How to share external Release Notes

The goal of the release notes is to inform our users about the latest new features and improvements. It helps them enjoying our products and is an important reason for many to stay with us. We’re constantly improving our products, based on feedback we get from those same users.

Without the release notes, many users might never know about these features or improvements.

👉 Find an example here.

Several steps in order to share them with our user base:

👀 Check the internal release notes for the full context

✍️ Write an external version of the release notes.

Discuss with Product what changes and features are available for our users and are worth mentioning. Sometimes, there are things only for internal use for consultants or support.
Figure out what a change or (new) feature adds to the overall goal of using our software for the user. The mentioned ‘Why’ in the internal release notes helps. But don’t overcomplicate, sometimes we also just made something better or easier to use.
In The Netherlands, release notes are published on the public support pages in Freshdesk. You’ll find them here. Add in the respective year at the top of the page the latest release starting with the date of the release.
Take screenshots to illustrate the most interesting changes in the required languages. Create GIFs using GIF Brewery on the Mac or a similar app on Windows. Add them in Freshdesk to the text.
Have the text translated. Copy all in a Google Doc or share the public Freshdesk page.

Sending out Release Notes Source-to-Contract Trimmed.mp4

Specific video on how to export the list of users for the email here:

Go to Mercell Source-to-Contract
Open the Support section
Switch to Users (button on the right side of the screen)
Export the list with Users (spreadsheet)
Filter for Language, Status, Type of Organisation, License (Yes if release is only for licensed buyers in TM Source-to-Contract) Subscription on Release Notes (Yes)
Save First name, Last name and Email in a separate sheet as a new list
Import that list in HubSpot

Release Notes Subscribers 720.mov

🖌️ Create an email in HubSpot with the localised version of the external release notes

Share the release notes including images via Google Docs or the published Freshdesk page with someone from the Growth team who will send out the release notes using HubSpot.

🚀 Sent!