Do you tier features in product launches? If so, how do you determine the tier for each feature and what's the difference between each?

Absolutely, tiering product launches is crucial for optimizing their impact and resource allocation. This practice combines elements of both art and science, and several factors should be considered: 

• Strategic Impact: Evaluate whether the launch significantly advances your company's position in the market. Even a small feature can be strategically important if it differentiates your solution. In such cases, it may warrant a substantial budget and significant marketing and sales resources. 

• Customer Impact: Assess whether the launch directly addresses a customer need and whether it will enhance customer satisfaction (measured by NPS) or aid in customer acquisition. Additionally, consider whether the launch might alienate certain customer segments. 

While some organizations also consider product complexity in their tiering, it doesn't always directly correlate with strategic or customer impact, although it is often linked. 

By weighing these factors, you can categorize launches into small, medium, and large tiers, each with a corresponding set of GTM activities. Typically, small and large tiered launches are straightforward, and most discussions and decision-making occur in the mid-tier category, which often requires a more nuanced approach, considering specific situations and needs.

At Zendesk, we determine the tier based on business impact, customer impact, and market differentiation.

• Tier 1 covers major new offerings or significant enhancements with high business and customer impact. These involve extensive go-to-market (GTM) planning, sales enablement, adoption strategies, major communications/PR, and dedicated marketing campaigns. Tier 1 launches are often aligned with major events with significant promotional efforts.

• Tier 2 covers major new features with medium to low revenue potential and significant customer impact. These involve comprehensive GTM activities but on a smaller scale than Tier 1, including announcements, demos, community events and targeted promos.

• Tier 3 is for minor updates with low business impact, affecting fewer customers. These typically involve basic updates and release notes, handled mainly by product managers with minimal PMM involvement.

Yes, I tier features in product launches. This tiering system helps prioritize our marketing efforts and resources - here's how I determine the tier for each feature and the key differences between them:

• Tier 1 features receive the highest level of attention across all areas, as they are crucial to deliver on the company's strategy and market positioning.

  • Criteria: Major drivers of company objectives and product vision, as well as newsworthy and highly relevant to current market trends

  • Focus: High buyer-, user-, and internally-focused activation

• Tier 2 features are important for business growth and user adoption but may not require the same level of market-wide attention as Tier 1 features.

  • Criteria: Important drivers of sustained ARR and/or product adoption

  • Focus: High user-focused activation, with medium buyer- and internally-focused activation

• Tier 3 features, while still important, are more focused on user experience and internal enablement, requiring significant educational efforts rather than broad market communication.

  • Criteria: Require significant change management or education efforts

  • Focus: Medium internally-focused activation, with low buyer-focused and user-focused activation

Yes! As you run multiple launches throughout the year, some releases might be major updates that warrant more significant marketing efforts (e.g. if you’re introducing a new product to the market), while others may be minor and require less promotion (e.g. like a product update).

Here's an example of a launch tier framework I've used in the past:

• Tier 1 launches (reserved for the most important product announcements of the year and are typically tied to revenue)

  • Messaging: Core pitch deck updates, product-specific pitch deck, website & landing page updates

  • GTM: Enablement deck, pricing & packaging, sales training, demo, 1-pager(s) & FAQ

  • Customers: Customer stories & references PR/AR: Analyst and press briefings, press release, news outlet coverage

  • Demand Gen: Pre–launch/launch/post–launch campaign, post–launch webinar, content syndication

  • Content: Product launch announcement blog, thought leadership series, product deep dive content

• Tier 2 launches (reserved for significant features or small products)

  • Messaging: Core pitch deck updates, website updates

  • GTM: Sales training, demo, 1-pager(s) & FAQ

  • Customers: Customer references

  • PR/AR: Press release, news outlet coverage

  • Content: Product launch announcement blog, product deep dive content

  • Demand Gen: Post–launch webinar, email campaign
    

• Tier 3 launches (reserved for incremental features and updates)

  • Messaging: Core pitch deck updates

  • GTM: FAQ updates

  • Demand Gen: Email campaign

Keep in mind, while this framework provides structure, I wouldn't say it's a strict framework to follow. The key is to establish a strong foundation for how your company tiers product launches and then you can modify as needed.