So you built the perfect product. You did the research. You validated it with users. You spent months in discovery. It solves a major challenge. And of course, it’s perfectly designed.

But six months later, your perfect product is being ignored. No one knows how to use it. Nobody understands its value. Nobody wants to try it. And you’re feeling frustrated because you know you did everything right.

While you nailed the first half of the product development lifecycle, you’re likely not spending enough on the second half. Most product teams focus too much on the first half of the equation—neglecting their post-launch strategy. Let’s talk about how you can get it right, the next time around.

Influencing users starts with communications, but most are failing

To achieve your goals, you need to do three things: Gather the right data, stay close to customers, and most importantly, get great at shaping user behavior. The ability to consistently shape user behavior is the difference between those who consistently achieve bigger and bigger goals, and those who underachieve without knowing why.

What does that look like for product teams? Boosting awareness of a new product. Teaching users how to accomplish a task. Driving users to take action. Encouraging them to change their behaviors and ways of thinking.

Your product communications are aimed at shaping user behavior. At most companies, they aren’t in a good state. Users never see your messages, and they ignore the ones they do see. Siloed tools and teams limit your ability to reach users outside of your app. And nobody knows what’s working—or why.

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Better product communication is within reach

A few product teams have mastered product communication by using data and automation to coordinate messaging across many channels, even at a big scale.

This includes:

Using multiple channels to ensure users see your message
Personalizing by user role, job to be done, admin level, geography, etc. to increase engagement
Unifying and automating email and marketing journeys
Getting a clear understanding of your work’s impact

The results are personalized messaging journeys their users love because these companies deliver the right message, to the right users, at the right time. Most of all, this messaging strategy delivers meaningful outcomes.

We’ve been studying these companies and noticed four big things they always seem to get right.

1. Using multiple channels and messages

HubSpot research shows that to get a person to respond to a sales message, you need to “touch” them with a message around 8 times and via multiple channels. This is true for product communications too. This means:

Don’t rely on a single message or communication channel to get your point across.
Create a strategic approach that reaches users through different touch points.
Coordinate messages across a combination of in-app guides, emails, and other channels.

Different channels have different strengths. Guides are more effective than email, but what if users aren’t logging into your app at all? The more channels you use to reach users, the more likely they are to take action. Your product communications are a journey, not a one-off interaction.

2. Highly personalized communication

People don’t ignore personalized messaging. That’s because most people are overwhelmed by the amount of messages they receive, so any sign that a message is specifically for them and them alone improves performance. In fact, personalization reduces acquisition costs by as much as 50%, lifts revenue by as much as 15%, and increases marketing ROI by as much as 30%.

There are many ways to personalize a message, but when it comes to product communications, behavior is the most important. You should:

Tailor messages based on what your customers are actively using in-app.
Tell them how to best use the feature or tool.
Only trigger these messages based on what users do in your app, like regularly using a tool.

Teams that get product communication right deliver behavior-based messages to make sure they don’t get ignored.

3. Lean on your friends

“Highly personalized,” “multi-channel,” blah blah blah. These buzz words are all meaningless if you can’t pull it off internally. And to put it nicely, most product teams get some push back when they start talking about messaging users.

The most effective teams have a tight relationship with Marketing, and plan product communications with their Product Marketing partners. This paves the way for including messaging channels beyond guides, and doing it the right way. Make sure you:

Work with marketing, customer success, operations, and revenue to deliver thoughtful and intentional communications.
Consult with legal to message the right people and comply with global regulations.
Implement a governance program and adopt product communications best practices to deliver a positive end-user experience.

4. Measure and iterate

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. The best teams carefully track the impact of communications on user behavior, understanding behavioral outcomes and measuring the real impact of their work. They look beyond open rates and clicks and focus on:

How many users achieved the desired product goal?
Which messages most effectively drove behavioral change (and which didn’t perform as expected)?

Your product communications are more than just messages—they’re a conversation between your product and its users. By implementing these four tips, you too can transform how users interact with your product to drive the adoption, engagement, and ultimately, the business growth you need.

And as your product communications get more sophisticated, it’s important to establish rules and best practices to build messaging journeys the right way.

This blog is based on Why some products soar and others stall: The secret to great product communications. Watch the webinar, or take a tour of Pendo Orchestrate to see how you can unlock the power of strategic user engagement.

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