Anatomy of a product launch: Webflow
How Webflow announced their new collaboration capabilities.
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Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Webflow.
I use Webflow to design and build websites for both my job and side projects. It’s supercharged my capabilities as a marketer to work 10x faster – I’m never going back to Wordpress again if I can help it.
Webflow’s recent product launch around their new collaboration feature caught my eye for two main reasons:
How polished the launch assets were.
The multi-channel approach to the launch.
Now it’s pretty obvious that a web design software company would have good design. But what sets Webflow apart is not just the design of the assets, but the production value, particularly their video content.
Features that customers want + a compelling story + great assets = a great product launch.
The product marketing team also did a good job in orchestrating this launch across several channels to meet Webflow users where they are. They made it hard to miss which is a commendable goal.
Here’s how Webflow did it:
✅ Email to users
✅ Blog post
✅ In-app announcement
✅ Video
✅ Posting to official forum
✅ Social media (Twitter thread, Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook)
✅ CEO social promotion
Email to Webflow users
The email annoucement was unfortunately the weakest link in this launch as it was fairly vague about what “major improvements” were being announced. It relies on the curiosity of the reader and without a more compelling hook, readers likely ignored the call-to-action.
Blog Post
The announcement blog post is fantastic, starting off with a strong narrative and then diving into exactly what is being launched. The assets help to visually tell the story and the beta-user testimonials build consumer trust in the value of the features. To finish, the blog post teases upcoming features to build excitement towards the next product launch.
In-app Announcement
Webflow shows an in-app pop-up when first logging into the platform and also documents the launch on their Updates & Announcements page.
Video
Webflow’s university videos aren’t just educational, they’re entertaining and full of personality too. Seriously – watch and they’ll put a smile on your face.
Forum Posting
Tweet Thread
It’s hard to convey product launch information in just one tweet, so Webflow’s creative team created an excellent 24-second hype video (no audio required) along with a Twitter thread highlighting the four main features.
Click the tweet below to see the whole thread.
Tweet from the CEO
Executives that are active on social media are a marketing team’s best friend. Anytime you can get the CEO of your company to hype up your launch, you know you’ve done a good job.
Instagram Post
Not many SaaS apps have a presence on Instagram. But being a design-focused company, it makes sense to be active where potential customers and current users will find you. The video was also cross-posted to Facebook and Linkedin.
Final Thoughts
From an outsider’s perspective (and a Webflow superfan), I thought this was an extremely well-executed product launch. Hat tip to the dozens of people that worked together to pull it off.
My rating: 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺 / 5
What do you think of this launch? Anything you would add or improve upon?
I’d love your thoughts – leave a comment below!