diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
index 590cc9958..f516959bc 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Here is a quick checklist that should be present in PRs.
 -->
 
 - [ ] Target the `master` branch for bug fixes, documentation updates and trivial changes.
-- [ ] Target the `features` branch for new features and removals/deprecations.
+- [ ] Target the `features` branch for new features, improvements, and removals/deprecations.
 - [ ] Include documentation when adding new features.
 - [ ] Include new tests or update existing tests when applicable.
 
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index b82693c18..2768037bc 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ repos:
         name: changelog filenames
         language: fail
         entry: 'changelog files must be named ####.(feature|bugfix|doc|deprecation|removal|vendor|trivial).rst'
-        exclude: changelog/(\d+\.(feature|bugfix|doc|deprecation|removal|vendor|trivial).rst|README.rst|_template.rst)
+        exclude: changelog/(\d+\.(feature|improvement|bugfix|doc|deprecation|removal|vendor|trivial).rst|README.rst|_template.rst)
         files: ^changelog/
     -   id: py-deprecated
         name: py library is deprecated
diff --git a/changelog/5471.feature.rst b/changelog/5471.improvement.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from changelog/5471.feature.rst
rename to changelog/5471.improvement.rst
diff --git a/changelog/README.rst b/changelog/README.rst
index e471409b0..5c182758b 100644
--- a/changelog/README.rst
+++ b/changelog/README.rst
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Each file should be named like ``<ISSUE>.<TYPE>.rst``, where
 ``<ISSUE>`` is an issue number, and ``<TYPE>`` is one of:
 
 * ``feature``: new user facing features, like new command-line options and new behavior.
+* ``improvement``: improvement of existing functionality, usually without requiring user intervention (for example, new fields being written in ``--junitxml``, improved colors in terminal, etc).
 * ``bugfix``: fixes a reported bug.
 * ``doc``: documentation improvement, like rewording an entire session or adding missing docs.
 * ``deprecation``: feature deprecation.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2a4cd65c1..552cdfa0f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ template = "changelog/_template.rst"
   name = "Features"
   showcontent = true
 
+  [[tool.towncrier.type]]
+  directory = "improvement"
+  name = "Improvements"
+  showcontent = true
+
   [[tool.towncrier.type]]
   directory = "bugfix"
   name = "Bug Fixes"