Introduction

Most product feedback dies in customer support inboxes. This article explains why CS is the wrong home for feedback and what to do instead.

What’s the problem it solves?

Companies often send product feedback through Customer Support, where it gets lost or ignored. This wastes customer insights and weakens product improvement.

Quick Summary

Customer Support and Customer Success teams play a vital role in solving issues, but they aren’t built for product discovery. Their job is to resolve tickets quickly, not to uncover deeper user needs. As a result, valuable feedback often gets stuck, misunderstood, or dumped into backlogs.

Customers also don’t see support as the right place to share product ideas. Without a clear channel for feedback, only a small portion of users will speak up, and even then, the insights are often shallow. Support tools like Zendesk or Intercom are designed for fast responses, not for product analysis. This creates a gap between what customers say and what product teams actually need.

The better approach is to give customers direct and trusted ways to share product ideas. Tools like surveys, dedicated feedback platforms, advisory boards, and customer channels run by product managers help collect richer input. Most importantly, closing the loop - showing customers their feedback was heard and acted on - builds loyalty and trust.

Key Takeaways

• Customer Support is focused on solving problems quickly, not digging into feedback.
• Feedback through CS is often shallow, forgotten, or misinterpreted.
• Customers don’t see CS as the right place to share product ideas.
• Support tools aren’t designed for product research or analysis.
• Dedicated feedback systems create better customer trust and product decisions.

What to do

• Set up direct feedback channels (email, surveys, in-app tools, Slack groups).
• Encourage product managers to build relationships with customers.
• Run customer advisory boards for structured input.
• Use dedicated tools or systems to organize and prioritize feedback.
• Always close the loop: respond to customers and show progress on their feedback.

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