GitKraken and Feature Upvote
How GitKraken reduced the number of feature requests coming through support channels by 68%
GitKraken, creator of legendary Git tools for developers and teams, was frustrated with their manual and laborious process for handling feature requests.
This case study explores how GitKraken overcame the challenges of managing feature requests by turning to Feature Upvote.
Company profile
- Type: SaaS
- Founded: 2014
- Employees: ~100
- HQ: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Funding: Private
- Customers: serving over 100,000 companies worldwide including 3M, 7-eleven, Accenture, Adobe, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, HP, NASA and Disney
GitKraken’s product team now has access to valuable, data-driven insights into their customers’ needs. For example, 484 GitKraken users voted for adding native support for Apple’s Mac M1 ARM processor – a suggestion GitKraken might not have picked up on otherwise.
GitKraken’s support team tracked feature requests manually in Linear
GitKraken is passionate about building tools developers love to use. Listening to and understanding user feedback is a vital part of this process. These insights directly contribute to enhancing their products. However, collecting and handling user feedback was not always an easy task.
Before Feature Upvote, GitKraken managed feature requests manually in Linear, a tool not designed for tracking feature requests. This resulted in scattered feedback and an inability to accurately measure their popularity.
When the support team received a feature request, they would look for it on the Linear board. If it was already requested, they would manually update the title with the latest vote count to bump it up. Very manual. Very laborious.
Everyone was frustrated.
The product team wanted to hear from users and they wanted to see it in one place. But it was difficult to use Linear to understand what was highly requested, and what was trending in the last 30-60 days, despite the manual work done by the support and QA team members. – Jonathan Silva, Product Marketing Manager
With a growing customer base, this approach became laborious and offered limited insights into trending features or customer preferences.
As someone in product marketing, I want to know what customers are talking about. But it’s really hard to get that manually. It is just a ton of overhead for support and other folks. And we didn’t know if requests were still relevant because we didn’t know if they were still getting votes.
With poor insight into feature requests, GitKraken looked for a public feedback tool
At first, GitKraken was hesitant to put their users’ suggestions out for the world to see. But they eventually embraced the idea of public feedback and sought a simple tool that would let their users submit, vote on and discuss feature requests.
We were looking for something customisable, simple and straightforward, where users could submit requests and upvote existing ones. And something that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow when getting the tool approved by purchasing.
We evaluated Feature Upvote and it really did the job. It’s straightforward. It does exactly what we need it to do.
The thing that really sold us on it was that you can customise the CSS. We can make it look on-brand.
Now GitKraken has the data they need to make better product decisions – and build the features that customers need
By adopting Feature Upvote, GitKraken has a clearer understanding of user needs, can better prioritise development efforts, and engages their customers in a collaborative environment.
Here are some of the benefits of using Feature Upvote they shared with us:
1. The support team has more time for actual support
With Feature Upvote in place, support requests related to feature suggestions decreased by 60% – saving the support team time and resources they could redirect to more critical tasks.
“Before, 25% of support tickets were feature requests. Today, thanks to Feature Upvote, that number dropped to around 8% – saving our support team a significant amount of time each week.”
2. The data provided by Feature Upvote allows all teams to make better decisions
GitKraken’s feedback board became a valuable tool for discussion and decision-making. Once owned by the support team, it is now a collaborative space that the product, sales, marketing and dev teams look at and learn from.
“It used to be a constant effort to try to get the product team’s attention on certain things. Now we just let the data speak for itself. It’s been fun to all sit together, look at the board, and see what suggestions are trending. Everyone’s a lot more aligned.” – Trevor Polidore, Product Manager
3. Collecting feedback from thousands of customers has become manageable
By adopting a system that lets users contribute their feedback directly, GitKraken eliminated the overhead that comes with manually triaging hundreds of suggestions each month.
“Feature Upvote helps manage the sheer number of users we have. We have over 100,000 daily active users paying $5-$10 a month. That doesn’t warrant us to have a big sales force or support team to go talk to everyone.” – Trevor Polidore, Product Manager
4. Customers are now part of the product conversation
By giving their customers a voice and allowing them to voice their concerns in public, GitKraken strengthened their community.
“There are real conversations happening there that would have never happened if we still had support managing feature requests in Linear. Users feel more empowered now that they can directly vote for suggestions rather than emailing support.” – Trevor Polidore, Product Manager
5. The product roadmap reflects the users’ most pressing needs
GitKraken’s product team now has access to valuable, data-driven insights into their customers’ needs. For example, 484 GitKraken users voted for adding native support for Apple’s Mac M1 ARM processor – a suggestion GitKraken might not have picked up on otherwise.
“Before, the product team was more likely to pick up a suggestion if it came with a nasty or strongly-worded email. Now it’s possible for something to boil under the surface, and eventually get addressed by our team because people are consistently upvoting it.” – Jonathan Silva, Product Marketing Manager
Conclusion
By adding Feature Upvote to their feature request process, GitKraken transformed their customer engagement and product development practices. Feature Upvote lets GitKraken gather and prioritise feature requests effectively, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and a better product roadmap.
Try Feature Upvote
Feature Upvote offers easy-to-use feedback boards with voting functionality starting at $99/board/month. Try it for free today and set up a board in just a few minutes.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime. All features included.