How to effectively listen and use user feedback

The author of this article is Hochang with the island. I think in the process of building products, there should be many entrepreneurs like to listen to the way to improve their grasp and understanding of the user. So how should be based on user feedback to identify the real needs and real problems? He expressed his views on the issue and hoped that he would be able to communicate with more entrepreneurs around the topic.

One of the main characteristics of Internet products is the user and platform to build, and this feature in the initial stage of the product is particularly obvious. In the early days, because of the lack of entrepreneurs experience, it will lead to the user's grasp and understanding of the problem, so the founders often like to listen to the user's feedback, but also to do their best to allow users to speak more.

Speaking of which, I think some people might immediately think of Jobs's argument that "users don't know what they want". Do users really not know what they want? Yes, if it was in the eyes of a genius entrepreneur like Steve Jobs, users were like ants, and the user wanted what jobs wanted. But in a sense, the argument is just a genius entrepreneur like Steve Jobs. Therefore, the user's words, actually still need to listen to pay attention to.

But how do you listen to the words of the user? Is it all listening or partly listening? What are the key points to listen to and what not to listen to? Facing a pile of questionnaires, how to effectively identify the real needs and real problems, is every entrepreneur including product managers must face the challenges. I would simply share some of my views from this perspective.

First, the user must lie

We want to be user-oriented, starting from the requirements, but this does not mean that the user is all right. Even part of it must be a lie that has nothing to do with product improvement. I always thought that this is the mindset that every product manager and entrepreneur need to have-assertive, confident, and full of judgment, and this judgment never comes from what the user says, how much the user says, but how close we are to the user and to what extent.

As a simple example, when a user gets any phone, they start out with a different kind of feedback, such as a bad battery, a small screen, a heavy fuselage, a difficult system, and so on (you can also think of it as an iphone). However, these shortcomings are relatively isolated, and the shortcomings of isolation can not be merged into more serious defects, or even some shortcomings because it has a more prominent advantages. For example, the body of the apple is too heavy, it is because its plate is good. Its operating system is difficult, more is the user to the traditional habit of a dependency and the resistance to the new model. The iphone does not have a good battery, but the battery of a first-line smartphone is bad, which does not threaten the iphone's core competitiveness. Therefore, if you blindly pursue standby time, the pursuit of body weight, and ignore the mobile phone as a communication tool of the core elements, and mobile internet era of Internet, office, Entertainment needs, then you may be a certain super long standby time of the cottage machine.

For example, many users will also complain about Sina Weibo letters chat function is not as good as Tencent micro-letter Chat experience, if you see such complaints in user feedback, I think or pass. Because everyone knows that the competitiveness of microblogs is how to provide better information acquisition and sharing from the media experience, rather than based on the strong relationship between acquaintances of the instant messaging experience. Some users will also come up with a more specific but actually very cheap product core positioning of the views, this is what I call the user's lies.

You have to listen to your users and understand what your core competencies are. This determines that you listen to the user's comments and feedback, concentrate on listening to the core competencies, and eliminate those parts that are not relevant to the core competencies. Sometimes, these unrelated parts may even affect the judgment of the entire product team, for example, when the micro-trust team hears users complaining, "Why is the micro-letter profile not as sound as the stranger?" , if blindly meet the needs of users, you will find that the relationship between acquaintances to paste a detailed personal information is to gild the lily, and very funny.

Based on this, the initial product start-up, you have to learn to select the core of user feedback, and constantly focus on user feedback on the core positioning of the product. (You might as well look back and think about how much of the user feedback you've collected is "self-defeating" that deviates from the core position.) )

Second, to lock the audience to clarify the need for a long way

Entrepreneurship more and more people, the theory and thinking about entrepreneurship is more and more, of which the "audience and demand" thinking should be every entrepreneur to answer the first question.

In this, I will lock the audience and find out the requirements into two phases, in fact, they are indeed two completely different stages, and there is a logical relationship can be combed.

I often meet with the entrepreneurial friends around, when talking about entrepreneurial thinking, the audience positioning in the first. Said "I want to serve certain people, my products are for certain people's products", at first I also feel good, sounds very magnificent, but gradually, I found a serious logical question: In the end is the need to determine the audience, or the audience to determine the demand? The fundamental need to lock down the audience and to clarify the needs of the audience, which is more likely to succeed ? What is more scientific?

From my point of view, I think there is a greater likelihood that the "target audience" is more successful. The reason is simple, the product is ultimately to solve the problem of demand, not the audience. Audiences must be defined and divided based on demand.

But I've found that a lot of entrepreneurs are starting with "target audiences", like he's especially familiar with a crowd, and then he thinks, "What can I do for this group?" "This is the beginning of a lot of people starting a business. But I'm telling you, locking audiences is easy, but it's a long way to go to clear your needs. It is believed that there is a lot of demand for any group (and ultimately a single individual). When you are ready to serve a group, your situation is likely to be the product function is not focused, the core positioning is unclear. This group has both the need to eat, as well as the demand for housing, and the need to go out to travel and shopping. Which one do you want to meet?

More specific, take the demand for housing, you want to meet is an affordable housing or high-grade house, is the townhouse or sea view alone? Is it European style or Chinese style? You have to think about it.

So I suggest that we should first clarify the needs of the audience, such as the market on people like to drink vegetables lean porridge, according to this demand, you go back to push his audience size, it is much easier, the product logically also clearer.

Third, no product is omnipotent, hard-hearted do subtraction

Eventually, we go back to the user. "Users have no idea what they want," Jobs said, and there is a reason why "users want everything."

Don't believe that with your product to communicate with the user, he will say, "Well, this is good, but I also want that, in addition, your other needs to improve." "So, the user is the best product manager and the worst product manager.

This time, we have to remember that no one product is omnipotent, no one entrepreneur is omnipotent. Even as great as jobs, Gates, and Jack Ma, they are all addressing a few rather than all of the needs. So the more user feedback you hear, the more likely you are to drown.

"Do subtraction" at this point is necessary and critical. Subtraction is also a prerequisite for you to be very clear about your core competencies.

When you hold the product, you want the user to give feedback on a function, the user turned his attention to B above, and said to relish, you listen, the user said fully justified. Then forget a, happy to worry about B.

Just like the user said that your BMW is good, is not the price of Chery cheap, you are happy to worry, "Yes, I am in the price and Chery total no core competitiveness, what should I do?" What do you say you should do?

When listening to user feedback, focus on a, cut off B, is to do subtraction premise. Instead of leaving the user with the opportunity to complain, let the user focus, all the complaints played on a, when the user focus, the user is the best product manager. This is one of the logic of subtraction.

It hurts to do subtraction, everybody knows. But subtraction is a prerequisite for differentiation. Only when you have the heart to hurt yourself 800, you can kill 1000. Only you have the heart to draw the imperfect scars, the user can remember your face.

Say 1000 10,000, you need to be calm when you're faced with a massive and clueless feedback from your users. First remove the lie, and then clarify the demand, and finally cruel to do subtraction. I hope my advice will get you to face the user again, or redesign the research.

I wish you a speedy success.