Lessons to Learn

Ideas you should borrow to your release notes.

As an avid user of the ARC browser, I always look forward to their weekly release notes. Every Thursday, I eagerly await the arrival of their engaging and informative updates. The ARC team has a unique approach to crafting their release notes, making them functional and entertaining.

Engaging Content and readability

ARC's release notes are well-written, fun, and engaging, making them enjoyable. Aim to create content that captures users' attention and keeps them interested.

Check ARC’s art of answering “how it works” questions in an enjoyable way.

It may be a short explainer with one screenshot that’s easy to understand.

Example from 1.34.0 release note

Multimedia

For the biggest announcements they shoot a high quality video essay and focus readers’ attention only on that. Watch how they presented ‘Browse for you’ feature.

Example from 1.28.0 release notes

To make release notes visually appealing and interactive, incorporate diverse content types like images, videos, text, and embedded tweets. Subscribe to their Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

They even launched a kind of tv series ‘WE MIGHT NOT MAKE IT’ about their roadmap and future strategy. Shared their real board meeting. Make a livestream about big feature announcement like Arc MAX. And many other fun and engaging things.

Visual Design

Invest in creating courageous, fun, and engaging visuals to impress and captivate your audience. For each feature it’s not just a nice screenshot, it’s visual compelling story with memorable design style.

The main feature from 1.29.0 release note

Delivery

The ARC browser has implemented non-intrusive notifications for updates. This allows users to update at their convenience without interrupting their workflow. The updates are presented in an engaging way with appealing animations.

Frequency

Releasing product updates every Thursday isn't easy, but maintaining a consistent release schedule is important to keep users engaged and anticipating new updates.

Areas for Improvement:

In our opinion, what could make ARC’s release notes much better.

User Feedback

Users enjoy expressing their feelings about products they love. ARC is an example of a product optimized for emotional engagement. It's beneficial to include reaction buttons under their vibrant announcements and provide a space for comments on release notes. This could let users share their affection for the product or provide feedback. Despite requests to leave feedback on Twitter or through a built-in form, I've found that responses are rare.

Consider their YouTube video comment section. It seems that their community is eager to discuss the product. So why not provide that opportunity within the release notes?

Comments for the YouTube video 'Arc Browser’s 2023 Event | Introducing Arc Max’

Navigation and Search

Ensure that users can easily find and access specific release notes, even if they lose the original link. And track or find changes for a particular feature area.

Accessibility

Optimize release notes for various screen sizes, particularly mobile devices, to ensure a seamless reading experience for all users. While the release notes are available through multiple channels, including the desktop app and email, the lack of a mobile-optimized version can hinder accessibility for users on smaller screens.

Conclusion:

ARC's release notes demonstrate the importance of creating engaging, informative, and visually appealing content to keep users excited about product updates.

Arс effectively utilizes visuals, content, engaging various channels including social media, captivating with its images and complete stories. You can enhance your own release notes by adopting their strongest strategies.

By addressing these aspects in your own release notes, you can create an even more valuable and user-centric experience for your audience.