Interpret Productboard’s Customer Importance Score
Use the current Customer Importance Score (CIS) field to inspect weighted customer demand. It is an evidence signal, not a forecast of adoption, revenue or delivery value.
Before you start: Have linked customer insights and access to a grid. Verify customer attribution and the current importance ratings before comparing scores.
Worked example: One customer rates a Feature Critical and another Important. The direct user contributions are 3 and 2, giving 5 before any hierarchy rollups or other contributions are considered.
Step-by-step guide
Show the current field
Use Add Columns → Default fields → Customer Importance Score. Use the current CIS name when discussing the metric.
Inspect the source evidence
Open a high-scoring Feature and read its linked insights. Verify the request is attributed to the intended user.
Check importance ratings
Review Not important, Nice-to-have, Important and Critical as 0, 1, 2 and 3 points. Unspecified importance contributes 1 by default.
Check repeated users
If one user has several notes about the Feature, do not multiply their contribution by note count. The latest importance value determines their contribution.
Compare like-for-like items
Sort CIS descending using the column’s … menu, then review effort and strategic fit separately. Inspect child-item rollups before comparing a component with a leaf Feature.
Common mistakes
Calling the score revenue impact
CIS reflects weighted demand. Account revenue and commercial commitments require their own verified data.
Sources and verification
Based on product documentation checked on 2026-11-04. This is a documentation-based guide, not a hands-on benchmark. Features and availability can change.