by Daniel Crask, Brand Strategist at Brand Shepherd 

This one is touchy because once it happens, it’s a diplomatic tightrope for professional creatives to walk:

As we grow, guide, and protect products, we need feedback to measure effectiveness.

Whom we get feedback from is equally important as getting the actual feedback, so it is important to ask the right people for feedback.

There is a temptation, however, to ask the nearest trusted warm-body: The spouse, co-worker, best friend, trusted advisor, etc.

The problem is that these people are almost always not the people you need feedback from.

They are not short on opinions, but unfortunately, their opinions don’t matter when it comes to creative work.

Why? Because when we’re creating, we’re communicating something to your product’s audience – it’s customer personas – and it is their feedback we need.

The Solution: By gut-check or by data, take a look at your product’s most loyal customers and ask them for feedback. Believe it or not, inviting them to be part of the betterment of the brand is reward enough for soliciting their feedback. However, sometimes asking for feedback gets more quality and quantity if it has an incentive. Your call. Avoid the insanity of asking your spouse, family member, co-worker, or friend what they think about the ideas unless they are part of your customer persona.

However, sometimes asking for feedback gets more quality and quantity if it has an incentive. Your call. Avoid the insanity of asking your spouse, family member, co-worker, or friend what they think about the ideas unless they are part of your customer persona.

The advice here is to avoid asking your spouse, family member, co-worker, or friend what they think about the ideas unless they are part of your customer persona.

Example: “We have two great creative directions here. Let’s get them in front of our most loyal customers for feedback. We’ll also get fresh feedback to help us take one of these ideas o the finish line.”

If I had to create a litmus test for brand owners who ‘get it,’ and those who do not ‘get it’ when it comes to product branding, this is the test: whom do they get their key feedback from. Pros don’t ask people whose opinions don’t matter. It’s really that simple.

By taking this approach, you avoid the echo chamber of people you already know and get the feedback from the right people: your customers.