A Complaint is a Gift

One of the great faults of software groups is that we assume if we don't hear from our customers, they are happy. This is a lie from hell.

How happy are you with Windows? Have you ever called Bill Gates? I rest my case.

We need to strive to improve feedback with our software customers. I uninstalled Skype from my work machine today (something about corporate policy and security). I was pleasantly surprised to see in my firefox browser a page from Skype entitled, "We're really sorry to see you go. Did you have problems? We can help." This shows a great attitude that Skype really cares about its customers and improving their product.
A complaint really is a gift, and we need to accept these gifts graciously and learn from them.
One of the new things in our application I put in this release is a link to a wiki for suggestions and feedback. Now instead of steaming that a page didn't remember previous settings a user can go to the wiki and document their needs while fresh in their mind. It's an easy thing to do and a great way to get feedback, although actually talking with your customers is the best idea.