Turning Customer Feedback Into Trust: A Guide to Transparency

One of the biggest complaints we often hear from end users is that when they submit feedback, it feels like it’s going into a black box. No one wants to feel as if they’re shouting into the void, especially when they’re committing time or money to the effort. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the feedback process feels like for many customers when they share feedback with companies. Fortunately, there are a few simple practices we can adopt to avoid this common shortcoming.

Proactively explain the feedback process to users.

During the first stage of the feedback process, many teams confirm receipt of customer feedback at the moment of submission, but this typically takes the form of a generic "Thanks for your feedback." message. You can make this auto-response feel less generic by using more informal, personable, and warm language. This is a good start, but it does little to reassure customers who wonder if the time they spent proactively submitting feedback will lead to anything valuable for them.

The best way to address this concern is to be descriptive about how your team will handle the feedback going forward and what the customer can expect to hear from you in the future. The goal isn’t to obligate your team by committing to a specific timeline for prioritizing every piece of feedback. Instead, the goal is to commit to transparent communication with your users as their feedback progresses, regardless of whether you’ll ultimately address it. Most people are reasonable; they understand that you’re busy, engaging with many customers simultaneously, and simply can’t work on everything at once.

Frustration typically arises when users feel there’s no hope their needs will be addressed or their feedback considered. However, by being communicative upfront, you can often bypass this risk, making the process feel more empathetic, personal, and reliable. Sometimes, this level of communication alone is enough to satisfy a user; people just want to feel heard. By proactively detailing what they can expect next, you can score an easy win for your team.

Don’t address every piece of feedback, but do explain why.

It’s time for some Honesty Hour: you simply aren’t going to be able to build every single feature your users ask for. Fortunately, the vast majority of users are okay with that. Most users are increasingly tech-literate; they understand what it’s like to use a software platform that improves over time. They also understand the competing interests and resource constraints that teams constantly navigate. They don’t expect you to address every single problem they have, but they do expect to be treated like adults, with honesty and transparency about why their specific needs won’t be addressed. As in the previous section, proactive and thorough communication is key.

You should get as comfortable saying, “We won’t be addressing this,” as you are saying, “Thanks for your feedback!” However, just as you should be deliberate in explaining what comes next, you should also be deliberate in explaining why you won’t be addressing their requests. Sometimes, this can be as simple as saying, “We’re planning to review this need next quarter. Please sit tight until then.” Or, “This is the first time we’ve received this request. We typically prioritize the most requested needs from our customers, which right now is [NEED]. If this changes, we’ll let you know.”

There will also be times when you disagree with a customer’s suggestions or have previously considered them but ultimately decided not to proceed. In these instances, it’s wise to be candid about your perspective. At ROCKEYE, a leading ERP for Oil and Gas, we occasionally have highly opinionated and influential customers request customized enhancements we fundamentally disagree with. When this happens, we commit to providing in-depth explanations (1–2 paragraphs) detailing how we arrived at our decision. To this day, we have yet to lose a customer due to being upfront about why we won’t address their feedback as they’d prefer..

Be transparent about what other users want to crowd control expectations.

And now, it’s time for the second hour of Honesty Hour: most users believe that their needs are shared by a large number of other users. This is one reason why some users may seem exasperated when your team doesn’t quickly prioritize addressing their needs. But this isn’t their fault; they simply lack visibility into the mountain of feedback your team is likely receiving. Fortunately, we can change that – and we should.

By providing users with insight into the feedback and needs of others, you introduce a mechanism that helps set realistic expectations across your broader customer base – without always having to be the bearer of bad news. How do we actually do this? Simple: put popular ideas up for a vote and give users a way to review the results.

This doesn’t have to be a fully open system where every user can see every possible request. Idea portals like this are very 2010s. Instead, even putting a small collection (3–5 items) of the most common feedback up for a vote sends a powerful message. It helps temper users’ expectations by grounding them in reality: your team is receiving a lot of feedback, some of which is widely shared among users, but their individual requests may not be part of that short list. Giving users a glimpse into others’ needs ensures they’re more likely to understand why their requests might not be at the top of your list.

Share your priorities, even if they’re not what users are requesting.

Similar to sharing what other users need, we also recommend that teams proactively share what’s coming soon on their roadmap. Again, this doesn’t need to be a completely open roadmap. The goal isn’t to share everything you’re working on or to commit to specific timelines; rather, it’s to provide users with a bit of insight into a small list of improvements you’re actively working on to satisfy them in lieu of addressing their individual requests.

Being proactively transparent can make your life easier in several ways. First, it grounds users’ expectations by helping them understand the value of the other priorities you’re focusing on. Second, it builds anticipation and excitement for these improvements—often to the point that they replace the desires users originally thought they had. Third, it gives you a meaningful reason to reconnect with users in the future.

Each user has needs and ideas for improvements, but no single user has all the possible ideas. In fact, you may be working on new functionality that a user has never considered but ultimately finds more interesting. This happens at Hidden Brains quite frequently. We often respond to user requests by previewing the items we’re prioritizing instead, and rarely encounter users who insist that their needs are more important.

One note on communicating your priorities to users: if possible, we recommend allowing users to follow, like, or “star” the short list of items you choose to share. Not only does this act as an additional feedback collection moment, but it also allows you to build a list of users with whom you can proactively communicate as the priority progresses. Instead of sending out a mass, generalized message about the new functionality, you can craft more personalized messaging and send it only to those who have indicated interest.

Conclusion

Communicating with your customers at every stage of the feedback management process goes a long way toward building lasting relationships. Taking the time to thoughtfully articulate what you’re addressing and why shows customers that you care and that their needs are being heard.