Writing useful release notes for your projects

Release notes are such an important part of your project’s lifecycle. They provide much-needed clarification on new features, changes, and fixes for your customers.

We may think that customers don’t read release notes. However, maybe we’re not providing the most value in them. Release notes are often written poorly, full of technical jargon, which customers will ignore.

Here are just a few tips for getting the most out of your release notes and get your customers engaged with your projects.

Provide structure to your release notes

You can easily maximize the effectiveness of your release notes with your customers by clearly dividing out the content into sections.

Here’s a structure that I tend to use.

• Overview
• New features
• Improvements
• Fixes
• Testing

By separating out the detail, you allow your readers to zero in on the things that are the most important to them.

If you want some great release note examples, check out Appcues 5 excellent product release note examples to get some inspiration. Or why not check out some release notes for products you use today.

If you’re writing these as a document that goes along with a release, don’t forget to include a contents page. A small improvement that allows your readers to get to the detail even faster.

Summarize your release

Release notes shouldn’t read like a novel. There’s so much you can say in just a short paragraph, summarizing the highlights of the release.

Don’t be vague though. You need to provide value to your customers so they can get on board and understand the value your release is adding to them. No-one wants to read that staple one-liner, bug fixes, and performance improvements.

Explain like I’m 5

In most cases, a technical audience isn’t the intended target audience for release notes. Leave out the technical jargon and write like you’re explaining your release to someone who has no idea about it.

Still allow your customers to gain an understanding of the changes. Tailor your content to the customer. Perhaps you could bring in terminology that aligns with their business.

Bring out your brand in your release notes

Release notes should definitely provide the most value to your customers. They don’t need to be dry though. The content should be just as engaging as you are as a person or organization.

Bringing some of that personality into your technical writing will reinforce the connections between you and your customers.

Don’t go overboard though. They don’t need to be filled with emojis and memes if that’s your thing.

Link to relevant content

The detail in release notes isn’t meant to encompass everything that has changed. However, your readers might want to drill into something to see more information.

If you’re using issue trackers, why not include some links to work items where readers can see the history of the changes.

You might also have produced additional content such as demo videos, user guides, or maybe even technical documentation. Create a section in your release to provide links to this content to provide extra value.

Be passionate about your release notes

To those producing them, release notes probably don’t seem that important. However, they are the best form of content for your customers.

Just as you are passionate about the product you’ve built, you should be just as passionate to share that detail.

Writing documentation as a technical writer isn’t always easy, but with practice, you’ll get into the rhythm. All of these steps will become engrained in your mind and you’ll be writing great engaging content in no time!

Do you have any tips?

These are just a few of the improvements I’ve been making. There are so many ways to write them though, and I’m interested to know your views and any tips you might have!