How Flexfone Eliminated Negative User Feedback Using AnnounceKit’s In-App Notification Widget

When SaaS companies and B2B software providers ship product updates, they face a persistent challenge: how do you make sure your users actually know what changed — before they discover it on their own and feel blindsided? In-app notification widgets have emerged as the most effective answer to this problem, delivering real-time updates inside the product where users are already working. This is the story of how Flexfone, a Danish telecommunications company serving over 3,000 businesses, used AnnounceKit’s in-app notification widget to transform frustrated customers into informed, satisfied users.

Sharing updates and new features with your customers before they go live is very important but it can sometimes be a real challenge. If you cannot find a simple way of notifying your customers, your customers may feel that they are being left out of the loop with the updates. Flexfone was also one of the companies suffering from this problem — but they eventually found the solution in AnnounceKit.

Flexfone is a Danish telecommunications company. We believe in creating simple, user-friendly, and cost-effective solutions for business communication. Flexfone provides an adaptable, user-friendly, and functional business phone system for over 3,000 Danish companies.

“We believe that telecommunication is supposed to relieve the workload in a company to boost the employees’ productivity and collaboration. The Flexfone phone system is a cloud-based PBX that supports your business communication needs with a wide range of business phone features and integrations.” — Flexfone

Flexfone users felt that they were being left out of the loop with the updates

Before adopting AnnounceKit, Flexfone had no systematic way to communicate product changes to their users. When new features shipped or the interface changed, many of their 3,000+ business customers discovered the changes on their own — sometimes during a critical workflow — rather than receiving a proactive notification. This created friction, support ticket spikes, and a sense among customers that Flexfone wasn’t communicating transparently.

The Flexfone team identified that the root cause wasn’t a lack of updates — they were shipping improvements regularly. The problem was a communication gap between their development team and their end users. Users who felt surprised by changes were more likely to submit support tickets, leave negative feedback, or question the reliability of the platform.

They knew that they wanted some sort of widget to pop up in their system

The Flexfone team evaluated several approaches to closing this communication gap. They considered email-only campaigns, blog announcements, and static changelog pages — but each option had limitations. Email open rates for product update notifications are typically low when they’re not part of a regular cadence. A standalone changelog page requires users to remember to check it proactively, which most don’t.

What the team wanted was something contextual — a notification that appeared inside the product itself, at the moment the user was already engaged. A widget that would pop up within the Flexfone system, showing users exactly what was new without requiring them to navigate away or open another channel. This in-product approach is now widely considered best practice for SaaS user communication: meeting users where they already are.

They wanted their users to subscribe to updates

Beyond the in-app widget, Flexfone also recognized that not all users would see every in-app notification — particularly users who logged in infrequently or accessed the platform during off-peak hours. To cover these users, they needed a secondary channel: email notifications that users could opt into voluntarily.

The ability to let users subscribe to product updates via email — on their own terms, using their preferred communication channel — was a key requirement. Flexfone wanted a solution where the in-app widget and email notifications worked together as a unified communication system, not two separate tools managed by different teams.

AnnounceKit had all of these for them

AnnounceKit offered Flexfone a complete solution: an embeddable in-app widget, a standalone feed for users who wanted a full changelog view, email notification subscriptions, and user segmentation to target specific announcements to the right user groups. The setup was straightforward — Flexfone embedded the AnnounceKit widget directly into their product dashboard, allowing users to see a notification badge whenever a new update was posted.

The segmentation feature proved especially valuable for a telecommunications company with a diverse business customer base. Flexfone could target announcements to specific customer segments — enterprise clients using advanced PBX features would see relevant updates, while small business users on standard plans would see a different, appropriately scoped set of announcements. This meant every notification felt relevant rather than generic.

No more negative feedback

After implementing AnnounceKit, Flexfone saw an immediate shift in customer sentiment around product changes. The support tickets triggered by users discovering unexpected interface changes dropped significantly. More importantly, the tone of user feedback around updates changed: instead of complaints about being surprised by changes, Flexfone began receiving positive acknowledgments from customers who appreciated being kept in the loop.

“We started getting positive feedback on our updates. Customers actually thanked us for the communication — which was not something we expected. It changed the entire dynamic of how our users relate to product changes.” — Flexfone Team

The support at AnnounceKit is very fast and very friendly

Beyond the product itself, Flexfone highlighted AnnounceKit’s customer support as a key differentiator in their experience. When questions arose during setup or when Flexfone wanted to implement more advanced segmentation rules, the AnnounceKit support team responded quickly and with genuine helpfulness. For a B2B telecommunications company where reliability and responsiveness are core values, this kind of vendor support experience reinforced the decision to stay with AnnounceKit long-term.

How Flexfone Used AnnounceKit: Mapping Each Feature to a Business Outcome

Understanding exactly how Flexfone deployed AnnounceKit’s features helps illustrate why the results were so positive. Each capability addressed a specific gap in their existing communication workflow.

In-App Widget: Embedded directly in the Flexfone product dashboard, the AnnounceKit widget displayed a notification badge whenever new updates were published. Users saw an unread count at a glance, clicked to expand the announcement feed, and could read detailed release notes without leaving the platform. This eliminated the primary cause of user surprise — changes were announced proactively, in the exact context where users would encounter them.

Email Notifications: Users who preferred email communication could subscribe to receive product update digests directly to their inbox. Flexfone reported quite good opening rates on these emails — significantly above typical B2B email benchmarks — because subscribers had opted in specifically for this content and found it relevant to their daily workflows. Email became a complementary channel rather than a replacement for in-app communication.

Segmentation: Flexfone’s diverse customer base — ranging from small businesses using basic phone features to enterprise clients using advanced PBX integrations — benefited enormously from the ability to segment announcements. Updates specific to enterprise telephony features were shown only to enterprise users, while small business customers received a clean feed of announcements relevant to their plan. This prevented notification fatigue and ensured every announcement felt personally relevant.

Standalone Feed: For users who wanted a full history of product changes — useful during onboarding or when returning after a period of inactivity — Flexfone provided access to the AnnounceKit standalone feed as a public-facing changelog. New users could quickly understand what had shipped recently without needing to contact support. Read more about in-app notification widgets and how they work.

Key Takeaways for SaaS Teams

Flexfone’s experience with AnnounceKit offers several generalizable lessons for any SaaS company or B2B software provider dealing with the challenge of communicating product changes to a distributed user base.

1. In-context communication outperforms out-of-product announcements. Users who encounter product changes within the product itself respond more positively than users who receive a separate email or have to check an external changelog. The in-product widget ensures the announcement reaches users at exactly the moment it’s relevant to them.

2. Proactive communication prevents negative feedback loops. Many SaaS support tickets and negative reviews stem not from the product change itself, but from users feeling surprised or uninformed. Announcing changes before users discover them on their own eliminates this entire category of negative feedback. Learn more about how to announce new features effectively to your users.

3. Segmented announcements increase relevance and reduce fatigue. Sending every update to every user creates notification fatigue and trains users to ignore your announcements. Segmentation — by plan type, feature usage, user role, or geography — ensures each user receives only the updates that matter to them, increasing engagement across the board.

4. Email and in-app channels work best together. Some users check the product daily; others log in weekly or monthly. A dual-channel approach ensures complete coverage of your user base without requiring any user to change their habits. If you’re dealing with SaaS churn, improving product update communication is one of the highest-leverage interventions available.

Frequently Asked Questions About In-App Notification Widgets and Product Update Communication

How do SaaS companies notify users of new features?
The most effective approach combines in-app notification widgets with email subscriptions. An in-app widget displays a notification badge inside the product when new updates are published, reaching users during active sessions. Email notifications serve users who log in less frequently. Tools like AnnounceKit provide both channels in a single platform, so product teams can publish once and reach users across both touchpoints simultaneously.

What is an in-app notification widget?
An in-app notification widget is a small UI element — typically a bell icon or a badge with an unread count — embedded inside a web application. When a user clicks it, a feed of product updates, release notes, or announcements expands within the interface. The widget is loaded via a JavaScript snippet and integrates with a content management platform where product teams write and publish announcements. AnnounceKit’s widget is one of the most widely deployed examples, used by SaaS companies across Europe and North America.

How do you reduce negative feedback from product updates?
Negative feedback from product updates almost always stems from users feeling surprised by changes rather than the changes themselves. The solution is proactive, in-context communication: announce changes before or at the moment they go live, using a channel users are already monitoring. In-app widgets are especially effective because they deliver the announcement exactly where the user will encounter the change. Flexfone’s experience shows that switching from no announcement system to an in-app widget can eliminate an entire category of support complaints.

Should you use email or in-app widgets for product updates?
Both, ideally. In-app widgets reach active users in real time; email reaches users between sessions. The two channels serve different segments of your user base and should be treated as complementary rather than competing. SaaS companies with engaged user bases tend to see strong open rates on product update emails because subscribers have opted in specifically for this content. AnnounceKit supports both channels natively, allowing a single update to be delivered via widget and email without duplicating content work.

How does AnnounceKit help with product update communication?
AnnounceKit is a product update and changelog platform that provides an embeddable in-app widget, a standalone public changelog, email notification subscriptions, and user segmentation. Product teams write update announcements in AnnounceKit’s editor, then publish them simultaneously to all connected channels. The segmentation feature allows companies like Flexfone to target specific announcements to specific user groups — by plan, geography, feature usage, or any custom attribute — ensuring every user receives only the updates relevant to them.