Stop Sounding Robotic: Smarter Feature Announcements
Most companies treat feature launches like mini Super Bowl ads, a pattern that often leads to silent churn if onboarding isn’t fixed.
Big subject lines.
Glossy emails. Mass blasts to everyone at once.
But customers don’t want ads.
They want useful, well-timed nudges that feel like help, not hype.
If you want customers to actually try your new feature (and keep using it), your announcement can’t look like marketing.
The Problem with Feature Announcements
Your existing customers already trust you.
They don’t need to be “sold” on what you’ve built. They need to see why it matters in the context of their own workflow, just like when applying the feature request playbook for CS teams.
And the fastest way to lose them is to treat your feature like a one-time launch campaign instead of weaving it into their day-to-day journey.
The Timing Strategy That Changes Everything
Instead of focusing on what to say, focus on when to say it.
The most effective announcements happen when customers are already engaged with something related, a timing principle that also powers customer re-engagement strategies.
When someone hits a milestone, your feature can improve
After they’ve used a related capability multiple times in a week
When they’re exploring the exact area where your new feature lives
Example:
A customer exporting data three times in one week sees:
👉 “Did you know you can now export directly to Salesforce in one click?”
That doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like help.
Common Mistakes That Kill Engagement
Announcing too early (before stability or docs are ready)
Talking features instead of benefits
Sending the same message to everyone
Forgetting time zones in global rollouts
Skipping internal alignment: Sales, Support, and Product should know the feature inside out before customers hear about it. Otherwise, you create confusion and kill adoption, a challenge I explored in the Sales-to-CS handoff framework.
You’re reading the free edition of The CS Café.
The rest of this post, including the 3-week rollout plan, trigger-based email flows, and internal team alignment playbook, is for Premium members only.
⬇️ Premium subscribers also get a downloadable 1-page Feature Announcement Checklist PDF you can share directly with your CS or Product teams.