Great User Feedback on Products - How Do We Get More?
There was a flurry of excitement in the office this morning because of a volley of comments that came into BuildingGreen.com about different products -- fantastic user insights on what works and doesn't in applying Murco joint compound, interactions between the Brac system and Toto toilets, and a cool unexpected benefit to DensArmor. This is just what we at BG want: real feedback on what works, what doesn't, tricky bits to installation - the kind of practical insight that makes a new product safer to try (or lets you know what to avoid).
We can tease out what matters about a product from an environmental perspective, but this kind of practical insight is harder to come by. Also, we want to make sure our GreenSpec product listing decisions are based on solid data. Anecdotal evidence isn't standardized enough to use as criteria - but it sure helps if you're deciding whether to risk something new or trying to figure out a tricky problem.
We know there are difficulties with sharing -- we're all short on time, it seems safer to grouse to a trusted colleague about the installation that went wrong than spread it around the internet, it's hard to be the one who speaks up about the poster-child green product that fails after a year -- but the benefits are huge.
So here it is. We're trying to figure out how to help spread this kind of practical knowledge around. If a product in GreenSpec is faulty, or is exceptional, or needs to be installed a certain way, or has major lead time issues, or you can get an identical but cheaper version under a different name brand, we want to help you find that out from each other. It's easy to comment on any GreenSpec product. So how do we get you to do it?
All those great comments linked to at the beginning of this blog? Margaret Rogers wrote them all. We adore her now. But it made us a bit sad not to hear from the rest of you. Of course, Margaret contacted us about her troubles with Fuhr, and we urged her to put a note in reader comments. We told her we'd let you all know about it so her effort wasn't wasted. And now we've unleashed a torrent! How do get more of that? Make a facebook ap? Send you candy? I'm serious. We're open to ideas. And in the mean time, thanks to those of you who have provided feedback over the years, and if you were going to comment but thought no one was paying attention, our product listings are eagerly awaiting your review. Recent comments are featured in the right column of our News page for all to see.
(2010, January 5). Great User Feedback on Products - How Do We Get More?. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-article/great-user-feedback-products-how-do-we-get-more
I echo William's suggestion for searchable comments, and also your idea of being able to categorize comments. A comment poster could be presented with a series of checkboxes or radio buttons, so that they can categorize the comment as e.g. an installation issue, etc.
Of course, this doesn't directly address your original interest, which is to get people to populate the comments in the first place. but hopefully by making the comment function more powerful, people will be reminded to use it and ultimately contribute to it.
In that vein, maybe a tie-in with the greenbuildingadvisor.com site, where there are lots of people who take the time to share their experience (or at least, a few people who have a lot of experience to share). But if you do, please try to avoid bringing the spammers along for the ride -- they are becoming a real problem on that site.
Further idea: Encourage people to comment at buildinggreen.com by offering free subscriptions to the most prolific and useful commenters. Not sure this is practical, but it's an idea.
Thanks William, Searchable comments is a great idea. Right now you see a comment when you go to the product, but it seems it doesn't even show up on the general search...hmm...
I think you're asking for more of a tool though - beyond just a keyword search or browsing a particular product. Would you be wanting to scan for a particular type of comment (say, installation issues) or wanting a quick scan of whatever field experience there was on various carpets or...?
I wonder if it's just about making those comments more accessible, like you said... or do people still just not have the time. Would a youtube like 5star rating be useful for people, or is that too basic? It doesn't give the same kind of insight as detailed feedback from the field, but it'd give some. Of course one person's personal experience really means something, whereas the 5 star ranking doesn't tell you much until you get more responses... Not so good for the newer products.
Anyhow, I'm just musing on a tangent here. Any and all ideas welcome.
A suggestion for obtaining more feedback: What if the comments are in a searchable database for subscribers to BuildingGreen.com? If we see the comments as a tool we can directly use, it might be more on our mind to submit our own comments. Maybe you already have them available, but I couldn't easily find them.
Feedback from the field can be difficult to find, particularly for newer products or technologies. While the information is anecdotal, it could be extremely helpful if we are contemplating something new to specify.
It could also be helpful to the companies that produce the products, so they can see how to make their products better.
Add new comment
To post a comment, you need to register for a BuildingGreen Basic membership (free) or login to your existing profile.