If you’re drowning in user feedback scattered across Slack, Discord, email, and a dozen other places, you’re not alone—and honestly, you’re right to be frustrated. Centralizing and actually acting on all those ideas is tough, especially when you’re juggling a roadmap, bug reports, and a team that’s already stretched thin. This guide is for product managers, community leads, and anyone else who wants to cut through the noise and actually make sense of feedback using Common Room.
Below, you’ll get plain advice—no fluff—on setting up Common Room for feedback, organizing it so it’s actually useful, and making sure you don’t just collect requests but act on them. And yes, we’ll talk about what’s worth your time, and what isn’t.
Step 1: Set Up Your Sources—Don’t Overthink It
The first step is connecting the places where your users actually talk. Common Room shines here, but it’s tempting to go overboard and try to pipe in everything. Resist that urge at first.
Start with: - Your main chat communities (Slack, Discord) - Public forums or support channels - Email or feedback forms, if you get a lot through those
How to connect: - In Common Room, go to Settings > Sources - Use the built-in integrations for Slack, Discord, GitHub, etc. - For anything else, try the API or Zapier integration if you’re techy; otherwise, skip for now
Pro tip:
Don’t try to connect every possible channel on day one. Start with the biggest sources, see how noisy things get, and iterate.
Step 2: Set Up Tags and Topics—But Keep It Simple
It’s tempting to invent a fancy taxonomy. Don’t. Overly complicated tags or dozens of categories will just make it harder to find patterns later. You want a few clear buckets.
What works: - Tags for broad product areas (e.g., “Mobile App”, “Billing”, “Onboarding”) - A simple “Feature Request” or “Bug” tag - A “Priority” tag for feedback that comes up over and over
How to do it: - In Common Room, use “Topics” or custom tags on messages - Set up auto-tagging rules for common keywords (but be ready to tweak them as false positives come up)
What doesn’t work: - Tagging every single post with 5+ tags—this just adds noise - Relying only on automation. False positives and missed tags happen. Skim through and adjust as needed.
Step 3: Build Feedback Views That Surface What Matters
Seeing all your feedback in one endless feed is useless. You want views that help you do something: spot high-impact requests, see what’s trending, or prepare for your next roadmap meeting.
Set up a few key views: - Feature requests by frequency: Filter for tagged “Feature Request,” sort by how often similar feedback comes up. - Recent high-priority issues: Show recent posts tagged with “Bug” and “Priority.” - Top contributors: See who’s most active or gives the most thoughtful feedback (handy for alpha/beta invites or interviews).
How to do it: - Use Common Room’s “Rooms” or “Views” to save filters and pin them for easy access. - Export views if you need to share outside the team (CSV download is usually fine—don’t stress about fancy dashboards).
Pro tip:
You don’t need a view for every possible angle. Start with 2–3 and add more only if you’re missing something.
Step 4: Create a Process for Reviewing and Responding
Collecting feedback is pointless if it just sits there. You need a real process—lightweight, but consistent—for triaging and following up.
A basic loop: 1. Weekly review: Dedicate 30–60 minutes to scan new feedback, tag, and flag anything urgent. 2. Monthly deep dive: Look for trends, top requests, and recurring pain points. Update your team. 3. Respond to users: Even a quick “Thanks, we’re tracking this” goes a long way. If you ship something users asked for, tell them directly.
Who owns this? - Ideally, one person (usually a PM or community lead) is responsible. Rotate if you have a big team, but don’t let it fall through the cracks.
What to ignore: - Don’t treat Common Room as a replacement for your actual roadmap or prioritization process. It’s a listening tool, not a decision-maker. - Don’t try to reply to every single message—focus on the big stuff and “power users.”
Step 5: Organize and Prioritize Requests Without Losing Your Mind
Trying to address everything users ask for is a recipe for burnout. Use Common Room to spot what actually matters.
How to do it: - Frequency: Use built-in analytics to see which requests come up the most. - Sentiment: Look for not just what’s requested, but how strongly people care (e.g., “this blocks me” vs. “nice to have”). - Who’s asking: Feedback from key customers or early adopters may deserve more weight.
But don’t: - Let the loudest voices always win. Sometimes the most vocal users aren’t representative. - Automatically build for every feature request—your job is to solve real problems, not just take orders.
Pro tip:
Keep a simple spreadsheet or Notion doc mapping top requests from Common Room to your product roadmap. Don’t get lost in a sea of “nice-to-haves.”
Step 6: Close the Loop—Let Users Know They’re Heard
The best teams don’t just track feedback—they close the loop. Even a short response builds trust and keeps users engaged.
How to do it: - When you ship a feature that’s been requested, reach out to folks who asked for it. A DM or tag in Slack/Discord is enough. - If you’re not building something, be honest. A quick “not right now, but we’re tracking it” is better than radio silence. - Use Common Room’s people view to see who’s most invested, and prioritize outreach there.
What works: - Personal, specific replies. Don’t just copy-paste boilerplate. - Sharing a public changelog or updates post for popular requests.
What’s not worth it: - Trying to automate every response. It’s obvious and feels robotic. - Overpromising. If you don’t know when (or if) something will ship, say so.
Step 7: Don’t Get Fancy—Iterate and Adjust
It’s easy to get carried away with tagging rules, custom workflows, or endless reports. Most of that is a distraction from actually listening and acting.
Keep it simple: - Review and adjust your tags and views every month or so. - Drop what’s not working—if a tag or process is never used, kill it. - Check in with your team: Is this helping us do something, or just busywork?
Final thoughts:
Managing user feedback isn’t about building elaborate systems or chasing every new request. It’s about getting the signal out of the noise and actually using what you learn to make the product better. Start with the basics, keep your process lean, and iterate as you go. If you’re doing that, you’re already ahead of most teams.