What are the best strategies for getting feedback from users that are churning?

Nicolas Munoz
9 replies
We're able to reach out to users that are actually using our app somewhat successfully, and we get great feature suggestions from them and understand what they like/dislike. But how do we get feedback from users that are trying the app once and then never coming back? - We've tried emailing them as part of a marketing journey [IGNORED] - We've tried sending them personal emails [IGNORED] - We've pushed notifications to them [IGNORED] - We've sent in-app messages [IGNORED] - We've even offered amazon gift cards for up to $50 to answer a short survey [IGNORED] So we're a little lost in understanding why those first impressions aren't resonating with those users or what they expected vs what they got because they don't even use it enough for us to get any valuable insights from the analytics of their usage. I would really appreciate hearing about strategies that others have had success with.

Replies

Derrick
It's very difficult to retrieve feedback from the users who only tried your app only once. I think finding out which step of your app stops the users based on your backend data is a more effective way for you to analyze.
Nicolas Munoz
@derrick_law Thanks, we've tried to get insights from the analytics but it's just not enough to understand why a person is leaving. There doesn't appear to be a strong pattern or correlation that I can at least see myself. Any suggestions on how we might go about it? Or any tools you can recommend to help with analysis? We're using GA and Mixpanel right now
Joonatan
Just an idea, what if instead of asking the users after they have left, you ask their feedback when they initially land on your app. So for example new user lands on your app. User spends a few minutes on your app, leaves and never returns. Your attempts to email the user at this point is too late. What if you prompt a few question survey for every single user after spending a few minutes on the app before they even get the chance to leave. You could ask the user's initial thoughts, "First impression, would you use this app?" yes/no. If no why not? You might already be doing this, but just an idea.
Nicolas Munoz
@joonatanvanhala Thanks for the suggestion. The issue I see with that is a timing problem. Ask too early and they won't have used the app enough and will likely dismiss the survey (most users end up dismissing the surveys but especially when we've asked too early in the journey) but ask too late and we've lost them forever. That's why the in-app survey is complicated to get right but you might be right that it is the only way
Joonatan
@nicolasmunoz413 Yes it definitely can be tricky if the platform requires a bit more browsing before one is able to make any more specific judgements on it. The timing can play a big factor there, to know when a user has browsed enough so that it's somewhat reasonable to ask one's feedback. Also naturally the survey should be just simple and sweet. Maybe even add the possibility to win the gift card along with it. Good luck with it!
Nicolas Munoz
@joonatanvanhala Yeah I guess we probably just need to experiment with timing of the survey and where it's triggered to be most effective. Hopefully we find the sweet spot. Thanks for the help!
Outlivo
For your app, you can make an avatar which portrays emotions over the user's actions and gain feedback accordingly. Just an idea 😉
Nicolas Munoz
@outlivo Thanks, neat idea but it might be a bit out of scope for our team. I like how you're thinking out of the box though!