Standardizing internal release readiness and enablement at scale
Prior to LaunchNotes, SpotOn had dozens of product managers sending out ad hoc release notes at varying times, with varying degrees of technical language, and through manually updated email listservs and Google Drive folders. This process left SpotOn’s customer-facing teams–sales, support, and implementation–out of sync with what was being released to whom, when, and why.
The result of having no standardized process or centralized location for all release information resulted in front-line support teams having delayed or inconsistent information and sales missing upsell and expansion opportunities. Melissa Edmonds, SpotOn’s VP of Product Ops, knew there had to be a better way.
Four LaunchNotes pages for targeted, timely communication to four distinct audiences
SpotOn’s Product Operations team rolled out LaunchNotes and created four distinct pages for each key audience who need to be most closely aligned with their releases:
An internal release notes page for SpotOn’s technical stakeholders, including internal support and operations teams
A second internal page for alignment and enablement across SpotOn’s sales org
A third, private page for alignment and technical enablement across SpotOn’s vast dealer network
A fourth, public LaunchNotes page to keep all SpotOn customers updated on the latest improvements
But four distinct pages was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the overall value that LaunchNotes was able to unlock for SpotOn:
Using LaunchNotes’ categorization system, stakeholders are not only subscribed to the page with updates being produced at the right fidelity for them, but have further personalized each communication by only subscribing to receive updates on the specific products most relevant to their job or clients
By leveraging LaunchNotes’ email and Slack integrations, Melissa shares that their team is able to effectively reach each stakeholder where they are without any interruptions to the single, streamlined workflow the team has developed
SpotOn’s Product Operations team has created multiple custom announcement templates that PMs can copy and paste relevant information into, not only saving product managers hours every week, but also ensuring no detail of any release is ever omitted
Having one platform for all product comms has driven a tighter alignment between Product, Product Marketing, and Product Ops and resulted in significantly less back and forth and fewer ad hoc meetings
Using LaunchNotes, Melissa’s team was able to implement a new “pre-release note” process to notify stakeholders of product changes before they’re live, giving internal stakeholders clarity to what’s being built and why, and advanced preparedness so they can ask questions or flag issues prior to a release being shipped; Melissa says while this new process is still being tested, the feedback from internal stakeholders has been overwhelmingly positive
Having one platform for all product comms has driven a tighter alignment between Product, Product Marketing, and Product Ops and resulted in significantly less back and forth and fewer ad hoc meetings