Product Updates: What They Are, Real Examples, and How to Announce Them

A product update is a new release of your app or software that adds improvements and fixes: new features, bug fixes, performance work, security patches, or interface changes. A product update announcement tells users what changed, why it matters to them, and how to start using it. The best announcements reach the right users, at the right time, through the channel they already use.

That last part is the hard bit. The average inbox is full of update emails, and every app has a section of weekly changes. Handled carelessly, product updates become a source of frustration and confusion instead of engagement.

The goal is an update that informs users and gets them to use the new feature right away. This guide covers what product updates are, three announcement examples worth copying, four questions to answer before you send, and how to choose the right medium.

How do you cut through the sea of product announcements? How do you draw users in and tell them about changes in ways they enjoy?

Below you will find the answers, with real announcements from Spotify, Shopify, Slack, Bethesda, Duolingo, Netflix, and Sociality.io.

Table of Contents

• What Are Product Updates?
• 3 Product Update Announcement Examples: Spotify, Shopify, and Slack
• 4 Questions to Answer Before Sending a Product Update Announcement
• Which Medium Should You Use for a Product Update Announcement?
• Product Update Software: How AnnounceKit Helps You Announce Updates

What Are Product Updates?

A product update is a fresh coat of paint for your favorite app or software. The team behind the product releases a new version with improvements and fixes, then tells users about it.

Product updates are typically used to announce:

• Bug fixes
• Performance improvements
• New features
• User interface changes
• Security updates
• User experience updates

Some teams ship updates on a fixed cadence, every few weeks or months. Others ship when there is something important to fix. Either way, users learn about the update through a message or notification so they can benefit from the latest version.

Your job is to find the most attention-grabbing way to promote each update.

The smartest way to announce an update is an effective message, delivered at the right time, through the medium where your audience is most likely to see it. The announcement should show how the update benefits the reader. It also builds your brand’s credibility. Remember that the medium carrying the message is as important as the message itself.

If crafting that message feels impossible and you feel lost, do not worry. That is where AnnounceKit comes in.

Our team has written the playbook on product update announcements that keep readers interested. We also built the product announcement software to deploy those strategies from one place.

Quick Setup, Easy to Use, and Many Integrations

Manage your product announcements from a single place and easily distribute them
across multiple channels.

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Why Product Updates Matter for Users

Product updates give users new features, better performance, and stronger security.

Regular updates help users get the most out of the product and stay current with industry standards and best practices. Updates also deliver the latest bug fixes, which keeps data safe and avoids unexpected disruptions.

Why Product Update Announcements Matter for Your Business

Product updates keep a business competitive.

A product that stays current with the latest technology and trends serves customers better and stays ahead of rivals.

More specifically, announcing product updates helps you:

• Drive adoption of new features by informing users and guiding them on how to get the most from each addition. Our new feature announcement examples show how this looks in practice.
• Build loyalty by addressing what your customers want. If several customers complained about or requested a feature, the update tells them: we heard you, and here it is.
• Recapture churned users with new features and functions. A good announcement can make a former user curious or satisfied enough to give the product another shot.
• Engage potential users by showing how the product keeps gaining value and functionality.
• Increase user engagement by making the product more user-friendly. An engaging announcement shows off that evolution and sets the tone for what users can expect next.

3 Product Update Announcement Examples: Spotify, Shopify, and Slack

Spotify: Personalized Features on a Newsroom-Style Updates Page

Spotify has a knack for learning, listening, and knowing what users want from its platform. That is why it announced in 2022 that it would add a “Live Events” feed to the app.

The feed tailors concert listings to each user’s location and interests. Listeners never have to leave the app to find out if and when a favorite artist is playing nearby.

The update made it easy to find shows that match users’ tastes. It also deepened their sense of connection with the platform.

More recently, in October 2024, Spotify released a feature that lets users create custom cover art for their playlists. This kind of personalization turns a playlist into a mood board, with endless creative possibilities and countless hours of active engagement with the product.

In a world of generalized content overload, these updates stand out because they help users cut through the noise with a product tuned to their preferences.

It is not just what Spotify announces. It is how Spotify announces it.

Spotify’s product announcement page is attractive, organized, and built to generate hype.

It weaves feature updates together with artist news and trending genres. You might arrive to check when a favorite artist’s album drops and stay to read about French language content and Spotify’s new offline backup feature.

Spotify shows how product updates can drive user engagement and build a brand that connects with customers on several levels at once.

Shopify: An Announcement Video That Makes Users Feel Heard

When you publish product updates, you want to engage users with information that resonates with them.

It is not only about solving a problem for users. It is about connecting with them so they feel heard and valued.

When a product announcement evokes emotion, you are doing something right.

Shopify did this well when it announced an AI-powered assistant for merchants.

In a short product announcement video, Shopify’s founder hit users right in the feelings by acknowledging that every superhero needs a sidekick (in this case, AI).

Instead of letting AI feel intimidating or unnecessary, Shopify framed it as one more tool on the entrepreneur’s tool belt. If video suits your product, our guide to video release notes explains how to produce them.

Slack: A Feature Update That Matches How Teams Work

The Slack “Huddle” update was a game-changer for team collaboration. Huddles let users start audio and video conversations with colleagues inside Slack, with no separate meeting scheduling or call setup.

The feature met a growing need for informal discussion and quick decision-making, mirroring the natural flow of in-person office interactions.

It promotes real-time collaboration while keeping participants engaged and connected. That boosts productivity and builds a sense of togetherness, even in virtual workspaces.

Slack is the perfect example of how a well-tailored product update can meet the changing demands of the workplace and improve users’ daily work experience.

4 Questions to Answer Before Sending a Product Update Announcement

1. How Important Is the Product Update?

Do not notify users about every small improvement one at a time. Show customers some care: bundle small bug fixes, frame them the right way, and announce them periodically.

Bethesda is an excellent example of a company that bundles small changes and patches into digestible content. Its game Fallout 76 has had up to 73,368 concurrent players online at one time on a single platform.

A game that popular, with that much bandwidth, hits the occasional bug. Some are mildly inconvenient or downright hilarious. Others end the session.

Instead of creating an announcement for every patch, bug fix, and minor addition, Bethesda takes a holistic approach. One post tells players they should no longer get trapped in the doors of the Pulowski Preservation Shelter and that damage vulnerabilities were updated for over 40 in-game enemies. For ways to structure this kind of post, see our release note examples and templates.

2. How Many Customers Does the Product Update Affect?

Not everyone will care about an update, and that is okay. Segment your users and tell each group only about the updates they would be interested in. This is the best way to build connections and turn users into loyal customers.

If you know which customers use the feature you changed, write a personalized message for that segment. Tell them you care.

Many small companies with a small customer base, the ones best placed to personalize, miss this step. Create a spreadsheet of all customers, the features they use most, and their feedback. Group them into segments and write one email per segment. It sounds like a hard task, but with a small customer base it takes a few hours.

3. How Proud Are You of the Product Update?

If the update took a huge amount of effort, tell the world how excited you are.

If it is worth sharing, share it in a smart, fun, and engaging way. Do not be afraid to add color or a little humor to build a deeper connection with users. Your brand voice lands hardest when it is loud and proud. Announcement software can act as the megaphone for your product updates.

AnnounceKit lets SaaS companies create unique, on-brand announcements using:

• Widgets
• Targeted user segments
• Notifications
• Roadmaps
• And more powerful features

4. How Often Should You Publish Product Update Announcements?

Publish product update announcements on a regular basis. Depending on your product, monthly or quarterly may work well.

If the product changes constantly, such as a blog or news platform, consider more frequent updates. Keeping customers informed of progress and changes ensures they experience the best possible version of your product.

Pricing changes deserve their own approach. Read our guide on how to announce price increases and decreases before you send one.

Which Medium Should You Use for a Product Update Announcement?

You are excited to share your product’s latest improvements and features, and the update is ready to go.

Pump the brakes for a moment. Before you hit “send,” make sure you have chosen the right medium to deliver the update.

The channel makes all the difference in how well your update is received. Do you know which medium is right for your audience? Here is how to pick it.

Product Update Emails

Billions of emails go out every day. You do not want your announcement buried or sent to the spam folder.

There are many techniques for catching users’ attention, which we will not cover here. But please use them. The era of mass email is over. Businesses have to respect customers and stop annoying them with junk that offers no benefit.

Product update and feature announcement emails can be a great, meaningful touchpoint with users. Make them clickable, nicely designed, and simply interesting.

Bundle small bug fixes and emphasize the important additions in the features list. Do not just tell users what you did. Explain how the update changes their experience.

If you redesigned the whole interface, prepare a guidebook, videos, and a product tour so customers are not confused.

Most importantly, personalize your emails. Use subscriber data to build more dynamic, clickable messages. Our product update email templates give you a starting point.

Good examples include “What we have accomplished in 2018” or “What we have been working on this month.”

Example: Duolingo

When Duolingo is not bombarding users with hilarious push notifications to get them back to their language lessons, it sends helpful product announcements about interesting new features by email.

In-App Product Update Announcements

No one wants news they are not interested in. In-app product update announcements work because they reach people who are already using your service.

Remember, an effective product update announcement sends the message to the right audience. A person who knows your product, how it looks and performs, and uses it actively is the right person. Talk to her and tell her about all the effort you put in.

AnnounceKit believes in giving people space to decide whether to click on flashing colorful dots. The widget is non-interruptive and welcoming at the same time. Once clicked, it disappears and does not bother the user again. Check it out yourself.

Example: Netflix

Netflix takes a less subtle approach to in-app announcements, but it works.

A full-page in-app overlay, with an exit button, pushes announcements to users while they use the product.

Product Updates Page on Your Website

Product updates pages should be welcoming and available for anyone who is interested in them.

Organize the page as an archive. Chronological order is the best way to show every update and to signal that you are continuously improving the software.

Will everybody see the page? Absolutely not.

Do you need the page? Absolutely yes.

Example: Sociality.io

Check out the product updates page above.

A good example, isn’t it? It was created with our very own product announcement software. Sociality.io is an all-in-one social media management platform. We love their updates page (not just because our software played a part in creating it).

Here is what Hasan Toprakkaya, Founder of Sociality.io, shared about our software:

“We started using AnnounceKit a few months ago. There are two main reasons why we need the tool. Firstly, our customers are asking us for so many new features, but most of these feature requests have already been developed by us. So we need to inform our customers about them. Secondly, we want to show potential customers our development process when they visit our website. It creates trust between us.”

Product Update Announcements on Social Media

Your customers follow you on social media because they want the news they care about and a chance to engage with your brand.

A customer-first approach to communication gets followers excited about updates and aware of them. Social media spreads information around the globe in seconds. It is the fastest way to make people know, and not using it the right way is simply a missed opportunity.

First, decide whether the announcement belongs on social media at all. Ask yourself whether the information, positive or negative, will have an impact on customers and followers.

Will the update be just another noisy tweet or post? If yes, reframe the message or bundle it with other less important bug fixes.

Example: Slack’s New Logo on Twitter

Did you notice Slack’s new logo and interface change? Here is how Slack used Twitter to announce it.

Slack gave customers a bite-sized preview of the coming news.

The replies were hilarious. That is a positive sign: Slack built a community of people who care about the company and were excited to see the news.

The announcing tweet is funny and tuned for the Twitter community. Look closely at the engagement rates. Impressive, isn’t it?

Product Update Announcement Blog Posts

Back to the question: how proud are you of the update?

Are you tremendously proud of the work behind a new feature? Did something change that affects every customer? If so, take one more step and summarize the product update announcement in a blog post.

Social media limits your words, and the message is expected to be short. A blog post is a smart way to announce product updates in depth. It gives you room to explain what you did and how the update changes users’ experience. It also gives you more space to be creative.

Unlike a website updates page, a blog post allows personal notes. Let the CEO or the head of Marketing or Development explain why the update matters to the business. Add extra detail on why it was hard to release.

Emphasizing the importance of an update, and how you accomplished it, builds brand credibility. It also gives readers value: entertainment, pro tips, and lessons on what could have been avoided. If you are launching something brand new rather than improving an existing product, see our guide on how to write a new product announcement.

Example: Crypterium’s 2018 Roundup

Crypterium is a top finance writer on Medium. It has been bringing innovation to the financial market since 2013, so blogging works because it lets the company explain complicated news and announcements more effectively.

Crypterium’s post “Crypterium 2018 RoundUp” is a great example of a smart updates summary. It answers three main questions: What have we accomplished in 2018? What are the important new releases and how do you use them? What other important news happened in 2018?

Product Update Software: How AnnounceKit Helps You Announce Updates

Your biggest fans will get excited about a new product update announcement no matter how it is delivered.

Unfortunately, your biggest fans are only a small portion of the customer base. As a business owner, you want to reach users at a larger scale.

It does not matter how hard developers and product managers work on creating perfect software. If your customers do not know about it, then they do not know about it. Not every update is noticeable, but every product update announcement should reach users in a smart and appropriate way.

A thoughtful approach to announcing product updates earns the benefits and rewards you deserve while improving service and delivering a better customer experience.

Cue AnnounceKit.

AnnounceKit is a smart way to create an updates page for your users and keep them engaged with widgets on your website.

Our all-in-one toolkit for product update announcements gets your message to your users, and it does so in a time- and cost-effective way.

Crafting an effective message and distributing it through various mediums can be tricky. With the right tools, you will soon discover that things are much simpler than they looked at first.

Quick Setup, Easy to Use, and Many Integrations

Manage your product announcements from a single place and easily distribute them
across multiple channels.

Go to Website