Which Feedback Widget Categories Should Your SaaS Offer?

For most indie SaaS websites, start with three clear feedback categories: Issue for something broken or confusing, Idea for a possible improvement, and Question for something a visitor needs explained. Enable the types you can review and act on, then read each message before deciding what it means. Categories help organise submissions; they do not assess importance or decide what you should build.

Choose categories around the decisions you make

A category is useful when it helps you understand what kind of response or investigation a message may need. Before enabling one, ask: can I recognise this kind of input, review it consistently, and decide what to do next? If the answer is no, a new label may add sorting work without adding clarity.

Issue: something is not working as expected

Use Issue for bugs, errors, confusing behaviour, or a task that a visitor cannot complete. For example: “The export button stays grey after I select a date range.” That gives you a starting point for checking the affected page and trying to reproduce the problem. A useful issue report still needs a clear message; a category alone will not explain what happened.

When you need to improve the prompts you give customers for bug reports, see what to include in a SaaS bug report.

Idea: a change the visitor would like

Use Idea for a feature request, a suggested improvement, or a different way to solve a problem. For example: “Could I export this report as a CSV?” Treat the message as evidence about a need, not as an instruction to build that exact feature. Look for related requests and consider who would benefit, how often the need arises, and what other ways you could address it.

Question: something the visitor wants clarified

Use Question for requests for clarification about your product, pricing, or how a feature works. For example: “Can my team use this report without an admin account?” Repeated questions may point to unclear wording or a product gap, but a single question does not prove either. Read the message in context before deciding whether to reply, clarify your website copy, or make a product change.

When should you disable a category?

Disable a type if you are not ready to review that kind of input or if visitors keep choosing it for messages that belong elsewhere. First check whether the labels and supporting text explain the choices plainly. A short example beside each option can help visitors select the closest match.

Avoid adding several narrow categories such as “billing bug”, “login issue” and “mobile suggestion” at the start. For a solo developer, that can make choosing a category harder without making the message itself more useful. Begin with broad types, review what arrives, and change the choices only when you can point to a real source of confusion.

Categories are labels, not a triage system

A visitor may select Idea to describe a problem, or choose Issue for something that is really a request. Do not assume the selected type tells you how urgent a message is, where it should go, or whether it deserves development time. Read the words, check relevant context, and make the decision yourself.

A practical review can be simple: understand the message, look for related feedback, then decide whether to investigate, save it for later, plan work, or archive it. Several related messages can support one planned change, but they do not mean every request should be built. For more on handling competing requests, read how to handle conflicting SaaS feature requests.

Set the types in Feedback Bubble

In Feedback Bubble, go to Dashboard > Bubbles, find the relevant website and select Customise. In the editor's Feedback types controls, enable or disable Issue, Idea and Question. The live preview lets you check how the choices appear in the widget. At least one type must remain enabled.

The widget can also provide page and device context with a submission, which may reduce follow-up questions when investigating an issue. That context does not replace a useful description from the visitor, and the category does not automatically prioritise or route the message.

For a small SaaS team starting out, enable the three broad types if you are prepared to review all of them. If you are not, keep the choices limited to the feedback you can handle now and revisit them as your process changes.