Contextual

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  • Best and Worst Timing to Ask for In-App Feedback

    Best and Worst Timing to Ask for In-App Feedback

    When you think of essential aspects of apps, feedback inevitably comes to mind. User feedback can serve many purposes in product-led growth, both on web and mobile versions. You could view it as a tool to improve your product, or as a channel through which you can build meaningful relationships with your clients. At the end of the day, it always comes back as the foundation of a successful business.

    And, as a product-led company striving for success, one of the most important things you have to learn is timing. Whether you plan on coming out with a new feature, tweaking the UI design, or asking for feedback, timing is everything. 

    Timing Defines Feedback

    While it might not seem like it at first, timing is not just a tool, but a fine skill as well. It can make or break a new feature launch, or the feedback given by users. 

    There are a variety of ways in which you can ask for user feedback. Be that through NPS, user surveys, or widgets, there’s no shortage of creativity when it comes to feedback-collecting mechanisms. 

    Yet, implementing the best ways to collect user feedback won’t get you far without correct timing. So, during the next session of your user journey mapping, make sure to focus on context-sensitive timing. ‘Why?’ you might ask. Let’s take a look at the impact timing has on user feedback.

    When NOT to Ask for In-App Feedback

    Timing is a fine line you have to balance on. When it comes to asking for user feedback, it can be easy to overlook this aspect. Especially for a startup, product-led company where feedback keeps everything running.

     

    However, you should strive to get the best measure of the real sentiments your users are experiencing while using your app. So, jumping at those who have previously left a negative review, or didn’t yet complete the onboarding process can hijack your reviews. 

     

    Likewise, asking for feedback right when the app is opened can have a negative impact. In this case, the user is not yet engaged in a task and is less likely to offer feedback. 

     

    Asking the user for a rating (especially for a 5-star one) in the middle of a task has a similar effect. It could lead the user to frustration and negative reviews. 

     

    Another issue can be asking too many questions, especially on mobile. Mobile users are known to be less patient than web users. They can get bored when presented with a lengthy survey, so try to minimize the number of questions you ask them. You need quantity in terms of reviewers, but with great timing, you can get quality responses. 

     

    Learning about timing is a unique experience for each product-led company. Take advantage of user journey mapping sessions, as they can teach you a lot about the worst and the best times to ask for feedback.

    The Best Time to Ask for Feedback

    It can be intimidating seeing the list of what you shouldn’t do when asking for feedback. By now, you know the importance of good timing for optimal results. So, when is the right time to pop the question? 

    Asking for user feedback when product adoption is certain is a good starting point. You want to make sure your users have things they want to express their opinions on. By that time, they have enough experience with the onboarding process and other features of your app, and they can give an honest opinion about their user experience. This is a great tip for both web and mobile users. 

    You should always turn to active and loyal users for genuine feedback. They are the ones who use your app on a regular basis, so their user experience regarding ease of use and utility can be an asset in reviews. 

    Not compromising the user journey or JTBD is key in defining the best time to ask for reviews. After completing a happy task, a user is more likely to express an honest opinion about the process they went through. 

    You can also create a smooth feedback experience by taking advantage of milestones your app might have. Asking those achieving a goal to review their user journey or a specific feature you might be curious about, leads to a positive experience. 

    Timing defines the attitude of the user when giving feedback. By associating feedback with an achieved goal or a completed task, people are more likely to say their genuine opinions regarding their user journey, which will benefit your product and your company in the long run.

    Do’s and Don’ts of Feedback Timing

    Timing is a precious skill you need to master when asking for feedback. We saw above that being context-sensitive has a positive impact on both the quality and the quantity of the feedback your app gets. 

    So, when is the right time to ask for in-app feedback? 

    Do:

    ✔ give your users time to form an opinion

    ✔ value the opinions of the most engaged and loyal users

    ✔ ask after a happy task is completed

    ✔ take advantage of those reaching milestones

    Don’t:

    ✖ target those who didn’t complete the onboarding process yet

    ✖ ask when the user opens the app 

    ✖ interrupt a task 

    ✖ ask too many questions

    What’s Next?

    You don’t have to spend a tonne to get create targeted in-app surveys!  Click on the buttons below to get your 14 day free trial or contact us for a demo! 


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    Image credit: https://www.freepik.com/

  • Pointzi is now called Contextual

    Pointzi is now called Contextual

    We have exciting news! As the graphic shows, Pointzi is now renaming to Contextual.

    In hindsight it seemed obvious – our Mission is to be “Contextual”, everything about what we do is to allow your Mobile and Web Apps to provide contextual guidance.

    Everything about User Activation, Onboarding and Feature Discovery depends on helping when needed and “keeping out of the way” when not needed.

    Specifically, the platform provides Contextual Guides, Tips, Announcements, Video, Feedback and “right-person, right-place, right-time” help with analytics to measure the uplift on your Activation goals.

    The new domain is contextu.al – so you only need to remember the name – oh and where the dot goes 🙂

    Thanks for your past support and we look forward to working with you in the Contextual journey!

    Timetable of Migration

    The following is the approximate planned changes.

    When What Notes
    1 Feb http://contextu.al website live No change to pointzi website or dashboard
    15 Feb https://dashboard.contextu.al live User can immediately start using this dashboard with identical functionality to the Contextual dashboard (its a skin).
    21 Feb Newsletter notification First newsletter from Contextual, top notice of re-brand.
    22/23 Feb Other Notifications Customer emails, pointzi.com notification banner.
    24 Mar LIVE: status.contexu.al, support@contextu.al Support pages
    1 Mar Banner on dashboard.pointzi.com Nudge to move to dashboard.contextu.al. Notice of end-of-life.
    8 Mar Redirects from pointzi.com and dashboard.pointzi.com pointzi.com and dashboard.pointzi.com will no longer be available, but don’t worry all the same capabilities are unchanged!
    9 Mar Chrome Extension for Contextual Rebrand and domain name updates.
    April ???? Dashboard V2 release This is looking good! Exciting! Subject to usability testing, we may release late March.

    Are you looking to get more users to love your mobile and web apps?  Click on the buttons below to get your 14 day free trial or contact us for a demo! 


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  • How To Reduce User Churn? 5 Tips For Product-Led Companies

    How To Reduce User Churn? 5 Tips For Product-Led Companies

    User churn rates can be daunting to see, especially if you’re part of a startup company, or even if you’re a seasoned product manager. You want your product to succeed, for people to like it, and to go from onboarding straight to product adoption. However, in reality, you can’t be everyone’s cup of tea. 

    While user churn is a natural phenomenon in product-led companies’ journeys, there are some measures you can take to reduce the rates. So, get ready to optimise the user journey of your App! In this article, you will read about the five tips that, if followed, will make product adoption more successful among your users.

    Analyze Why Churn Occurs

    As mentioned above, user churn rates aren’t something you can get rid of entirely. It’s part of the process, it could be:

    • your product has bugs or responsiveness problems
    • your product is not easy to understand and the onboarding is failing
    • your marketing is attracting the wrong users. (This is the Acquisition part of the AARRR pirate metrics).
    • the user deferred interest or got distracted
    • inconsistent messaging
    • myriad other reasons! 

    But that doesn’t mean you can’t turn it into something positive. Just ask yourself: why does customer churn happen for us?

    By analyzing the core reasons behind failed product adoption, you’re one step closer to making your App better. If you can isolate the PRIMARY reasons why your users choose to leave, you can focus on improving in those areas first and optimize for other (lesser) contributing problems later. 

    Whether it’s customer service, problems during onboarding, or differences between the web and mobile version, you should be aware of the root problems, so that you can focus on fixing them. 

    Therefore, turn your data into valuable insight for future user journey mapping. By putting more energy towards the problem areas of your product, you can reduce your churn rate, while also showing the user that their experience is important to you. This leads us to the second tip.

    Focus On User Experience

    User journey mapping might be one of the key parts of developing an App or adding features to an already existing platform. This practice helps you visualize your App through the user’s eyes, and it can make it easier to identify errors or weak points in your development process. These, in turn, help reduce the user churn rate your App may be experiencing. 

    It can also help a product development team to understand the expectations of new and recurring customers. For the latter category, this process is crucial in order to keep them loyal to the product. For users who are just finding out about the product, it’s essential to optimize the onboarding process, and with it, the user journey. 

    So, if you want to adopt a customer-oriented mindset for your product-led company, focus on user experience and user retention. 

    Through user journey mapping you’re not only prioritizing your customers, but you can also make a positive impact on the company’s internal collaboration practices. 

    This way, you’re ensuring that everyone is working towards the greater good: the overarching user experience. 

    Optimize Your Onboarding

    As mentioned in the previous section, for new customers, the onboarding experience is the deciding factor that determines whether they will go through with the product adoption process or not. 

    User retention may look like a scary concept, but when your product has a strong onboarding to back it up, it’s easier than it seems. Make sure to start building a rApport with the user as soon as they start using your App by inserting their name in the welcome message for a touch of personalization. 

    Don’t overwhelm them with notifications and popups from the get-go. Make sure to guide them through the App while allowing them to explore the features on their own.

    These aspects may seem small or insignificant, but in the end, they make the difference between product adoption and abandonment. So, to keep your churn rate low, make sure to optimize your onboarding process.

    Ask for Feedback

    User feedback is always important for a product-led company. You can ask for it during onboarding or after completing it, upon introducing new features to your product, and so on. 

    By asking users about their experience, you’re showing them that your company is humble enough to take suggestions and accept constructive criticism. Feedback helps you improve various aspects of your product, as well as the way in which the company is running. 

    You can ask for feedback in many ways. You could try surveys after implementing features, you could collect feedback through social media posts, or through NPS. Also called Net Promoter Score, NPS is the standard customer experience metric, and it’s based on one simple question: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?” Obviously, the higher the score, the higher the likelihood of the user remaining loyal to your product. 

    By asking for feedback, you signal to your customers that their opinion matters to you as a developer. If they feel this connection with your product and company, they are less likely to abandon the App.

    Keep an Eye on Engagement

    Engaging with your users has a similar effect to asking for their feedback. It helps build a rapport between them and your company. The relationship between you and your users might be a factor in them deciding to go through with product adoption or add to the churn rate.

    User engagement might come in different forms: through periodic newsletters that have meaningful content, through social media posts, blog posts, or by having a chat option in your App. Besides helping with churn rate, user engagement also can be of aid in your user journey mapping, as it helps you see what do the customers like to interact with more. 

    Reducing User Churn Rates

    Although it might seem scary at first, churn rate is essential to figure out your customer niche. However, if you’re worried about it, you can implement the tips in this article to improve the relationship between your company and your customers. 

    Analyze your churn data, focus on feedback and user experience, and your churn rate is bound to improve. If you want to see more product-led growth, check us out at Contextual! 

    We offer a range of solutions, from onboarding through feature discovery to feedback. We’re here to help you with your journey towards product adoption. Book a demo with us today and don’t miss out on growing your product further!

  • Product Manager Fit: What PM Qualities Will Make Your App Fly

    Product Manager Fit: What PM Qualities Will Make Your App Fly

    Happy 2022! Lets hope we get a chance to hug people again this year ????. For our first 2022 post – let’s celebrate YOU – Product Managers and Product teams.

    It’s no secret that as modern people, apps are a vital part of our lives. It seems everything (except hugging) is possible through different apps – we take them completely for granted except when the flow or UX is “not right”. 

    As apps are such an important part of our lives, we should stop more often and think through the process of their creation. Each app has a story, a beginning, and the first spark of an idea from which it gets developed. 

    And who is the brain behind the story? The product manager.  

    We are all familiar with the term “Product<->Market Fit”, but is there such a thing as a “Product<->Product Manager Fit”? For an app to fly, you need a good pilot to be in control and a pilot (Product Manager) who has the skills that match the needs of the product – a B2B Product Manager will be very different to B2C Product Managers, and often you will find Technical Product Managers in deep products.

    In what follows, you will read more about what characteristics define a good PM so that your App meets the desired product market fit rate. So, if you’re a product manager yourself, or even part of a product-led company, buckle your seatbelts, we are ready for departure!

    Being Data-Driven is a Must

    Making decisions that are both market- and customer-centered is not a new concept. But, for an analytical project manager, it is essential to stand out from the crowd and make an app fly. How to do that?

    By paying attention to metrics and customer feedback, you can see where your product needs improvement. For instance, as a product manager, you should make it a priority to review the onboarding process as often as possible to achieve a satisfactory product market fit degree. You may be at the wheel of the app, but the users are at the core of your product. Without them, the app would fail and sink, so listen to their voices!

    Look at your data, then start improving your onboarding process. Analyzing and interpreting this information will help your product in the long run.

    However, be cautious. This is not a one-time task you can cross off your “To Do” list and never think of it again. It’s a process that needs to be repeated, and a good PM will recognize the need to check in with its users. Remember, consistency and perseverance are crucial qualities in a product-led company. 

    Be Brave Enough to Innovate

    If you have been analyzing your user feedback, you have perfected your product market fit, the user experience is overall a positive one, product adoption is going well, pat yourself on the back. You are doing a good job. 

    But trust yourself if you feel the need to elevate your product, even if the data is non-conclusive. Take a leap of faith when you recognize the need for a new feature or an upgrade. Courage differentiates a leader. 

    However, seeing the need for something new within your app doesn’t mean you should be careless with your user journey mapping. Feature discovery should be handled in a discreet manner so that it doesn’t disrupt the user’s workflow. 

    With this in mind, it can be challenging to elevate your product in a way that doesn’t frustrate your clients and doesn’t compromise the user journey. Screen real estate is precious, especially on mobile, and an app interface shouldn’t be messy. So what can you do?

    Consider adding popups to make announcements easy to see, but not bothersome. This way, feature discovery can be integrated organically into your app, without being too obnoxious for the client. But the first step should always come from a product manager!

    Being brave and innovative is key in the SaaS industry. With these qualities, a product manager can stand out in a crowd. In a product-led company, it’s crucial to make sure people remember you and your product. 

    Be Open for Feedback Even After Onboarding

    A good leader is always humble when it comes to feedback. A good product manager should be the same way. 

    Product adoption does not mean your customer will be with your product forever. Giving them continuous opportunities to review their own user journey will make them feel appreciated and heard. 

    So, when talking about user journey mapping with your team, make sure to include capture feedback in the flow of your app. Single touch methods of collecting feedback are popular due to their simplicity. As the user’s attention span tends to be short, this method is the easiest to implement and least disruptive for their workflow. 

    Being receptive to feedback defines a suitable product manager in the SaaS industry. Openness is especially important in this position, as a PM and the decisions they make will ultimately decide the product’s success and determine the product market fit. 

    Product Management is not Project Management

    In small teams, it’s common for the Product Manager to have many roles. Amongst these is the ability to prioritize into sprints and map to company OKRs. This might be in the form of a scrum master role. The message we get from Atlassian, Zip, Airwallex and others is that negotiation, diplomacy, being organized are all key skills. But none of these trump the need to understand the product and be passionate about how it serves customers.

    It’s easy to be busy with inward facing project management tasks but its dangerous when not knowing your product inside out. 

    Make Your Product Fly

    Product managers can feel a lot of pressure. Big responsibilities lay on their shoulders, and their decisions will make or break a product. 

    There are some key characteristics that every PM should have, such as being data-driven, being open to feedback, and being innovative with their apps. These will help with establishing a good rapport with a user, as the relationships with clients are an important part of a product-led company. 

    Besides that, it will also help a product stand out in a crowd. A good product manager is also a good leader that navigates the company in the direction of success. 

    Learn How To Become A Good Product Manager

    If you want to learn how to translate these qualities into your workflow as a product manager and practically implement them into your app, book a demo today with Contextual! We’ll help you with your onboarding process, feature discovery, capture feedback, and many more.

  • Web And Mobile – The Challenges Of Meeting The Customers’ Needs Across Platforms

    Web And Mobile – The Challenges Of Meeting The Customers’ Needs Across Platforms

    Do you remember a time when you pulled up the web version of an app that you usually handle on your phone? 

    Chances are, it was a different experience from what you were used to in the mobile version. Features might be in other places, and it might even look like a completely different app. It feels off. 

    You don’t want that for your own product.

    There are many areas where product-led companies face challenges on a daily basis. Reducing the gap between the experience of the web and the mobile version of an app is a common one. But the task is not so easy. 

    In this article, you will read about three roadblocks and the impact they have on product companies. If you are currently developing an app on different platforms or planning to do so in the future, this is for you. 

    Prepare yourself for testing times (pun intended) and keep on reading!

    Challenge #1: User Interactions Aren’t Linear

    Thanks to modern technology, users may interrupt their work and later pick it up where they left it. These interactions can not only be sporadic, but also scattered across platforms, giving room for frustrations on the user end. If an app is not optimized across its channels, the user experience will suffer from it. 

    When it comes to web and mobile development, a multichannel approach might harm your product’s success. Delivering a feature in the same manner on multiple channels is a company-centered strategy. 

    There is a better solution than this – the omnichannel approach. It focuses on the customer and delivering a seamless and unified experience no matter the platform they use. 

    As a product-led company, chances are, most of your customers are both web users and mobile users. You can reduce the gap between the two user experiences by adopting an omnichannel strategy. 

    Putting the customer in the center of your app will bear its fruits sooner than you think! With a smooth cross-channel user experience, product adoption and happy customers are guaranteed.

    Challenge #2: Different Platforms, Different Time Perceptions

    Time and timing are tricky aspects to perfect in software development. Especially when it comes to cross-platform planning. During web and mobile development, focusing on time perception is essential. Here’s why.

    Mobile users are notorious for being more impatient. It only takes seconds to switch between the apps on a phone. Due to this fact, users have a different set of expectations on the time spent on one task. So, don’t waste their time!

    For instance, during onboarding, don’t try to show them how many things your product can do. Focus on keeping them engaged and helping them reach their goals with your app. Mobile users have a limited attention span, so make the most of it. 

    In contrast with this, web users are much more patient. The reason behind it is very straightforward. When a user sits down in front of a computer or laptop, they are more clear-headed and focused on the task ahead of them. For them, time moves more slowly. But, as mobile apps are more often used on the go, their users’ time perception is different.

    Time holds relevance in web and mobile development. As a product manager or developer, you should always pay attention to this detail. Focus on how your app is perceived depending on which platform it’s used on. Patience is a virtue – but it’s not your job to prove that to your customers.

    Challenge #3: Introducing New Features

    Feature discovery brings unique challenges to web and mobile development. Implementing new aspects into a well-oiled machine can be tricky. You don’t want to disturb the user, but you want to show them the latest features. 

    It might seem like a hamster-wheel kind of issue. As screen real estate is precious, a great tip to implement feature discovery is popups. They help build user awareness, they work both on web and mobile apps, and don’t clog up the user interface. Besides this, popups open opportunities for continuous user onboarding.

    Cross-platform feature discovery represents a challenge in web and mobile development. As the users’ workflows differ from platform to platform, you need to cater to everyone’s needs when introducing a new feature to your product. 

    At the end of the day, it’s important to underline that by adding new features, your users can maximize their productivity within the app.

    Cross-Platform Apps Are Challenging

    Web and mobile development is a tough business. You have to cater to your customers, to their needs and wants, and to their preferred platform. 
    Let’s sum up some tips for a smoother product adoption process. 

    • The omnichannel approach can be helpful in integrating your users into the development process. This way, your product will feel cohesive across platforms. 
    • Don’t try to make your mobile users as patient as your web users. They might get frustrated.
    • Use popups for feature discovery. They are quick, they help with building user awareness, and most importantly, they help with screen real estate. 

     

    How to face any challenge that might arise?

    If you want to overcome similar challenges in your software development journey, book a demo and get started with Contextual! We’ll help with your product’s onboarding process, feature discovery, and many more!