How do you use feedback to design better smartphones?

1 Feedback sources

There are many ways to get feedback from your potential and existing smartphone users, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, reviews, ratings, analytics, usability tests, and beta testing. Each source has its own advantages and limitations, depending on your goals, resources, and stage of design. You should use a combination of sources to get a comprehensive and balanced view of your users' opinions, preferences, behaviors, and problems.

2 Feedback types

Feedback can be categorized into two main types: explicit and implicit. Explicit feedback is when users directly tell you what they think or feel about your smartphone, such as through ratings, reviews, or surveys. Implicit feedback is when users indirectly show you how they use or react to your smartphone, such as through analytics, usage patterns, or eye tracking. Both types of feedback are valuable, but they may not always align or be consistent. You should compare and contrast explicit and implicit feedback to understand the underlying reasons and motivations of your users.

3 Feedback analysis

Once you have collected feedback from various sources and types, you need to analyze it to identify the key insights and themes that can inform your smartphone design decisions. You can use different methods and tools to analyze feedback, such as coding, categorizing, clustering, summarizing, visualizing, or quantifying. The method and tool you choose depends on the amount and format of feedback, and the level of detail and complexity you need. You should aim to find patterns, trends, gaps, and outliers in your feedback data, and prioritize the most relevant and actionable ones.

4 Feedback application

The final step is to apply the feedback analysis results to your smartphone design process. You can use feedback to validate, improve, or innovate your smartphone features, functions, aesthetics, performance, usability, or user satisfaction. You can also use feedback to test your assumptions, hypotheses, or prototypes, and measure your progress and impact. You should always link your design changes to the feedback sources and types that support them, and document your rationale and evidence.

5 Feedback challenges

Feedback-driven smartphone design is not without challenges. You may face some common issues, such as feedback overload, bias, noise, conflict, or ambiguity. You may also encounter some specific challenges, such as feedback from different markets, cultures, or segments, or feedback that is outdated, irrelevant, or unrealistic. You should be aware of these challenges, and use strategies to overcome them, such as filtering, sampling, triangulating, validating, or contextualizing your feedback.

6 Feedback best practices

To create user-centered, user-friendly, and user-valued smartphones, it's important to use feedback effectively. To do this, you should define your feedback goals and questions clearly and specifically. Additionally, choose the most appropriate feedback sources and types for your goals and questions. Collecting feedback regularly and systematically throughout the design process is also key. To get the most out of the feedback, analyze it objectively and critically, looking for evidence and explanations. Then apply it creatively and strategically, testing and evaluating design changes. Lastly, communicate and share your feedback findings and actions with your team and stakeholders.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?