Ux research
Inside the Feedback Loop of Nebenan.de: A UX Deep Dive
The goal
UX research is rarely glamorous—it lives in spreadsheets, comment threads, and the raw chaos of user frustration. But for me, that’s where the real work begins. Before we design better experiences, we have to understand where they break down.
At nebenan.de, a platform built to foster real-world connections among neighbors, I wanted to know: why were some users struggling to feel at home in their own digital neighborhood? Platform star ratings and over 1,400 qualitative reviews held the answer. Hidden between technical errors, content moderation complaints, and engagement drop-offs were patterns—ones that, once surfaced, could be turned into tangible design interventions.
synthesis – star rating score
To gather a more quantitative feel of the data, I turned to the rawest form of feedback: star ratings. Solely focussing on 2023–2024, the ratings tell an ominous story.
A 3.21★ average across iOS and Android ratings suggests that while the platform is functional, it hasn’t yet reached the impactful experience users expect from community-driven apps. Trustpilot paints a more critical picture, with a 2.13★ average signaling a disconnect between user expectations and their actual experience. This stark contrast in user sentiment between platforms raised an eyebrow as well.
While these scores provide a broad overview, year-over-year trends reveal more nuanced shifts.
The trends tell a story of small but promising gains. Mobile ratings have improved slightly (3.14★ → 3.27★), indicating progress in stability. However, Trustpilot scores continue to decline (2.21★ → 2.05★), with 69% of its latest reviews being 1★ or 3★. While the star ratings haven’t dramatically changed, they hint at something deeper: neighbors aren’t just rating the experience, they’re reacting to it, begging the question, ‘what are they trying to tell us?’
Additionally, the stark contrast between Android and iOS ratings highlight another discrepancy: Android consistently outperforms iOS—despite a similar share of reviews across both platforms. Clearly, platform-specific UX differences are present that are worth exploring further.
Star ratings give us a signal, but words reveal the why. Behind every number is a lived experience – a neighbor locked out, a conversation left unanswered, a moment of frustration. Tuning in to the voices behind them, also known as the “qualitative data”, is what I did next. Coincidentally, this is also my favorite part of UX research.
analysis – user pain points
Dissecting User Feedback: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next
To get to the core of user frustrations, I focused on 1-star ratings to reveal the root causes of the most impactful issues. And these aren't just minor annoyances; they're breaking points that cause users to churn, disengage, or lose trust in the platform.
To turn this data into actionable insights, a self-developed custom AI model categorized feedback into 24 distinct categories mapped across 572 user comments. These weren’t arbitrary groupings—by aligning them with previous nebenan.de research, I strengthened the reliability and depth of insights.
In essence, this framework I applied translates scattered complaints into patterns, patterns into priorities, and priorities into actionable design decisions.
📱 App Users
Login & Registration Issues → Account suspensions, failed verification, and broken password resets block access to nebenan.de's community.
Technical Failures → Frequent crashes, slow loading times, and performance issues frustrate users.
Low Neighborhood Activity → Some users perceive a lack of activity in their neighborhood, leading to feelings of isolation. Subsequently, the core value for HXU's (high expectation users) is weakened.
🌐 Trustpilot Reviews
Moderation & Censorship Concerns → Users feel content removals lack transparency and moderation is inconsistent.
Privacy & Data Issues → → Users find mandatory personal data collection upon registration intrusive, struggle with account deletion, and report persistent notifications despite opting out.
Personally, I expected privacy & security or notifications to be the biggest issues. To my surprise, the #1 pain point was login, logout, and registration—the very first step of the user journey. Before users could connect, post, or build relationships, many were getting stuck at the door. Yet a smooth, intuitive first interaction isn’t just a nice-to-have; it sets the tone for everything that follows.
A first Impression that blocks users out? Not on my watch. So, I took a step back: Was this a technical issue? A usability issue? A perception issue? The answer, as always, was in the details. Having analyzed where and why users were dropping off, I uncovered the specific barriers—ones that, when addressed, could turn a frustrating first step into a seamless welcome.
If this project taught me anything, it’s that words matter. Not just what users say, but how they say it—the frustrations hidden in phrasing, the subtle patterns in language, the signals buried in complaints. Zooming in on the details—the 1-star ratings—wasn’t just insightful, it was essential.
Unveiling the pain points through quantitative data gave me direction, but the qualitative layer was where the real work happened. It challenged me to synthesize, digest, and translate scattered frustrations into clear, prioritized design decisions. With a platform like nebenan.de serving a wide range of user needs, finding the right balance was definitely a challenge, but nothing to shy away from. A well-designed neighborhood isn’t one without flaws—it’s one that actively listens, adapts, and evolves.
I also honed my ability to distill massive amounts of unstructured feedback into clear, actionable insights. Patterns emerged, friction points sharpened, and the user journey became something I could map, deconstruct, and—ultimately—improve.
That’s why the framework I built here is more than just a research method—it’s a scalable asset. A system that allows companies to continuously stay in touch with user needs, year after year, ensuring design decisions aren’t just reactive, but proactively shaped by the voices that matter most.