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Receiving feedback from customers is an essential part of improving any product. Knowing which features your customers want and need can help you create the best possible version of your product. This overview will outline how to collect customer feature requests efficiently and then use that information to develop a successful product.
Identify Your Targets for Feature Requests
Knowing your product's target should be the first step in creating a feature request process. Identifying features based on customer segments allows you to target specific areas of your product and accumulate feedback tailored to your customer's needs and desires. Create targeted surveys or polls for each persona or user segment to get detailed feedback from those interested in the product's features.
You can receive direct information on what features customers want and prioritize from these surveys and polls. Follow up on the feedback by sending targeted emails or allowing users to sign up for feature request moments. This will enable you to gather more direct input from those who have taken the time to engage with the product, providing concrete candidate features for development teams to improve. Taking this step allows your product team to make decisions based on accurate customer data, ultimately leading to improved customer loyalty.
Establish Systems for Collecting Feature Requests
Establishing a system is essential to collecting feature requests. There are multiple channels that you can use that can be helpful based on the size of your team. For example, you could create an app or website to collect feature requests and provide customers with a survey to fill out or use AI natural language processing so customers can chat and submit feature requests directly. Creating an organized system allows you to track feature requests over time and ensures that all feedback is aligned with company initiatives.
Feature requests can also be tracked in a customer relationship management (CRM) system. This provides a way to prioritize features based on customer feedback and align them with company initiatives. Feature requests should then be segmented by customer, product, budget, and timeline so teams can stay organized when managing development. Finally, providing customers with updates and acknowledgment of their feature requests helps build trust and reinforces that the team is constantly striving to improve their experience.
Utilize Surveys, Interviews, and Usability Testing
Surveys, interviews, and usability testing are some of the best ways to gain insight into what your customers want. You can conduct surveys via email, SMS messages, apps, or on website popups. Usability testing involves having a user interact with your product while they provide comments and feedback related to the experience. Finally, if you have the resources available, conducting interviews with your customers is also beneficial to understand their perspective on feature requests.
Analyze the Results of Feature Requests
After you've collected the feature requests, it's time to analyze them to see which features are most important or beneficial for your product and customers. You can use customer feedback platforms like IdeaPlan to help in this process. When analyzing feature requests, look at customer comments, ratings, and patterns in feedback that could indicate a trend with specific features. This way, you can gain insight into customer preferences and prioritize features accordingly.
It's crucial to analyze customer feedback objectively, without personal bias. Analyzing feature requests is optional to implement every single request but rather to identify areas where people are asking for the same features and prioritize those requests. This way, you can address the greatest needs of your customer base and increase user satisfaction when rolling out new features.
Prioritize Recommendations and Incorporate Feedback
Once you've identified which feature requests your customers are requesting the most, it's time to prioritize them. Start by grouping similar requests and look at customer comments to understand better why they want the feature or how they would use it. Then, create a priority list of features and tasks that need to be completed. This allows you to manage customer expectations while using their feedback to help build the perfect product.
After identifying and prioritizing the feature requests, it's time to start collecting feedback. You'll better understand the features they want by engaging with customers and asking them detailed questions about their needs and expectations. Additionally, customers must provide feedback after the features are released. This helps ensure each new feature meets customer needs by analyzing performance metrics such as engagement or usage rate. Collecting feedback also allows for more detailed customer segmentation for future product launches.
