How to Write Product Launch Announcements That Get Attention

We launched our product with a beautifully crafted announcement email. It explained every feature, every benefit, every technical improvement.

Open rate: 12%. Click rate: 0.8%. Revenue: negligible.

Three months later, we launched a minor update. Different approach to the announcement. Open rate: 67%. Click rate: 23%. Revenue from that email alone: $47,000.

Same product. Same audience. Different words. Here's what changed.

The Feature List Problem

Most product announcements list features: "Now with advanced analytics, improved performance, and a redesigned dashboard!"

The problem: nobody cares about features. They care about what features let them DO.

"Advanced analytics" means nothing. "See exactly which customers are about to churn before they leave" means something.

Every feature should translate into a specific capability the reader gains.

The First Line Wins or Loses

Launch emails live or die in the first line. Most people write announcements like this:

"We're excited to announce the launch of [Product Name] 2.0, our most significant update ever!"

This tells the reader nothing. It's excitement about yourself, not value for them.

Better: "You can now automate your entire invoicing workflow in 3 clicks."

The second version immediately answers "what's in it for me?" The reader keeps reading because they want that capability.

The Before/After Structure

The most effective launch announcements follow this pattern:

Before: Here's what was painful, slow, or impossible After: Now you can do this instead How: Here's what we built to make it possible Action: Click here to try it

This structure works because it starts with the reader's problem, shows the transformation, and makes the next step clear.

Subject Lines That Work

Subject lines that get opened:

• Specific benefit: "Your reports now take 5 minutes instead of 2 hours"
• Question: "Tired of manually entering data?"
• News format: "[Product] now does X"
• Personal: "I built this for you"

Subject lines that get ignored:

• "Announcing [Product] 2.0"
• "New features inside!"
• "You're going to love this"
• "Important update"

Test your subject lines by imagining you received this email from someone you don't know. Would you open it?

The One-Thing Rule

Launch announcements often try to communicate everything at once. Ten new features! Redesigned interface! New pricing!

This overwhelms readers. They remember nothing.

Better approach: focus on ONE thing. The single most valuable change. If people only remember one thing about this launch, what should it be?

"We just made invoicing automatic" is more memorable than "We launched 12 new features."

You can mention other features briefly, but lead with the main event.

Social Proof in the Launch

If you have beta users or early adopters, include their words:

"We tested this with 50 customers before launch. Here's what they said..."

Quotes like "This saved me 3 hours last week" are more credible than any claim you make yourself.

If you don't have quotes yet, consider delaying the public launch until you do.

The Visual Component

Product launches benefit from visuals—screenshots, GIFs, short videos.

But visuals should demonstrate, not decorate. A GIF showing the new feature in action tells the story faster than three paragraphs explaining it.

Keep videos under 30 seconds for emails. Nobody watches a 5-minute product walkthrough from a launch email.

Timing Your Announcement

When you send matters:

Email: Tuesday-Thursday morning tends to work best. Avoid Monday (inbox overload) and Friday afternoon (weekend mode).

Social: Mid-morning to early afternoon in your audience's timezone. B2B does better during work hours; B2C often performs well in evenings.

Press: Give journalists at least 48 hours before public launch if you want coverage.

Stagger your announcements—email to existing users first, social media second, PR third. This lets you catch errors and generates initial buzz before broad release.

The Follow-Up Sequence

One email isn't enough. Plan a sequence:

Day 0: Launch announcement (main email) Day 3: "Did you see this?" with different angle Day 7: Social proof email (early user reactions) Day 14: Tutorial or use case email

Non-openers from each email get the next one. This catches people who missed it and reinforces the message for everyone else.

Internal Launch vs. External Launch

Launch your internal team before you launch externally. Everyone needs to know:

• What's launching and why it matters
• The key messages and talking points
• What questions customers might ask
• Who handles different types of inquiries

Nothing kills a launch faster than confused customer support.

What We Changed

For that successful update launch, we did three things differently:

1. Led with the problem: "We know invoicing is the worst part of your week..."
2. One feature focus: "That's why we automated it completely"
3. Showed, didn't tell: GIF of the automation in action

We spent less time listing features and more time making readers feel understood.

The product was the same. The launch was different. The results were dramatically better.

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