eol-message

## Purpose
Craft a clear, empathetic End-of-Life (EOL) message that communicates product or feature discontinuation, explains the rationale, addresses customer impact, provides transition support, and positions the replacement solution. Use this to maintain customer trust during difficult transitions and reduce churn by demonstrating care and offering a clear path forward.

This is not a generic sunset announcement—it's a customer-centric communication that acknowledges loss while framing the change as progress.

## Key Concepts

### The EOL Messaging Framework
An effective EOL message balances honesty about the change with empathy for customer impact. It includes:

1. **Company context:** Who you are and your commitment to customers
2. **The announcement:** What's being discontinued and what's replacing it
3. **The rationale:** Why this decision benefits customers (not just the business)
4. **Current product context:** What the product was and who it served
5. **Customer impact:** How this affects users (acknowledge the disruption)
6. **Transition solution:** What the replacement is and how it improves on the old
7. **Support measures:** How you'll help customers migrate
8. **Timeline:** Key dates and milestones
9. **Call to action:** Next steps and contact info

### Why This Works
- **Empathy-first:** Acknowledges customer disruption before justifying the decision
- **Clarity:** No ambiguity about what's changing and when
- **Support-focused:** Shows you're not abandoning customers mid-transition
- **Future-oriented:** Frames change as progress, not loss

### Anti-Patterns (What This Is NOT)
- **Not a terse shutdown notice:** "We're discontinuing Product X. Goodbye."
- **Not business-centric:** Don't lead with "This reduces our costs"
- **Not vague:** "Soon" is not a timeline
- **Not defensive:** Don't blame customers ("low usage forced us to shut down")

### When to Use This
- Discontinuing a product, feature, or service
- Migrating customers from legacy to new platform
- Sunsetting an acquisition target's product
- Deprecating a technology stack or API

### When NOT to Use This
- For minor feature tweaks (don't over-communicate small changes)
- Before you have a transition plan (communicate *after* you know how you'll support customers)
- If you're secretly hoping customers won't notice (be transparent)

---

## Application

Use `template.md` for the full fill-in structure.

### Step 1: Gather Context
Before drafting, ensure you have:
- **Product being discontinued:** What specifically is ending?
- **Replacement solution:** What's replacing it (if anything)?
- **Timeline:** Key dates (announcement, feature freeze, shutdown, data export deadline)
- **Customer impact:** How many users affected? What workflows disrupted?
- **Support plan:** Migration support, training, discounts, data export tools
- **Rationale:** Why is this happening? (Technology obsolescence, strategic shift, consolidation, etc.)

**If missing context:** Don't send the message until you have a complete transition plan. Customers will ask "What do I do now?"—you must have an answer.

---

### Step 2: Draft the Product Transition Narrative

#### Company Context
Establish who you are and your commitment:

```markdown
### Product Transition Narrative

**We are:** [Describe the company and its relationship to the product being phased out]
- [Key point about company's commitment to customers]
- [Key point about company's product evolution]
- [Key point about company's future vision]
```

**Example:**
```markdown
**We are:** Acme Workflows, a workflow automation platform serving 50,000 small businesses
- We're committed to helping you save time and focus on what matters
- We continuously evolve our product based on your feedback and technological advances
- We're building toward a future where automation is accessible, powerful, and simple
```

---

#### The Announcement
Be clear and direct:

```markdown
**Announcing:**
- [Single sentence that clearly states the EOL of the product and introduces its replacement]
```

**Example:**
- "We are discontinuing Acme Workflows Classic on December 31, 2026, and migrating all customers to Acme Workflows Pro."

---

#### The Rationale (Customer-Benefit-Focused)
Explain *why* this benefits customers:

```markdown
**Because:**
- [Reason 1: e.g., technological advancements]
- [Reason 2: e.g., improved performance]
- [Reason 3: e.g., better alignment with customer needs]

**Which means for you:**
- [Describe the impact and benefits from the customer's perspective]
```

**Example:**
```markdown
**Because:**
- Acme Workflows Classic runs on outdated infrastructure that limits performance and scalability
- Acme Workflows Pro is built on modern technology that enables faster automation, better integrations, and real-time collaboration
- Consolidating to one platform allows us to invest 100% of our engineering resources in features you've requested

**Which means for you:**
- Faster automation execution (3x speed improvement)
- 50+ new integrations with tools you already use
- Access to new features like real-time collaboration and mobile app
```

---

### Step 3: Provide Current Product Context

Acknowledge what's being lost:

```markdown
### Current Product Context

**Our product** [name of the product being discontinued]
- **is a** [brief description of the product and its primary function]
- **that has served** [target customer/user] for [duration or timeframe]
- **by providing** [key benefits or solutions the product offered]
```

**Example:**
```markdown
**Our product** Acme Workflows Classic
- **is a** workflow automation tool that helps small businesses eliminate repetitive tasks
- **that has served** over 20,000 customers for 8 years
- **by providing** reliable, straightforward automation without requiring technical expertise
```

---

### Step 4: Acknowledge Customer Impact

Be honest about disruption:

```markdown
### Customer Impact

**We understand that this may affect you by:**