Choose the customer feedback tool around the next action. Shortlist Survicate for contextual surveys, Contentsquare for website feedback with behavioural evidence, Canny for feature requests and roadmaps, and Dovetail for qualitative analysis. SurveyMonkey fits structured questionnaires; User Interviews helps recruit for deeper conversations. whatayarn suits a simple hosted form with ratings, written answers and optional voice.
A customer asking for a feature, a visitor struggling with checkout and someone explaining a poor service experience need different follow-up. One dashboard can collect their words, but that does not mean it can investigate the problem or manage the work that follows.
Which customer feedback job are you trying to finish?
| Your question | Useful collection method | What must happen next |
|---|---|---|
| How did a purchase or service go? | A short rating and open answer | Review poor experiences and offer a reply |
| Where does our website get confusing? | An in-page survey plus journey context | Reproduce the problem and inspect the relevant page |
| Which feature requests recur? | A request portal with votes and statuses | Deduplicate requests and communicate decisions |
| Why do people struggle with this task? | Interviews or observed sessions | Compare evidence and investigate the underlying cause |
| Is satisfaction changing? | A consistent questionnaire over time | Compare like-for-like questions and audiences |
| What would someone explain in their own words? | Written or optional spoken feedback | Read or listen, record the concern and decide the follow-up |
If you only need to collect an answer, our form builder guide has simpler options. For questionnaire design and reporting, start with survey tools. The broader comparison here includes what happens after collection.
Compare customer feedback tools
| Feedback tool | Best forThe feedback job it serves | Plan and limitationThe allowance or handoff to check |
|---|---|---|
| SurvicateSurveys at a customer touchpoint | Ask in email, a website or an appConsider it when timing and audience context matter.Targeted surveys | Free: 25 responses a monthThe 10-day trial is separate. Free has no exports; partial answers count.Pilot before paying |
| ContentsquareWebsite feedback with behavioural context | Connect what someone says with the website journeyThe current home for new Hotjar users.Website context | Voice of Customer Free: 100 responses a monthThree surveys/widgets and one month of response access; product plans differ.Check access window |
| CannyProduct requests and follow-through | Collect requests, votes and status updatesUse a feedback portal and a product roadmap.Requests and roadmaps | Free: 25 tracked usersUnlimited feedback does not mean unlimited people. Paid pricing scales with tracked users.People-based allowance |
| DovetailQualitative evidence and research | Make sense of calls, recordings, docs and surveysUse a research repository when evidence arrives from several places.Evidence analysis | Free: one channel and one projectEnterprise uses custom pricing. It is a separate analysis workflow from a collection form.Limited free workspace |
| SurveyMonkeyConsistent satisfaction questionnaires | Collect comparable answers with survey reportingShortlist it around the report and distribution required.Structured questionnaires | Basic free; paid analysis and exportsCheck viewable responses and account/team limits. A CX solution is a separate offer.Choose the correct plan |
| User InterviewsFinding people for deeper conversations | Recruit participants and organise research sessionsUseful when your unanswered question needs an interview.Research recruitment | Recruit uses per-session or subscription feesParticipant incentives are additional. It is not a replacement for an always-open feedback form.Separate research budget |
| whatayarnSimple hosted feedback, including voice | Collect ratings, written answers and spoken contextReview written feedback with standard AI columns.Collection and review | Unlimited forms and responses on FreeFair use, 100 MB storage and one-minute recordings. No integrations, product-event targeting or request boards.Small-team option |
Survicate: ask at a relevant customer touchpoint
Survicate is worth evaluating when you want surveys delivered through email, a website or a mobile app. Its pricing page (opens in a new tab) separates response volume, targeting, integrations and broader analysis features across tiers.
Its Free account guidance (opens in a new tab) describes an ongoing account after the ten-day trial: 25 responses a month, three collaborating users and no exports. Even one answered question counts as a response.
That makes Free a small pilot. Check how your intended delivery channel is installed, what event or audience can trigger a question, and whether your paid tier can send results to the system your team uses. A generic link form is simpler when contextual delivery is unnecessary.
Contentsquare: website feedback with journey context
Contentsquare is the current destination for new Hotjar users. Its official transition page (opens in a new tab) explains the change; its Voice of Customer product (opens in a new tab) connects surveys and feedback with website behaviour.
The current pricing comparison (opens in a new tab) lists Voice of Customer Free at 100 responses a month, three surveys or widgets and one month of response access. Experience Analytics and other product packages have their own limits.
Shortlist it when “the form was confusing” needs evidence about where someone got stuck. Check installation, what context the response retains and how long your plan lets you review it. The one-month access window matters if you report quarterly. A hosted feedback form alone will not provide session replay; a replay alone will not explain someone’s intention.
Canny: requests, votes and a visible decision
Canny is useful when product requests should become a managed backlog rather than another list of survey comments. Its features (opens in a new tab) cover feedback boards, voting, statuses, roadmaps and changelogs.
Its pricing (opens in a new tab) is based on tracked users. Free includes 25 tracked users and unlimited feedback. A tracked user is a person associated with feedback, including posts, votes or comments; it is not a monthly submission count. Paid plans scale with that population and offer an optional spend limit.
Use it when people need to see whether a request was reviewed, planned or shipped. Votes are one input to prioritisation, alongside the customers affected and the evidence behind the request. A broad customer-satisfaction questionnaire may need a different tool.
Dovetail: organise evidence from more than a form
Dovetail is an option when feedback arrives as customer calls, recordings, documents and survey answers. Its current offering (opens in a new tab) includes one channel and one research project on Free, with an Enterprise package priced by quotation.
This is a different job from displaying a short form. A repository is useful when your team must trace a finding back to the original evidence, compare several conversations and share the reasoning behind a decision.
Before adding it, confirm how the sources you actually have get into the project and how the team will use them. Do not assume a direct integration from your form builder. If the whole task is reading a few comments each week, a separate research workspace may add more process than you need.
SurveyMonkey: a consistent feedback questionnaire
SurveyMonkey is worth considering for repeated satisfaction surveys where consistent questions, distribution and reporting matter. Its customer-feedback offering (opens in a new tab) distinguishes the survey platform from a dedicated CX solution; do not treat their features as one plan.
Check pricing (opens in a new tab), viewable response limits (opens in a new tab) and export access (opens in a new tab) before sending a campaign. Basic is free but restricted, and buying respondents is separate from a survey subscription.
For a closer look at its place among questionnaire platforms, see the survey tool comparison. A satisfaction score can help you track a consistent measure; it does not explain the cause without follow-up evidence.
User Interviews: find people to investigate the why
Sometimes a comment leaves the important question unanswered. User Interviews is worth considering when you need to recruit participants for a conversation or research session, rather than passively collect more ratings.
Its pricing (opens in a new tab) separates Recruit’s per-session and subscription options from Research Hub for managing your own participant panel. Participant incentives are additional to recruitment fees. Specify the audience, screening needs and completed-session budget before comparing offers.
This is an occasional research cost as well as an ongoing programme option. It does not replace a feedback form people can use any day, and recruited participants do not automatically represent every customer. Use the interviews to investigate a question, then decide what other evidence is needed.
whatayarn: a simple place to collect and review explanations
whatayarn fits a small team that wants a hosted feedback form with ratings, written answers and optional voice questions. Share a link, embed the form or put a QR code in front of customers. Voice settings can keep typing available for someone who cannot record.
Free includes unlimited forms and responses under fair use, 100 MB storage and recordings up to one minute. Standard AI columns flag Spam, Sentiment, Urgency and Needs reply in written answers. They do not read recordings or uploaded files; custom columns need Creator.
It is a collection and review tool. Integrations and conditional logic are coming soon; it does not provide session replay, product-event targeting, participant recruitment or a voting roadmap. Choose the specialist tool when one of those is central to your job. For basic post-service feedback, start with the customer feedback template.
A worked example: two comments, two different follow-ups
These comments are constructed examples, not customer results:
“I could not finish the booking on my phone.”
“Please let me book appointments for my whole team.”
The first could be a defect, a confusing interaction or an unsupported task. Reply if contact details are available, ask what happened and reproduce the flow. A contextual website tool may help locate the problem; a voice answer may provide an explanation.
The second is a product request. Record who needs it, what they do today and what problem a group booking would solve. A request board can keep related demand together and communicate a decision. If the reasoning is still unclear, a few targeted conversations may be more useful than another score.
Neither comment should disappear into a sentiment total. Keep a link to the original evidence and name the person responsible for investigating it.
Close the loop without promising every request
Build a review routine you can actually maintain:
- Read the evidence. Use scores and AI labels to find responses, then review the underlying words or recordings.
- Assign the next action. Distinguish a support reply, a defect to reproduce, a product request and a research question.
- Record the decision. Keep the owner, status and reason in the tool your team already uses.
- Tell the customer what happened. Acknowledge a useful report or explain the decision when you have contact details and an appropriate reason to reply.
Do not make a roadmap promise just because a request has votes, or call an AI label the final decision. The tool should help you preserve evidence and follow through. For a small operation, our small-business form guide explains where simple collection fits before adding a specialist platform.
Try a focused feedback form
This template starts with a rating, an open question and an optional email for a reply. It does not include a voice question by default; you can add one in the editor if hearing the explanation would help.
Customer feedback template
Try it here. Nothing is sent or saved.
Use one specific experience in the introduction and keep the question neutral. Review the written comment alongside its rating. You can build and preview before signing up; publishing and collecting real responses require an account.
For a recurring satisfaction measure, try the CSAT template. For a detailed issue report, use the customer complaint template.