When customers are invested in your product and using it frequently, they are also invested in your product’s timeline and when new features are going to be released. This kind of investment is great because it means that your product is sticky and people care about it, but can also be problematic because it means you may have to spend some time communicating with those same people what you will or won’t have in the future and why.

Luckily, not all of the conversations will be won’ts and you’ll have the opportunities to make some people’s day…as long as you do so carefully. Revealing a deadline to a customer when letting them know that something they’re looking forward to is indeed coming can be dangerous: it’s almost like if you were to show your child on a calendar where Christmas is, and then have to push Christmas back because Santa wasn’t ready to deliver presents. Don’t deny the delight of your customers! Instead, keep timelines loose and don’t specifically tell them when they can expect what they are looking forward to. Here’s a great example response that you can use:

Hey there,

Thanks for reaching out about this — I agree; it’s super exciting! While we are all really excited here, we don’t have a set deadline for when this is going to be released. I can tell you it’s within the next few weeks, though, so keep your eyes peeled. If you’d like to be notified as soon as it is released, we offer a sign-up form to do so here: [insert form link]. If you fill out your information there, we’ll send you an email as soon as [the product or service] becomes available.

Thanks again for your enthusiasm! It’s always great talking to people like you.

This response assumes that there’s been some kind of announcement about the product to be released either written on the blog or sent out to customers. The most important piece of this response, though, is the timeline that is provided. Even if you know that the product is going to be released the next day, say “weeks.” If the product manager says that it’ll be done in a few weeks, tell your customer that it will be a few months. That way, your customer will be surprised and delighted when it’s ready early, rather than being irked and frustrated when they expected something and it’s delayed.