Complete product launch management checklist for Product Managers

Launching a new product is both exciting and challenging for product managers. There are numerous moving parts - spanning product development, engineering, testing, branding, and marketing - that all need to be coordinated seamlessly. As a product manager, your role is to ensure that all collaborators are aligned and working together to deliver a successful launch.

One effective way to stay organized is by using a product launch checklist. This tool helps you  tick milestones off as you progress, ensuring that nothing is overlooked. 

In this post, we'll share a comprehensive checklist to help you prepare for a smooth and successful product launch.

TL;DR

• Launching a new product requires effective coordination across multiple teams, including product development, engineering, and marketing. A product launch checklist ensures that tasks are tracked, collaborators are aligned, and timelines are managed efficiently.
• Start by defining clear goals - whether they're sales targets, user acquisition numbers, or brand awareness benchmarks - and set a launch date that has stakeholder approval. Work closely with cross-functional teams to create a unified plan so everyone knows their tasks and deadlines.
• Thoroughly test the product before launch, and evaluate post-launch performance to improve future launches. 
• Luna promotes cross-functional team collaboration and stakeholder involvement from product development to launch day. On one platform, you can define your launch plans, share them across tech and non tech teams, track progress on milestones and manage launch activities efficiently. Try Luna today for free. 

What is a product launch management checklist?

As the name implies, a product launch checklist is a list of all the activities  you must complete for a successful product or feature launch. The main goal of this checklist is to help coordinate all your product launch management tasks in one place, where you can tick them off as you go. 

Why is it important?

When trying to achieve a certain goal, it always helps to note all the steps you need to take to achieve it. This is how a product launch plan checklist works. It lets you visualize what it takes to have a successful launch day so you know what is expected of you and the team. 

Here are more reasons why a product launch checklist is important. 

• Coordinates the work of all the teams involved in the launch so everyone is on the same page
• Helps with quality assurance to ensure all components of the product are thoroughly tested 
• Helps manage launch timelines and stakeholder expectations
• Ensures that marketing and sales teams' strategies are fully knowledgeable of the product's features and capabilities 
• Serves as important product launch documentation for future reference
• Helps with customer experience issues during launch. 

Tip: Luna helps product managers drive effective collaboration from development to launch day. The tool unites various cross-functional teams around shared milestones, standardizes various launch processes, and automates on-time collaboration for a successful product launch. 

Try Luna today for free. 

10-Step product launch management checklist

Here is a simple yet effective 10-step checklist for a successful launch of a new product. 

1. Set your goals

Your goal for a product launch goes beyond simply making it accessible to your customers. You want a product that is 100% functional and desirable. The goals you set will be unique to you, your company, and the kind of product you are launching. 

For example, some common product launch goals are:

• Sales targets: Specific amount of sales within a set timeframe. For example, you might set a goal to sell 1,000 units in the first month or achieve a specific percentage of market share.
• User acquisition: If your goal is user growth, you can set a target for the number of new users or customers you want to onboard.
• Brand awareness: If brand visibility is a major goal of this product launch, set metrics like social media engagement, website traffic, or media coverage.

Set relevant KPIs that you can track so you have an idea of how the product is doing on or after launch day.

2. Set launch date

The product launch process can be chaotic, so it's important to set the expected launch date first. Communicate this launch date with your stakeholders, get their approval, and ensure the rest of the team is also aware of it. Once this is done, you will be able to schedule all the tasks that will lead up to a successful launch and assign appropriate deadlines to each one. 

Tip: When setting a product launch date, choose a day (often Tuesdays) when the majority of your team members will be available to respond to customer queries and fix any issues that may arise. 

3. Assign roles to the team

Product launches are a collective effort, and everyone involved must be aware of their roles. Assigning responsibilities upfront  makes collaboration clearer and speeds up the process. The product launch process usually has dependencies. For example, the developers cannot start working if the design team hasn't delivered the final product design. Assigning responsibilities allows everyone to know who is responsible for what, so it's easy to hold people accountable. 

Here are some tips to help ensure cross-functional teams are aligned: 

• Team kickoff meeting: Hold a kickoff meeting with all relevant stakeholders and collaborators to discuss the project scope, timelines, and roles.
• Task assignments: Assign responsibilities to each collaborator and ensure there is no miscommunication or overlap in execution.
• Communication plan: Set up regular progress meetings to keep everyone updated on the launch's status.

When team members are on the same page, workflow is smoother, and nothing slips through the cracks. 

Tip: Luna helps you skip the regular update meetings and free up time for more high-level discussions regarding the launch. The tool's user-friendly interface tracks changes automatically, and stakeholders are notified beforehand. 

4. Create a detailed product launch plan

Your software product launch plan should cover every detail, from pre-launch strategies to post-launch activities. This plan will serve as a detailed roadmap to highlight your milestones and their associated timelines, as well as dependencies. You can create a product launch plan in the following steps: 

• Create a timeline: Break down the launch process into phases (e.g., pre-launch, soft launch, full launch) and assign deadlines.
• Use a Gantt chart: Gantt charts help visualize tasks and timelines. You can track progress and see dependencies between tasks.
• Set milestones: Set clear milestones for vital tasks like completing the marketing plan, product testing, and sales training.

Tip: Using Luna’s templates you can standardize your launch processes including milestones and key responsibilities. You can also create custom roadmaps for your product launch at different levels of detail depending on your audience. 

5. Test product repeatedly

Testing the product repeatedly before the full-scale launch helps gather important feedback, spot bugs, improve features, and make necessary changes before the final release. First, test the product in-house for user experience, interface, and functionality. Next, you can perform beta tests, which involve recruiting beta testers to try the product and share their unbiased feedback. Some benefits of testing your product are: 

• Better user experience
• Prevent losses
• Avoid putting out a bug-filled product
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Free word-of-mouth promotion from the third-party testers

Create a product readiness checklist and test the product until every metric on the list is ticked off or satisfied. 

6. Time to market the product

A well-planned and executed marketing strategy will spread the word about your product and drive demand. Your marketing strategy should convince your target audience that your product is valuable and better than what already exists in the market. An effective product marketing checklist should be able to: 

• Allow your customers to find your product easily
• Place your product as superior to other options
• Showcase your USP perfectly
• Build trust among your audience

A typical product launch marketing template includes a concrete go-to-market plan. It should define your messaging, positioning, and the channels you want to use to reach your audience. Make sure you tailor your campaigns to highlight the product's key benefits and unique selling points. You can use press releases, content writing, infographics, ads, etc, to spread the message about your product. 

Tip: With Luna, you can sync your go-to-market activities with your product roadmaps on one platform instead of navigating through multiple sheets, emails, and docs. This way, you can adapt your marketing strategy to match real-time product updates and ensure everything runs smoothly and on time. 

7. Give your Sales team everything they need

Your sales team sets the pricing for the product, nurtures new leads, and tries to upsell your existing customers. They are on the front line of your product launch, so they must fully understand the product's features, benefits, and unique selling points. After the product is launched, the sales team is responsible for converting new and existing leads to hard sales. To succeed, you need to provide them with all the tools and information they need, some of which are:

• Resources such as product comparison charts, case studies, and pitch decks to help the team sell the product effectively.
• Access to CRM tools like Hubspot to automate lead nurturing and other sales workflow processes. 
• Conduct mock sales calls or presentations to help the sales team practice answering common customer objections.

With the necessary information, your sales experts will be more confident in their ability to sell the product, leading to better results.

8. Update product knowledge base

An updated and comprehensive product knowledge base, including comprehensive guides, FAQs, how-to videos, and technical documentation, provides everyone with an in-depth understanding of how the product works and how to troubleshoot any issues. 

Create user guides, setup instructions, and FAQs for customers to help them quickly onboard and use the product. This step is very important as it helps customers understand the product better. It also equips your customer support team with the information they need to guide customers to use the product successfully. 

9. Launch your product

After conducting a final pre-launch check and getting the sign-off from important stakeholders, it's time to announce the launch of your new product on all relevant platforms. Your announcement should include detailed directions on how the product is used. On launch day, you will also monitor how the product is performing on different channels. This means ensuring the product is available, customers are using it correctly, and your team is attending to any technical issues that may arise. 

Follow these steps for a successful launch day: 

• Launch coordination: Coordinate with all teams to ensure a smooth launch across sales, marketing, and customer support.
• Monitor metrics: Track KPIs such as sales, website traffic, app downloads, and customer feedback in real time.
• Be prepared: Have teams on standby to handle any technical glitches, customer complaints, or last-minute changes.

10. Evaluate post-launch results

Post-launch evaluation helps determine whether your launch was successful. This is the time to analyze the metrics you collected on launch day and identify any issues so you can have better launch days in the future. For example, if you successfully created a lot of buzz around the product before launch and realized the sales were low, you may need to revisit your sales strategy or pricing model. 

Conduct post-launch surveys and have your customers share their thoughts on the product. You can also engage the customer support team to gather information on customers' most pressing issues on launch day. This feedback will help you refine your product and prepare for future updates. 

Wrapping up

A product launch management checklist makes it easier for you to achieve all your launch goals, from coordinating the team and getting stakeholder sign-off to creating awareness and releasing it to your audience. 

By following this 10-step checklist, you can streamline the launch process, mitigate risks, and maximize the chances of a successful launch.