UserVoice Debuts Online Feedback Product

US start-up UserVoice has launched an online community where customers can contribute to a client's product concept and innovation.

Lead Designer Richard White said that it has been designed for those companies that don't make the most of feedback from their customers, adding that e-mails often go unread or are read by multiple people which makes it hard to discover consensus.

The new system allows users to enter their own ideas into a suggestion box and vote for others they agree with. Officials from the client company can then respond and create a dialog between themselves and the users.

Users have a finite number of votes, which can be increased by answering demographic questions. A limit is imposed on the number of characters available, and the firm says this ensures that suggestions are concise and helps reduce duplicate ideas.

'Feedback forms/e-mails become redundant and forums are unstructured, awash with duplication and users supporting every idea presented,' said White. 'UserVoice helps add structure to and reduce the overhead of an honest dialog with user communities and creates a market around good ideas.'

In a similar vein, online research software firm Survey Analytics has just unveiled the public beta of IdeaScale, to offer web site owners access to customer feedback and customers the chance to vote good suggestions to the top.

San Francisco-based UserVoice is online at www.uservoice.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.