Steal your competitors' most requested features

Stealing a competitor's feature requests means reading the public feedback boards, review sites and forum threads where their users ask for things, finding the requests that keep coming back, and building the one your product can do best. It works in crowded markets where products look alike, because a feature people already asked for is easier to sell than one you invented. It takes real engineering time, so it fits teams that can ship a focused feature in weeks, not quarters.

How to do it

1. List your top three or four competitors. Look for a public feedback or roadmap page on each: a "feature requests" link in the footer, a changelog, or a board hosted by a tool such as Canny, where customers can share and vote on feedback.
2. Read the boards by hand. Sort by votes, then by recency. Copy the requests that appear in more than one place, such as the board, review sites and support forums, into a spreadsheet with a link to each.
3. Group the requests by the job the person is trying to do. Ten different requests for "export to X" may be one problem.
4. Filter them against your own product. Pick the request that is frequently asked, that you can build well, and that fits where you are taking the product. A request that needs a year of work is not a quick win.
5. Check the problem with five or ten real people before you build it. A competitor's vote count tells you what people typed, not whether they would switch.
6. Build the first version small, and ship it with a short public post and a changelog entry that names the problem it solves, in the words people used.
7. Tell people where they are already looking. Update your comparison and alternatives pages, answer public threads where someone asks if a tool does this, and mention it to your own users. Do it in public, once, without copying names from a competitor's board.

What it looks like in practice

Say you run a scheduling tool, and a larger competitor's public board shows a request for "recurring bookings with different durations" that has stayed in "Under Review" for months. You find the same ask in two review sites and a community thread. You check it with six customers, build it in three weeks, and publish a changelog entry plus a short how-to. You add a row to your comparison page, and when someone later asks in a public thread whether any scheduler handles this, you answer with a link. This is a walkthrough of one possible setup, not a result.

When it backfires

• Contacting a competitor's users. The idea of messaging each person who asked for a feature is where the risk is. Those people gave their details to someone else, and commercial email has rules. Under CAN-SPAM the subject line must be accurate, the message must say it is an ad, and it must include a valid postal address. Opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days, and each violating email can draw penalties of up to $53,088. Platforms and boards also have their own terms on scraping or contacting users, so read them first.
• Votes lie. A highly voted request may come from a few vocal accounts, or from free users who would never pay. Validate with people who match your customer.
• You become the follower. If you always build what the leader's users ask for, you only match them. Pair this with your own view of the market.
• Competitors can ship it first. A public board tells them what is popular too. Speed matters more than the idea.
• Feature, not fit. A feature that does not fit your product adds maintenance without a reason to switch.

For a wider look at winning a rival's customers, see steal competitors' customers.

Questions people ask

How do you steal competitors' customers? Fix the thing they complain about. Read their public feedback and reviews, build what is asked for most, and publish it clearly.

How do I find what users want from a competitor? Start with their feedback board and changelog, then review sites and community threads. Look for requests that repeat.

Sources

• Canny, read Oct 8, 2026
• Canny feedback board, read Oct 8, 2026
• FTC: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business, read Oct 8, 2026