Once upon a time, you had to send an email to your website development team to say something wasn’t working. They sent you an email back asking, “where?!” Then you sent a screenshot or a page number. PDFs were flying back and forth and patience was running short.
Fortunately, that’s gone the way of the Blackberry.
Today, there’s an incredible amount of software available to manage the communication and collaboration that goes into website and project feedback. It’s actually kind of overwhelming. Fortunately, we’re in the business of knowing this stuff, so we’re going to tell you what we’ve learned from exploring a wide variety of software.
We’re not necessarily making recommendations, just educating. What works for our organization or your friend’s may not work for yours. For us, simplicity and ease of use matter a lot. Since we use these tools with external clients, we try to avoid tools that require a browser extension or installing code directly to the website in order to keep it as easy as possible for our clients.
That said, here are some pros and cons of the various digital tools for streamlining feedback:
Pastel
Our team has been using Pastel for several years and we think it’s the overall best tool for our team, and our developers top pick. Here are some things we like and dislike:
Likes
- Automatic screenshots
- Has mobile, tablet, and desktop views
- Commenting process is easy
- Exports to Asana
- Communicates the system specs that someone is using
- Very easy to use, all it requires is clicking the shared link to begin commenting
- Can be used for feedback on websites, PDFs and images
Dislikes
- Limited accuracy in terms of where a pin is dropped
- Doesn’t always reflect the reality of what’s actually on the mock-up. It can give you false positives of something being wrong, such as with a font or formatting not showing properly.
- The sidebar shrinks the website display
- Dynamic navigation can be buggy
Marker.io
Marker.io has powerful integration with Asana, which is a top priority for our team. However it breaks our ease of use rule and requires a browser extension to leave feedback.
Likes
- Integrates well with Asana, allowing you to pick assignees, tags, and all Asana task aspects directly from the Marker tool
- Integrates with many other tools including Trello, ClickUp, GitHub, Slack, and LogRocket
- Attaches a copy of the browser’s console output, which is helpful to developers when debugging issues
Dislikes
- Requires browser extension install or adding code to the website
- The “report issue” widget must always be visible, not only when reviewing
Markup.io
We think Markup is the best tool when it comes to design. The sleek interface allows for the website to shine through. We appreciate the extra formatting options when leaving comments, like adding a bulleted list within your comment. And we love the integration with Loom video to make a quick video recording to attach to your comment.
Likes
- Accurately shows formatting
- The user experience is nice and allows a website to shine through
- Collects the users browser information
- Video integration in comments
Dislikes
- Not completely accurate in terms of where you drop the pin
- No integration with Asana, so you cannot do a direct export
- No auto screenshot when you leave a comment
This tool is great from a project management standpoint. The dashboard for your project is in kanban style which could work well for teams familiar with this workflow. It allows tagging and assigning and adding due dates all within the platform and eliminates the need to export the information to another management system.
Likes
- Accurate for developers
- Maximizes control
- Helpful for assigning comments, and tracking progress on work
Dislikes
- Requires browser extension install or adding code to the website
- No Asana integration
- Widget can be cumbersome blocking some of the right side of the website.
Quick Caveat: All this software is web-based and, thus, easily shareable. That also means it’s constantly evolving. So glitches can be fixed, but you could wake up to a product that doesn’t suit your needs as well as it did yesterday.
The best feedback tools improve efficiency and communication while trimming timelines, but you have to select what makes the most sense for you.
Without knowing your unique situation, it’s impossible to recommend a particular tool. Our suggestion is to use these tips and go find the software that’s right for you. A few others we’ve heard of but haven’t had the chance to test are; Ruttl, Usersnap, and Heurio.
One thing we can say with certainty is that it’s better to use any of these tools than nothing at all. As long as you’re not sharing feedback via email attachments, faxes, or the Pony Express, you’re probably doing all right. But if you aren’t familiar with any of these, give them a try. You never know what might take your design collaboration to the next level.
And we’re happy to talk through your options.
