Feedback loop
A feedback loop is closed when the input a user sent leads to a visible change and that user finds out about it.
The loop has four steps: collect, triage, act, and tell them. Most teams build the first two, do the third unevenly, and skip the fourth entirely. Feedback that is collected and never answered teaches an audience that sending it is pointless, and submission volume drops to match that lesson.
The telling step is cheaper than it sounds on a documentation site. A changelog entry, a reply to the address the reporter left, or a short "updated" note on the page all qualify. What matters is that the change is traceable to the report, not that the message is elaborate. One sentence beats a newsletter nobody opens.
A closed loop compounds, which is the actual reason to bother. Readers who have watched a report turn into a fix start filing better reports, with the URL, the step they took, and the behaviour they expected. That improvement in input quality takes months rather than weeks, and it is the return that never shows up in a feature comparison.
Frequently asked questions
What does closing the feedback loop mean?
Telling the person who reported something what changed because of it. Collecting and fixing is not a loop until the reporter learns the outcome.
How do you close the loop with anonymous feedback?
Publicly. A changelog, release notes, or a visible "recently updated" marker on the page does the same job for the whole audience when there is no address to reply to.
How long should a feedback loop take?
Fast enough that the reporter still remembers sending it. A week is good, a month still works for content fixes, and a quarter reads to the reporter as no response at all.