Pete Blackshaw of Planetfeedback.com, wrote in AdAge today a (self serving, yes) article about consumer feedback, or rather the lack of it.  Here’s a snippet:

I wonder if we’re afflicted with service schizophrenia. Take a mega brand such as McDonald’s, which aggressively spends billions to position itself around ease, convenience and service (e.g. “We make you smile”). The company practically hides the most basic of contact forms on its website. Further adding to the disconnect, the company’s comments-rich corporate blog is called “Open for Discussion.”

From the point of view of a design agency, these forms are, for the most part, blown off, left until last and pretty much standard.  The sub-conscious assertion being that if someone really wants to contact us, they will.  Most forms are pretty simple simple and easy to use but yes, definitely uninviting and if you’re a brand projecting an open door philosophy, this could be detrimental to your cause.  Worse still are customer service telephone lines.  These seem to be designed to frustrate and often cause extreme anger as you are constantly passed from department to department and required time and again to repeat your account details.  OK, we’re not going to go into all that as we don’t have much control apart from suggesting better approach to our clients.

Back to web-based consumer feedback.  After reading this post, I considered one of our recent clients, an Italian motorcycle brand, that prides itself on being very connected to its consumer.  We’re currently in the design production cycle and considering the global community behind this brand, I thought it necessary to review our strategy.  We’re now considering allowing users to upload images, movies and to format their feedback via a rich text editor (much like using word) so our client’s customers can really articulate their message.  I’ll post a link once we’re done.