How many customers do you need to hear the same feature request from in order to build it?

Question

Dan Robins · Accepted Answer

I guess it depends on a few factors. Here's a few questions that spring to mind...

Some questions that spring to mind:
- How big is your user base?  
- How aligned is the feature with your overall product strategy and vision?
- Is it something that will be 'helpful'... or does it solve a real pain? (are they asking for it... or SCREAMING for it?)
- Are there other features that have been validated by other means that you should prioritise?
- How far does the feature reach (and impact) your entire user base - or is this just a vocal sub set of users? 
- How much effort would it take to implement?

Answer

I suggest you start by grouping your customers into 3 groups:
1. Loyal customers (they love and spread the word, aka evangelists and sneezers).
2. Luckwarm customers (they buy your product because they seem to not be able to get any other alternative).
3. Last-minute customers (they only remember that your product exists when a need, problem, or trigger pops up).

After doing this, I suggest that you need to hear the same feature request from: 
1. More than 50% of your loyal customers.
2.  Between 30-50%  of your lukewarm customers.
3. More than 30% of your last-minute customers.

Nick Russell · Answer

@kkumarkg Thanks Krishna! I guess this depends on the size of the contract and you have to consider whether you're going down more of an enterprise-first route or a mass market approach (or a blend of the two!). Really like the idea of validating further with other customers ahead of building either way!

Krishna Kumar · Answer

If your platform is B2B, then one customer asking is all you need to start building.

What we have done in the past - hear a need form one or a few customers, then take it to more customers to test if it is more widespread

Palam · Answer

Even if a few customers ask for it, we evaluate it. 
If loyal customers ask repeatedly, & if it makes sense we try to solve their issue in some manner or the other with priority.

Sometimes they ask for silly features like you got speed of player as 1.5x, 1.25x. But I need 1.1x; Got to ignore such things :D

Nick Russell · Answer

@patrick_sao_e14 Thanks for this Patrick! I really like the idea of weighting this by customer loyalty 👌

Nick Russell · Answer

@palam_s Absolutely. We always start by trying to take it back to the problem or the 'jobs to be done' that underpin the request, and then solutionise and test from there! And lol, I'm proud to say I no longer listen to anything (apart from my playlist) at 1x speed anymore - I'm just about comfortable with 2x now but never stepped up in .1 increments so with you on this one!

bijal dave · Answer

@dan_robins This is such a good list!

Nick Russell · Answer

@jaidayang Absolutely! I really like the ideas that have been shared already as part of this discussion - they've certainly provided me with some food for thought around the different ways to measure confidence and when to act on feedback!

Jaida Yang · Answer

Fo us it'd take more than a few because it takes time and resource to build the feature, unless it's significantly needed. Curious to hear more from others about this!

Dan Robins · Answer

@bijal_dave Thanks Bijal, I'm glad it is helpful!

Palam · Answer

@n_russell ha ha, cool

Nick Russell · Answer

@dan_robins Thanks for this, reading through these I couldn't help but think about the RICE prioritisation framework, which I think your questions cover nicely! I like that you're considering the business impact here as well (something that I've seen many teams forget about when acting on customer feedback!)

How many customers do you need to hear the same feature request from in order to build it?

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