As well as helping Product and Customer Success teams to manage product feedback, Pendo Feedback helps the Marketing team to communicate releases with:
- The Releases page, accessed from the left-side navigation. This is available to both internal users, and customers accessing Feedback through the portal.
- The What’s New section in the widget view of Feedback, accessed from a tab at the side of the customer's application.
- Automatic updates when a request is moved into the Released status.
- Engagement emails sent from within Feedback.
This article summarizes the ways in which Feedback can be used, in conjunction with traditional methods of communication, to communicate releases to customers.
The release log
The Release page shows a list of all the features you've released, providing a history of how your product has developed over time. It enables your customers and team members to see the latest features you've released in the Apps and Product Areas they have access to.
The release log is automatically populated when you set the status of a request in Pendo Feedback to Released. It's ordered by release date, with the most recent at the top.
Users can also see a short summary of recent releases in the What’s New section of the widget view of Feedback, accessed from a tab at the side of the customer's application.
For more information about the different viewing and access options, see the Customer view of Pendo Feedback article.
Status updates
You can automatically update users when a request that they're interested is released using status updates. We recommend the following flow:
- Update the request details (if needed for clarification).
- Set the request status to "Released".
Step 1. Update request details
Sometimes the titles and descriptions for request don't accurately reflect what you've built. Perhaps details changed as you worked on a feature, or maybe the request wasn't written clearly in the first place.
You can edit the title and description of a request to clarify what it means, and ensure that it matches the actual functionality of the release.
1. Find and open the request. You can search for requests in the Browse page.
2. Select the edit icon at the top of the request details.
3. Edit the request title and details as required.
4. Select Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
Step 2. Set the request status to "Released"
Set the status of the request to Released so that it appears in your Release Log. If you choose to, you can also automatically notify interested users when you change the status of the request.
1. Find and open the request. You can search for requests in the Browse page.
2. Choose Released from the Request status dropdown menu.
3. Customize your status response. For more information, see Request status updates.
Write or edit your response in the Customize response field, including the following information:
- A brief description of what your release does. Focus on the benefits to your users.
- A link to any relevant help docs so that users can get started with the new release.
- A thank you for their feedback to encourage users to provide more in future.
4. Select the Email your response... checkbox.
5. Optionally, select a guide to publish. For more information, see Publish guides from Feedback requests.
6. Select Next and then confirm the status change. Select Set status to Released when you're ready.
Traditional communication
You can use traditional methods of communication in conjunction with Pendo Feedback. For example, you can recap major releases in a "roundup" blog post. To avoid overloading users, you could choose a time frame that encompasses a few major releases, depending on how much you build and release.
Explain each of your biggest releases, including the benefits to your users, and link to relevant help docs as appropriate. You can then share this blog post on social media, in a newsletter, or in an engagement email.
Engagement emails through Feedback
You can send an engagement email through Feedback to encourage visitors to leave more feedback and update their priorities. This is sent to all of your visitors and includes a list of your latest releases. For information, see Notification emails in Feedback.
1. Open Accounts from the left-side menu.
2. Select Engage More Visitors in the top-right of the page.
3. Customize the email subject, header, and footer.
4. Choose how many days of release news to include in the email.
5. If you have one, include a link to your "roundup" blog post and other relevant content.
6. Preview your email and then send.