New Product Announcement Letter
Tells existing customers what is new and when they can have it.
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Dear Sir / Madam,
We are introducing [what is new] from [date].
What this changes for you: [the practical difference at their end]
If you would like to talk it through before then, [contact] can help.
What is a New Product Announcement Letter?
A new product announcement tells existing customers what is changing, when they can have it, what it costs and what they need to do. It matters because customers who first hear about a change from a support agent, an invoice or a competitor draw the obvious conclusion about how the relationship is run. A clear announcement also prevents the more expensive problem: a support queue full of people asking questions the letter should have answered.
Product marketing teams, account managers, manufacturers writing to distributors, software vendors writing to administrators and retailers writing to trade buyers all send these. The occasions are a genuine launch, a version change that alters how something works, a replacement for a line being discontinued, and a packaging or specification change that affects reordering. The audience is people who already buy from you, which makes it a different document from a press release — they need operational detail, not persuasion, and they will read it closely enough to notice what is missing.
Everything in the letter is advertising and is regulated as such. Substantiation for performance claims sits under the FTC's rules in the United States, the CAP code and consumer protection legislation in the UK, the Consumer Protection Act 2019 and ASCI codes in India, the Australian Consumer Law's misleading conduct provisions, and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive across the EU, with environmental claims under particular scrutiny in several of these. If the announcement also changes prices or terms for existing customers, the notice you must give is set by the contract and by local consumer law — check both before naming a date.
An announcement does not vary a contract by itself. If existing customers are on agreed terms, changing them usually requires the notice route the contract specifies, and an email headed as news does not satisfy it. It is not a specification sheet, a warranty or a service level commitment, and nothing in it should be relied on as one. It is also not a press release: a document written to reassure existing buyers about continuity reads oddly when a journalist quotes it as a launch statement.
What to put in a New Product Announcement Letter
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Business name | For example: Barton Supply Co. |
| Your address | For example: Unit 7, Barton Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
| Customer name | For example: Halliwell Interiors Inc. |
| Customer address | For example: 44 High Street, Columbus, OH 43215 |
| What is new | For example: Next-day trade delivery |
| Available from | Free text |
| What changes for the customer | For example: Orders placed by 4pm now arrive on site by 9am the next morning, with no minimum quantity. |
| Introductory offer optional | For example: Free delivery on every order until 31 October for accounts opened this month. |
| Media contact | For example: Linda Alvarez |
| Signatory name optional | For example: K. Srinivasa Rao |
| Signatory designation optional | For example: Honorary Secretary |
| Issued to (full name) | For example: James Whitfield |
| Their address | For example: 588 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
How to write a New Product Announcement Letter
Lead with what changes for the reader
Open with the practical consequence for the person reading, not with the achievement. ‘From 14 April the 5-litre container is replaced by a 4.5-litre container at the same unit price, and the part number changes’ is what a purchasing officer needs. ‘We are thrilled to unveil our next generation of solutions’ makes them read three paragraphs to find out whether their order code still works.
Give the date and the availability rule
State when it is available and to whom: general availability, a phased rollout by region or account tier, a waiting list, or a pre-order window. If the rollout is staged, say how a customer finds out which stage they are in. Only name a date operations has committed to — a slipped launch date announced in writing costs more credibility than a vaguer but honest one.
State price and the old product's fate
Give the price in the form customers actually pay, and be explicit about whether tax is included, since that expectation differs by market. Then answer the question every existing customer has: is the old product still available, until when, will it still be supported and serviced, and what is the migration path. An announcement that ignores the discontinued line generates more enquiries than it prevents.
Say exactly what customers must do
Separate the people who need to act from the people who do not. If an administrator must update a setting, a buyer must change a part number, or an integration must be retested, put that in its own block with a deadline. If most readers need to do nothing, say ‘no action is needed’ in those words — it is the sentence that stops a hundred replies.
Give a route for the questions this raises
Name where to go next: a specification page, a webinar with a date, a named account contact, or a support address that is genuinely staffed. Brief that channel before the announcement goes out, and give them the answers to the questions you know are coming. An announcement that lands ahead of the support team's briefing is how one message becomes a bad week.
Common mistakes
- Publishing a launch date that engineering or manufacturing has not committed to, which converts a positive announcement into a public record of a missed deadline.
- Listing features without saying what each one lets the customer do differently, which leaves the reader unable to work out whether any of it matters to them.
- Saying nothing about the product being replaced, so customers do not know whether to reorder, and buy elsewhere while they work it out.
- Making a comparison or environmental claim you cannot substantiate, which is a regulatory exposure in every market the letter reaches.
- Sending it before briefing sales and support, so the first customer to call gets told the announcement is news to them too.
Frequently asked questions
How do you announce a new product to existing customers?
Lead with what changes for them, give the availability date and rule, state the price and the fate of the old product, separate out any action they must take, and point to a staffed channel for questions. Existing customers read for operational impact rather than excitement, so the announcement should read like an operations note with a headline, not like a brochure.
What should a product announcement email include?
The product and what it does, the date it is available, who can get it and when, the price in the form the customer pays, the position on any product it replaces including support end dates, what the reader must do, and where to ask questions. Anything you cannot yet confirm should be left out rather than hedged, because hedged dates get quoted back to you.
When should you announce a new product?
Close enough to availability that customers can act on it, and only once the date is committed internally. Announcing far ahead can stall sales of the current product, a well-known risk when a replacement is publicised too early. Announcing after distribution has already shipped means customers hear it from a shelf or an invoice first. Brief internal teams before either date.
What is the difference between a product announcement and a press release?
A product announcement is written to customers who already buy from you and prioritises dates, prices, migration and actions. A press release is written for journalists, follows a fixed structure, and prioritises what makes the news worth covering. The same launch usually needs both, written separately — reusing one as the other produces a document that serves neither audience properly.
Should I announce a price increase in the same letter?
Only if the increase is genuinely part of the same change, and never as a line buried in the middle. Customers who feel a price rise was smuggled into good news respond badly. If the contract sets a notice period for price changes, that route has to be followed on its own terms — check the agreement and the consumer law that applies before combining the two messages.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.