Resources · · Template
Feature Request Prioritization Scorecard (Free CSV)
A free feature request prioritization scorecard. Score each request by voters, paying companies, MRR at stake, momentum and effort in one formula.
Download feature-request-prioritization-scorecard.csv
This scorecard ranks feature requests by who asked and what they pay, instead of raw vote counts. It is one spreadsheet with eight input columns and one formula. It works in Google Sheets and Excel.
The reasoning behind each part is in our guide to prioritizing feature requests by revenue. This page covers how to use the template.
The columns
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Request | One line per request. Merge duplicates first. |
| Unique voters | People who voted, each counted once. |
| Paying companies | Distinct paying accounts among the voters. |
| MRR at stake (expansion) | MRR of voting accounts you could grow: blocked upsells, open deals that named it. |
| MRR at stake (retention) | MRR of voting accounts you could lose: renewing within 90 days, flagged at risk, or said they would leave. |
| Votes last 14d | Votes cast in the last 14 days. |
| Votes prior 14d | Votes cast in the 14 days before that. |
| Effort (1-5) | Build size, from the team that will build it. |
| Score | Calculated. Do not type in it. |
Count each company's MRR once per request, even if five of its people voted. Put a company under retention or expansion, never both.
Scoring scales
Effort uses a coarse 1 to 5 scale:
| Effort | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | A day or two |
| 2 | Under a week |
| 3 | Two to three weeks |
| 4 | About a month |
| 5 | A quarter or more |
Momentum is calculated for you from the two vote columns. It is clamped between 0.5 and 2, so one busy week cannot more than double a score, and a quiet stretch cannot cut it by more than half.
The formula
Score = (Demand + Revenue points) × Momentum ÷ Effort
- Demand = unique voters + 2 × paying companies
- Revenue points = √(expansion MRR + 2 × retention MRR)
- Momentum = votes last 14 days ÷ max(1, votes prior 14 days), clamped to 0.5 to 2
In the sheet, for row 2:
=ROUND((B2+2*C2+SQRT(D2+2*E2))*MIN(2,MAX(0.5,F2/MAX(1,G2)))/H2,1)
Copy it down the Score column for every new row. If your Excel uses semicolons as the list separator, replace each comma in the formula with a semicolon.
A filled example
The CSV ships with these three rows. All numbers are made up for illustration.
| Request | Voters | Paying cos. | Expansion | Retention | Last 14d | Prior 14d | Effort | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSV export | 45 | 20 | $0 | $2,500 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 155.7 |
| SAML SSO | 18 | 9 | $6,000 | $4,000 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 77.2 |
| Dark mode | 140 | 6 | $300 | $0 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 47.0 |
By votes, Dark mode leads by a wide margin. By score it comes last of the three. Few of its voters pay and interest is slowing. CSV export wins on breadth across paying accounts, retention revenue and a one-day build. SAML SSO has the most money behind it and rising interest, but effort 4 holds it back.
How to adapt it
- Change the retention weight. The 2 in front of retention MRR says losing a dollar matters twice as much as gaining one. If upsells drive your growth, try 1.5 or 1.
- Change the company bonus. The 2 in front of paying companies rewards breadth. Raise it if you sell to many small accounts. Lower it if a few large accounts are your business.
- Add a free-user column. If free users drive your growth, track them in their own column and score them separately, rather than mixing them into paying demand.
- Add a critical flag. A column for votes where the customer said the request is critical, added to demand, catches severity that counts hide.
- Keep the square root. It stops one big account from owning the list. Remove it only if you mean to.
Re-score weekly. The momentum columns use 14-day windows, so a weekly pass catches rising requests early. TheyAsked computes demand, revenue at stake and momentum for you as votes arrive, and adds renewal risk from your account data. See prioritise by revenue for how it works, and browse more templates in resources.
To skip the weekly join of voters, companies and billing, create a free TheyAsked workspace and rank requests by the revenue behind them.
FAQ
Does the scorecard formula work in Google Sheets and Excel?
Yes. It uses only ROUND, SQRT, MIN and MAX, which both support. Excel set to a locale with semicolon separators needs the commas swapped for semicolons.
Where do I get MRR for each request?
Export the companies that voted on each request from your feedback tool, then look up their MRR in your billing system. Sum it per request, counting each company once.
What if a request has no votes in the prior 14 days?
The formula divides by at least 1, so a new request does not break. Its momentum is capped at 2, so a sudden burst cannot carry it past everything else.