I would pay if it just had feature X." Why listening to users almost killed my roadmap.

The painful part is that the feature request sounded like a buying signal, but it was really just an imagination signal.

People are very good at describing the product they would like in theory. They are much worse at predicting what they will pay for when the product exists.

I’d treat every “I would pay if it had X” as the start of a conversation, not a roadmap item.

The question I’d want answered is: what happened the last time you needed this and didn’t have it?

If they lost money, wasted hours, hacked together a workaround, or paid for something imperfect, then the request may be attached to real urgency.

If they just say “I’d probably use it,” I’d be very careful. That’s not demand yet. That’s a polite future version of themselves talking.

I really like your conclusion: "I don't actually need this product enough to pay for it." I think it's very often appears to be true.

That said, I’ve also seen the opposite case in companies: Client requests Feature Z, because competitor has it, sales escalates it, it gets prioritized, and then barely users. Product just became more complex, less maintainable.

So, I don’t think that all feature requests are excuses - sometimes they’re driven by desire to get a better deal, or just imaginary need rather than real one etc.

Boring, but right way to evaluate those feature requests:

1. Does our target user really benefit from it?
2. Would this drive our business revenue? (but not in theory, calculate)
3. Would users still pay for our product without this feature?

Keeping clarity on who the product is for, its core value, and business goals - would make decision much easier :)

I would separate feature requests into two buckets:

1. “I cannot use/pay for this until X exists.”
2. “X would make this feel more complete.”

The dangerous part is that users often describe both with the same words.

The test I like is: what did they do before asking for the feature?

If they already tried to use the product, hit a specific workflow blocker, and can describe the exact job they were trying to finish, it may be a real roadblock.

If they only looked at the output and imagined the next nice thing, it is probably a completeness request, not a buying signal.

In your case, I would ask: did they already have a market research workflow they were trying to replace, or were they just reacting to an interesting demo?