It looks like we have here a little enumeration series (always to five :)). Now it is a moment to count online, customer feedback tools. How it is connected with software quality ? Answer is simple, the more involved customers in the development of our products, the better it will be and will have better quality.
If we want to add such type of functionality to your products and websites, simply use the tools available online in a software as a service model.
Tools are presented in alphabetical order, if you ask what are my preference, I will say that I tend toward UserVoice. All this tools have a free plans.
CROWDSOUND
Very clear and easy to use tool. Get the widget generator so you can make custom theme. IPhone and mobile interface. Embeded and popup version of the widget. In my opinion the user interface should be more consistent and better arranged.
IDEASCALE
In addition to standard functionality of such tools also offers a Wiki style idea editing, allow users to live change the suggestion, twitter and facebook integration. Little inconsistent user interface but not very problematic.
GETSATISFACTION
The most popular and best-known but there are no localization for now. Custom design, FAQ module. Very rich and proffesional, you can integrate it with your internal support systems.
USERECHO
It is rather young solution, blog is under construction. For now it is a free and opensource project. Professional licenses are on the way. There are a little old styled components, not strict web 2.0 design.
USERVOICE
In my opinion this is the best web 2.0 application, fresh and cute, fast and reliable. Very simple and easy. Live search is very helpful to reduce duplicate entries. White Labeled custom design is also available.
Summary
When we look into Alexa stats, we can see getsatisfaction as a leader and the second place is occupied by uservoice. If you do not you use the tools of this type, begin to use them. If you do not know that they exist I hope that this post opened your eyes.
[...] now on, they don’t only have to consider customer feedback as a tool for analysis but they have to incorporate it into marketing strategies since consumers have come to expect it as part of their decision making process. For marketing, [...]
Check out Webreep.com. Their solution is the best website feedback tool in my opinion. They claim to be only for badasses, so man up!
Another good newcomer is BugMuncher – http://bugmuncher.com
It allows people to highlight problems on a website, and then automatically creates a screenshot.
UserVoice is the best tool out of this list, because it can completely satisfy the needs of small business owners or individuals and also a big business representatives.
But you need also to check out OpinonLab, it is good alternative to the mentioned tools.
Check all the features of different tools at AboutAnalytics rating:
http://www.aboutanalytics.com/category/user-feedback
Can’t agree with Janis on UserVoice being the best tool. So far, by functionality (customer feedback) it’s one of the worst.
Want to mention new player on the field of user feedback solutions:
UseResponse – http://www.useresponse.com – self-hosted PHP/MySQL solution, one-time purchase fee (1 year of free updates, full sourcecode available)