Alright, you've been putting in some serious hustle, and now it's finally time to unveil that shiny new feature. Your mind is probably racing at a million miles a minute. Launching a product feature is a blend of excitement and jitters. And, in today's fast-paced world, where your users' attention is scattered in a thousand different directions, smart planning is the key to ensure you put your best foot forward.
This product launch checklist is your roadmap throughout the release. It provides your entire team with a shared understanding of the steps, processes, marketing plans, and target audiences required for a successful product release.
We use it for two big reasons:
- Foster collaboration and autonomy — A product launch is a team sport, and this checklist ensures that every team member knows precisely where they can fit in and contribute.
- Consistency Creates Efficiency — If you aim to release weekly or regularly (and you should), having a streamlined process in place significantly speeds up your launch.
But hold up, here’s a tip: Don’t forget your team.
They aren’t just part of the process; they are the most critical part of it. A successful launch isn’t just about achieving those OKRs and KPIs; it’s about uniting your entire team behind a shared mission. A successful internal launch aligns your team with that mission.
And, launch day is just the beginning. If your product’s a hit (and we know it will be), you’ll be in a constant state of iteration. Energizing your team and getting them on board from the start is what will keep that momentum going. 👊🚀
So, without further ado, here’s the checklist:
Pre launch — Before the big day
The pre-launch phase is all about setting your product launch up for success. For that, you need a few key elements:
1. Agree on launch date — Agree on the date and time when you can start sending communications for your launch. To clarify, this date is not when the feature itself is pushed into production. This date is when the communication assets and feature are tested and ready for users.
2. Identify audience — Identify potential early adopters of your new feature. If you’re launching a new feature, consider starting your outreach by re-engaging users who previously churned.
3. Identify launch funnel metrics — Identify how you can measure the success of your launch. Ensure that you are tracking a funnel, not just a single metric. A funnel helps you see which part of the process is not converting and allows you to optimize it. Be transparent about this metric with your scrum team, and get them involved. Their alignment here will foster alignment and a common purpose.
4. Collect discovery questions — Ask your team what they hope to learn from the launch. Brainstorm potential questions, whether they relate to usability or engineering aspects like browser support. Be as inclusive as possible.
5. Create discovery Plan — Collaborate with your product and design teams to plan how you can uncover the questions you collected above.
6. Direction for feature/product messaging — Now that you know your audience, craft clear messaging around what your product does. Avoid abstractions; use context that provides a realistic understanding. Write copy for the landing page or an FAQ page to frame your communication for potential users.
7. Marketing collaterals — Prepare essential materials to support your launch. This includes images, landing pages, and videos that will captivate your audience.
8. Support pipeline/workflow — Establish a workflow for handling customer support during and after the launch. Ensure that your Ensure that your Customer Support Manager (CSM) has all the information needed to address inquiries and issues promptly.
Launch day
9. Final testing — Conduct one final testing round to ensure everything is in order before you press the red button
10. Launch all marketing materials — Upload assets to your website and social media to launch your new product feature.
11. Send outreach comms — Press the red button to launch your feature and let your audience know what’s coming. 🎉 Congrats! It’s live
12. Internal communications — Inform your entire company about what just happened, and make sure you give a shoutout to the team behind it.
Post launch
13. Set up meetings to analyze the funnel — Evaluate how users are interacting with the feature and analyze the conversion funnel. Identify any bottlenecks or areas for optimization.
14. Send feedback surveys for adopters and non-adopters — As user engagement rolls in, create a survey to gather feedback from users who engaged with the new feature. Consider sending a survey to users who did not engage; their insights can be a goldmine of knowledge. Understand why they didn’t adopt and identify areas for improvement, it could be something as simple as them not being able to find the feature.
Check out our survey template for an example of how to execute on of feedback surveys.
15. Retro — Set up a retrospective meeting to review customer feedback, performance data, and the overall launch process. Use this insight to iterate and improve for future releases.
You’re all set.
Remember, a successful product launch is not just about a single day; it’s a journey of continuous improvement. Keep your team engaged, your users delighted, and your product evolving. Good luck with your feature launch! We know you’ll nail it!🚀
The Definitive 15-Step Checklist to Launch Your Product Feature was originally published in ILLUMINATION on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
