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Feedback on Recent Changes – Request for Deeper User Involvement

  • March 28, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 20 views

DJSTIRFRY

As a long-time user whose business doubles annually—and growing—I’m writing to express some real concerns about the direction HoneyBook seems to be heading.

Lately, it feels like many of the changes being rolled out are made without consideration for the wide variety of businesses that rely on your platform daily. These updates are often implemented with little to no notice, and they significantly impact the structure and systems we’ve built around your tools. Many of us use key features religiously, and when those change unexpectedly, it can disrupt operations in a big way.

While I appreciate the existence of the community board, it doesn’t seem to reflect the diverse needs of your entire user base. I recommend establishing a true User Advisory Board composed of actual business owners—across industries and business stages, from startups to mature companies—who actively use HoneyBook at scale. This would provide your team with a broader, more strategic perspective on how changes affect different types of businesses.

Right now, it feels like updates are being made in a vacuum, possibly catering to a smaller subset of users, without fully understanding how these shifts impact others. Many of the recent changes seem unnecessary or even counterproductive to how seasoned users run their businesses through your platform.

We’ve chosen to build our systems on HoneyBook, and we want to see it grow and succeed. But more transparency, communication, and meaningful collaboration with your power users would go a long way. Please consider deepening your relationship with the customers who rely on HoneyBook day in and day out.

Thank you for listening—and for creating a product we truly want to keep growing with.

 

2 replies

Kait former community manager
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Hi ​@DJSTIRFRY, we appreciate your concern and really value your input. I know I replied to a comment of yours about this earlier, but want to make sure your feedback is recognized and responded to.

I want to assure you that the updates you are experiencing, and all interface changes, go through months of planning and testing across various groups of HoneyBook users, not just in the community. 

While we were testing and researching different layouts, the feedback we received from our members about the side navigation was more positive than previous horizontal navigation, which validated our decision to make the switch.

We know that this change can be disorienting (I even experienced myself when my autopilot wasn't working) we made this switch so you can see tools a bit easier, and give more space to your home dashboard. I know that doesn't make the transition any easier right now though!

If you have any feedback about other new features or changes you would like to see, I'd be happy to set up a call with you to discuss with our platform and interfaces product lead.

We also just opened up applications to join the HoneyBook beta program, which allows you to opt into betas as they become available. If you haven’t applied to join yet, I’d highly encourage you to do so because this seems like a great fit for the type of feedback you’re looking to provide on an ongoing basis. 


DJSTIRFRY
  • Author
  • Newcomer
  • March 28, 2025

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Kait.

That said, I want to be clear that my concern isn’t just about the sidebar—this has been an ongoing pattern of changes over the past several months that affect a wide range of features we rely on heavily. If you check my history, you’ll see I’ve raised multiple flags long before this latest update.

My impression is that much of the feedback being weighed seems to be coming from a small, vocal group—maybe the same folks attending every town hall for 20 years. They have the time and interest to contribute regularly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their needs reflect the broader user base, especially those of us running larger-scale businesses. The majority of us aren’t in the forums every week because, frankly, the system has been working well—until it starts changing without warning.

If HoneyBook gave more visibility into the planned changes, I think you’d have far more interest in beta testing and user feedback. As it stands, a lot of updates feel like they’re coming out of left field, and that’s a real challenge for those of us who have built systems and teams around the way the platform works.

I appreciate the invitation for a call, and I’d love to be involved in a more meaningful way if it helps bridge the gap between long-term, high-usage businesses and the product team.

Thanks again for your response—and for being open to dialogue.