How to Know What Users Want in Your SaaS Before Building More Features

When growth stalls, the founder instinct is to build more. More features, more settings, more integrations, more dashboards. Sometimes that helps. More often it just makes the product bigger without making it clearer.

Figuring out how to know what users want in a SaaS isn't about brainstorming harder in isolation. It's about listening to the people already using the thing, and you can only do that if they have an easy way to tell you.

Watch what people ask for

Your best product ideas tend to come from repeated user messages. Not one random request, not a single loud user: patterns. Keep an eye out for things like:

• "Can I use this for X?"
• "Where do I find Y?"
• "Does this integrate with Z?"
• "I'd pay if it did this."

These reveal real intent far better than guessing does. The catch is that you only hear them if there's a channel to receive them, which is exactly what getting feedback from users inside your app is for.

Confusion is a signal too

Don't just collect feature requests. Confusion is one of the most useful signals in any SaaS. If people keep asking how something works, you may not need a new feature at all. You might need better copy, clearer onboarding, a simpler empty state, or a shorter setup flow. Direct messages help you catch that before you overbuild.

Ask in the moment

If you wait, people forget what they wanted. A widget inside the app lets users ask while they're setting up, comparing plans, importing data, or hitting an error. That's where the real insight lives, and it's the opposite of the cold, late feedback email that gets ignored.

Don't treat every request equally

Some requests are distractions dressed up as direction. Before you build something, ask:

1. Did more than one person ask for this?
2. Is this user close to my ideal customer?
3. Would it actually help activation, retention, or conversion?
4. Is this a real feature gap, or a sign the current product is just unclear?
5. Could I solve it with copy or onboarding first?

That keeps feedback useful instead of chaotic.

Steal your users' words

User messages aren't only product input. They're marketing research. People describe their pain in language that's usually sharper than your landing page copy:

• "I don't want to set up Intercom."
• "I just want users to message me."
• "Nobody replies to my feedback emails."

Those lines become headlines, ads, onboarding copy, and yes, blog posts. Knowing which users to dig deeper with is its own skill. How to talk to users as a solo founder covers how to spot them without drowning in conversations.

Build a loop, not a feature pile

A healthy loop looks like this: a user sends a message, you read it, you reply or ask a follow-up, you notice the repeated patterns, you improve the product, and you tell users what changed. That builds momentum. People feel heard, the product gets clearer, and you stop guessing.

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You don't learn what users want by building more in the dark. Add FounderPing to your app and make it effortless for users to tell you what they're trying to do and where they got stuck.