When you launch new features for an existing product you need to consider how and when to let your current users know about it. In some cases, you want to launch the feature, but only to certain users. In other cases, you need to make sure all of your customers have sufficient notice and are prepared for the impact of the new feature.
The only guide to dark launching you’ll ever need. With the rise of Continuous Delivery, development teams are under pressure to roll out new features faster than ever and to get more feedback on those features earlier. That’s where dark launching comes in: a technique that allows your team to gather user feedback, fix bugs, and assess performance—all at scale. The folks at LaunchDarkly explain how feature flags give your team a low-risk way to deploy code more frequently.
(via @launchdarkly)
How to successfully launch app features to boost your ratings. Product managers spend a huge amount of time working out what to build next–helping to write specifications, reviewing designs, slicing epics, and ultimately seeing new features and product improvements come to life at the hands of our engineering teams. To help you avoid throwing all this work away with a failed launch, Hannah Chaplin shares her three-step formula for getting feature launches right every time.
(via @pendoio)
How to announce new features to drive product adoption. Developing new features is only half the battle. What comes next can make or break adoption. Whenever you improve your product, you’ve got to nail the feature announcement and user onboarding. That means communicating relevant value with context — at the right time, with the right message. Pulkit Agrawal reveals the psychology behind feature adoption, shares a feature announcement framework and covers best practices to help you successfully launch your feature or product.
(via @trychameleon)
A Guide to announcing new features effectively. Often the creativity and manpower that went into creating a new feature are wasted, because users, potential users, and other audiences are not properly informed and educated about the new feature. Alican Bektas discusses why effective product education is essential to the successful release of new features, and how to go about developing new feature communications within a product education strategy.
(via @UserGuiding)
How to write release notes. Release notes are an opportunity to keep your customers excited about your investment in the product. Well-written release notes not only make your customers aware of new features but also remind them of the value that your product provides. Jared DeLuca shares some good practices for writing release notes, as well as shows 5 great examples from which you can draw inspiration.
(via @appcues)
