This is the way the product ends

This is the way the product ends

This is the way the product ends

Not with a bang but a whimper

(apologies to T.S. Eliot)

What happens when it’s time to End of Life a product? Too often, companies just stop fixing bugs, stop answering support emails, and seem to hope that customers will just drift away. This is especially tempting when a product is very early stage and the company is facing a pivot towards a new solution or business model.

However, honest End of Life communication is both the right thing to do and a great opportunity for learning. Even if you think these current customers aren’t going to be your future customers, they can still affect your reputation going forward.

Elements of a Good End Of Life Email

• Thanks for believing in us
• Dates when support, access, data retrieval end
• What we learned
• What we’re up to next
• Available substitutes
• Request for feedback

I recently got an EOL email from the site which has since evolved into 2gov.org, which did a really nice job with the thanks, learning, and what’s next parts:

As an early member of our service for registered voters you provided some incredibly valuable feedback that allowed Votizen to grow in ways we hardly could have imagined. I appreciate all you did to help us at the very start, and wanted to let you know about some changes we’ve made as a result of this input.

Specifically, the Votizen site has evolved beyond its original vision and you will no longer be able to log in to Votizen.com; instead, please find our new service at http://2gov.org. 2gov allows you to easily contact your elected officials through one, simple-to-remember address. Votizen.com will continue to evolve, but for now our main service can be found at the new 2gov.org site. In accordance with our privacy policy we’ll be deleting all information related to the prior site.

Most companies don’t thank their users enough! This email makes me feel like the time I invested in this product — and this entrepreneur — were worthwhile and appreciated.

The only things I’d potentially improve upon: ideally, you’d send the email before access to the original site shut down, and it’s particularly thoughtful to provide alternates – whether that’s another product in your product line or a competitor’s product.