Release Notes: Templates and Best Practices

What are Release Notes?

First things first, you might be familiar with the concept of release notes, but what exactly are they?

Release notes are technical documents that detail a new product or update release, communicating changes, fixes, additional features, and upgrades associated with the new release.

They provide key information to help new and current users navigate the latest updates. That is why, depending on who reads these notes, you should use technical or non-technical language. 

It is also important to mention that release notes are different from changelogs. 

Yes, they are both used by product teams to announce changes and improvements. However, their intended audience and tone are completely different.

While changelogs provide detailed lists of the new features, enhancements, bug fixes, or other changes, release notes are usually quick guides to describe the latest release of a product or service.

💡 Tip: If you’re unsure whether you need changelogs or release notes for your next version update, make sure to read our blog post!

Why Write Release Notes?

Essentially, release notes are crucial for software development teams to communicate new features, improvements, and bug fixes to users.

For users, release notes are the place where they find information about updated features, what has been added to your product, or generally what has changed.

But there’s more. Let’s dig deeper👇 

Activate the full potential of your product

If your target users don’t know the feature they have been waiting for a long time has finally been released, they won’t use it.

If they don’t use it, then they won’t see the value in that feature, and by extension, your product. 

Release note is a quick and easy fix for this problem. 

It lets your users know that their expectations are met, crashes and bugs are fixed, and that your product evolves alongside their needs.

The faster they realize the value of your product, the better they will feel about investing time and energy into it.

Improve new feature adoption with maximum usage

New feature adoption is users “adopting” your latest feature by simply using it. It is an important metric to gauge interest in whether users discover your new feature, try it out, and make a long-term habit of using it.

How can release notes take this to the next level, you may ask. 

Well, first of all, by clearly communicating how new features function, you can reduce concerns about bugs. 

Good release notes also help you show (not tell) the value of these improved features and how users can use them. Also, you can use these notes in your marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness.

In fact, by adding multimedia elements like GIFs, screenshots, or short video recordings, you can add a bit of “sparkles” into new releases, not just list the latest changes in bullet points (which can be boring from the user’s perspective).

Check out this example from Squarespace👇

Having a direct URL in the form of a blog post, landing page, or website can give the users a visual sneak peek, so they are more likely to give these feature enhancements a try! 

Enhance the overall user experience

I can hear you saying, “But Aysenur, who cares?”

It’s simple: If you don’t care about guiding your users on new features, then your users won’t care about your product.

Release notes support the process of creating user guides and training materials, so your users can feel confident about supporting the latest version of your product. 

The more confident they are, the more they will use (and spread the word about) your product.

It’s a win-win! 

Who Should Write the Release Notes?

It’s hard to think of writing release notes in isolation. 

The customer support and marketing team will need a demo of the update before writing them. Product managers will have to oversee that the notes are written on time.

A technical writer or any other member of the product, development, and test team can create software release notes. 

However, collaboration will make the product launch process a success. 

The extent of that collaboration will depend on your size, but here are the main groups who create their own release notes process:

1. Product Guardians

If you see “product guardians” and assume that it’s a fancy word for CEOs, then you’re wrong.

It’s a fancy word for product managers.

They are guarding the product because they are responsible for ensuring that the product “thrives in the market and has a good growth path with the right vision”.

They are also in touch with other teams to communicate how the updates align with user needs and business goals.

If your product guardian is in charge of writing product release notes, make sure that they create high-level summaries focused on user-facing changes by using strategic messaging.

2. Technical Writers

Technical writers are experts in creating clear, concise, and user-friendly documentation.

In other words, they translate the “engineer” or “design” into English. Their task is to bridge the gap between technical complexity and user comprehension.

If you’re working with technical writers, you will get detailed and structured notes, especially for technical updates or developer target audiences.

They will do a couple of rounds of drafts and formatting to ensure consistency across releases.

3. Developers

Developers are directly involved in implementing the upcoming changes and therefore understand the technical details best. 

Their release notes are usually internal and targeted at technical teams. They highlight the backend improvements or API updates.

4. Marketing or Customer Success Teams

This is probably the first group people think about when they need to work on release notes documents.

It’s mainly because these teams understand the customer’s perspective and can show the benefits of features to excite users.

Their release notes usually focus on user engagement and value proposition. It’s all about highlighting new features in ways that drive adoption or retention.

One of my favorite examples comes from Slack, they nail user engagement every time! 👇

Why does it work?

At first glance, some might find this a waste of space. Some might even get annoyed. That is fair to an extent. This type of release note may backfire if you’re not as popular as Slack.

However, think of it this way: It is a great way to build your brand. While some people will be turned off by how “unserious” this is, others will think that Slack does not take itself “too seriously”.

They acknowledge their users and it adds a touch of humanity. It’s unique so people will more likely read it until the end and share it on social media—word-of-mouth marketing, everyone! 👏

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

No single role has a complete picture of both the technical details and user value. That is why it is important to establish cross-functional collaboration early on.

How does it work then?

Developers will work on the technical details. Product managers will align the draft with user needs and goals. Technical writers will refine for clarity and tone while marketing teams will add a user-focused perspective.

Voila! 

The result is release notes keeping users informed with a touch of your unique brand voice.

How to Write Effective Release Notes

We’re going to talk about best practices in a minute, so I will give you a brief overview of what must be included in your dedicated release notes page.

Take a pen and a notebook, and let’s begin!

The first step is writing a summary. Start with an introductory header and a short overview of the key features, improvements, and bug fixes of the release. You can use the latest version number as the header or get a little creative.

Then, add short descriptions of new features. What has changed? How will the user benefit from these major features? Make sure to highlight these points so it’s easier to understand.

Yes, it’s normal to prioritize new feature releases and improvements. But do you know what else is important?

Mentioning issues that have been resolved. Trust me, people want to know if they will run into the same issues since the last release. It set expectations. Expectations that you must meet.

But don’t forget that people read from their own perspective. Don’t overwhelm them with technical details.

Software Release Notes Templates and Examples

Let’s put theory into practice, shall we?

I’ll first share a couple of release notes templates with you to contextualize what we’ve been discussing so far. Then, I am going to share some real-life examples to inspire you.

Let’s start with a standard release template:

Version: 1.2.3
Release Date: January 16, 2025

New Features:

• Added support for multi-language localization (English, Spanish, French).
• Introduced a dark mode for the user interface.

Improvements:

• Optimized app performance for faster loading times on mobile devices.
• Enhanced search functionality with autocomplete suggestions.

Bug Fixes:

• Resolved issues where notifications were not appearing on Android devices.
• Fixed bug causing crashes when exporting large files on Windows.

Known Issues:

• Some users may experience delays in syncing data after upgrading.

This template is used for a regular software release that includes new features, improvements, bug fixes, and potentially some known issues. It's perfect for minor updates or feature enhancements.

The second template is better suited for landing pages, check it out👇

Version: 2.1.4

Release Date: January 16, 2025

What's New in This Update?

Security Improvements

• Authentication Fixes: We've patched a critical security vulnerability in our user authentication process to ensure your data is always safe.

Bug Fixes

• Login Crash Fixed: Resolved an issue where users experienced crashes when signing in with Facebook credentials.
• Network Stability: We've improved error handling for better performance during login, even in low connectivity situations.

Known Issues

• A few users may still encounter intermittent payment issues on older devices. We're actively working on a fix for this.

Why Update?

This update ensures a smoother, more secure experience for all users. We strongly recommend updating to enjoy these critical fixes and improvements.

[Update Now Button]

This version is more suited for a web or app landing page, with an easy-to-read format, a focus on key updates, and a call to action to encourage users to update right away.

Now, let’s look at real life examples👇

Discord

Discord’s release notes are shared on a dedicated landing page so users know where to look for the newest updates. 

✅What’s good in this example?

• It has a unique style that combines value and friendly language without being extremely casual. Since Discord is a social messaging platform, their release notes tone reflects that friendliness.
• The bold text acts as a summary to show what has changed. If the user is interested, they can read the rest of the bullet point to get a sense of how the update works.
• Sidebar navigation is great for skimming. 

❌What’s not really good in this example?

• There are no visuals like GIFs, screenshots, or videos which can potentially make it harder for users to understand the features.
• Users have to leave their app and open their browser to find the latest developments within the product which may not be the best choice for feature adoption.

Adobe Creative Suite

✅What’s good in this example?

• Short and snappy sentences to capture the audience’s attention.
• The use of visuals helps users to have a near first-hand experience with the latest change. 
• K15t team on Youtube shares that: 

“For those improvements where they are larger than the one or two sentences that used to summarize, you can click to learn more and … that opens up the product documentation but in a side window which is great … to explore that new improvement.”

❌What’s not really good in this example?

• Everything works well with this one! 

Product Release Notes Best Practices

It’s time to talk about how you can write the best release notes in the market. These practices will take your notes from “boring” to “interesting."

🚨Spoiler alert: It’s all about hooking your audience. And hooking them fast.

Ready, set, go!

Have a standalone release notes page

Whatever format you decide to distribute your release notes, make sure you have a dedicated page to make it easy for users to find the latest updates. 

After all, the page will be their go-to address for product updates.

Speaking of product updates…

📯 Not to toot our own horn but did you know that you can promote the next releases in minutes with UserGuiding?

‍

With this feature, you can have two-way communication with users. They can react to your updates and write comments all on one page! 

Also, you can stick these updates to your resource center, create an in-app announcement modal, or push a UI notification.

📯Give UserGuiding’s Product Updates a Try📯

Adopt a multi-channel distribution strategy

Yes, it is necessary to have a standalone page for your notes. But you shouldn’t stop there.

Why not take advantage of other channels and basically advertise your product for free?

You need to shift your mindset around these notes: They can be a good marketing source if you know how to play.

If you share your notes on multiple channels, the first thing to consider is your vocabulary.

Too technical and you’re going to bore your target audience. Too long? They’ll lose interest.

The middle ground is… 

You guessed it right: Short and captivating sentences. 

Let me show you a good example👇

This example works really well because it combines an informational visual with a captivating hook and a short description. The users understand the value of the update immediately.

💡BONUS:

This sneak peek is also great because it has a “social media first” approach. What do I mean by that?

The image does not tire the eye, and uses relevant emojis and social media jargon (spoiler alert) to reach the target audience.

🎉 I personally give 10/10 to Kapptivate’s release notes!

Get help from SaaS tools and AI

AI is everywhere, so why not use it to polish your release notes? Specifically AI-powered SaaS tools can be really helpful for this process.

These tools streamline the creation, publishing, and distribution of release notes. You can contextualize the changes with visuals, using screenshots, GIFs, videos, and even diagrams to make your notes more engaging. 

Check out this example from Grove👇

The best part is… None of the teams had to design or write a single line of code for this custom announcement. 

Instead, they used UserGuiding’s Product Updates feature that helps them get to know their customers better.

Create your own release notes templates

If you publish a lot of updates frequently, writing release notes from scratch will be a hassle. 

This is why it is better to have a release note template within your workflow to save time and ensure consistency across different versions and channels.

Make it user-focused instead of product-focused

This is perhaps the most important thing that you need to do.

Make your notes user-focused instead of product-focused.

I get it. You want to scream from the rooftops how your next new feature will take your product to the next level. You’re excited to see how users will react, rightfully.

However, this eventually leads to centralizing how you think the users will react rather than anticipating what the users actually want to see. 

Therefore, it is important to tone your enthusiasm a bit to give space to make the intent of the changes clear to your audience. 

What has changed? What do those changes mean to the user?

Provide specific information they need and make it easy to find.

How to Distribute Release Notes

You’ve outlined, drafted, collaborated with other teams, revised, drafted again and now you have a completed release notes page.

What’s next?

A lot of people put all their energy into creating release notes and overlook the distribution part. In reality, the best release note is the one people can easily find.

If you don’t point people to your release notes, they won’t know (or care) about what you’ve changed to make your product better.

Don’t worry! I’ve gathered the best distribution channels here so you can actually reap the fruits of your hard work.

Keep reading👇

Distribute release notes in-app

Is there a better way to put your release note in your app where users already are taking action regularly? I don’t think so.

Yet, some businesses put these notes in the most obscure corner of their app that even the most die-hard fan of the product fails to find them.

Don’t be like those businesses. 

In-app distribution allows you to put the latest changes in front of your users as soon as they open the app, so they’re more likely to try the new features or use the bug-free version of another feature to see if it works better.

Another great example from Slack👇

Distributing release notes within the app allows your users to try the updates immediately and increases feature adoption. 

They don’t only read words on a screen. Instead, they get first-hand experience with how these new changes work within the larger scope of your product.

Isn’t that the dream?

What if I told you that you can actually create in-app notifications without overwhelming your teams? Without writing a single line of code and in minutes?

💡 UserGuiding’s in-app notification feature is great for announcing product updates, bug fixes, and new features—just what you would do with release notes.

You can customize the notifications to reflect your brand’s image and place them where you know users will see them.

🚀Ready to see in-app notifications in action? Try UserGuiding today!🚀  

Use email to distribute release notes

If you have a strong email audience, leverage that to send your release notes. It can help you gather user feedback and open possible collaboration opportunities to make your product better.

Similar to in-app notifications, you can divide your email list into segments based on user behavior, demographics, and product usage to gauge interest in new product updates.

Let’s take a look at this example from ClickUp👇

What works well here? 

By having a display name like “ClickUpdates”, ClickUp sets the expectation of change and improvements for its user base immediately. The subject line also gives a hint about these changes: Beta version of Whiteboards (new feature), profile cards, etc.

Remember that if you choose to send your release notes via email, make sure it’s easily skimmable and not wordy. 

Similarly, consider what kind of language your audience best responds to. If you have been sending emails in a casual tone in the past, do not switch to technical jargon.

Publish release notes on your blog

This is probably the most popular method to distribute release notes.

Why?

First and foremost, it is searchable online which means that you are more likely to get traffic and attract new users to your product compared to emails or in-app notifications.

Second, it is easier to identify the author behind the post. People want to feel connected to other people and look for personal connections instead of interacting with automated content.

The “public” nature of blogs also encourages your existing users to interact with you more easily. They can leave comments, send you a message, share the post on social media, or post a review of your product updates!

Here’s what Alex Debecker has to say about public release notes:

“Because my release notes are, well, public, I lean towards marketing copywriting. I focus on the pain points this release is solving, and use beautiful screenshots to illustrate the features. I also sprinkle some of the brand’s personality into it.”

Use social media to reach a wider audience

Similar to release note writing on blogs, social media can be a great tool to generate excitement about your new release and reach a wider audience.

What I like about this approach is that you have options.

“How?” You may ask.

You can either:

1. Post directly from your company account
2. Ask an employee to share on their personal account (preferably a manager, director, or CEO)

Both of these options are useful for spreading the word around fast, especially if your audience is on the platforms where you frequently post.

An employee’s post on LinkedIn or Twitter/X can boost the note’s visibility outside the company’s immediate circle. It also adds a “human” touch.

Look at this example👇

A short, descriptive post will get the job done, that’s for sure! 

You can also take this a step further and coordinate different people from different teams to maximize your reach. It can be a company-wise to-do list item and every employee can talk about what the latest release solves from their department’s point of view.

Release Notes Software and Tools

Now that you know the importance of creating a consistent workflow for your release notes, it’s time to talk about how you can do so.

I mentioned that AI-powered and SaaS tools are very influential to create a streamlined process and help you stay user-focused.

Let’s take a look at some of these tools and how they can support your business👇

UserGuiding

We’ve already discussed what UserGuiding can do for your release notes. 

But you can do so much more.

How?

The product updates feature allows you to create a dedicated page for your release note and store them, and you can promote the latest releases within your app. 

You can use product update boosters, create customized user guides to increase adoption, or design a hotspot that makes the essential functionalities of your feature visible to users. 

Additionally, you can collect written and sentiment feedback with emojis. This helps revising your notes for other channels, especially email and social media, to reach a wider audience.

Ratings

G2: 4.7/5⭐

Beamer

Beamer’s changelog feature allows you to create notifications for new features or product updates. You can also segment these notifications for different user groups so your updates are more relevant to each group.

Similar to UserGuiding, Beamer also allows you to collect feedback with quick reactions and text comments. You can also integrate this feature with more than 3.000 apps, including Intercom and Wordpress to streamline your workflow.

Ratings

G2: 4.7/5⭐

LaunchNotes

LaunchNotes is especially useful for sharing release notes with your engineering team. It allows you to provide a detailed overview of recent changes, the value of the changes, and how to best implement the work into their schedule.

It is also great for informing clients to engage with your team to address specific issues, and implementation challenges, and resolve questions in near real-time. 

You can also create an easy-to-access library of project links and documents or designs for each release note—essentials of the feature being released, why it is important, and all the technical details for efficient implementation.  

Ratings

G2: 4.9/5⭐

AnnounceKit

The best thing about AnnounceKit? You can create multiple custom widgets like sidebar, embed, and line popup to inform your users about product updates and increase feature awareness.

This no-code tool is also interactive which comes in handy when you need to analyze whether users are responding to your announcement at all. AnnounceKit provides you with insights into top-performing posts, widgets, and changelog views! 

Ratings

G2: 4.8/5⭐

ReleaseNotes.io

Releasenotes.io is another tool that you can use to distribute release notes. What I specifically like about Releasenotes.io is its AI-powered “Smart Releases” feature. It quickly generates a release note or changelog entry that summarizes your team’s development updates.

This feature also automates the creation and distribution of these notes so you can focus on building your product! You can release your notes publicly or privately to your stakeholders and customers as well.

Releasenotes.io is also great if you decide to have a dedicated landing page for your notes. You can choose one of their pre-built templates to build a site where users can browse previous notes or stay up to date with recent updates.

Ratings

G2: 5.0/5⭐

Conclusion

To sum up, writing effective release notes is crucial if you want to communicate new features, improvements, and bug fixes to users well.

By following the best practices we’ve discussed in this post, you can create great product release notes that drive adoption and growth. 

Remember to distribute release notes across multiple channels and use software to automate parts of the process so you can focus on developing even better features for your audience!