The quantity of feedback you receive and the degree of contact you have with customers will inevitably increase as your product becomes more successful. This feedback can vary from general criticisms such as “your product is over complicated,” to positive ideas such as “can you make it more colourful,” to focused feature requests like “please integrate with our task management tool”.
Feature requests tracking are specific ideas that a customer sends to the business in order for them to add something that they believe will improve the product. The issue then becomes, what should be done with all of these requests? How do you manage them and how many of them do you truly turn into features?
5 Ideas for Managing Feature Requests
Making a choice on how to handle feature proposals is never easy given the minefield that they can become. So, here are our best recommendations to help you avoid becoming overloaded.
Collect everything in one location.
When it comes to dealing with feature proposals, organisation is the most important factor. If your system is disorganised, you will struggle to keep up with all of the different suggestions and customer comments. One of the best methods to accomplish this is to use specialised product management software, such as Korrect, which centralises the entire product planning process. After that, you can submit each feature request to your idea portal and connect any relevant ideas to features on the feature list.
Create a process for handling and receiving feature proposals.
Customers will feel much more at ease sending you suggestions and feature requests if there is a structured way for them to contact you. Previously, individuals had to send an email and hope that it was read and forwarded to the correct recipient.
Because of the growing popularity of product management software such as Korrect, product teams can create a single location where users can contribute their ideas and requests. Korrect Idea Portal, for example, can be used to collect, categorise, and handle feature proposals. The customer finds it straightforward to submit them, and once done, other users can comment and vote on them.
Respond immediately, quickly, and truthfully.
Sending a feature request and having it ignored or receiving a generic answer is one of the most frustrating experiences a client can have. It is preferable to respond directly rather than using automated responses. If the customer knows you are interested in what they have to say, they will be much more likely to use your product.
Prioritize and categorize the ideas.
If you intend to handle a large number of requests, you must categorise them. When using a tool like Korrect Portal, it is straightforward to identify and organise requests and ideas. You can give a priority level to each recommendation, such as “Critical” or “Nice to have,” allowing you to choose which ideas to consider turning into useful features. The next step is to prioritise; prioritise the features you plan to develop in the backlog. Korrect feature list is fully editable and interactive, allowing you to add as many custom fields as you want and then organise or filter the list based on them.
Discuss the requirements with colleagues and other clients.
You, the product manager, have sole authority over what is produced and what is not. You should, however, not let your ego get in the way. Thus, before proceeding with development, it is definitely worthwhile to discuss the requests with your coworkers and solicit feedback from other customers. If the majority of customers agree, you’re on to something, but if they don’t, you might want to reconsider dropping the concept and trying something else.
