How to get honest feedback on your launch, not just likes
George · 4 min read
The short answer: do not ask "what do you think?". Ask specific questions about what people understood, what they expected and where they got stuck, ask where your real users are, watch what people actually do, and sort the feedback before you act on it.
A launch brings attention: visitors, upvotes, comments, maybe a few signups. It is tempting to measure success only by those numbers. But the most valuable thing a launch can give a small team is information about what people understand, what they expect, and where they get stuck.
Most of that information does not arrive by itself. You have to ask for it in the right way.
Why "what do you think?" does not work
A vague question gets a polite, vague answer. "Looks great!" and "nice work" feel good and tell you nothing. People do not want to hurt a founder's feelings in public, and they rarely have time to write a thoughtful review unprompted.
Specific questions get specific answers, because they are easier to answer honestly.
Questions that get useful answers
Instead of asking for opinions, ask about understanding, expectations, and behavior:
- "After ten seconds on the page, what do you think this product does?"
- "Who do you think this is for? Is that you?"
- "What would you expect to happen after you sign up?"
- "Was there a point where you stopped or felt unsure?"
- "What are you using today for this, if anything?"
- "What would make this a must-have instead of a nice-to-have?"
The first two questions test your positioning. The middle ones find friction. The last two tell you about competition and value.
Ask in the right places
- Your launch page comments. Post a specific question as the first comment, and reply to everyone who answers.
- Direct messages to a handful of people who match your target user. Personal requests get far better answers than public posts.
- After signup. A short message or email asking one question, sent shortly after someone tries the product, catches the experience while it is fresh.
- A short call. Fifteen minutes watching someone use your product will teach you more than a hundred upvotes.
Watch what people do
What people say and what they do can differ. Combine conversations with behavior:
- Where do visitors come from, and do they click through to your website?
- How many signups reach the first useful action in your product?
- Where do people drop off in onboarding?
The ShipDesk.dev dashboard shows views, unique visitors, click-throughs to your site, countries, and devices for your launch, so you can see whether people who arrive actually go on to try the product. Pair that with your own product analytics for the steps after signup.
Sort feedback before acting on it
After launch, you will have a pile of comments, messages, and notes. Do not start building the first feature someone asked for. Sort first:
- Confusion. People misunderstood what the product does or who it is for. Usually the cheapest and most important to fix: change your copy, screenshots, or onboarding.
- Friction. People understood but got stuck. Fix the step where several people stopped.
- Missing value. People got through but did not see enough benefit to return. Learn more before building; ask what they expected.
- Feature requests. Note them and look for patterns. One request is an idea; the same request from five target users is a signal.
Thank people, then close the loop
Reply to everyone who took the time to give feedback, even when you disagree. When you fix something they mentioned, tell them. "You said the setup was confusing, so I rewrote it. Would you try again?" turns a critic into an early supporter surprisingly often.
Be careful with feedback from other founders
Launch communities are full of other builders. Their feedback is valuable, especially on landing pages and onboarding, but they may not be your target users. A developer telling you a marketing tool needs an API may be right for themselves and wrong for your audience. Weight feedback by how closely the person matches the people you are building for.
A simple feedback plan for launch week
- Write three specific questions before launch day.
- Post one as the first comment on your launch page.
- Message ten people who match your target user and ask one question each.
- Watch at least two people use the product live.
- At the end of the week, sort everything into confusion, friction, missing value, and requests.
- Fix the biggest confusion first, then tell the people who mentioned it.
A launch is a short window when people are willing to look at your product with fresh eyes. Ask them good questions while they are there.