Idea Bank Access Levels

When you create an idea bank, you choose an access level that determines who can view proposals, submit new ideas, and vote. You can change the access level later from the idea bank overview page.

Access Level Comparison

Internal

Restricted to researchers on your team. All team researchers can propose ideas and vote.

Best for: Internal stakeholder analysis, team roadmaps, private brainstorming among researchers

With Internal access, only researchers in your team can see and interact with the idea bank. All researchers on the same account can view, propose ideas, and vote. No external access link is generated — panelists cannot participate.

Use this when:

• Your team needs to brainstorm and prioritize ideas internally
• You’re running a stakeholder analysis among multiple researchers
• You want to prepare and curate proposals before opening them to a wider audience

Suggestion Box

Collect ideas anonymously. Contributors submit ideas but cannot see other submissions or vote.

Best for: Anonymous idea collection, customer feedback forms, employee suggestion programs

With Suggestion Box access, participants can submit ideas but cannot see existing proposals or vote. Each submission is independent and anonymous.

Use this when:

• You want unbiased idea collection without participants influencing each other
• You’re running an anonymous feedback program
• You want to review and curate ideas before making them visible

Participants see only:

• The idea bank title and description
• A form to submit their idea
• Confirmation that their idea was submitted

Closed Voting

Panelists view and vote on researcher-curated proposals. They cannot submit new ideas.

Best for: Curated voting panels, customer advisory boards, controlled feedback sessions

With Closed Voting access, participants can view all proposals and vote, but cannot submit new ideas. You control the proposal list.

Use this when:

• You have a specific set of options you want ranked
• You want to prevent off-topic or duplicate submissions
• You’re running a structured prioritization exercise

Participants see:

• All proposals with current vote counts
• Voting controls (for/against)
• Sorting options (top, recent, activity)

Open Voting

Full participation. Panelists can submit ideas, view all proposals, and vote. Combines suggestion box and closed voting.

Best for: Public suggestion forums, community-driven roadmaps, crowdsourced ideation

With Open Voting access, participants can view proposals, submit new ideas, and vote. This is the most collaborative option.

Use this when:

• You want full community participation
• You’re running a public feature request forum
• You want participants to build on each other’s ideas

Participants see:

• All proposals with current vote counts
• Voting controls (for/against)
• A form to submit new proposals
• Sorting options (top, recent, activity)

Choosing the Right Access Level

Sharing Your Idea Bank

For all access levels except Internal, you can share your idea bank by copying the participant link from the idea bank overview page. Anyone with this link can participate according to the access level you configured.

Internal idea banks do not generate a participant link since they are restricted to researchers on your team.

Learn More

For deeper background on idea collection methodologies, see our Knowledge Base:

• Idea Bank - How idea banks differ from open suggestion boxes
• Community Suggestion Forum - When to use fully open community forums instead