Not every launch needs a big announcement. Sometimes, a small, quality-of-life update is best introduced with a simple, well-timed message—no fanfare, just a helpful nudge.

At Appcues, some enhancements stand alone, while others set the stage for a bigger release. Either way, they don’t always need a full-scale campaign—just a way to reach the people who will benefit most.

That’s exactly what happened when our product team released flow prioritization, an enhancement to our flow controls system. It was a powerful update, but we wanted to hold off on a big splash until we could launch it alongside other improvements.

Instead of announcing it broadly, we opted for a targeted in-app message, delivering the update only to users actively engaging with the feature. No interruptions, no irrelevant pop-ups—just a simple, contextual heads-up where it mattered most.

Step 1: Tracking the right moment

First, we needed to track when someone used the feature.

Using the Appcues Builder, we tagged the Flow Settings element where users adjust flow weight.

For clarity, we gave the event a clear, recognizable name—a small but crucial detail, especially when using Events Broadcaster or integrations that send data to other tools. Well-named events make it easier to reference later and avoid confusion.

Step 2: Whisper, don’t shout

This wasn’t a launch that needed big fanfare—just a helpful nudge at the right time.

Instead of announcing it to everyone, we built a quick tooltip that only appeared when someone clicked into the flow weight box. No pop-ups out of nowhere, no distractions—just a simple, in-the-moment heads-up for users actively engaging with the feature.

For anyone who wasn’t using flow weights? They never saw it. And that was exactly the point.

Step 3: Let the feature speak for itself

We could have sent emails or added banners, but this update didn’t need that. If the right people saw it, they'd use it. So instead of making users go find the feature, we let the feature introduce itself.

Rather than triggering the tooltip for all users on a page, we tied it directly to the event we tracked.

The goal was:

✅ Surface the update naturally—Only users engaging with the feature should see it

✅ Trigger messaging based on real behavior—Not broad, static segments

✅ Keep it lightweight and useful—No unnecessary distractions

Rather than sending an email or announcing it to all users, we tracked an event when someone interacted with the feature and used that to trigger a contextual tooltip.

This approach worked well for a low-key feature launch, but we weren’t great at follow-up. At the time, we didn’t have a solid plan—or the capacity—to manually follow up with users who saw the tooltip but didn’t use the feature. We release so many small improvements that personally chasing adoption for each one just isn’t realistic.

But we didn’t have Workflows. If we were to do this today, we’d set up an automation to trigger a follow-up email or in-app nudge if someone saw the tooltip but didn’t take action. No manual outreach, no tracking down users—just an easy way to make sure important features don’t go unnoticed.

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