Sunsetting a Feature
Sometimes no feature is the best feature...
You know what I gave special kudos for in one of my last classes on Hypothesis-Driven Product Management at Product Academy?
While most participants have been focused on testing how/whether to launch new features, only one of them came up with a hypothesis about sunsetting a feature.
Sometimes decluttering your product is one of the most effective ways to create value and move the needle.
We seem to be so afraid of taking anything away from a few customers who might still be using this functionality that we choose to punish everyone else internally and externally - with additional clutter, maintenance or even tech debt.
Do you even know which features are really (still) creating value for your customers? Maybe this post can serve as a little reminder to think about sunsetting something and making space for more valuable features instead.
How to communicate sunsetting a feature
Rowan Haddad listed some important ingredients for successful communication when removing functionality:
Why you’re removing the feature
What are the benefits of sunsetting the feature
Give a clear timeline of the sunset to give customers ample time to prepare. The timeline chosen will depend on the feature in question and how much impact it will cause by removing it
As already mentioned, you should be able to provide a substitute and support to help them migrate to it
If you are looking for a structured approach to sunsetting you might enjoy reading his full article. It covers the decision process as well as relevant questions to ask yourself when it comes to communicating the change to your customers.
By the way, here is an example of Buffer sunsetting Reply. And in case you have not heard yet: Google is sunsetting Universal Analytics in July 2023. So many of us will experience what this feels like from a customer’s perspective soon. In case you haven’t switched to Google Analytics 4, it’s about time :)