Writing an effective product announcement is just as important as the product itself. Your customers can’t really make a good use of your new functionalities if they never find out about them.
This is especially true when it comes to startups and SaaS businesses. In a company where technological advances are the core of its business purpose, new products and features are not only harder to market, but they can also go unnoticed if customers are too focused on the ones that they are already using.
In this article, we will see some tips on how to make an effective Product Announcement that actually grabs the attention, as well as some gorgeous examples of companies that are already killing it.
So, without further ado, let’s go!
1. Know your target audience
Before you start designing the announcement of your new product, it is important to define who is it that you are addressing.
In SaaS companies that sell digital services or work on a subscription basis, we find two different figures: the email subscriber, and the paying subscriber – aka the customer who is paying for the company’s services every month.
Obviously, not all customers are subscribers, and not all subscribers are customers. When we talk about email subscribers, we usually mean users who have signed up to receive our e-mail newsletters with a certain frequency.
While they are not necessarily customers, they are genuinely interested in your content, and they could convert into potential clients if you play your cards right.
For this reason, it is important that you prepare a product announcement for them as well – this way, you can not only update them on new services or features that may interest them, but they can also see that you are constantly working to improve your clients’ experience.
At my current company, every time we work on an e-mail campaign for a product launch, we make two different versions: one for subscribers, and one for clients. This way, we make sure that everyone is informed about the latest updates in our portfolio in the best way that fits their profile.
At this step, you need to define your target, and decide for yourself if your new product should be announced exclusively to customers, or to your subscribers as well.
In the majority of cases, I do recommend that you make two different versions (or more), and try to reach your audience in a way that’s personalized to their profile.
This way, you will not only convert email subscribers to customers, but will also make sure that you are keeping your existing customers satisfied with their purchase.
2. Write a compelling Subject Line
Writing a compelling Subject Line is key for making a powerful product announcement. It is also a great way to stand out and catch the eye of an email-saturated user that receives a huge amount of emails daily.
However, avoid falling into the temptation of writing a clickbait subject line that will make the user click on your email, and then get disappointed because he was expecting something more exciting.
Many websites give suggestions for catchy Subject Line such as:
- “We need to talk”;
- “I called. You didn’t answer”;
- “I’m pulling the plug…”
Seriously, just don’t – having a high Click-Through-Rate doesn’t mean anything if you fail to engage your users or don’t meet their expectations. Instead, try to get straight to the point. Here are some good examples of a product announcement:
- “Design your next iOS App”;
- “Introducing the Wireless Charging Pad”;
- “Apple Watch Series 2 is here!”
Simple and straight to the point – just keep it classy! For more tips and information about this point, you can also check my article The 13 Worst Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid From Today.
3. Make it visual, and keep it simple
One of the biggest mistake I see when launching an email campaign for a product announcement (or for any other purpose) is the tendency to saturate it with text.
Yes, I know that it’s tempting to share your whole pack of exciting new features with the whole world, but remember: your email campaign is just a sample of your work. It is not where your whole content is supposed to go.
In fact, it is only supposed to catch your user’s attention and attract him to click on your Call-to-Action button because he already wants more of you and your new product.
Once the CTA has taken him to that magical place, it is then when you provide him with the hot details – whether it is your blog or a landing page.
(not real buttons, nothing will really happen if you click them)
You see, an e-mail campaign is a great way to filter your potential clients from users who are not really interested in your products. After all, small but qualified traffic is always better than a high number of web visitors that are only there because you clickbaited them.
Generally speaking, focus on creating a simple and elegant, but visually attractive campaign without saturating it with too much text.
4. Include a clear Call to Action
The one thing that should never be missing from an email campaign, whether we are talking about a product announcement or not, is the famous Call to Action button. Just imagine that someone invites you for a meeting, and doesn’t pronounce a word once you gather in the same room.
This is what an email campaign without a CTA looks like – a dry communication with your users without a purpose. Every email that you send must have a purpose – what do you want your customers to do once they’ve clicked?
Sometimes, companies think that what is expected from the customer to do after they see their campaign is obvious, and they shouldn’t clarify it additionally. However, you will be surprised how often this is not the case.
For this reason, you should always include a Call to Action – what do you expect from your customers once they’ve clicked on your campaign?
Do you want them to learn more about your new product, try it out for free, or leave their personal data so you can get in touch with them and provide additional information?
Maybe you want to drive traffic to your blog where you’ve written everything about your new product? The message should be clear and straightforward. Avoid having too many CTAs because this will most probably confuse the audience.
Are you ready for the fun part? That’s right:
Product Announcement Examples
This gorgeous email campaign by PostCards does a great job on catching the eye of the user with a beautiful UX design, and a couple of powerful sentences that explain the new product without getting lost in unnecessary details.
I like it – it’s really visual, and yet very clear. I would personally make the title a little bit bigger to put an emphasis that it’s going to be a new product/feature.
Timeline is another company that is doing a great job at launching a compelling product announcement campaign for its new Sketch plugin. In just one sentence, they manage to to explain the essence of their product, its purpose, and some of the features it comes with. Nice!
The Dutch company Usabilla successfully manages to announce the launch of their new targeted in-app surveys with a clear message and striking visuals. The video is a great choice to introduce the new features of the product without saturating the template with too much text.
And the emojis – well, they might not be everyone’s taste, but they certainly add some nice color! The CTA is on point.
This is one of my favourite email campaigns so far – stunning, very informative, really creative, and yet simple and elegant.
There are two Call-to-Action buttons strategically positioned in the beginning (for those who don’t want to look at the details right away) and in the end (for those who need even more information than the one they just read).
These email campaigns were taken from www.reallygoodemails.com If you want to see more examples, just visit their website and take a look at all of their gorgeous email campaigns!
For now, thank you for taking the time to read my tips on making an effective product announcement, and I hope I’ll see you in my next article! In the meantime, if you want further readings for SaaS, you can also check these articles:
- SaaS Free Trial: 8 Rock-Solid Reasons Why You Should Offer It
- 17 Brilliant SaaS Facebook Ads Examples to Inspire You
