Idea Exchange Guidelines: What do I need to know before submitting?

[Xenia]

This is part of a series of articles outlining how the Idea Exchange works:

1. Idea Exchange Guidelines: What do I need to know before submitting?
2. Idea Exchange Guidelines: How can I submit an idea? What happens next?
3. Idea Exchange Guidelines: Why was my idea closed?
4. Idea Exchange Guidelines: How does my feedback reach Spotify?

The Idea Exchange is one of the most active areas of the Spotify Community. It’s a place where Spotify users can share their feedback in the form of ideas, to improve the Spotify experience for everyone. Every user can suggest an idea or show their support for an existing one by voting for it! 

Requirements for ideas in the Idea Exchange:

1. Ideas must follow the Spotify Community Guidelines.
   We don't tolerate any posts breaking our Community Guidelines, and that includes the Idea exchange.
2. Ideas should be posted in English.
   This is the official language of the Community.
3. One change request per Idea.
   When one post includes several feature requests, it becomes hard to keep track of and update them.
   If you have more than one idea, you can make a new idea submission for each one. This way we’ll know exactly which idea folks are voting for.
4. Check if there's an existing idea.
   If there’s already a similar idea, you can add your vote to it or leave a comment to show your support. We will try to keep all feedback in one single place by merging similar ideas in one.
5. Make sure your idea is clear.
   The more detailed your feature request is, the better! It’s easier for other users to know what you’re suggesting so they can add their support and feedback.
   It’s also easier for us to share updates and talk to the right teams at Spotify. Ideas without enough relevant details will be closed. We welcome you to submit a new one with more info.
6. No requests for complete roll-backs.
   If you don’t like a certain update you’re welcome to let us know, constructively, how you feel about it. You could start a new topic in the relevant Help section and outline the things you agree or disagree with. This will likely also invite others to come and give their thoughts and now we’ll have a dialogue going.
   If you want to suggest specific feature changes, do feel free to submit one or even several ideas in the Exchange, just make sure you do it according to point 3.
7. No pricing, subscription or content related requests.
   We do appreciate all the feedback you share with us but our Ideas board is to help us receive new product and feature suggestions that will allow us to improve our app and service for everyone.
   Changes to pricing, subscriptions or the content available are specific to each market around the world, and we cannot influence those. This includes requests for content removal or addition.
8. No requests for availability in new countries.
   We’d love to have Spotify available everywhere. As in point 7, this is influenced by various factors and often we can’t share updates in advance about this. The best place to stay in the loop is the For the Record blog.

> Important: Idea submissions that don’t meet the above requirements will be closed, so make sure to familiarize yourself with our guidelines before submitting your idea.

How do I know if the idea already exists?

You can check this by having a quick search in the Community here. If you find a similar idea, make sure to add your vote!

> Tip: Try using keywords when searching for ideas. For example, if you have an idea around 'making it possible to play Spotify on multiple speakers at the same time, from one account' enter just a few keywords, like “multiple speakers account".

How do I make sure my idea is clear enough?

A good starting point is a brief description of your current experience with the app. Once you covered the functionality of the app as it is right now, you can move on to explaining what exactly it is you would like to change. 

Avoid writing "make this feature better" as that could mean different things to different people, and instead try describing a specific improvement you’d like to see implemented and which section (Your Library, Home, Browse, artist pages, etc.) or platform (mobile, desktop, web player, speaker, etc.) this would affect.

It can also be helpful to add screenshots or link to a related idea and explain in what way your idea is different.

Here’s a good example of a well structured idea you can use for reference: 

Spoiler

1. The heading has a clear call to action and has a label [in square brackets]
2. The first half of the body describes the current behavior of the app
3. The second half of the body makes a clear suggestion for improvement 

If you’re all set to submit your own idea, you can follow this short guide on how to go about posting an idea and read more about what happens to it after it’s been submitted.