How to Announce New Features via Email
Feature announcement emails are a minefield. Send too many and users tune out completely. Send too few and features die in obscurity. Most SaaS companies get this wrong because they treat every product update as announcement-worthy, flooding inboxes with updates nobody asked for. The result is trained indifference: users see "New Feature" in the subject line and immediately archive without reading.
The companies that get feature announcements right understand something fundamental. Users don't care about features. They care about solving their problems faster, doing their jobs better, and spending less time on tedious work. A feature announcement that leads with "We added a new dashboard" is already dead on arrival. One that leads with "Find your best customers in 10 seconds instead of 10 minutes" might actually get read. The difference isn't just copywriting polish. It's a complete shift in how you think about product communication.
Why Most Feature Announcements Fail
The root cause of bad feature announcements is organizational, not creative. Product teams ship features, marketing gets told to announce them, and nobody stops to ask whether users actually need to know about this update right now. The result is a steady drip of emails about minor improvements that mean nothing to most of your user base.
Think about the last ten feature announcement emails you received from products you use. How many do you remember? Probably none. That's because they all follow the same pattern: generic subject line, screenshot of the new UI, bullet points about what changed, link to try it out. This format isn't inherently bad, but when every company sends the same type of email every week, users develop email blindness. Your announcements become noise.
There's also the relevance problem. When you send the same announcement to your entire user base, you're guaranteeing that most recipients don't care about what you're announcing. A feature designed for enterprise teams means nothing to solo users. An integration with a specific tool is irrelevant to anyone who doesn't use that tool. Mass announcements feel impersonal because they are impersonal, and users can tell when an email wasn't written for them. For a deeper dive on making your emails more relevant, check out our guide on SaaS email marketing benchmarks to understand what engagement rates you should actually be aiming for.
Deciding What Deserves an Email Announcement
Not every feature deserves an email. This is the hardest lesson for product-led companies to learn because every feature feels important when you're the one who built it. But restraint is what separates companies with high-engagement email programs from those with 8% open rates.
The Announcement Tier System
Build a tier system for your product updates:
Tier 1: Standalone email announcement. Features that fundamentally change user workflows, solve widely requested problems, or represent significant product milestones. These happen 2-6 times per year. Examples: major new module, platform redesign, new pricing tier, significant integration with a popular tool.
Tier 2: Included in a monthly roundup. Features that are genuinely useful but don't warrant their own email. Group 3-5 of these into a monthly or bi-weekly product update newsletter. Examples: UI improvements, new report types, workflow enhancements, minor integrations.
Tier 3: Changelog only. Bug fixes, performance improvements, small UX tweaks, and backend changes. Users who care can find these in your changelog. Don't email about them.
Tier 4: No announcement needed. Internal refactoring, infrastructure changes, and updates that have no visible user impact. Don't announce these anywhere.
The "Would I Tell a Friend?" Test
A good litmus test: if you ran into a customer at a coffee shop, would you excitedly tell them about this feature? If yes, it might warrant an email. If you'd feel silly bringing it up in conversation, it belongs in the changelog.
Another test: can you complete the sentence "Now you can ___" in a way that makes a user genuinely excited? "Now you can see which emails drive the most revenue" passes. "Now you can change the font on your settings page" doesn't.
Segmenting Your Announcements for Maximum Relevance
The single biggest improvement you can make to feature announcement emails is sending them to the right people. A perfectly written announcement sent to users who don't care will still fail. A mediocre announcement sent to users who desperately need that feature will still succeed.
Start by categorizing your features by user type. Some features matter to admins but not regular users. Some features matter to power users but not occasional users. Some features are specific to certain industries or use cases. When you know who a feature is for, you can target your announcement to exactly that segment.
User behavior is your best targeting signal. If you shipped a reporting feature, send the announcement to users who frequently view reports or have requested better analytics through support tickets. If you shipped a collaboration feature, send it to users on team plans who have invited colleagues. If you shipped an integration, send it to users who have connected other integrations or who have that tool's domain in their email address. The more precisely you target, the more your emails will feel like helpful notifications rather than marketing spam.
Building these segments requires having the right data infrastructure. You need to track product usage events and make them available to your email platform. This is table stakes for modern SaaS email, and it pays dividends across every type of email you send, not just feature announcements. See our guide on how to segment SaaS email subscribers for the technical details.
Segmentation Strategies by Feature Type
| Feature Type | Target Segment | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced reporting | Users who view reports weekly+ | They'll immediately see value |
| New integration | Users of the connected tool | Relevant to their workflow |
| Team collaboration | Multi-user accounts | Solo users don't need this |
| API improvements | Users with active API keys | Technical users who'll appreciate it |
| Mobile improvements | Users who access via mobile | Desktop-only users won't care |
| Pricing change | Everyone (but segment messaging) | Different plans need different framing |
Writing Subject Lines That Get Opened
The subject line is where most feature announcements die. "New Feature: Custom Dashboards" tells users nothing about why they should care. It's the email equivalent of a highway billboard that just says "Product."
Effective feature announcement subject lines follow a few principles:
Lead with the outcome, not the feature. "Your reports just got 3x faster" beats "Introducing Report Performance Improvements." The first tells users what changed in their world. The second tells them what you did.
Be specific. "Save 2 hours per week on reporting" beats "New time-saving features." Specificity creates credibility. Vague promises feel like marketing spin.
Create curiosity without being clickbait. "Something you've been asking for is here" can work if you've actually been getting requests for this feature. But don't use this formula for features nobody asked for.
Use numbers when possible. "3 new ways to filter your audience" is more concrete than "New audience filtering options."
A/B test your announcement subject lines when the audience is large enough. For tier-1 features going to your full user base, a subject line test can significantly increase the number of users who see your announcement.
Structuring Your Feature Announcement Email
The structure of a feature announcement email should follow a simple principle: benefit first, mechanics second. Lead with what the user can now accomplish, not with what you built. The first sentence should make the reader think "I want that" before they even know what the feature is.
The Anatomy of an Effective Announcement
1. Benefit-driven headline. Instead of "Introducing Custom Dashboards," try "See your most important metrics the moment you log in." Instead of "New API Endpoints Available," try "Automate your workflow with our expanded API." The feature name can come later. What matters first is hooking the reader with a promise of value.
2. Brief explanation (2-3 sentences). After the hook, briefly explain what changed. This is where you describe the feature itself, but keep it short. Users don't need to understand every detail from the email. They need to understand enough to decide whether to click through and try it.
3. Visual proof. Include a visual if it helps. Screenshots work well for UI changes because users can immediately see what's different. But don't include visuals just to have visuals. A screenshot of a settings page rarely adds value. A screenshot of a new dashboard that looks genuinely useful does.
4. Single, clear CTA. "Try it now" works better than "Learn more" because it implies action rather than passive consumption. Link directly to where the feature lives in your product, not to a help article or landing page. Reduce friction between reading the email and experiencing the feature.
5. Optional: Social proof or context. "12,000 teams are already using advanced analytics" or "This was our most-requested feature of Q4." This adds credibility without extending the email.
What NOT to Include
- Release notes or technical details (put these in your changelog)
- Multiple features competing for attention (focus on one)
- Long explanations of the development process
- Requests for feedback (save this for a follow-up)
- Unrelated CTAs (newsletter signup, social follows, etc.)
Making Your Feature Easy to Adopt
The announcement email is just the first touchpoint. If users click through but don't understand how to use the feature, you've wasted the opportunity. Think about the feature announcement as the first email in a micro-sequence designed to drive adoption. This connects to a broader feature adoption email strategy that goes beyond just announcing.
The Feature Adoption Sequence
Email 1 (Day 0): The Announcement. Lead with the benefit, show the feature, link to try it. This is the email we've been discussing.
Email 2 (Day 3-5): The How-To. For users who clicked the announcement but didn't engage with the feature, send a brief tutorial. "Here's how to set up your first custom dashboard in 60 seconds." Include a short video or step-by-step instructions. This email catches users who were interested but got confused or distracted.
Email 3 (Day 7-10): The Success Story. For users who still haven't tried the feature, share a concrete example of how another customer uses it. "How Company X uses custom dashboards to save 3 hours per week." Social proof from peers is often more persuasive than your own marketing.
Email 4 (Day 14): The Gentle Reminder. A final, brief reminder for users who engaged with earlier emails but haven't tried the feature. Keep it short: "Quick reminder: your custom dashboard is ready to set up whenever you are. Here's the link."
Only send follow-ups to users who showed initial interest (opened or clicked the announcement) but didn't adopt the feature. Don't chase users who clearly aren't interested.
In-Product Coordination
In-product experiences matter as much as email. Coordinate your announcement with tooltips, product tours, or contextual prompts that help users discover the feature when they're in the right context. The email gets them into the product. The in-product experience teaches them what to do. For more on this approach, read our guide on how to send emails based on product events to understand the event tracking needed for in-product and email coordination.
Track feature adoption as your primary success metric. Open rates and click rates tell you whether the email worked as an email. Feature adoption tells you whether the email worked as a business driver. Connect your email analytics to your product analytics so you can see the full picture.
The Role of Screenshots and Visuals
Visuals can make or break a feature announcement. A good screenshot communicates more than paragraphs of text. A bad screenshot wastes space and adds nothing. The difference comes down to what you're actually showing.
What Makes an Effective Visual
Effective feature announcement visuals show the feature in action with realistic data. They highlight the specific UI element that's new or changed. They're annotated if necessary to draw attention to key areas. They're sized appropriately for email, which means they should be legible on mobile without zooming.
Avoid generic placeholder data in screenshots. If your feature is a dashboard, show a dashboard with real-looking metrics that tell a story. If it's a workflow builder, show a realistic workflow that solves an actual problem. Users should look at the screenshot and immediately understand the value, not see empty states or obviously fake data.
GIFs and Animation
GIFs work well for demonstrating interactions that can't be captured in a static image. Drag-and-drop interfaces, multi-step workflows, and before/after transformations all benefit from animation. Keep GIFs under 10 seconds and make sure they loop cleanly. A choppy or endless GIF is worse than no visual at all.
Be mindful of GIF file size. Large GIFs slow down email loading and may not display in all email clients. Keep them under 1MB if possible. Some email clients don't support GIFs at all, so always include a fallback static image.
Tailored Visuals for Different Segments
Consider creating different visuals for different segments. Enterprise users might benefit from seeing the feature in a complex, data-rich context. Small business users might prefer a simpler example. The extra effort pays off in relevance.
Changelog vs. Individual Announcements
You need both a changelog and individual announcement emails, but they serve different purposes. The changelog is your comprehensive record of all changes. Individual announcements highlight the changes that matter most.
Your changelog should capture everything: major features, minor improvements, bug fixes, and performance updates. Some users genuinely want to know about every change, and the changelog serves them. It also provides SEO value and a reference point for support conversations. Keep your changelog updated with every release, even if you don't send an email.
Individual announcement emails are reserved for features that deserve attention. Not every changelog entry needs an email. The email should link to the changelog for users who want more detail, but the email itself should focus on a single feature or a tightly related group of features.
Some companies do monthly roundup emails that summarize everything in the changelog. This can work, but be careful about email length. A roundup that tries to cover twenty updates will be skimmed at best. If you're doing roundups, pick the three to five most impactful updates and link to the full changelog for the rest. For detailed guidance on writing effective roundups, see our guide on product update newsletters.
The format you choose should match your release cadence and your audience's expectations. B2B SaaS products with weekly releases might do well with monthly roundups. Products with fewer, larger releases can do individual announcements for each major launch.
Measuring Feature Adoption from Emails
The metrics that matter for feature announcements are different from other email types. Opens and clicks are proxies, not outcomes. The real question is whether users tried the feature and kept using it.
Building a Measurement Framework
Build a measurement framework that tracks the full funnel: email sent, email opened, email clicked, feature tried, feature adopted. Define what "tried" and "adopted" mean for each feature. For a dashboard feature, tried might mean viewing the dashboard once and adopted might mean viewing it three times in the first week. For an integration, tried might mean starting the connection flow and adopted might mean completing it.
Here's a template for tracking feature announcement performance:
| Metric | Definition | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Email open rate | Unique opens / delivered | >35% (for targeted sends) |
| Email click rate | Unique clicks / delivered | >5% |
| Feature trial rate | Users who tried / users who clicked | >40% |
| Feature adoption rate | Users who adopted / users who tried | >25% |
| Incremental adoption | Adoption rate for email recipients vs. non-recipients | >2x lift |
Attribution and Incrementality
Compare feature adoption rates between users who received the announcement email and those who didn't. This gives you the true incrementality of your email. If adoption rates are similar regardless of whether users got the email, your emails aren't driving behavior. If announcement recipients adopt at significantly higher rates, you know the email is working.
Use these insights to improve future announcements. Which subject lines drove the highest downstream adoption, not just the highest open rates? Which segments were most responsive? Which features saw the biggest gap between email click and feature adoption, suggesting a friction problem? Over time, you'll develop intuition for what makes announcements effective.
Track these insights using the same email marketing KPIs framework you use for other email types, with the addition of feature-specific adoption metrics.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The most common mistake is treating feature announcements as obligations rather than opportunities. You don't owe users an email every time something changes. You owe them communications that respect their time and deliver genuine value. When you frame announcements as "we need to tell them about this" instead of "they'll want to know about this," you've already lost.
Another mistake is burying the lead. Some companies spend three paragraphs building up to the feature, explaining the problem space, the research they did, and the design process. By the time they get to the actual announcement, users have stopped reading. Get to the point immediately. Context is for blog posts, not email announcements.
Generic subject lines kill open rates. "Product Update" and "New Feature" tell users nothing and give them no reason to open. A subject line should create curiosity or communicate value in a few words. "Your reports just got 3x faster" is better than "Reporting improvements."
Announcing too frequently. If you're sending feature announcements weekly, users will start ignoring all of them. Batch minor updates into roundups and reserve standalone emails for genuinely significant features. This is as much about protecting future open rates as it is about the current email.
Ignoring mobile. More than half of emails are opened on phones. If your announcement includes screenshots, make sure they're legible on small screens. If your CTA button is too small to tap, users won't tap it. Test every announcement on a mobile device before sending.
No follow-up plan. Sending an announcement and hoping for the best is a wasted opportunity. Plan the full feature announcement email sequence before sending the first email. Know what happens if users click but don't adopt, and have a plan for nudging them forward.
Putting It All Together
Great feature announcement emails share a few characteristics. They go to the right people, not to everyone. They lead with benefits, not features. They include visuals that communicate value at a glance. They have a single clear CTA that links directly to the feature. And they're sent sparingly enough that users haven't trained themselves to ignore them.
The mechanics aren't complicated. What's hard is the discipline to hold back when you have something to announce but the feature isn't significant enough to warrant an email. What's hard is building the data infrastructure to target announcements precisely. What's hard is measuring adoption instead of just opens.
But when you get it right, feature announcements become a growth lever. Users discover capabilities they didn't know existed. They use your product more deeply. They're more likely to upgrade because they see continuous improvement. The email inbox becomes a place where your product provides value, not a place where your marketing tries to demand attention.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I email every feature update or batch them together?
Batch minor updates into monthly or bi-weekly roundups. Only send standalone emails for significant features that meaningfully change how users work. A good rule: if the feature doesn't warrant its own blog post, it doesn't warrant its own email.
Who should feature announcement emails come from?
The product manager, engineering lead, or founder -- someone who can speak credibly about why the feature was built. "From the product team" feels more authentic than generic marketing copy. Users are more likely to engage when the email feels like a note from a real person.
What's the ideal length for a feature announcement email?
150-250 words with one screenshot or GIF. Lead with the benefit in one sentence, show the feature visually, explain how to use it in 2-3 sentences, and end with a single CTA to try it. Feature announcements that read like release notes get ignored.
Should I send feature announcements to all users?
No. Send them to users who would actually benefit from the feature. If you launched an advanced reporting feature, send it to power users and admins, not new signups who haven't mastered the basics yet. Targeted announcements get 2-3x higher engagement.
When is the best time to send a feature announcement?
Tuesday through Thursday, mid-morning in your users' primary timezone. Avoid Mondays (inbox overload) and Fridays (winding down). For features that require action during work hours, mid-week mornings give users time to try the feature while it's fresh.
How do I measure whether a feature announcement email was successful?
Track feature adoption rate, not just open and click rates. The real metric is how many recipients actually used the feature within 7 days of the email. If clicks are high but adoption is low, the feature itself may need UX improvements.
Should I include a video demo in the announcement?
A 30-second GIF or animated screenshot is better than a full video for most features. It communicates value instantly without requiring the user to click play. For complex features, link to a full walkthrough video as a secondary CTA.
How do I announce features that require users to take action or migrate?
Be extra clear about what they need to do and why. Include a timeline if the old way is being deprecated. Provide step-by-step instructions and link to documentation. Send a follow-up reminder closer to the deadline for users who haven't migrated.
Should I A/B test feature announcement emails?
Test subject lines for your biggest feature launches since these go to the widest audience. For smaller, targeted announcements, the sample size is often too small for meaningful A/B tests. Focus testing efforts on emails that reach at least 2,000 recipients.
How do I handle feature announcements for paid-only features?
Be transparent about which plan includes the feature. For free users, frame it as a preview of what's available on higher plans without being pushy. For paying customers on lower tiers, mention the upgrade path but focus the email on the value, not the upsell.