7 Feature Request Templates for User Feedback (Not Colleagues)

A lot of SaaS companies make the mistake of overcomplicating feedback collection. They build long intake forms packed with dropdowns, required fields, and questions most users don’t actually want to answer.

This leads to fewer submissions, vague responses, and product teams making decisions based on incomplete information. The reality is that most users won’t spend five or ten minutes filling out a detailed request form. And honestly, they shouldn’t have to. Your customers aren’t product managers. They’re just trying to share an idea, solve a problem, or explain what’s slowing them down.

That’s why simple feature request templates almost always outperform enterprise-style intake systems. The goal isn’t to collect more data for the sake of it.

The goal is to collect actionable context: what users want, why it matters, and how often similar requests appear.

The best SaaS teams reduce friction instead of adding more process.

They make it incredibly easy for users to submit ideas, comment, vote, and contribute naturally over time with a dedicated user feedback tool. Here's how.

What makes a successful feature request (from your users)

When collecting feature requests from colleagues, you can ask for all sorts of details like screenshots, reasonings, affected features, etc.

But when asking your users for feedback, you need to keep things super simple.

You don't want any barriers between your product managers and great user feedback.

That's why you should have just two to four fields or variables for users to fill out.

Check out this example feature request form powered by Frill, a user feedback and roadmap-planning platform designed for SaaS companies. It includes a title, description, and tags.

The feature request form is intentionally kept simple because a title and description is usually enough. You don't want to ask customers to fill out a complicated form.

You can collect more details later in comments on the feature request. And feature voting naturally surfaces the highest priority ideas, so make sure to use feedback software that includes upvoting.

Overall, less friction at submission means participation.

As you can see below, this feature request was upvoted over 400 times, making it very easy for our team to see that we need to prioritize and build this ASAP.

But the biggest takeaway is that if we had a super complicated feature request form with lots of fields, we might never have received this request.

Template to use for collecting and tracking feature requests [free download]

The best long-term solution is having a dedicated idea board where users can submit feedback anytime, vote on ideas, and join ongoing discussions. But if you just need a simple system you can start using immediately, this free Google Sheets template is a great place to start.

The template is designed to help you quickly collect and organize feature requests without overcomplicating the process.

It includes fields for:

• Feature request title

• Description of the request

• Why the feature matters

• Current workaround or existing solution

• Priority level

• Status tracking

• Notes for your product team

You can send the form to customers, beta users, teammates, or internal stakeholders and automatically collect everything into one organized spreadsheet.

It’s lightweight, easy to customize, and perfect for early-stage SaaS teams that want a fast way to start validating ideas and spotting trends in user feedback.

Download the free template and customize it to fit your workflow.

7 effective feature request templates

Use these templates to help you craft a feature request form that gives you all the details and info you need.

1. Description and tags

We lifted this template from the example shown above.

With a title, description, and tags, you can get the information you need while also making it easier to sort, prioritize, and combine new requests.

The feature request template:

[title]

[description]

[tags]

2. Description and reasoning

Do you feel like the feature request submissions you receive from users lack context?

It can be useful to ask customers why they want a certain feature. This helps you understand how critical it is, and how deeply building it (or not building it) would ultimately impact your revenue.

Add a "why" question to your feature request form so you can require a little bit of context with every new submission.

The feature request template:

[title]

[description]

[why do you want this feature?]

3. What, why, how

We call this the what, why, how template because it covers those essential questions.

With this template, you can make sure that you gather not only what the person is asking for and why they want it, but also how they're currently managing this task.

This gives you essential insight into how important this request is. For example, if they're currently using a competitor or indirect competitor, this can help you build more functionality and keep up with or replace these tools.

You might also be able to save your users' money by consolidating their workflow, giving you a sales and marketing incentive to build the feature request.

The feature request template:

[what feature do you want us to build?]

[why do you want this feature?]

[how are you currently managing this task?]

4. User type

Do you serve multiple types of users?

Are some of these users more lucrative and valuable than others?

If so, you might want to add a drop-down to your feature request form and require that users choose from the selection options. This way, you can prioritize requests from the users that drive a more significant portion of your revenue.

The feature request template:

[title]

[description]

[user type drop-down]

5. Impact

This template is all about impact.

How will building this feature affect your users? What will they achieve?

By asking these sorts of questions, you'll dive deeper into the bigger meaning behind the request, giving your product team more information to help prioritize and make decisions.

The feature request template:

[what feature do you want us to build?]

[how does not having this feature negatively affect you?]

[what would you be able to achieve with this feature?]

6. Priority rating

Sometimes you just need to know how urgent a feature really is.

This template includes a priority selector to help users indicate just how critical this is to their workflow or goals.

The feature request template:

[title] [description] [how important is this feature to you? (scale of 1–5)]

7. Use case scenario

Use cases give your product team narrative clarity. This template encourages users to describe when, where, and how they would use the feature.

It’s an ideal format for surfacing edge cases, industry-specific needs, or product friction points.

The feature request template:

[title] [describe a real-life scenario where you'd use this feature] [what is the outcome you're hoping to achieve?]

9 tips for requesting and managing product feedback

Follow these smart tips to help you manage feature requests, collect better information, and prioritize what to build next.

1. Create a branded portal for feedback

Use feature request software to give your users a one-stop shop for submitting feedback on existing features as well as new feature requests.

A branded portal not only looks good, it ensures that users always have a place to visit to submit new ideas. This is superior to a feature request survey, which is only sent occassionally. You want to open up communication between your company and users.

2. Allow upvoting

Feature upvoting is a critical strategy for both user engagement and feature prioritization. You want to get your users involved and co-create your product together. Upvoting is the simplest way to do so. It allows users to give a quick thumbs up to great ideas, without having to double up on them or add their own.

You can then prioritize the most popular ideas.

3. Make it easy for users to comment on each other's request

You should also allow users to comment on each other's feature requests.

This enables your product team to gather more details and insights from other users, instead of just the original poster. It also helps reduce duplicate requests.

By allowing comments, you'll collect related requests, deeper context, and other opinions that also help clarify the idea's importance and relative priority.

4. Implement single sign-on for your users

Want to know an easy way to frustrate your users? Force them to create an account just to use your feedback portal.

Instead, offer single sign-on so users can engage with your feedback portal by logging in with the same credentials they use for your platform.

This will drastically increase the number of feature requests, upvotes, and comments you receive.

5. Manage feedback, announcements, and roadmaps in one place

It's a good idea to combine all of your communication related to product feedback into a single platform.

Make sure to choose a feature request tool like Frill that also offers announcements and public roadmaps.

This way, users can see what updates have already been shipped and what's upcoming.

6. Tie announcements directly to feedback

When you add a new entry to your changelog tool, it's a good idea to tie it directly to the feature request that prompted the product update, like this example, where we see the feedback embedded at the bottom:

This accomplishes a few goals:

• Provides context to your announcement

• Shows users that you value their feedback and implement it

• Encourages readers to click through, explore ideas, and add their own

You can create announcements that link to real user feedback with Frill.

7. Add a feature request widget to your web app

One of the best ways to promote your feature request portal and encourage engagement is with a widget.

You can add the widget to your main website, your web app, or both.

If you use Frill to create your widget, you get four different styles to choose from (popover, modal, sidebar, and inline widget).

Either way, users will be able to click on Announcements, Ideas, and Roadmap without navigating from the page or feature they're currently engaging with.

Here's an example of our own sidebar widget:

8. Regularly share access to your feedback portal

Even though you've added an easy-to-find feedback widget to your website, it's still a good idea to continuously share the location of your portal.

By promoting it regularly, you ensure that as many users as possible know that it exists and remember to actually use it.

Promote your feedback portal two to four times a year via:

• Email blasts

• One-on-one emails sent by customer success

• Intercom announcements

• Social media

And, you can always asking users to upvote on ideas so they don't feel the pressure to come up with a new request. Once they're engaging with ideas, they might feel inspired to add one of their own.

9. Autogenerate a feature request matrix to prioritize feedback

Now that you have an effective feature request template in place and a portal to capture ideas, you're going to be getting a lot more feedback than ever before.

So how will you prioritize it? There are lots of different prioritization strategies you can try. But, we like to keep things simple and as automated as possible.

Frill offers a prioritization matrix that automatically pulls repeated words and topics so you can see how popular they are:

This offers a quick, visual way to see what users are asking for the most.

The biggest mistake SaaS companies make with feature request templates

SaaS companies often ask for too much information upfront. Long forms might seem helpful internally, but they usually reduce participation and lead to worse feedback. Most users don’t want to fill out detailed forms packed with dropdowns, priority ratings, and technical questions. They just want to quickly explain what’s missing or slowing them down. The best feature request templates are lightweight by design. A simple title, short description, and optional context field are often enough to start a valuable conversation. Product teams can always gather deeper details later through comments and follow-up questions. Public feedback boards also improve idea quality over time. Upvotes, comments, and duplicate detection naturally surface the most important requests without forcing users through a complicated process.

Tools like Frill help reduce friction even further with single sign-on (SSO), prioritization matrixes, and collaborative discussions that keep users engaged. The goal isn’t collecting the longest submissions possible. It’s collecting actionable feedback that helps you confidently prioritize what to build next.

What to do after collecting feature requests

Once feature requests start coming in, you need a simple system for organizing them and keeping users engaged along the way.

Here’s a straightforward process that works well for most SaaS teams:

1. Merge duplicate requests. Combine similar ideas into a single request so votes and comments stay centralized. This makes it much easier to spot what users actually care about most.

2. Let users vote and comment. Upvotes help surface popular ideas quickly, while comments add useful context your team might miss otherwise. Often, the best product insights come from users discussing workflows with each other.

3. Group ideas into topics. Organizing requests by feature area or product category helps your team identify trends faster and prioritize more confidently.

4. Assign statuses to ideas. Keep users updated with statuses like “Under consideration,” “Planned,” or “In development.” Even small updates build trust and encourage more participation.

5. Share product updates publicly. When you ship a feature, announce it in your changelog or roadmap. Connecting updates back to original requests shows users you’re listening.

6. Keep the feedback loop active. Automatic notifications, roadmap widgets, and prioritization tools help users stay involved without creating extra manual work for your team.

The more visible your process is, the more likely users are to keep contributing valuable feedback.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a good feature request template?

A good feature request template is simple, fast to complete, and easy for users to understand. The best templates collect just enough context to help your team make decisions without overwhelming users with unnecessary fields or complicated workflows.

How many fields should a feature request form include?

Most feature request forms should include 2 to 4 fields max. Shorter forms usually outperform longer ones because they reduce friction and increase participation. You can always gather deeper context later through comments, follow-up questions, and public discussions.

Should I let users upvote feature requests?

Yes. Upvoting helps you quickly identify popular requests while keeping users engaged in the product development process. It also reduces duplicate submissions and gives your team a simple way to spot trends and prioritize ideas faster.

How do I prioritize feature requests?

Look for patterns across feedback, including repeated requests, upvotes, comments, and customer impact. Then balance quick wins with larger strategic improvements. Tools like prioritization matrixes can help visualize demand and organize requests more effectively.

Should I respond to every feature request?

Yes. Even a short acknowledgment or status update helps users feel heard and encourages future feedback. Keeping users informed builds trust and creates a stronger relationship between your product team and your customers.

What should happen after someone submits a feature request?

After submission, requests should be reviewed, grouped with similar ideas, assigned statuses, and opened up for voting or discussion. Keeping feedback visible helps users stay engaged and makes prioritization easier for your team.

What’s the best way to reduce duplicate feature requests?

Public feedback boards with search, comments, and duplicate detection make it much easier to reduce repeated submissions. When users can quickly find existing ideas, they’re more likely to upvote and join the conversation instead.

What’s the best tool for managing feature requests?

Frill is built specifically for SaaS teams that want to collect feedback, manage roadmaps, publish announcements, and prioritize ideas in one place. It combines a lightweight user experience with powerful collaboration and prioritization features.

Ready to simplify feedback collection and product communication? Check out Frill.