The End: Guide to Deprecating a Digital Product

As product managers, we have all spent a large chunk of our time launching and growing our beloved products. However, at times we determine it is time to shut our products down. This article is a guide to turning off your products at the end of their lives.

The guides that exist today focus on launching, but not on deprecating products — which is why I created this deprecation guide for you.

Steps to deprecate a consumer-facing digital product:

1. Communicate Shutdown & Turn Off Inbound Marketing

You should communicate the product shutdown in the channel the customer is actively using the product. Thus, if you are shutting down a mobile application, you should plan to communicate the deprecation via the mobile application itself to increase the chances that your customer reads the messaging. You may want to also send an email and push notification to increase these changes.

In this communication, be sure to: (1) Explain the dates for shutdown, (2) Detail the reason for shutdown if you can, (3) Explain how the customer will be impacted — particularly any open purchases or existing digital purchases, (4) Provide alternatives for the customer to use post shut-down.

One good example of customer messaging is Rdio, an online music stream service that shut down in 2015. When Rdio announced it was shutting down, it provided a clear message to users and an action plan to export…