It takes just once to set up the pages and widgets that keep customers constantly updated via automation. Before any work begins on release notes, a decision needs to be made about their placement within the Confluence site. You can allocate a separate space within Confluence to create this documentation and then create a ‘Release Notes’ page to file all the relevant documentation.
They are a way to show the customer how your product is constantly improving and staying up-to-date with their needs. They provide customers with the latest information on what they can expect from the company’s products. It is equally essential for developers and product owners as it helps them understand why people are not using their products, allowing them to make improvements. Impacted users/products/software — This section should include what services or products are being changed and which users will be affected. With the software maturing, release notes help in documenting the product journey and life cycle. They support the process of creating user guides and training materials and enhance the overall user experience.
Make the intent of the changes clear
This document also supports the process of maintaining end-user experience, user guides, and training materials. When a new changelog entry is published, everyone who submitted, upvoted, or commented on this request gets an automatic notification. Use a variety of formatting to make your release notes entries even easier on the eye.
Check out the full library or keep on reading to skip to a specific template. Bit serves as a central hub where collaborators, content, and knowledge can be accessed in one all-inclusive document. Technical writers can use Bit to create release notes, collaborate with their team in real-time, and store all assets in one place for easy and fast access. Keep customers excited and informed about your product and reduce the pressure on your support and customer success teams by writing release notes. Rapidr can help manage the weary chore of writing release notes, distributing them with in-app widgets, and managing customer feedback to complete the customer loop.
Best practices for release notes
We list examples of great Release Notes by leading Saas companies. Issues/limitations/challenges — In this section, you should talk about all the limitations and obstacles you experienced while completing these changes. Introduction — The introduction should briefly describe the changes and the product. Overview – An introduction with a summary of features highlighting the new features. They bring both internal and external stakeholders up to speed with the latest changes in a product.
While a release note provides relevant information about a new product or product update, it’s not a substitute for a user guide or other in-depth product documentation. Beamer has different options in term of notification types. Beamer’s star product is a changelog and release notes tool that opens up right within your app’s interface or on your site when users click an icon. It opens up a rolling feed with all your updates in chronological order.
It’s just a changelog, so if you want a user feedback board, integrations, and a product roadmap, you must look at its alternatives. Release notes are a great way to show your customers you are listening to their feedback, either feature requests, ideas, or complaints. Providing these updates shows them that they matter to you and that you care about their experience.
How to Write Helpful Release Notes (+5 Examples)
Here are a few more guidelines to make sure you publish engaging release notes. Follow these tips if you’d like your release notes to be an asset instead of a burden. https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ This project provides guidelines and a tool-agnostic format for writing changelogs. It also offers a Python library called towncrier for generating changelogs.
You have implemented a changelog and kept your release notes simple, value-driven and visual. Now you have to make sure they are actually noticed by your users; calling your users’ attention. By adding visual elements, you can make release notes more interesting and engaging as well as help better explain what updates your team has made. Teach customers about how to use new features, to make the most out of your service, provide links and access to more in-depth resources.
Encourage your developers to write clear and informative commit messages describing each commit’s changes. Following a consistent format, such as the changelog format, can be helpful. Creating a quick video walkthrough can make your updates even easier to understand. Some people are visual learners, so they’d enjoy seeing rather than reading.
The product management/development team or technical writing team, which is in constant dialog with the dev team, are usually the ones responsible for writing the software release notes. It’s more common to have a dedicated technical writer or team of technical writers in larger orgs. While there’s no standard format for release notes, they should adhere to your own company standards. Release notes for a brand-new product might be slightly more descriptive than for bug fixes and feature enhancements. As with any other product-related documentation, consistency is key.
In the later case, leave the technical details and additional information for other profiles (like developers) somewhere else. It’s best to keep this in a different part of your website (maybe a dedicated release note section?) so you don’t lose the interest of your end user. Learn more about how to write release notes for different users. Properly categorizing the content of your release notes makes it easier for your users to quickly pinpoint the information that’s most relevant. Release notes are easier to absorb when they’re divided into sections and more manageable to browse.
If used effectively, they carve out a unique engagement channel for your users that will keep them thrilled about what’s coming next. Visuals also break up the text and make reading easier and more enjoyable. Depending on the format you choose, consider including the following elements to make your announcements more engaging. Developers use it to share code, work on projects together, and manage and track code changes. While very important, security updates fall under the category of non-major updates. They showcase your organization as responsible and reliable.
Use jargon-less notes as a way of connecting with the customer. If your brand is funny and light-hearted, your notes should reflect that. If your brand is eco-aware and green-friendly, adopt that messaging in your release notes as well. This consistency will resonate with customers who are familiar with your brand and drive loyalty. The first advantage is that users will know exactly where to go when they want to find out your latest updates.
- Release notes explain new features added, issues resolved, and improvements in a product or software by the company.
- The technical details (if included) in release notes such as test automation results, build time, build failures and environment responsiveness help keep track of metrics.
- The final version that is released must be vetted and finalized by your product manager or technical team.
- Release notes are one of the most overlooked aspects of product development.
- Make sure that the point of the update is clear with visual elements that catch attention.
Product release notes are kind of our thing here at LaunchNotes. We’ve read (and written) a lot of release notes over the years. And we wanted to share some examples of the best we’ve seen. Bit.ai is the essential next-gen workplace and document collaboration platform. That helps teams share knowledge by connecting any type of digital content. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can work visually and collaborate in real-time while creating internal notes, team projects, knowledge bases, client-facing content, and more.