During the summer break, I spent some time catching up on some reading so I could hit 2009 running. One such book was Avinash Kaushik’s widely respected "Web Analytics an Hour a Day." This man has helped me to fully understand web analytics analysis, enabling me to get up to speed in the last few months. I really appreciate that he is doing his bit to push Analytics as a vital part of any online marketing campaign - something I try again and again to preach to my clients as well.
I like the 90/10 rule. I like how he doesn’t apply the one size fits all philosophy to the web. And what I liked most was the 3 questions rule he mentions throughout the book about user feedback.
But the point that really stood out to me is that there is no one (and that is almost not an exaggeration) that requests feedback on their websites. And after reading the book, I realise how stupid it is. It’s something that has been used for bricks and mortar establishments for years and years - the humble questionnaires and customer/client response cards that help decide employees of the month and what the staff meeting topic will be for the month. Yet it appears it has alluded most online organisations.
Normally when you build a website, without blinking an eye, you recommend to have a home page, an about us page, and a contact us page. That is just a given before you get down to the nitty gritty of the specific project.
What I am recommending today is that a Feedback Page should be added to that list. I want to see every single website re-designed, re-built, or launched in 2009 have a feedback page. Not only that, for the comments left on these pages to be taken seriously by all involved in the marketing, maintenance and growth of the website.
Currently on this website, and have also recommended it to others, the Kampyle feedback software - think of it as Google Analytics of customer feedback. You cut and paste some Javascript, you set up the account, and sit and wait for data to come in. And it hasn’t worked too badly for some high traffic sites that I have used it on. My only little gripe with the software is that it isn’t the prettiest and can be a little bit too involved for some to fill out. But I should qualify that it isn’t the software’s fault, more the fact that I haven’t had the time to fully analyse each and every aspect of the app and tailor it to my specific needs.
So I do what any web developer does in this situation - come up with my own solution. In the coming weeks I will be explaining the code I am going to use on this blog and how we can use it to make sure the most amount of people possible see it, fill it out, and then have it presented in a report for it to be actioned for any webmaster.
If you don’t know what your customers think of your website… then it’s always going to suck.
