Product update email example: a sample to copy
A product update email example for SaaS customers: a short sample to copy, subject lines to pick from, and how the lines can fill themselves from your deploys.
- Goes
- On a schedule you can keep, or when there is something to tell
- To
- People who joined your updates list
- Skipped when
- There is nothing new to say
The email
What's new in [Product]: invoices export as PDF
Hi {{first_name}}, This is what changed in [Product] since the last note. Invoices now export as PDF. Open an invoice and choose Export, and it uses your logo and payment details. Recurring invoices can start on a date you pick. Set it when you create one. Fixed: the total now rounds the same way on screen and in the PDF. If there is something you want that is not on this list, reply to this email.
An example for a made-up invoicing app. Swap in your own changes.
{{first_name}} is each person’s first name. If your tool uses another tag, swap it in.
Subject lines
- What's new in [Product]: invoices export as PDFin the email above
- What's new in [Product]: [biggest change]
- [Product] can now [do the thing]
- What shipped in [Product] this week
- The [thing] you asked about
- A few changes in [Product]
Why it works
People read a product update when they can tell in one line what it means for them. Lead with what they can now do rather than what you built, keep to the few changes they would notice, and send one only when there is something to say.
A thin update teaches readers to stop opening them, so a month with nothing in it is a month to skip.
Make it yours
- Lead with what the person can do now: “You can export to CSV”, not “Added an export module”.
- Three changes is plenty. Past five, the list gets skimmed.
- Link each change to the place it lives, so the email is a way into the product.
More examples
One big thing
[Product] can now export to PDF
Hi {{first_name}}, You asked for PDF export, and it's live. Open any invoice and choose Export. It uses your logo and your payment details. Tell me how it goes. Reply to this email.
Filled in from your deploys
What's new in [Product]
Hi {{first_name}}, This is what changed since the last note: {{what_shipped}} If there is something you want that is not here, reply to this email.
Write yours from your URL
Paste your site's address and the generator writes your welcome, onboarding, thank-you and failed payment emails from it.
How Kicklace sends it
On your Lifecycle map, a Product updates list can send on a schedule: every week, every other week or every month, at 9:00. The email carries a variable that fills itself when it goes out. Connect Vercel (Deployments from Vercel) and every production deploy becomes a release, and the variable reads what shipped. With GitHub connected as well, it adds the commit and pull request titles, one dated line each.
Kicklace shows you the email as it will arrive before it goes. It lands on Home under Needs you, and you approve it or decline it. Where there is nothing new, that one is skipped: a week with nothing deployed sends nothing. It goes only to people who joined the list, with the exact sentence each one agreed to kept beside their subscription, and every email carries a one-click unsubscribe.
Questions
How often should I send a product update email?
As often as you have something worth reading, on a rhythm you can keep. In Kicklace a list can send every week, every other week or every month, and an update with nothing new in it is skipped.
Who should get a product update email?
People who asked to hear from you. Kicklace sends a list's email only to people who agreed, and keeps the sentence they agreed to.
Can the update write itself?
The lines can write themselves: a variable such as {{what_shipped}} fills itself from your deploys when the email goes out, and you read the email before it does. The Vercel deploy guide covers the setup.
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We're building Kicklace so you can get back to building your own product. We'll email you when there's something new worth showing.