How to Announce SaaS Product Updates Effectively

SaaS businesses need to continually evolve and improve their products to retain and enhance their utility and profitability in their niche.

However, the challenge doesn't end at development; announcing these product updates effectively is equally important to keep your users informed and engaged. SaaS companies often grapple with the challenge of communicating these updates in a way that is both impactful and understandable, directly affecting the user experience.

Poor communication can lead to missed opportunities, where users are unaware of new features that could enhance their efficiency or solve existing problems.

On the other hand, well-crafted announcements can excite users about the product's evolution, encourage adoption, and foster a deeper connection with the product.

In this article, let's look at strategic approaches to announce SaaS product updates, ensuring your message is clear, and engaging, and driving user action.

1. Keep it visual

Text-heavy updates, though informative, can often lead to disengagement, especially in the B2B SaaS sector, where customers can spare only a little time learning about a tool’s new features. 

Users today prefer quick, digestible formats that educate in a user-friendly way.

Videos and GIFs are the best formats for sharing product updates because they demonstrate new features or improvements in action. This provides a clearer understanding and generates more excitement among users.

SimilarWeb, a website analytics company, shares its product updates in video format on LinkedIn: 

Notice how the video directly shows their audience how the new features work and how the updates will streamline their workflow further. A basic screencast video, like the above, will do much more than a detailed text-heavy post.

However, creating such announcement videos requires a considerable amount of time, a good grasp of video editing tools, and often a budget for professional voice actors or animators.

Many SaaS product marketing teams may find dedicating resources to such endeavors daunting, if not entirely unfeasible.

Clueso simplifies this process by transforming raw screen recordings into polished, studio-quality product announcement videos within minutes. 

The platform extracts the transcript from the original audio, writes a new script, and then gives AI voiceovers, adds zoom effects, and blurs at a desired pace, ultimately creating engaging product announcement videos.

Additional features allow users to cut irrelevant portions, add zoom effects, background music, etc., to enhance the videos further, resulting in increased information recall.

2. Be concise

Keep in mind that the audience is individuals who are likely familiar with your offerings already. Going deep into existing features and functionalities may take the focus away from the new changes.

OpenAI, for instance, likes to use a blend of text and graphics to inform their users about how they’re improving their widely used product, ChatGPT:

The graphics make it easy to understand how the April update improved the performance of their GPT-4 Turbo model. Additionally, they also included a link to GitHub for the more curious audience.

One of our customers - Flagright recently shipped their next-gen rule engine that helps in setting up rules efficiently and with ease. It also allows testing the rules with advanced simulation. They announced the new feature via a short 3-minute clip on LinkedIn:

But, how to craft short product announcements that relay the message effectively?

1. Define the primary objective of your announcement: It can be driving the adoption of a new feature, educating users about an enhancement, or simply keeping the user base informed. Clarity on your aim will shape the entire communication strategy.
2. Decide which updates warrant an announcement: Consider the impact on the user's workflow, the value it adds, or if it addresses frequently requested features. Not every minor tweak needs broad communication, but ensure to highlight updates that noticeably enhance functionality or user experience.
3. Clearly describe the update: Also highlight the benefits for the user and any required actions they must take. Speak in a tone that resonates with your audience while keeping the language simple and jargon-free. This ensures that the message is accessible to all users, regardless of their technical expertise.

3. Spread the word

Just as the format of the update message is essential, so is the channel you use to communicate with your audience and customers. Everyone prefers certain communication channels that they check more frequently than others. 

Here are a few key channels to consider:

• Knowledge Base: The product help docs for the users and documentation for developers sections are a great place to share your new features and updates. This is a platform dedicated to your product, free from any distractions. Moreover, your audience can check out older product updates or any other feature’s how-tos.
• Blogs and Social Media: When announcing updates through blogs or social media, short-form storytelling is effective. Share the journey of developing the new feature, including user feedback that led to its creation, to make the announcement more engaging and relatable.
• Emails and Newsletters: For product update emails and newsletters, focus on creating compelling subject lines and headers that communicate the value or solve a pain point. Utilize bullet points or bold text to highlight key features or benefits, making the email scannable for busy professionals.‍
• In-App Notifications: Make these concise and action-oriented to guide users directly to try the new feature or update. A clear call-to-action button, such as "Try it Now", can increase engagement.

In some cases SaaS product companies might communicate with their larger accounts such as enterprise customers via team messaging apps. Tools like Slack and MS Teams can help you update your users quickly and easily.

This is how we do it at Clueso:

While leveraging these various platforms to share product updates, it is crucial to compliment your product update visuals like videos, GIFs, and images with text. While sharing updates via your blog or help center, for example, marketers can write about the update and provide actionable steps if any.

This will allow your audience to quickly scan through an update when they can’t watch a video (while commuting on public transport, for instance) or are looking for something specific.

If you record a screencast video about your product update, Clueso can produce detailed how-to guides with perfectly cut GIFs in minutes with one click.

SaaS product marketing teams also need to pay attention to the timing of the updates, particularly when broadcasting the new features via channels like social media and newsletters.

For instance, sending product update emails early in the week can catch users when they are more likely to plan their tasks and explore new tools to enhance their productivity. Similarly, avoiding major holidays or company event days ensures your announcement doesn't get lost in the noise.

4. Engage with your audience post-announcement

After a product update announcement, engaging with your audience becomes critical to maximizing the update's impact. This usually involves the following:

Answering Queries and Providing Clarifications: You could offer live chat support on your website, host a Q&A session on a webinar, or respond timely on social media and email. Clear communication helps reinforce the value of the update to your users and can significantly enhance user satisfaction and product adoption.

Finding Areas of Improvement: Consider conducting surveys or analyzing engagement metrics to understand how your announcements are received. Pay attention to common questions or points of confusion as they can indicate areas that need clearer communication in future updates.

Another benefit of keeping a close eye on the comment section is that many of your audience will share their pain points in detail which can give you better insights:

It is also a good practice to look at direct and indirect metrics that tell you how efficient your SaaS product update announcement was. Direct metrics include open rates, click-through rates, engagement times, and conversion rates for update-related actions, while indirect metrics include product usage, feature adoption rates, or changes in user behavior.

For businesses with larger user bases that are available on various social media channels, SaaS product marketers can rely on social listening tools to gather all the essential feedback and metrics in one place.

Wrapping up

The aim of SaaS product update announcements is not to merely inform your audience and customers about what’s new but also to excite and motivate them to explore your offerings further.

Using visuals, keeping your message short, sharing your update across various channels, and engaging with your audience after announcing can help SaaS product marketers cut through the noise and shape user behavior.

Clueso can streamline the process of creating studio-quality product announcement videos from screencast footage within seconds.

Interested in taking your product update announcements to the next level?

Book a demo today and discover how you can transform your SaaS product communication strategy for better results.

FAQs

How do you announce a product update?

Announce product updates through multiple channels such as email, in-app notifications, social media, and blogs. Tailor the message for each platform to ensure clarity, engagement, and relevance to your audience's preferences and behaviors.

How do you write a product update?

A well-written product update clearly outlines the update's benefits, the problems it solves, and any necessary actions users must take. Use simple, jargon-free language and emphasize the value addition to the user's experience.

How do you write a product update email?

Start with a compelling subject line. Briefly introduce the update, highlight its benefits, and guide users on how to use it. Include visuals or links to videos for better engagement. Keep it concise and actionable.

How to encourage customers to use new feature updates?

Educate your customers about the value and benefits of the new features through tutorials, webinars, and success stories. Offer incentives for early adoption and gather feedback to improve and adjust your approach.

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