New ask Hacker News story: Should I ask my customers if they would use a feature before building it?

Should I ask my customers if they would use a feature before building it?
3 by briandilley | 4 comments on Hacker News.
Should I ask my customers if they would use a feature before building it? I've seen plenty of user-bound surveys with questions like "If our product had XYZ feature, would you use it?" and I've always thought them to be a useless question. I felt like it was common knowledge that most people will answer yes, but the reality is much different (they wont use the feature). I'm having trouble finding supporting evidence though so I'm wondering if I need to change my stance on this? Obviously this is very contextual, for instance a group of users digging holes with their hands will most definitely use a shovel. What I'm talking more about are features that maybe a competitor has, or a feature that is usually considered "table steaks". Curious what HN has to say about this.

Comments