TL;DR: Release notes are essential for telling your users and stakeholders about changes to your product. They should be engaging, easy-to-understand announcements about how the changes will benefit your customers, and they should help you gain feedback from them to inform you of new developments.
Release notes are crucial for software companies. They give users vital information that showcases new features, increases transparency, and could even help your customers troubleshoot and get support faster.
Let's go through what release notes are, the benefits of writing release notes, and the key elements of engaging release notes that users will acutally read.
Release notes are the technical documentation about the latest release of a piece of software. They detail the specific changes made in a recent product update or describe the features of a brand-new piece of software. Release notes can then be added to a changelog, which shows all product release notes in chronological order.
Release notes are crucial for setting expectations for your users. You can tell your customers what’s changed since the last release of your software and what’s been updated in this current release. You can even tease them about features that are coming in the future. Plus, you can use release notes to tell customers about bug fixes to assure them that you take crashes and problems seriously and handle them quickly.
The main audience for release notes is your customers, who are the users of your product. However, you can also use release notes internally - they’re a great way to tell stakeholders about the latest updates to your software.
Your release notes should always be good enough for both your customers and internal stakeholders to understand the recent changes to your product.
Who should write release notes depends on how big your organization is. In small teams, product managers tend to write release notes as they should be in constant dialogue with the development team and the customers. Larger companies often have technical writers who are responsible for release notes.
Whoever writes your release notes should have a deep understanding of the changes and fixes made to the product, who these changes will affect and what it means for your customers.
Did you know? When writing release notes, Productlane shows you an overview of all Linear issues that have been completed, ensuring you include everything that’s changed since your last release and making your release notes much quicker to write!
Release notes have plenty of benefits that make it worth spending time on writing them for your users:
Communicate with users and stakeholders through release notes
Release notes should tell users exactly how your software has changed or improved. They’re an important line of communication, as they give you an opportunity to explain why you’ve added new features and made improvements. Release notes help your customers understand how the changes and fixes will make it easier to use your software. Release notes are also a great way to communicate with stakeholders. The release notes should show the benefits of the changes or fixes and how they will improve customer experience - hopefully encouraging more users to buy your product.
Provide historical documentation
A release note can act as a record of all the changes you’ve made to your product. They help users, stakeholders, and potential buyers of your company understand how your software has evolved, showing that you care about making sure your product grows with users’ needs.
Drive engagement through release notes
Great release notes excite users about new features and explain the benefits to them. If users know why a new feature will help solve a problem they’re facing, they’re more likely to adopt it and become loyal to your product over a competitor’s.
Generate feedback
Release notes are a great way to generate feedback from your users. Use your release notes to open a dialogue between you and your customers that helps you prioritize what your development team works on next.
Did you know? At Productlane, we make prioritizing tasks supported by user feedback even easier. You can share a portal with your users that allows them to give feedback on your projects and issues directly.
Reduce customer support queries
Lessen your customer success team’s load with your release notes. If there are known issues that you’re still working on, use your release notes to help with support and troubleshooting and to be transparent about what you’re doing to fix a bug. If your customers know you’ve been working on a fix through a release note, they will feel well-informed about the status quo.
Release notes create trust and transparency
One of the main things that release notes do is help your company be transparent about what you’ve been working on. They help develop a sense of trust between you and your users, as you keep them in the loop about updates and changes. Being open with customers and explaining why you’ve added new features or made improvements can reduce churn, since they’ll understand your reasons for doing so through you providing a release note.
Everything you include in your release notes should be useful to your users and explained in a clear, concise manner that everyone - not just software developers - can understand. Here are the things you should include in every set of release notes you publish:
Title: Show your brand’s personality here. The title doesn’t just have to be ‘Version 3.2.1 Release Notes’ - get creative if your brand allows.
Version number and release date: Even if you choose a descriptive title, the version number and release date are still crucial so users know if these release notes are relevant to them. Clear overview: Provide a quick summary of changes, bug fixes and/or new features you added.
Impact and benefits to users: Explain how the changes you made solve problems for users. Change can be difficult for some, but explaining the reasons why can help customers see how they will benefit and get more value for money from your product.
Known issues: If you’ve had to release a version with unfixed issues, it’s a good idea to address them and inform your users that you’re working to fix them.
Support and documentation: Provide links to your support team and any documentation that will help your users navigate through any complex changes.
Feedback mechanism: Provide your users with a way to give you feedback about the changes to your product. With Productlane, you can easily manage and gather insights from various sources (e.g., Slack, Email, Calls,...) in one place and even let your customers know when a new feature or fix has been shipped.
We all know getting customers to read release notes is difficult. Buck the trend and make your product updates engaging to get your customers excited about a new software release and feature enhancements. Here are 5 elements you should include to make your release notes engaging:
Show your brand’s personality
If your brand’s tone of voice allows you to put a bit of fun into your release notes, go for it! If your software brand has to keep serious, make that shine through in your notes, too - show that you care about your customers by describing how the changes will make their experience better within a release note.
Use clear language
Release notes aren’t for techies. They’re for the everyday users of your software, so make sure you use plain language that they will understand. The type of language you can use may differ depending on who your customer is.
Keep them short
Get to the point. Try to use as few words as possible to describe a change and how it benefits users.
Use headings
Headings help group your release notes and help users find what they need quickly. Using headings like ‘Bug Fixes’, ‘New Features’ and ‘Improvements’ helps send users to exactly what they care about reading. We do this in our own release notes on our changelog to help make them easier to read.
Include links to more info
Your release notes should be concise updates about your bug fixes and features. Some users might want to find out more about a particular feature, so add links to user guides, blogs or tutorials if it will help them understand better.
Use the optional changelog feature to chronologically order your release notes
Choose whether to share your changelog internally, externally, or both
Get help with writing your release notes using Productlane’s overview of all Linear issues that have been completed
So, release notes don’t have to be boring lists of updates nobody reads. They should be engaging, easy-to-understand pieces of content that get your customers excited about your product. Try making your notes more customer-centric on your next release.
The following represents a generic template for release notes to inspire you. The way you write release notes can still vary a lot.
We’re excited to announce the release of [Product Name] version [Version Number], available as of [Release Date]. This update brings [a brief summary of what the update includes, e.g., new features, bug fixes, performance improvements]. Our team has worked hard to ensure this release enhances your experience with our product, making it more [efficient/effective/enjoyable] to use.
[Feature 1]: [Brief description of feature and its benefits to the user].
[Feature 2]: [Brief description of feature and its benefits to the user].
[Improvement]: [Describe the improvement and how it enhances previous functionality].
[Bug Fixes]: [Briefly list major bug fixes and the issues they address].
This update is designed to [explain the overall benefits of the update, e.g., improve workflow, reduce loading times, enhance security]. We believe these changes will significantly impact your daily operations by [describe how the changes solve problems or add value, providing examples if possible].
While we strive for perfection, there are a few known issues in this release that we are actively working to resolve:
[Issue 1]: [Brief description and any workarounds].
[Issue 2]: [Brief description and any workarounds].
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to fix these in upcoming updates.
For detailed information about this update and instructions on how to make the most of the new features, visit our Documentation Page.
Need help or have questions? Our support team is ready to assist you. Contact us via:
Email: [Support Email]
Phone: [Support Phone Number]
Live Chat: [Link to Live Chat]
Your feedback is crucial in helping us improve [Product Name]. If you have any comments, suggestions, or issues to report, please reach out through [Feedback Mechanism, e.g., a survey link, email, or feedback tool like Productlane].
Remember, with Productlane, you can easily manage and gather insights from various sources in one place. Plus, we’ll let you know when a new feature or fix has been shipped based on your feedback.
We hope you enjoy the latest update to [Product Name]. Thank you for being a valued member of our community.
[Your Company Name] Team
This template is versatile and can be modified to match the tone and style of your brand. Ensure to update all placeholders with your product-specific information before publishing.
Release notes are summaries of the changes, improvements and bug fixes you’ve made in the latest release of your software. They explain how the changes will improve the user’s experience with your product, and can even tease about new features coming in future releases.
The audience for release notes are your customers as the users of your product. The notes should be written in plain language that anyone can understand, rather than just software developers. However, you can also use release notes to tell internal stakeholders about what’s new with your product.
Product managers or technical writers generally write release notes. Product managers are constantly talking to the development team and customers, so have a deep understanding of the updates that have been made, what that means for users and how the changes will benefit them.
While related, release notes and changelogs are slightly different. Release notes are summaries that tell users about changes, fixes and new features, whereas the changelog lists all your release notes published so far.
Changelogs are organized in reverse chronological order, with the newest updates at the top. As well as release notes, changelogs can include real-time changes to your product about new features, with release notes to follow once more comprehensive updates have been made.
Bug fixes should definitely be included in your release notes. It helps your customers see what has been fixed and increases trust in your product as well, as you show that you take the bug reports seriously and do your best to fix them fast.
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