Podcast Recap: Improving CX by Implementing Feedback into Decision-Making

Sports and fitness business owners understand the importance of using customer feedback to make decisions for their brand. Whether their clients are looking for a new membership option or a new class offering, their feedback can help businesses stay ahead of the curve and on top of future needs for their target buyer. Likewise, at Upper Hand, we rely heavily on feedback from our own customers to drive product decisions, and strive to bring a customer-focused mindset to our business. Co-Founder and Head of Product Myles Grote joined Steve Walker on the CX Leader Podcast to talk about the importance of implementing customer feedback. Myles highlighted Upper Hand’s feedback collection process, as well as how the product team ultimately determines which feedback is implemented in platform updates. Check out the full episode here.

How does Upper Hand collect feedback?

Upper Hand utilizes multiple channels to collect feedback from stakeholders. Internally, any member of the Upper Hand team has the ability to submit feedback or post ideas that they hear from their daily interactions with customers. Similarly, Upper Hand empowers sports and fitness businesses to submit their own ideas for features that would be beneficial for their specific use case.  As a B2B2C (business to business to consumer) company, we rely on feedback not just from our customers, but also from their clients. Surveys and in-app data help to gather mass feedback on certain aspects of the software.

“We don’t have the deep relationships with the athletes that use our platform to consume the services from the businesses that we work with. We don’t see them on a day-to-day basis so the key is to build something within our platform.”

Through Pendo, Upper Hand is able to solicit feedback from athletes and their parents that will guide user experience decisions.

How do we decide what feedback makes it to the discovery phase?

Our product team analyzes customer feedback every day, and implements both qualitative and quantitative tracking to lead the discovery process. 

“When you go out in the industry and visit a facility or talk to the business owners, you get a feel for what’s actually needed. You can quickly understand where the gaps in a product are, and you can quickly understand what’s most important for a particular user just by going out and spending a day at their facility.”

In addition to this qualitative piece, use of a quantitative aspect acts as a North Star to guide decision-making. “We also have a proprietary scoring system called the UP Score. We look at certain elements of user experience and a couple of other different things that combine unique aspects of our product to score the features.” 

How do you improve your customer experience while staying true to your core software platform?

Since our founding, Upper Hand has emphasized solving problems instead of merely building features.

“We try to peel back the layers of the onion to understand the core problem that the customer is having. It doesn’t have to be a user experience problem within the software. It could be a core business problem.”

Frequent problems-to-solve meetings help the product and engineering times identify the root cause of a customer’s problem while also brainstorming the best possible solution. By understanding the core problem a customer is experiencing, Upper Hand is able to offer the best solution to combat that problem and drive business success.

What is one piece of advice on how can you help provide feedback to drive product development in [other businesses]?

Myles is a firm believer in being open, honest, and loud when it comes to sharing feedback.

“We want to hear feedback. We have complete and total empathy when someone comes to us frustrated – it’s necessary as a part of the development process to really make sure that you nail it and you get the best possible solution out there for your customers.”