15 New Product Launch Announcement Emails + Template to Use

What makes iPhones the most-awaited and desired product of the year? We know there are smartphones that are not worse than Apple's products (the Apple developers, I beg your pardon), but nobody cares about their releases and updates.

(Source: Email from Apple)

It’s all about a proper product launch announcement.

Famous brands evoke anticipation and desire in prospects to buy and use their products. How? We’ll share the best product announcement email examples by the world-famous brands. In this post, we’ll also reveal Apple’s secret that makes their campaigns so special.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

What is a product launch announcement?

The product launch announcement is a  set of activities aimed at promoting a new product.

Hopefully, your new or upgraded product’s features meet customers’ needs and even exceed their expectations.

Prior to promoting and announcing your up-and-coming product, try it out, define its pros and cons. And be honest with the target audience during the whole promo campaign.

(A perfect software update email sample by Starbucks)

How to announce a product launch effectively?

There are just a few simple steps:

1. Promote your product across all possible channels

I ain’t gonna tell you that a properly done product announcement email alone will bring great success to your company. Never, as a single channel is not capable of doing this. Use all the aforementioned channels simultaneously for your campaign’s success.

All successful promotional campaigns are advertised via the following channels:

• mass media;

• social media;

• email marketing.

Of course, you may ask if it is reasonable to send out announcement newsletters when you are already using 2 other powerful channels? Of course, it is! The more people hear about the new product launch, the higher the chances they would be eager to get it.

(Source: Email from Adidas)

2. Build a sequence of new product announcement emails

It’s preferable to create a sequence of emails to keep the target audience updated and to keep them interested in your product.

How many emails in a sequence? At least, 3.

The first email — announces a new product launch, teases customers

The first email is to inform recipients about the upcoming launch, this way you build anticipation. Here you can mention a few unique features that your product possesses, or may just say that something huge is coming. And specify how many days/weeks/months are left till the day when customers receive an update.

(Source: Email from Birchbox)

The second email — keeps customers updated

The second one is to update your users. Remind about the features you mentioned in a previous email and add a new one. Make sure to provide recipients with a photo or two, or even a short video about the product.

(Source: Email from Britghon)

The first two messages are called teaser emails.

If you like, you can add the “Pre-order” button to this email.

For instance, many staunch fans would love to be the first to own your product.

(Source: Email from Monica Vinader)

The third email — notifies that product has been launched

The third product launch email is to inform about the release date and the way people can get the new device.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

There’s an optional email

It goes between the second and the third ones. In this email, you may reveal all the details of your new product and let customers pre-order it. 

Or promise to notify them that the product’s been launched a few hours before you send over the product launch announcement email to your entire contact base.

(Source: Email from Adidas)

Important to note:

If you start the new product announcement email campaign a few months/a year prior to the release date, then you are welcome to extend your sequence to 4-6 emails.

3. Pay close attention to email design

Certainly, perfect email design will not save a poor campaign. But it can strengthen an already good impression.

When starting a new product announcement email campaign, first of all, you should consider the type of the announcement:

• new product release;

• new features of an upgraded product.

In new product launch emails, the focus should be on the product! No distracting CTAs like “shop with us” or “visit our website now” are not supposed to be there. However, the “Get more details”, and “Pre-order” buttons are welcome.

Did you know that countdown timer in emails alone increases CTR by 9%?

(Source: Pinterest)

Don’t neglect this fact when building your new product announcement email template.

4. Make your subject lines effective

The subject may be creative, but it must be clear and very concise.

When updating this blog post, I wanted to say something like, “Please, avoid boring subject lines. Typical: “Woohoo! We are launching new devices!” or “New updates to be released soon!”  won’t help”.

However, looking inside my inbox I understood how wrong I was. Because subject lines for most product launch emails say, “We introduce”, “Meet our”. And you know what? They are widely used by famous brands.

If you are going to announce that you have added FAQs to your website, why not mention this in the subject line? “An FAQ email” or “New wireless water-resistant headphones for your iPod”.

If you have previously made a poll among your customers regarding the features and options they would like to see in your product, and you know the date you are going to implement them, you can make a subject line that is similar to the following one, “We heard you”, or mention in the subject line the questions you asked.

How to build a product launch email with Stripo

You can pick any from our “New collection”, and “Product update” email templates.

Also, you can effortlessly build one with us:

• Picking an empty basic template

Start with picking a basic empty template.

To do so, in your account, click the Templates tab, then enter the “Basic templates” tab, and pick the “Empty template”.

• Working on header

Upload your logo and insert it as an image.

You can also add a menu if necessary. However, famous brands almost never do it for product announcement emails;

• Building a banner

The banner can be represented as an a) banner image, or a b) carousel of banners.

a) Banner image

1. upload your banner image;

2. then choose orientation;

3. apply matching filters;

4. add a copy over your banner image to make it compelling;

5. you can also upload a picture of a CTA button drawn by your designer over your banner image. 

For more information on how to build an effective banner with Stripo in under 10 minutes, please refer to our blog post and watch a short video. 

b) Carousel of banners

There are two types of carousel — CCS and AMP image carousel.

The second one is supported now by Gmail, both web version, and mobile apps (Android, iOS to support AMP this January), Mail.ru, both desktop and mobile devices, and Outlook.com (soon).

How does it work? Users swipe from one to another banner image.

Interactivity, especially, in product announcement and promo emails increase customers’ engagement. 

Stripo allows adding up to 16 slides:

1. drag an AMP carousel block in your product announcement email template;

2. enable “Preview images”, set their size — the preview images will be located below the image carousel;

3. upload your image;

4. edit it if necessary;

5. place a CTA button over it if you like;

6. click the “Add slide” button;

7. upload a new image, etc.

Try Stripo Out

The AMP image carousel will be displayed only to those recipients who email clients and devices support the AMP for email technology. While others will see your fallback — the traditional banner image you can build by taking the above steps.

For more information on how to build AMP carousels with Stripo, please refer to our respective blog post.

• Adding video

Video, where you highlight your new product’s features or show how to use it, can increase the conversion rate.

Easy to embed one with Stripo in your emails:

1. drag a video block into your email;

2. insert the link to your video that you’ve previously uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo in a respective field;

3. Stripo will add video’s alt text automatically;

4. choose the play button color;

5. upload a custom thumbnail image to make it more meaningful.

 

Please watch our video on how to add/embed videos in emails.

• Adding countdown timer

Timers are critical for emails of this kind.

(Source: Pinterest)

Stripo prevents you from the necessity to build a timer elsewhere outside an editor, then paste the embed code and work on timer’s responsive design.

With Stripo, you can build and customize timers directly in our editor:

1. drag the timer block in your product launch email template;

2. set the time zone;

3. set the end time;

4. work on your timer design;

5. upload the “Expired timer image” — it will be displayed to recipients instead of zeros once the product has been launched.

Please, find more details here.

• Building a CTA button

You convinced potential customers they need your product? — Great! Show them where they can do it.

Build a CTA button that is quite noticeable:

1. open the “Appearance tab”;

2. go to the “General” settings;

3. enter the “Button” tab;

4. work on the button’s design — this way, you apply these settings to all the buttons you are going to use in your email;

5. enable the “Highlight hovered buttons” option if you like — your buttons will change color once a user places the mouse pointer over your button;

6. toggle the “Support of Outlook” button — if you want your buttons to save them shape in Outlook;

7. drag the button block in your email template.

Please, find more information on types of buttons in our “Email Call to Action Best Practices” blog post.

15 effective product launch email examples

We decided to distinguish 1 the most useful and the most helpful feature in each and every email sample.

1. Add some mystery to your emails — Porsche Taycan

Subject line: We are bringing our vision to the road: Mission E becomes Taycan.

(Source: Email from Porsche)

Porsche promised to bring this car to our attention at the end of 2019 or at the beginning of 2020, but they started the announcement campaign in 2018. We can only see the silhouette of this car, covered by a piece of fabric. Looks intriguing.

Even when you click the “View Video” button, you again see the shade of the mystery on the landing page. Love it.

In case you are interested in watching this video, here it is.

2. Provide detailed information on the product — Email on Acid

Subject line: Introducing Campaign Precheck.

(Source: Email from Email on Acid)

Be descriptive. The more details you share the better.

I can’t omit the infographics in this email — it’s awesome. 

3. Show the product from different angles — Hill City

Subject line: Introducing the seamless Train Tee.

(Source: Email from Hill City)

There are cases when an image is worth a thousand words.

4. Let the designer present his/her own collection — Brighton

Subject line: JUST RELEASED: An Exotic New Collection!

Personally, I love this tradition implemented by Brighton, the jewelry store.

(Source: Email from Brighton)

Every time, when launching a new collection, Brighton lets the designer present it by him/herself. The creator of the collection speaks from her heart and explains what exactly motivated her to craft this particular line.

5. Be supportive — Everlane

Subject line: Cashmere Rib Is Here.

(Source: Email from Everlane)

This is a new product item and prospects do not know whether it’s about to go well with the rest of their wardrobe. Be supportive — provide them with fashion recommendations on how to wear this cashmere rib with other pieces of the brand’s apparel. Everlane even shared photos of what it is about to look like.

A nice trick to increase sales, huh?

6. Persuade to buy from you/play on people’s vanity — Maybelline

Subject line: Introducing Shine Compulsion Lipstick’s Newest Shades!.

(Source: Email from Maybelline)

When it comes to fashion and trends, for like 80% of the subscribers, nothing can be more convincing than feedbacks by prominent people. Did Oprah Magazine award this lipstick? — Definitely, I should try it, too.

7. Make it clear — Tesla

Subject line: Tesla Updates: Model 3 is Available to Order.

(Source: Email from Tesla)

Certainly, you do need to be mysterious, intriguing, but not when it comes to the very product launch/release day. Once the product is available to order or pre-order, make your copy straight. There should be no misunderstanding.

8. Use videos in product announcement emails — Appcues

Subject line: Introducing The Growth Lab!

(Source: Email from Appcues)

Only the person who is in love with the product can describe it at its best. And who loves the product most? Right, the CEO and developers. In some cases, it is the same person.

Let the CEO speak, record a video where he or she describes the pros of the product in the smallest details.

8. Send an invitation to live presentation — Tesla

Subject line: Get Ready — Livestream Cybertruck Unveil.

If you are hosting an entire offline event where a speaker on behalf of your team presents a just-launched product, be sure to send an invitation to your contact base.

(Source: Email from Tesla)

Tesla sent this invitation like an hour before the very event.

However, they had also promoted this event via social media channels.

9. Encourage to purchase your product — Apple

(Source: Email from Apple)

Apple is probably the best at running product launch email campaigns. Every word, every character matters.

“Say hello to the future” — who wouldn’t like to be the first, or to be in the future today?

One more thing that makes them unique — once the exact product launch date is set, they hurry to share it with prospects!

10. Be appealing — Ferrari

Subject line: The first Scuderia Ferrari gaming headphones: don’t miss out!

(Source: Email from Ferrari)

This is a perfect product launch email sample. Ferrari here appeals to vanity :)

Because who wouldn’t like to be the first to possess something luxury?

“Pre-order” button helps — it means I won’t have to stay in line, I will receive my parcel on the release day, I will be really the first to try.

11. Emphasize the feeling of anticipation — Grammarly

Subject line: Grammarly’s Chrome Extension + Google Docs, Together at Last!

(Source: Email from Grammarly)

Top-requested feature… nice trick! Even if some of your prospects did not care about this option, they are now likely to try it out to find out what made it so anticipated.

12. Highlight the newest features in detail — Nokia

Subject line: Nokia steel HR has arrived.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

I find this product launch email example perfect for three reasons:

1. the two CTA buttons that repeat themselves;

2. Brian Crecente from Rolling Stone praised this product;

3. Nokia highlighted the top pros of Steel HR by listing and illustrating them.

Even if just glimpsing at this email, prospects will still see that this watch is worth considering if not purchasing.

13. Remind how soon the product will be launched — Brighton

Subject line: Staff Picks | Favorite Travel Pieces.

(Source: Email from Brighton)

They do it, in fact, in all promo campaigns. Brighton does not really build a totally 

14. Be consistent — Everlane

Subject lines:

1. In 7 Days: ReNew;

2. It’s Time to Renew;

3. In 2 Days: ReNew;

4. The Wait Is Over: ReNew.

With the first email, they just informed us that every minute a million plastic bottles are made. And added they are about to do something about it:

(Source: Email from Everlane)

With the second email, they notified us they are going to eliminate virgin plastic by producing outwear out of it:

And with the third email, they finally showed what it looks like. But with the fourth email, they finally announced the sale has been started and added the CTA button.

This is simple yet amazing!

I deliberately put this example to the tenth position as now I’d like to say a few words about sequences.

15. Structurize your email for easier perception — Stripo

Subject line: yours.

New product launch email template:

Use It

This email template contains room for heading and CTA text, video block, description fields. All content is structured.  Which makes it easier to perceive information and makes your email more appealing.

Once you pick it for your future product launch email campaigns, you will only have to slightly edit it:  replace our content and logo with yours.

Final thoughts

There is a traditional strategy you should stick to when starting an announcement campaign:

• explain what kind of product it is and list its unique features;

• explain why people would need it — what makes this product useful for your recipients;

• set the release date;

• specify the way people can buy it.

But at the beginning of the post, we said we’d survey the Apple newsletters’ examples, and we did. Why them? Because they have probably the best marketing team in their niche. You do not need to be a fan to notice that Apple’s marketing campaigns are always amazing, impressive, and thoroughly prepared. Most of their emails are the announcements of new products’ launch, software updates, but not typical products’ promotion.

Apple announcement newsletters’ strategy

• they promote their product via many channels;

• build anticipation with teaser emails;

• create sequences of announcement email newsletters;

• avoid boring and typical subject lines;

• stick to the Rule of Three*;

• apply the “Pre-order” CTA buttons;

• are honest with recipients.

* the Rule of Three.

Carmine Gallo wrote an article for Forbes, where analyzed modern marketing and mentioned that the Golden Rule of Three works not only for the military, but for the marketers, as well. “3 is easier to remember than 4 or 7”, he says. And I would like to add that “3 is better than 1 or 2”.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

Steve Jobs was probably the first to implement this rule in marketing. At least he was the first to do it successfully — and this is the company’s secret.

Steve Jobs in his presentations always promised to present 3 devices. But in the end there appeared to be just 1 gadget, combining 3.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

If you cannot place 3 images in a row or 3 items in one photo, then you should try at least to divide the text into 3 columns for better perception.

As long as the strategy preparation requires much effort and time, Stripo.email strives to facilitate your work and save you lots of precious time. We have already designed product update email templates.

New product announcement email template

Use It

In case you are extremely busy and have no time to work with the editor, you can ask our professionals for assistance. Our designers and developers will kindly help you create a perfect template with the design that mirrors your website.

May your announcement email newsletters be effective. And may Apple learn from you!

I sincerely wish you the best of luck!