Whatever the case, customers frequently ask “how can I make sure I get updated on future changes?” and that’s a strong signal for software companies to step up their game when it comes to announcing product changes. Perhaps the announcement got buried in a pile of emails, lost in the mix of help documentation, or maybe it was hidden in a blog post. For software teams who are communicating consistently about releases and changes, their approach to distributing that information is often less than ideal. Today, too many customers simply aren’t informed of product changes because they don’t know where to find that information.
Getting the right information to the right people at the right time is critical to delivering a seamless customer experience.
The right people don’t see them at the right time If you do this, your customers will never be caught off guard. Just like unit tests are run on new code… write release notes for all new changes. Better yet, make release notes part of your software development and release process. Instead of rushing, have a plan in place and commit to a process that makes the comms around your software releases more coordinated. If your release notes feel like a last-minute task, you're simply not putting your customers first. If your release notes are completed as part of a last-minute checklist around release time, they’re likely not written in a clear, concise manner for your users, missing details, or even incomplete. In some cases, companies may be required to maintain an up-to-date audit of product changes in order to comply with certifications like GDPR.Īn equally large number of teams do publish release notes, but do so as an afterthought. You not only need to involve the right folks from marketing, customer success, and other customer-facing teams with the help of a release communication strategy, but also ensure that each and every product change is well-documented. If your customers are asking these kinds of questions, it’s a strong signal that your team needs to improve how you’re communicating product changes. For anyone who has worked on the frontlines in support, customer success, sales, or account management, you’ve almost certainly heard from frustrated customers asking: “When did X change and why wasn’t I told about it?”. Dropping the ball like this creates the ultimate subpar customer experience. The state of release notes today They’re often an afterthought, or forgotten altogetherĪ surprising number of software teams fail to communicate some, or even all, of their product changes. In this article, we’re going to look at some of the problems with release notes today, discuss why release notes are a vital component of every software app, and provide some tips for writing great, effective release notes that your customers will love. Without some guidelines in place, you risk confusing or frustrating customers and miss a perfect opportunity to delight users.
Even communicating the smallest product change requires careful consideration in terms of when and how it’s communicated to users in your release notes. Writing great product release notes is challenging.