How to Collect Feature Requests the Right Way

Every product manager dreams of building features that users love, features that solve real problems, and features that drive growth. But how do you know what those features are? The answer, more often than not, lies directly with your users. They are the ones who interact with your product daily, experience its quirks, and dream of what it could be.

Collecting feature requests isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a fundamental part of building a successful product. However, if not done correctly, it can lead to a messy pile of unprioritized ideas, overwhelming your team and diluting your product vision.

This guide will walk you through the proper way to collect feature requests. We'll cover why it's so important, the best channels to use, how to get high-quality submissions, and smart ways to organize all that valuable input. By the end, you'll have a clear roadmap for turning user suggestions into impactful product improvements.

Why Collecting Feature Requests Matters

Think of your users as an extension of your product team. They're constantly testing, evaluating, and imagining improvements. Their feedback isn't just about what's broken; it's about what could be better. Ignoring this rich source of information is like trying to navigate a dark room without turning on the lights.

Users provide early signals of what to build

Your users are on the front lines, experiencing the gaps and frustrations in your product firsthand. They often spot opportunities that your internal team, deep in the weeds of development, might miss. These "early signals" are incredibly valuable.

Imagine a group of users repeatedly asking for a specific integration. This isn't just a random wish; it's a signal that your product isn't fitting seamlessly into their existing workflow. If enough users mention it, it's a strong indicator that this integration could unlock significant value and potentially attract new users who rely on that specific tool.

These signals help you:

• Identify unmet needs: Users often request features because your current product doesn't fully solve a particular problem for them. These requests highlight areas where you can add significant value.

• Spot new market opportunities: Sometimes, a series of feature requests might point towards an entirely new use case or market segment you hadn't considered. For example, if many users are asking for advanced reporting, it might indicate a need for a more robust analytics offering.

• Validate assumptions: Before you invest heavily in building a new feature, seeing similar requests from users can help validate your own hypotheses and reduce the risk of building something nobody wants.

• Catch emerging trends: In fast-moving industries, users are often quick to adopt new technologies or workflows. Their requests can give you an early heads-up on what's becoming standard or expected.

By paying close attention to these signals, you move from guessing what to build to making informed decisions based on real-world demand.

Helps prioritize with confidence

One of the toughest jobs for any product manager is prioritization. You have a million ideas, limited resources, and everyone from sales to executives has their own "must-have" feature. How do you decide what to build next? User feedback, specifically feature requests, acts as a powerful compass.

When you have a well-organized system for collecting feature requests, you can see not just what users want, but how many users want it, and how intensely they want it. This data allows you to:

• Quantify demand: Instead of a single manager saying, "I think customers want X," you can say, "150 customers have requested X, and 30 of them are enterprise accounts." This kind of data makes prioritization less subjective and more data-driven.

• Understand impact: By knowing who is requesting a feature (e.g., your most valuable customers, a growing segment), you can better assess the potential business impact of building it.

• Balance quick wins with big bets: Feature requests often highlight both small, irritating pain points that are easy to fix (quick wins) and larger, more strategic opportunities. Having these categorized helps you balance your roadmap.

• Gain stakeholder alignment: When you can present a roadmap backed by solid user demand, it's much easier to get buy-in from engineering, sales, and executive teams. You're not just saying "we should build this"; you're saying "our users need this, and here's the proof."

Ultimately, collecting feature requests the right way doesn't just give you ideas; it gives you the confidence to prioritize effectively, knowing you're addressing real user needs and driving tangible value for your product.

Your users have ideas you haven't heard yet. FeaturAsk makes it effortless to capture, organize, and act on their suggestions. Add the widget to your site in minutes and start collecting feedback today.

Channels for Collecting Feature Requests

Now that we understand why collecting feature requests is so important, let's look at where you can gather this valuable input. There isn't a single "best" channel; rather, a combination of methods will ensure you're capturing feedback from all types of users and situations. The goal is to make it easy for users to tell you what they need, wherever they are.

Feedback widgets

Imagine a small, unobtrusive button or tab directly within your product that says "Give Feedback" or "Suggest a Feature." That's a feedback widget. These are incredibly powerful because they capture feedback in context. When a user encounters a problem or thinks of an improvement while actively using your product, they can immediately share their thoughts without leaving the application.

Why feedback widgets are effective:

• Contextual feedback: Users can pinpoint exactly where they experienced an issue or imagined a new feature, often with screenshots automatically included. This is invaluable for your product and engineering teams.

• Low friction: It's quick and easy for users to submit a request, leading to higher submission rates.

• Always available: It's there whenever inspiration strikes, rather than requiring users to go to a separate website or remember to send an email later.

• Structured input: Many widgets allow you to customize the submission form, prompting users to provide specific information (e.g., "What problem does this solve for you?").

Tips for implementing:

• Keep it simple: Don't ask too many questions on the form. A simple text box and perhaps an email field are often enough.

• Clear call to action: Make sure the button or tab clearly communicates its purpose ("Suggest a Feature," "Share an Idea").

• Integrate with your system: Ensure submissions from the widget flow directly into your central feedback management tool.

Feedback widgets capture those "aha!" moments and immediate frustrations, making them a cornerstone of any good feedback collection strategy.

Email campaigns

While feedback widgets are great for in-product suggestions, sometimes you need to proactively ask for feedback. This is where targeted email campaigns come in. These campaigns can be used to solicit specific types of requests or gather input from particular user segments.

When to use email campaigns:

• After onboarding: Ask new users what features they'd find helpful as they learn your product.

• For specific features: If you're planning to iterate on a particular part of your product, email users who frequently use that feature to get their ideas.

• To re-engage inactive users: Ask what features would bring them back to your product.

• Annual or quarterly surveys: Use email to distribute broader surveys asking for feature ideas alongside general satisfaction questions.

• "What's next?" surveys: Directly ask users, "If you could have one new feature in our product, what would it be and why?"

Tips for effective email campaigns:

• Personalize: Use the user's name and reference their activity if possible.

• Be clear and concise: State the purpose of the email upfront and make it easy to respond.

• Provide a clear link: Direct users to a simple submission form, a survey, or even a dedicated email address for feature requests.

• Manage expectations: Let users know you read every submission, but don't promise that every idea will be built.

Email campaigns allow you to be proactive and strategic in your feedback gathering, reaching out to the right people at the right time for targeted insights.

Community forums

A community forum or dedicated ideas board can be a goldmine for feature requests. This channel goes beyond individual submissions by allowing users to see, upvote, and comment on each other's ideas. This introduces a powerful layer of social validation and helps surface the most popular and impactful requests.

Benefits of community forums:

• Social validation: Users can gauge the popularity of their ideas and see what others are requesting. This helps you identify widely desired features.

• Rich discussions: Users often elaborate on each other's ideas, providing more context, use cases, and potential solutions. This collective intelligence can be incredibly valuable.

• Reduces duplicate requests: Users can see if an idea has already been submitted and simply add their vote or comment instead of creating a new entry.

• Transparency: It shows your users that you're open to their ideas and provides a public space for them to engage with your product's future.

• Scalable: Once set up, the community often self-moderates and generates its own content.

Tips for managing a forum:

• Active moderation: You'll need someone to keep an eye on discussions, merge duplicate posts, and respond to key ideas.

• Clear guidelines: Set rules for respectful discussion and what kind of requests are appropriate.

• Update statuses: Make sure you can update the status of popular requests (e.g., "Under Review," "Planned," "Shipped") so users know their ideas are being considered.

Community forums are excellent for fostering a sense of ownership among your users and for identifying the collective will of your user base.

Customer interviews

While the previous channels are great for collecting a high volume of requests, nothing beats a direct conversation for depth and nuance. Customer interviews allow you to go beyond what a user wants and delve into why they want it, uncovering the underlying problem they're trying to solve.

When to conduct customer interviews:

• For strategic insights: When you're exploring a new product area or making a significant change, interviews provide rich qualitative data.

• To understand specific requests: If a feature request is frequently submitted but you don't fully understand the use case, an interview can clarify things.

• With key segments: Schedule interviews with your most valuable customers (e.g., enterprise clients, power users) to understand their specific needs.

• Problem validation: Instead of asking for solutions, ask about their problems and frustrations. Often, the solutions emerge naturally.

Tips for effective interviews:

• Focus on problems, not solutions: Don't just ask, "What features do you want?" Instead, ask, "What's the hardest part about X?" or "Tell me about a time you tried to do Y and it was difficult."

• Listen more than you talk: Your role is to understand, not to sell or defend.

• Ask "Why?": Keep digging deeper with "why" questions to uncover the root cause of their needs.

• Record and transcribe: Get permission to record the interview so you can review it later and capture all details.

Customer interviews provide the qualitative depth that complements the quantitative data from other channels, giving you a holistic understanding of user needs.

Improving Submission Quality

Collecting feature requests is one thing; collecting useful feature requests is another. A vague request like "Make it better" isn't helpful. To truly inform your product development, you need submissions that clearly articulate the problem, the desired outcome, and ideally, the context.

Request templates

One of the easiest ways to improve the quality of incoming feature requests is to provide a structured template. Whether it's for an in-app widget, an email submission, or a forum post, a template guides the user to provide the specific information you need to evaluate their idea.

Key elements of a good request template:

1. "What problem are you trying to solve?": This is the most crucial question. It forces the user to think about the underlying need, not just a potential solution. A user might say, "I want a blue button," but the problem they're solving is "I can't find the save button." Knowing the problem allows your team to design the best solution, which might not be a blue button at all.

2. "What's your proposed solution/feature?": While the problem is paramount, their proposed solution offers valuable insight into their mental model and what they imagine.

3. "How often do you encounter this problem?": This helps gauge the frequency and potential impact.

4. "How does this affect your work/experience?": This question helps understand the severity and consequences of the current situation.

5. "Any additional context or screenshots?": Encouraging visual aids or detailed descriptions can provide invaluable clarity.

By using a template, you're essentially coaching your users on how to provide feedback that is actionable for your product team. It reduces ambiguity and ensures you get the necessary details upfront.

Examples of useful submissions

Alongside a template, showing users examples of good feature requests can be incredibly effective. People learn by example, and seeing what a well-articulated request looks like can significantly improve their own submissions.

Where to provide examples:

• On your feedback form: Include a small "See an example" link or sample text within the input fields.

• In your community forum: Pin a post at the top titled "How to Submit a Great Feature Request" with 2-3 excellent examples.

• In your help documentation: Dedicate a section to explaining what makes a request useful.

What to highlight in examples:

• Focus on the problem: Show examples where the user clearly describes the pain point, not just the proposed solution.

  • Bad example: "Add a button to export data."

  • Good example: "I need to share data with my team in a spreadsheet, but currently, I can only view it in the app. This means I have to manually copy-paste, which takes a lot of time and can lead to errors."

• Context: Show how the user explains when they encounter the problem.

• Impact: Demonstrate how they explain why the problem is important to them.

• Clarity and conciseness: Good examples are easy to understand without jargon.

By providing clear examples, you're not leaving users to guess what you need. You're actively teaching them how to be better partners in your product development process, leading to more insightful and actionable feedback.

Asking clarifying questions

Even with templates and examples, some submissions will still be vague. This is where the human element comes in: actively engaging with users to ask clarifying questions. This isn't just about getting more information; it's also about showing users that you're listening and taking their input seriously.

When to ask clarifying questions:

• Vague problem statement: If a user just says "Search is bad," follow up with "Could you tell me more about what makes the search bad for you? What were you trying to find, and what happened?"

• Unclear proposed solution: If the solution seems technically complex or doesn't align with your product vision, ask "What outcome are you hoping for with this feature?" to understand the underlying need.

• Missing context: If you don't understand the use case, ask "Could you walk me through a scenario where you'd use this feature?"

Tips for asking questions:

• Be polite and empathetic: Always phrase questions in a way that shows you appreciate their feedback.

• Focus on the "why": Always try to get to the root problem rather than just clarifying their suggested solution.

• Use the original channel: If they submitted via email, reply to the email. If it was a forum, respond in the forum.

This interaction is critical not only for gathering better information but also for building a stronger relationship with your users. It shows them that their input is valued, which encourages them to provide even more thoughtful feedback in the future.

Great products grow from great feedback. FeaturAsk helps you gather feature requests directly from your users and keep everything neatly organized. Try the free demo in your dashboard.

How to Organize Incoming Requests

Once you've successfully collected a stream of high-quality feature requests, the next big challenge is organizing them. A pile of raw data, no matter how good, isn't useful. You need a system that allows you to analyze, prioritize, and translate those requests into actionable items for your product roadmap.

Themes, tags, and categories

This is the foundation of any effective feedback organization system. As requests come in, you need to sort them using a consistent taxonomy. Think of it like building a library: you wouldn't just throw all the books on the floor; you'd categorize them by genre, tag them by topic, and shelve them logically.

• Categories (Broad Grouping): These are high-level buckets that help you understand the general area of the request.

  • Examples: Usability, Performance, Integration, New Feature, Billing, Onboarding.

• Themes (Recurring Ideas/Problems): These emerge from multiple requests that might fall into the same category but represent a specific underlying need or idea. Themes often represent a larger initiative.

  • Example (from "New Feature" category): "Data Export," "Advanced Reporting," "Mobile App Notifications."

• Tags (Specific Keywords/Details): These are granular labels that provide specific context within a theme.

  • Example (from "Data Export" theme): "CSV," "PDF," "Excel," "Scheduled Export," "Shareable Link."

Why this structure matters:

• Discoverability: You can quickly find all requests related to a specific problem or feature.

• Pattern recognition: It makes it easy to see if 50 users are asking for "CSV export" vs. only 5 asking for "PDF export."

• Analysis: It allows you to filter and report on specific areas of your product.

• Consistency: A defined set of categories, themes, and tags ensures everyone on the team organizes feedback the same way.

Invest time in defining your taxonomy upfront and regularly review it as your product evolves. This structure is key to transforming raw feedback into actionable insights.

AI duplicate detection

One of the biggest time-sinks in feedback management is dealing with duplicate requests. Users often express the same idea in slightly different words, leading to a sprawling mess if not managed effectively. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes in as a powerful ally.

Modern feedback management tools, or even some advanced project management systems, use AI to automatically identify and flag duplicate or highly similar feature requests.

How AI duplicate detection works:

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): AI algorithms analyze the text of incoming requests, looking for semantic similarities even if the exact wording is different. For example, "I want to export my report to a spreadsheet" and "Need to download my data as a CSV" would likely be flagged as duplicates.

• Clustering: AI can group similar requests together, showing you a cluster of ideas that all point to the same underlying need, even if they're not exact duplicates.

• Suggesting merges: The system might suggest merging several individual requests into a single, canonical feature request, increasing the "vote count" for that idea.

Benefits of AI duplicate detection:

• Massive time savings: Product managers no longer have to manually sift through hundreds of requests looking for repeats.

• Accurate volume counts: When duplicates are merged, you get a true count of how many users are asking for a particular feature, which is crucial for prioritization.

• Better insights: By consolidating similar ideas, you get a clearer picture of the most popular and impactful feature requests.

Leveraging AI for duplicate detection isn't just a luxury; it's becoming a necessity for busy product teams drowning in user feedback.

Scoring frameworks

Even with organized and de-duplicated requests, you'll still have a long list of potential features. This is where a scoring framework helps you objectively prioritize what to build next. A scoring framework assigns a numerical value to each feature request based on a set of criteria, allowing for data-driven decisions.

Common criteria for scoring feature requests:

1. User Impact: How many users will this feature benefit, and how significant is the benefit for them? (e.g., scale of 1-5, where 5 is "impacts all users significantly").

2. Business Value: How does this feature align with business goals (e.g., drives revenue, reduces churn, increases retention, expands market share)? (e.g., scale of 1-5).

3. Effort/Complexity: How much time and resources will it take for the engineering team to build this? (e.g., scale of 1-5, where 5 is "very high effort").

4. Strategic Alignment: Does this feature align with the overall product vision and strategy? (e.g., Yes/No or High/Medium/Low).

5. Urgency: Is there a time-sensitive aspect to this request (e.g., competitor launch, regulatory change)? (e.g., High/Medium/Low).

How to use a scoring framework:

• Assign scores: For each new feature request (or aggregated theme), assign a score for each criterion.

• Calculate total score: Use a formula (e.g., (User Impact + Business Value + Strategic Alignment) / Effort) to generate a final score.

• Rank and prioritize: Sort your feature requests by their total score to create an objective ranking.

• Discuss and adjust: The scores provide a starting point for discussion with your team. They don't replace human judgment but inform it.

Scoring frameworks transform prioritization from a subjective battle of opinions into a data-informed process, ensuring you're always working on the features that deliver the most value to your users and your business.

Conclusion

Collecting feature requests is more than just opening a suggestion box; it's about creating a structured, empathetic, and efficient process that connects your users' needs directly to your product roadmap.

By understanding why feature requests matter, using the right channels to gather them, actively working to improve submission quality, and diligently organizing incoming requests, you empower your product team to build with confidence. You move from guessing what users want to knowing it, backed by data and direct input.

Embrace your users as partners in product development. By collecting their valuable ideas the right way, you'll not only build better products but also cultivate a loyal and engaged user base that feels heard and appreciated. This is the ultimate feedback loop, driving continuous improvement and long-term success.

Let your users guide your roadmap. FeaturAsk makes feature collection simple with a customizable widget and a clean dashboard for reviewing submissions. Set it up in minutes and start listening.