Strava Communicating with Users

[veterandaddfw]

Strava does a LOT of things well.  One area they desperately need to improve upon is communicating with their users.  I have been told by customer support that the developers read and review our ideas, but in my experience, they fail to communicate with the user population.  A great example is the increasing activity in requesting the rucking add.  They are silent to our inquiries.  I'm sure if I dug into other ideas, I would find a similar lack of acknowledgment of the users.

Strava, communication is paramount to loyalty.  This ask isn't unreasonable; we don't expect an answer to every comment, but periodic updates make your customers feel valued, especially considering a membership is on the higher end.  You aren't doing a good job selling value by ignoring users asking questions.

[Marya]

Hi everyone, 

Marya here from the Community Management team - really appreciate everyone's honest and transparent feedback about this space; we hear and understand that there are opportunities to improve our communication when it comes to the Community Hub. 

Our (small, but mighty) team is working diligently to provide an open and safe Hub that enhances your Strava experience, including addressing the visibility issues mentioned here. Please also note that this space is actively monitored with all threads and ideas being read and reviewed and the Hub is regularly referenced internally. 

When you share ideas, they are shared back to the product team and our team regularly sends relevant threads to them to flag when potential improvements are discussed, if roadblocks are discovered and if issues are found within the ecosystem (a recent example that inspired product conversations is this thread around map feedback). Additionally to maintain the integrity of the Hub, we complete audits of the idea space to synthesize insights, including but not limited to long-standing or popular ideas, into reports that are shared internally. 

The team that oversees this space (aka our awesome Moderators) is in tune with your feedback that’s shared here and in other channels. They actively oversee the Hub, support tickets and Help Center data and use that to holistically share your feedback to our product teams. Our team also actively participates in the product launch cycle and part of our participation includes elevating the relevant threads related to our product areas focus. 

The insights and feedback shared here by you and the rest of our athletes in this space is and continues to be highly valuable for our team, and we appreciate and encourage this type of constructive feedback — please continue to share it with us! 

Best,

[Tim1]

Hi Marya,

I thought your reply seemed authentic until I read to the end and didn't see a single reference to rucking. Now I think your reply is copy/pasted boilerplate.

Will you please let us know where the development team is on addressing this requested feature?

Thank you,

Tim

[Marya]

Hi veterandaddfw and Tim,

Right now, we haven't received any updates from our product team about rucking or weighted walking/hiking. We've taken note and can help relay this over to them in one of our upcoming syncs with the relevant product team. If any additional updates from product are made available, someone from the Hub team will update the idea thread referenced in the original post as needed.

We appreciate your understanding!

Best,

[Tim1]

Nice! This feels like traction. Thanks, Marya.

Have a great weekend,

Tim

[veterandaddfw]

Thank you, @Marya for chiming in on behalf of Strava.  It would go a long way for you or someone in your position to address the "Add rucking as an option" discussion.  Right now, we in the rucking community feel as if no one cares. 

[FlixC]

Agreed! Following thread.

[anchskier]

It is clear Strava has zero intent on actually using the suggestions from this forum.  This is abundantly clear based on their actions and responses since it began.  They are just using it as a way to make their users FEEL as if they are contributing and that Strava is listening to their ideas.  Only a couple things even mentioned in these forums have ever come forward, and in each case, they were ones with only a couple supporting "kudos".  While, right along side, we have very simple ideas to implement that have well over a hundred kudos and tons of supporting comments that get completely ignored.  Even worst, many of those ideas are "archived" with the excuse that it isn't in their already established plan, so they aren't going to even let people comment on it or propose it.  What's the point of a suggestion/idea forum if they are going to nix anything they haven't already thought of and plan to do?  

[Tim1]

I'm replying so I can follow this thread. I completely agree with everything you've written, and feel ignored and unsupported as a Strava Premium member. I would definitely jump ship if there was a better communicating, more supportive and similarly integrated alternative.