Unstructured Engagements To Gather Product Feedback

We identified four types of engagements to gather product feedback. You can choose the one that best fits your budget, time, skill and product development phase. The types of engagements are

1. Asynchronous Engagement
2. Unstructured Engagement
3. Structured Engagement
4. Cumulative Engagement

Let's look at the unstructured engagement type.

2. Unstructured engagement

Duration: One session lasting from 1 minute to 15 minutes.

When to use it: This is a very effective way of getting informal feedback. This is ideal when you are trying to test a small part of the prototype, when you are stuck, or when you have a debate within your team about a specific idea and want to do a quick check with someone who is not fully immersed in the problem you are trying to solve.

Interviewees: You don’t need to arrange a formal meeting for this. Find a friend or a colleague in your office and ask them if they have 15 minutes for you. You can also do such feedback gathering at conferences, industry gatherings and informal meet-ups. Don’t be afraid of asking people on the spot; these sessions stimulate the mind and you would be surprised how many people are willing to take a break from their daily routing to talk about something as exciting as a new product. Show just the specific portion of the prototype that you want to have feedback on. Start with a short introduction about the business problem you are trying to solve with the prototype so they get into the context. Walk them through the prototype and ask for their quick reactions.

Reward: For these kind of small interactions you don’t need to offer a reward. Conduct such conversations with people who are willing to provide feedback as a favor. If you find yourself going over and over to the same kind of people, think about offering a small thank you gift as an appreciation of their time.