O.V.E. as a constant reminder of how we should build our product and interact with our customers. It is a framework that we use to continually improve our product while keeping our customers in mind.
These four letters create a list that you should consider everyday when you think about how your app is interacting with your customers. Each aspect of the acronym is important and there is no order in which to follow them. Instead, it is understanding that there is a right moment (which could be all the time) to use each piece of L.O.V.E that is important.
• Listen
Listening is the foundation of every positive relationship. We have all heard the adage, “hearing is easy, listening is hard,” but how does that translate to businesses and is it even important? Every customer has listened to another one for advice, suggestions, and warnings about a product. It is important for businesses to listen to the customer as well. In regards to mobile, much of the feedback can be straight forward, but take the time to digest the words being said as that can lead to a better understanding in general of how the app can be improved. For example, if someone comments on reducing the steps to access a certain feature, consider making it simpler to access all the features.
When somebody reaches out by sending feedback, asking questions, or commenting it means they care. Whether the messages contain praise or criticism, a customer is taking the time to send it. That alone gives it enough value to warrant a developers attention. For every customer complaint there are many others who feel the same way but remain silent. Ignoring negative feedback will result in some serious missed opportunities, and result in driving people away from your app. People leaving negative feedback want to use your app as much or even more so than those who provided positive feedback. Furthermore, negative feedback can provide developers with vital information on how to improve the app. In case you need any help handling negative feedback here are some tips to turn negative reviews into happy customers.
As 2013 picks up speed, it is clear that customers want a better customer experiences. It is so important that people will pay more for companies that provide great customer experiences. As app developers, having many different places where customers can go to be listened to is an easy step to use to start improving the customer experience.
• Observe
Observing is about incorporating data to judge if something is significant or not . In the technical world of bugs, freezes, and crashes some problems may be hard or too time consuming for customers to thoroughly explain. Therefore, it is up to the developer to investigate an issue in order to come to a complete understanding of the issue. If app developers are focused on listening to their customers, there will be a large amount of feedback. Being able to observe allows app developers to be able to prioritize what feedback is most important and should be acted upon. In an ideal world everything can be fixed, changed, or added but that is not always possible, especially with smaller indie developers. Therefore, it is important to be able to discern what items are most significant. Don’t get sidetracked trying to improve features that only you think is important. Focus on what is important to the customer, or you won’t have any left. Apptentive provides data to app developers to more easily understand customer sentiment towards certain features and generally gathers feedback about what customers like or dislike about an app.
If it is difficult to ascertain what should be fixed through the data gathered, take a walk in the customer’s shoes for a day and use the app (or product) as if you daily life depended on it. That will help clarifying what to improve upon. You owe it to yourself to make the best app possible, because if you don’t take the time to make your app great, why should customers take the time to use it!
• Validate
Now it’s crucial to validate the time spent by the person who provided feedback as time well spent. The most common mistake made by businesses, app developers, or anybody asking for feedback is not validating the feedback they receive. Saying thank you is not enough, and can even sound like a dismissal in some instances. Tell the people who provided feedback what you plan on doing with their suggestions or to fix their complaints. Make your customers feel appreciated by explaining to them that the app has been improved thanks to their feedback. App developers should feel obligated to reach back out after any interaction with a person using their app. Whether or not you asked for feedback, it is important to show your appreciation every time it is received.
By validating feedback app developers have a wonderful opportunity to create brand advocates out of everyone who uses the app. Letting people know that their feedback helped create part of the new release creates a bond between the customer and the app, so not only will they continue to use it because they helped make it better, but they will tell their friends about the app as well. And as we all know, nothing is more effective or trusted than word-of-mouth for acquiring new customers.
• Engage
Engaging customers is the most dynamic letter in L.O.V.E. because it incorporates every other letter and is open to any innovative ideas one could have. It is important for app developers to spend time and energy engaging and developing relationships with people who use their apps. You can do this by offering discounts or invites to private betas of the app. Try sending out holiday or seasonal cards to your customers so they know that you are keeping them in mind. Consider dropping personal notes about updates and changes to the app to people who have provided feedback. Besides being personal, be creative with your messages (e.g. include a cat video link :D, or anything to bring out a smile).
Don’t let the customer have the last word in a conversation. Let the final interaction come from the developer side with a thank you note, or something as simple as wishing them a wonderful day. If need be, stay on the phone with them for 8 hours like the customer service agent from Zappos (check out the great re-enactment video).
Here are two things we like to do at Apptentive to engage others:
Be real. Real messages from real people. It is fine to give customers your personal/work e-mail and encourage them to drop a line at anytime because customers who talk to you trust you more. Provide information for them on how to stay connected with links to your blog, Facebook, twitter, or any other places where information is published to the public.
Create a presence outside your mobile app. Whatever your target audience is, host or help sponsor an event that your audience would be interested in going to. It doesn’t need to be about your app or your business. You can’t go wrong helping to nurture a community that is your target audience. If you don’t have the money to throw events, just show up to them. Being present, personal, and approachable will go a long way to helping people remember you. This also includes writing guest posts, being open to interviews, and participating in conversations around the internet.
At Apptentive the L.O.V.E. framework works great to make sure we are keeping our customers in mind as we improve our product. Each part of the framework is important as a business tries to establish itself or grow. Every time a new feature, direction, or idea is being discussed it should answer one key question. Is this something that customers want? Without our customers there would be no Apptentive. Join us in focusing on building a better mobile customer experience and sign up with Apptentive today.
5 ways to turn your mobile app’s haters into evangelists
Some app reviews are real downers
Some days are better than others
Ever sit down to your morning cup of coffee, open up the app store, surf to your app and come across a fresh 1 star rating with a 3 line rant about your app?
Your stomach sinks, you shake your head and you wonder if you’re doing it all wrong… Rest assured, you’re not alone.
The negative comments are going to come
If you’ve never had a negative comment or someone critique what you’re making, it probably means that no one has seen what you’re working on. Given the choice, most of us would rather have some audience for the things that we build rather than none at all.
If you’re in the app business, though, it’s particularly important. With over 650,000 apps in the iTunes App Store alone, you’re either building an audience or dying on the vine.
Negative sentiment is temporary, if you recognize it as such
Today’s consumer expects to be able to share their opinion publicly about any experience they have. Happy customers are much less likely to share their opinions than frustrated ones. People who have a complaint want to be heard and vent – they have something driving them to speak up. The driver is this:
They actually care about what you’re working on.
Your takeaway should be that every complaint represents a person who cares about your app and that by raising their hand, they’ve presented you with an opportunity to impress them. They’re giving you the chance to improve their experience. If you’re like our customers and you’ve got the ability to respond, your job is that much easier.
The developers we work with are finding myriad ways to turn customers who were initially complaining about their app into evangelist through the simple act of listening and responding.
Here are 5 ways to create evangelists our of your vocal critics
Is your goal to make the best app possible? If so, take negative feedback constructively. Most people are afraid that negative feedback could ruin their company’s image so they rail against it, fighting it as if they could convince a frustrated consumer to see the error in their feelings.What this really says to your customer is, “I don’t care about your problems or making my product better, I just want to hear good things.”
Differentiate yourself by responding with an open-minded and collaborative approach. Having a discussion with an upset customer lets them know that even if something goes wrong or there is something that they don’t like about your app, you’re not going to fight with them about their opinion.
When customers have a gripe, they are sharing their experience. It’s important to set your ego aside and understand that the complaint is about how theyexperienced your app. Can you be objective and hear them describe what’s going awry? Can you stop yourself from telling them that they’re doing something wrong?Being objective and fair often requires that you swallow your preconceived notions about how your app is supposed to work and how people are supposed to use it. If you can step outside of yourself well enough in order to actually admit that your app isn’t working the way they’d like it to, you convey that you can see their point of view and want to treat them in a fair and respectful manner.
Admitting that you made a mistake goes a long way, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. There are times you have to make things right by offering more than apologies and your time.Yes, that’s right, you might have to give something away.Think back to the last time you dealt with a business that did something wrong and then offered up an item of value. How did that make you feel? Was it about the value of the item or the fact that the business took a step it didn’t have to take and in so doing made you feel like they really understood you and took your problem seriously?
Being generous isn’t about a blanket set of actions to give customers free things: it’s about doing something special, to take a step that most businesses refused to because of perceived cost or the fear of abuse. Being generous often has a huge reciprocal effect: customers want to be generous in return, often with effusive thanks. Often, your generosity becomes a story in and of itself (like this United example) and something worth sharing.
Most people hate automated emails, ticket systems and voice prompts to help them solve their problems. They want to communicate directly with another person and either work towards a resolution or know that they’ve been heard. Communicating with them starts with acknowledging that you’ve heard their feedback and if you’re going to follow-up with them, informing them of that next step.It’s important to keep customers updated about what is going on with their input. Have you decided to include their input in your roadmap? Are you making product changes or have you taken it in and decided not to do anything? Close the loop.Make sure that your customers know that real people are involved in dealing with their feedback and that their effort was appreciated, even if they won’t be getting the resolution they were hoping for. When you exhibit this kind of care customers better understand the nuance and thought process your company goes through. It’s much harder to demonize a company that has shared how it struggles with important decisions.
Imagine receiving an email that reads:
Last month you brought to our attention the fact that our app does not allow you to share your videos on Facebook and that you thought this was really important.We are now working to add this to our latest update. Within the next few weeks, you will be able to share videos on Facebook from our app. We’re ecstatic that you took the time to make this suggestion and we really appreciate you helping us to make our app the best it can be.How would you feel if you got this email?Validated. Heard. Involved.
If you get that message, the feature isn’t just a feature of the app – it’s YOUR feature too. When you show off the app in public you can point out that you’re the reason that video sharing to Facebook exists. Do you think that you’d be more likely to use and share that app?
Exactly.
When you let people know that they’re part of your journey to success and that you’re listening to them they go from critic to team member. The more team members you can convert from your critics the better – not only will the tone of the conversation be different but their likelihood to evangelize your app goes WAY up.
There’s no silver bullet, but you have lots of tools
Each of these 5 tactics is valuable and when combined, they’re incredibly effective at converting your critics to evangelists. The real key to success here is instill a pattern of behavior in your team that understands that your vocal critics actually care about what you’re building and that many of them will want to help you become better. There are few feelings more satisfying that converting a former critic to an evangelist.
Have you found other techniques helpful in turning critics into evangelists? Please share how you’ve found success in the comments and we’ll update this post with more ideas.