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What is a product launch plan and how to create one

Building a new product — let alone a successful one — is an exciting but challenging process. As a product manager, it’s your job to determine what products to build that deliver a valuable experience for your customers.

But your responsibility goes beyond the decision-making and building process. When you’re about to deliver a new product to the market, you need to coordinate the moving pieces surrounding the launch, including setting goals for development and promoting your product post-launch. A product launch plan helps you organize all the activities around this process.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to write a product launch plan step by step. We’ll follow a simple framework to help you align stakeholders when developing and planning to release new products.

You can reference this template when building a product launch plan of your own.

What is a product launch plan?

Working in product means spending a lot of time researching your market, competitors, and (prospective) customers to determine how you can deliver a valuable product. After setting priorities and determining your roadmap , an exciting process of prototyping, testing, iterating, and building takes place. You, as product manager, should take the ownership in guiding this process towards the desired outcome.

Aside from the process of building the actual product and making sure product requirements are met, there’s another essential part that you need to manage: the product launch.

A product launch involves a variety of factors that need to be aligned and activities that need to be managed to make your product a commercial success. This is where the product launch plan comes in.

The core of a product launch plan describes the commercial goals and the actual product as well as the promotion and communication surrounding your product. Usually, the detailed activities that need to happen are plotted on a timeline to manage the product launch over time and keep all stakeholders involved up to date.

Who is involved in launching a new product?

As an owner of the product launch, the product manager is responsible for creating the product launch plan, but you’re far from the only person involved in the associated activities. Depending on your organization and how teams and roles are set up, this process is usually owned by a product manager or product marketing manager.

When creating a product launch plan, you should involve and align with people from, at bare minimum, customer success, sales, support, marketing, and engineering. At the end of the day, creating a product launch plan should always be a collaboration because launching your product is at the intersection of product and marketing.

How to create a product launch plan (template)

To make your product launch a success, start with the core elements of your plan.

There’s a simple framework to capture the core elements of a product launch. This template is derived from and uses elements of Roman Pichler’s Product Vision Board Alexander Osterwalder’s Value Proposition Canvas .

The product launch plan framework consists of two pillars — product and goals and promotion and communication — which are each broken down into four categories.

Let’s examine what each of these elements represents in the context of the overall product launch plan.

Product and goals

Target audience.

Who is your product designed for? What types of customers/users are you aiming to acquire with your product?

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Be as specific as possible. The more granular, the better you’ll be able to understand, target, and reach your audience.

Problem solver

What problem does your product or feature aim to solve for your target audience? What specific pain points is it designed to address?

Product and USP

What is your product offering and what makes it unique in the market? You could differentiate based on the functionalities of your product, but this could also focus on the service you offer or a competitive pricing model.

Goals and KPIs

What are your commercial goals? Are you launching a product in a new market segment? Are you aiming for a percentage of market share?

Define what success looks like for your product. Set milestones to track your success and forecast in usage — for example, how many users should we have after six, 12, and 24 months post-launch?

Promotion and communication

Value proposition.

What value are your customers getting from using your product? Remember, customers don’t necessarily want to use your product; they want to get the outcome your product offers .

Determine the pricing model of your product. Are you creating a new product, or is it an add-on to an already existing product or service?

Also, be clear about your pricing plans and the different options you want to offer — for example, flat rate, based on users, usage, etc.

Branding and marketing

Describe how you’re going to market and brand your product.

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The best way is to describe your key promotional message. Are you creating a specific brand awareness or lead campaign? And how do you position your product in the market? Are you promoting a new (and innovative) product, a renewed product, or an alternative for an already-existing product?

Sales and post-sales

How are you going to acquire new customers? Are there human sales reps involved or will your product be sold via a completely online and self-service process ?

Describe your sales process and how your customers are onboarded after completing their purchase

Setting goals for a new product

When building a new product, as with any project, you should set some goals at the outset. Remember, you’re not just building a new product, you’re solving a specific user problem and adding value for your end users. That’s the customer value side of your product.

You also have your own business value to consider. What’s in it for your company? If you’re building your first product, it will most likely be to find product-market fit . If you already have a product and a steady customer base, you’re typically aiming to enter a new market segment, grow in customers, and/or grow in revenue.

Setting your goals is a vital element of your product launch because it determines when your product is successful. It’s also critical to define your business goals and corresponding KPIs to track progress after the new product is launched.

Take all relevant product metrics into account, such as customer acquisition costs (CAC), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and average revenue per account (ARPA). Talk with sales, marketing, and finance to determine what numbers to work with in your forecast. As product manager, orchestrate the various factors involved and align the commercial goals to achieve commercial success.

While the commercial goals are necessary to set and track, it’s also important to look specifically at your product and its usage — i.e., product engagement . How do you expect your specific features to be used? What common activities will people undertake when using your new product?

Measure product usage and set KPIs to see if users interact with your product to reach the desired outcomes. In doing so, you define and discover your aha moment — the moment when your users are engaged with your product so they understand its value and return to experience this value and outcome repeatedly.

Determine the most important events or features that keep users engaged by tracking user events and flows. Determine drop-off points, bounce rates, and the sweet spot of your product’s most-used features. If you’re able to discover specific patterns, you can optimize your product and increase your conversions and customer retention over time.

How to launch and promote your product

When you launch a new product in the market, you ideally want to reach out to all potential users who fit your target audience. But how do you reach them? Moreover, how do you convince them to purchase and use your product?

Crafting your promotional messaging

In your product launch plan, write down the high-level approach and strategy you plan to follow when promoting the value you offer. This is the basis for your go-to-market strategy and a requisite for achieving your commercial goals.

The promotional message should derive from your value proposition. The value that your users will get from your product should be the fundament of your promotional message.

While it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same copy word-for-word, your promotional message should be recognizable and obvious to your target audience. It’s up to the marketers to get creative and come up with an enticing campaign to reach potential customers, make them aware of your product, and convince them to buy it.

Different types of content will help guide your target audience through the marketing funnel . A common method of coming up with your promotional messaging is called working backward . The idea is that you write a hypothetical press release before you even start to build your product. Clarifying how you want the market to see and adapt your product from the outset helps ensure you fulfill that promise when actually building it.

Working with sales to acquire customers

Once you reach your target audience, the next objective is to acquire customers. This is where sales comes in. Depending on your organization and product, this will usually involve sales reps. It’s your job to give them the tools and information they need to demonstrate the product’s value to interested individuals and convince them to buy your product — this is what we call closing the deal .

Aside from the sales playbook and the promotional message of your product, you, as the product manager, are responsible for communicating the product launch plan with your sales reps to inform them and share the expectations of your product launch. They need to know how to leverage the value of your product in acquiring new customers.

You need to take a similar approach with everybody involved in the post-sales phase. This usually includes your customer success and support teams, which manage the onboarding of new customers and customer service. These teams need to be informed of and familiar with the process of onboarding and supporting new customers for your product to be successful.

Your sales, customer success, and customer support teams need to know what and how to sell and explain your product and what pricing plans to use when acquiring or possibly upselling customers. It’s your job to determine how you plan to monetize your product and what pricing plans your teams can use. Decide what factors will influence your pricing and how your product plan builds up.

Final thoughts

Product managers are responsible for organizing a smooth product launch and managing the internal process with stakeholders. Create a product launch plan and connect and collaborate with your peers from all departments involved to make sure everybody is on the same page, has the same expectations, and knows their role in achieving success and reaching your product goals.

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Product Launching Plan 101: Ultimate Guide to a Successful Launch

By Kate Eby | May 27, 2023

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Launching a new product can be daunting. From creating a buzz around your product to executing your marketing plan flawlessly, there are numerous aspects to consider. A launching plan can make or break your product's success and impact on the market, and it’s not always easy.

In fact, according to Harvard professor Clayton Christensen , more than 30,000 new consumer products are launched each year, yet 95 percent of them fail. However, with the right preparation and strategies in place, you can create a launching plan that lands you in the successful 5 percent.

In this post, we’ll review what a product launch plan is , the different types of product launches , and the various phases of a product launch , as well as guide you through the steps of creating an effective product launching plan that will help you stand out from the competition, attract your target audience, and ultimately drive sales.

What Is a Product Launch Plan?

A product launch plan is a detailed strategy that outlines the necessary steps and activities to successfully introduce a new product to the market. It typically includes a timeline, budget, marketing and advertising strategies, and sales goals. 

The plan is designed to create excitement and anticipation for the new product, generate interest from potential customers, and ensure a smooth and successful launch. A well-executed product launch plan can do the following:

• Establish Clear Objectives: This ensures that everyone involved in the launch, from the marketing team to the sales team, is on the same page and is working toward the same goals.
• Improve Internal Communication: By providing a clear roadmap and timeline for the launch, you’ll ensure that everyone involved knows what they need to do and when.
• Increase Sales: By generating excitement around a product, building anticipation, and creating a sense of urgency, the launch can encourage customers to make a purchase and drive sales for your business.

Types of Product Launches 

It's crucial to have a launching plan in place, but you also need to decide how extensive you want the actual launch to be. 

Consider the following three types of product launches.

Soft Launch

A soft launch is a limited release of a product or service to a select group of customers or a specific geographic area to test and fine-tune the offering before a full-scale launch. 

Businesses use this strategy to gauge customer response, identify potential issues or bugs, and make necessary adjustments before a wider release. Soft launches are typically done with a reduced marketing budget and a smaller team to minimize risks and gather valuable feedback from early adopters.

Minimal Launch

A minimal launch refers to the process of launching a new product with the bare minimum features, functionalities, and resources required to validate the product idea and gather feedback from early adopters. It involves launching a product only with essential features and without any additional bells and whistles that are not necessary for the core functionality of the product. 

The goal of a minimal product launch is to test the product idea, gauge user interest, and refine the product based on customer feedback before investing more resources into its development. This approach is commonly used in Lean startup methodologies and can save startups time and money while ensuring they’re building a product that customers actually want.

Full-Scale Launch

A full-scale launch refers to the complete and official launch of a product, service, or project. It involves the deployment of all necessary resources, such as marketing, advertising, logistics, and technical support, to ensure a successful and impactful launch. 

The purpose of a full-scale launch is to create maximum awareness, generate interest, and drive sales of the product or service. It’s typically the final stage of a comprehensive planning and execution process and is intended to deliver desired outcomes for the organization.

Product Launch Phases

A strong product launching plan involves many different steps, from developing the right messaging and assets to empowering sales staff and maintaining momentum.

A product launch comprises three phases: pre-launch, launch, and post-launch.

Phase 1: Pre-Launch

The pre-launch phase is the period before the official launch of a new product or service and is a crucial part of any launch. This is where you’ll do the majority of planning activities, including the following:

• Set achievable goals
• Become an expert on your product
• Understand the target market
• Develop a messaging strategy
• Create a timeline
• Make a budget
• Plan promotional materials
• Test your product

The duration of the pre-launch phase can vary depending on the product or service being launched, as well as the overall goals of the launch. However, a typical pre-launch can range from a few weeks to several months.

Overall, the pre-launch phase is a critical period that requires careful planning and execution to ensure a successful launch.

Phase 2: Launch

Simply put, the launch phase involves executing all of the planning you did during the pre-launch phase. This is when your product is finally out on the market. 

This phase is much shorter than pre-launch. Depending on how long you believe you need, it may take a day or a week.

Phase 3: Post-Launch

Even once you launch your product, there is still work to do. In the post-launch phase , you'll conduct a review and compile feedback and data to determine what went well and what didn't.

Doing so will help you to manage or improve your product so that it remains relevant to your market and maintains customer retention.

How to Create a Product Launch Plan in 9 Steps

Now that you understand the different phases of a launch, it’s time to delve deeper into the specifics. Follow the nine steps below for a successful launch.

1. Set Goals

Phase: Pre-launch

The first thing you’ll want to do when developing your launching plan is establish the objectives of the product launch and determine desired outcomes. Think about what your product team hopes to achieve throughout the process.  

Businesses often hope to achieve a variety of goals, including the following:

• Building product awareness
• Generating interest
• Capturing new customers
• Increasing sales 
• Finding a product-market fit
• Establishing a strong market position

Once you’ve determined your goals, list out the key performance indicators (KPIs) for each goal so you know what to measure for success. Remember: Good goals are clear, measurable, and have an expected time frame, and the best way to achieve that is by writing SMART goals . 

Pro tip: One of the easiest ways to get started setting and tracking your goals is to use a goal setting template that you can customize to suit your needs.

2. Do Your Research

Another crucial step in your launching plan is to conduct in-depth research on your target market, competitors, and industry. You should have a thorough understanding of the space in order to create an effective strategy that’ll engage your audience and win their business.

Here are some things businesses typically research during a pre-launch phase:

• Market Demand: Conduct market research to determine if there is a need or demand for the product.
• Competitive Landscape: Research the competition to understand their offerings and identify opportunities for differentiation.
• Target Audience: Identify the target audience and research their needs, preferences, and pain points.
• Marketing Channels: Research the most effective marketing channels to reach your target audience and create a marketing plan.
• Product Features: Conduct user testing and research to ensure product features meet the needs of your target audience.

3. Develop a Messaging Strategy

Now that you have a better understanding of the space, you need to create a marketing communication plan that defines how you will execute the product launch. This means developing a messaging strategy that will resonate with your target market while demonstrating the value of your product. 

To do this, you’ll need to do the following:

• Define Your Value Proposition: What makes your product unique? What benefits does it offer that your competitors don't? Your value proposition should be front and center in your messaging strategy. Make sure you can clearly articulate what sets your product apart and why it's worth paying attention to.
• Craft Your Messaging Framework: Your messaging framework is a set of key messages you want to communicate to your audience. These messages should be concise, memorable, and aligned with your value proposition. Your messaging framework should guide all of your communications, from your website to your social media posts.
• Choose Your Channels: Where does your audience spend their time online? Which social media platforms do they use? Which publications do they read? Do they attend events? Choose the channels that will be most effective in reaching your target audience, and tailor your messaging accordingly.

4. Develop a Budget

At this point, it’s time to develop a budget to ensure you’re managing costs and properly allocating resources. 

First, you’ll need to determine the scope of your product launch. You can do this by making a list of all the activities required for the successful launch of your product. This can include product development, marketing and advertising, PR, events, promotions, etc.

Next, assign resources (people, time, and money) to each activity. Determine the number of people required for each activity and estimate the amount of time each task will take. Then, assign budgets for each activity.

Remember that every product launch is different, and the budgeting process will vary depending on the product, target audience, and market conditions.

Pro tip: Use these Excel budget templates to track and manage your business expenses so you can make the best strategic decisions for your launching plan.

5. Create a Timeline

To ensure everything stays on track for the launch, you’ll need to create a  project timeline . Start by setting the launch date for your product, as this will be the anchor point for your entire timeline.

Next, identify the key milestones or events that need to happen in order to launch the product successfully. This may include tasks such as product development, testing, marketing, and sales. Make sure you estimate the time frames for each milestone. This will give you a rough idea of how long each task will take and help you identify any potential roadblocks or delays.

Additionally, you’ll need to identify any dependencies between tasks. Some tasks may need to be completed before others can begin, so it's important to factor this into your timeline.

6. Prepare Promotional Materials

Promotional materials are key to getting the word out and creating hype that gets people excited and talking about your product. This includes materials such as email newsletters, landing pages, videos, social media posts , and other assets, depending on what channels you plan to use. 

You’ll need to develop marketing materials for different parts of your product launch such as the teaser, announcement, and promotional content.

The teaser is essentially a hint, clue, or sneak peak that creates anticipation and excitement for your new product. It’s designed to generate interest among the target audience, without revealing too much about the product itself. 

Then there’s the actual announcement , which finally reveals what your new product is as well as any special features or benefits that may be of interest to the target audience. 

After announcing your new product, you can engage your target market and attract more customers by sharing promotional content like a giveaway or release date discount.

7. Launch the Product

Phase: Launch

Once your launch date finally arrives, it’s time to launch your product. This day should be an event — literally. Host in-person or online events like webinars or a live social chat to connect with your customers. 

During these events, you can show your customers live demos or invite influencers to try out your new product. You’ll also want to collaborate with your sales team to plan meetings and outreach the day of the launch to increase the momentum of your campaign.

8. Nurture Your Funnel

After your launch, you’ll have reached a lot of people, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve landed a lot of sales. It often takes several touchpoints before someone is convinced to start moving through the sales funnel, so don’t lose your momentum. 

Continue to nurture those leads with emails, free trials, demos, blogs, and other promotional materials.

9. Monitor and Evaluate

Phase: Post-launch

Depending on when your launch phase has ended (typically within a week of the launch date), this will bring you to the post-launch phase. This is the time when you track the success of the product launch and evaluate your marketing performance .

Spend some time analyzing your results. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Did you meet the goals you made in the pre-launch phase? Why or why not?
• How did customers feel about your product? Were they satisfied or were there things they wished were different?
• Where did your campaign succeed and fail?
• Did you fail to anticipate something? 
• Did you learn anything?

As a good marketing project management practice, you should record your successes and failures. This will allow you to reflect on what went well and what didn’t so you can make changes or pivot strategies for next time based on your desired outcomes.

Create a Successful Product Launch Plan with Smartsheet for Marketing

The best marketing teams know the importance of effective campaign management, consistent creative operations, and powerful event logistics -- and Smartsheet helps you deliver on all three so you can be more effective and achieve more. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Improve your marketing efforts and deliver best-in-class campaigns.

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How to plan a killer product launch in 6 steps

Planning a great product launch just got easier, thanks to expert advice from long-time product marketers and our free product launch template.

Let’s say your product team is about to launch the next big thing. Everyone is excited by what this new product can do, so you send out a press release while the members of your sales team get ready to sign orders and spend their year-end bonuses.

But nothing happens. Or, more accurately, what happens is terribly disappointing. Sales are slow. Customer interest is minimal. And adoption rates are just not what anyone had hoped they would be.

The problem may not be the product. It’s time to take a good hard look at your launch plan.

Should you go big… or go home?

If you have a truly breakthrough product, you need a break-through-the-clutter launch. A press release and a prayer aren’t going to cut it. According to Jonathan Chan of Foundr, a firm that provides resources for novice entrepreneurs, studies estimate  as many as 70 percent of product launches fail .

Ask yourself if the world really wants what you’re offering. For every wildly successful gordito from Taco Bell there are a dozen long-forgotten apps, New Cokes, and other products that flopped due to consumer apathy.

Launching a new product (or completely overhauling an existing one) will have a big impact on your organization. It’s also an opportunity to develop a long-lasting relationship with customers, both new and existing. So think of the product launch as the start of a journey, one that could dramatically boost the exposure and awareness of your brand. If successful, it’s going to lead to more sales, more customers, and a stronger bottom line for your business. Not to mention those year-end bonuses.

It all starts with a launch machine that’s up and running even before your product is ready.

Nail the positioning and messaging

The thing about new products is no one knows much about them. That’s both a blessing (because you get to position your product however you want) and a curse (because you’re starting from scratch in terms of creating awareness).

Before you even think about launching, collect all the background you can find about the new product. Describe what the new product or service does, how it works, and the research that went into its creation. If available, list any competing products, customer insights or customer-requested features.

From there, you can draw important conclusions to fundamental questions about the idea behind the product:

• What problem is it meant to solve?
• Why should it be solved?
• How will the product solve it?
• How does it compare to similar products?

The answers to these questions form the backbone of your product’s positioning in the marketplace. But what about messaging?

As a marketer, you’re a storyteller and ambassador, advocating for your product and articulating unique points of view that differentiate your product in the market. At Atlassian, marketers work closely with product managers to find the story. We ask ourselves “Why will customers and non-customers care? Will press or analysts care? If so, why?” This is a slight variation on “ 5 whys” analysis  and is very helpful in uncovering deeper value.

A few years ago, we got hip to the message house technique as a way to organize our thoughts around how people will relate to our products and why. As a bonus, it keeps the customer top-of-mind in all our marketing activities (not just product launches) and ensures everyone from marketers to developers to executive stakeholders can talk about the product in a consistent way.

Decide how you’ll measure (and pay for) success

Many launches fail not because of bad products, but because of insufficient resources. As you plan your product launch, calculate how much money and people power it will take to reach your target audience and sustain the launch. Or, if you’re like teams at Atlassian, your task is to figure out the most effective way to spend the already-determined budget.

Deciding what tactics will be effective starts with defining your launch’s success metrics. Are you looking to earn press mentions? Draw first-time visitors to your website? Build buzz on social media? Of course, we want it all. But unless you’re armed with a magic wand and fairy dust, your best bet is to choose just one or two metrics to obsess over – then plan launch activities accordingly.

Try a “ goals, signals, and measures ” exercise. This technique helps your team determine the launch’s high-level goal, how you’ll know if you’re on the right track, and the targets you’re aiming for.

Use a product launch plan template

As you begin planning and executing your product launch, good communication becomes critical. One easy way to solve the communications challenge is by posting all pertinent information in a central location. This ensures every member of your team has access to the same, most up-to-date information and resources.

Team members don’t waste time searching for information, discussing assigned tasks, and wondering about product details or requirements. Links provide easy access to important information on issues. This makes the process as easy as checking Facebook, but much more productive.

At Atlassian, we improve communication and consistency throughout any product launch by using templates, which allow us to eliminate all the disconnected documents, texts and spreadsheets that clog up the product launch process. Instead, you end up with planning pages that present your launch plan at a high level while putting the down-in-the-weeds details a mouse click away.

Each time we launch a new product, it involves dozens of people across several departments. Using templates for our launch plans helps keep team members on the same page (literally) throughout the project, and saves the launch lead from having to reinvent the wheel.

A solid template includes space to map launch activities to developers’ tasks and includes a summary at the top so stakeholders have a big-picture view of the launch plan’s status. And don’t forget to specify roles and responsibilities so the members of your cross-functional marketing, public relations, and design team can work together seamlessly.

Get a reality check on your launch roadmap

Before the product launch, sketch out a roadmap that visualizes the streams of work, making sure the timeframes are logical.

Once your product launch roadmap is complete, share it with your marketing team, the product leader, and other stakeholders. Ask them to poke holes in the plan and to suggest improvements. Are you solving the right problems in the preferred order? Is the roadmap realistic? Do you have the right team? Go through a few iterations and update your goals and roadmap accordingly.

Even after you’ve translated the roadmap into action items, you can (and should) continue to ask for feedback. Make sure  product requirements  are in place for development team members and that they’re easy-to-access. That way, developers can quickly reference them and everyone else can refer to them as the launch progresses.

Turn action items into… well,  action

Your product launch can include a range of tactics and activities. A grand announcement event is almost essential. Whether it’s virtual, live, or a mix of both, you can make it even more exciting with a contest, a product giveaway or discount, and appearances by important influencers.

Promote the event and launch with email blasts, blog posts, and a full range of marketing materials. You can keep the excitement rolling after the grand announcement with ongoing promotional support and educational materials, demos and events that support the product and its benefits. Keep a step-by-step checklist of what needs to happen on launch day so no detail gets forgotten amid the chaos.

Whatever the final list of activities and tactics you use to launch your new product, remember it all starts with audience-focused planning and the right preparatory steps. Those are not only the keys to a smooth launch, they mean you’ll have fewer meetings and status reports. You’ll work faster and more efficiently. And at every step, you’ll know the plan is on target, or you’ll know what to do to get it back on target.

The result will be a launch that works. As long as the product isn’t, say, a reformulated version of Coke.

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How to Create a Product Launch Roadmap: 10 Tactics & Examples

Learn how to use a product launch plan to get your teams on the same page, communicate with users, and realize your product goals.

The launch of a new product or feature is a stressful time for a company, particularly for Product Managers and Product Marketing Managers. You want a successful launch that acts as a springboard for new deals and helps the sales team move leads into the pipeline. For that to happen, your team needs to decide which strategies to execute and which to ditch.

How to create an effective product launch plan? We’re about to walk you through the actionable steps that will help you prepare for the launch and keep your whole team on the same page.

Start with customer research – ask your existing users or potential customers for their feedback. Understand their needs and pain points before you go into planning a launch strategy.

Create actionable goals for your product launch. Instead of focusing on one end goal, break it into smaller goals for each phase.

Visualize your product launch on a timeline . Depending on the scope of your launch, you can prepare customer journey maps, product roadmap, launch plan or a roadmap, and more assets as needed. See the examples and templates below 👇

Define roles and responsibilities for everyone on your team, and keep communication clear across teams within your org.  

Use a product launch checklist to break bigger tasks into actionable steps and make sure all relevant steps are covered.

Keep your launch plan flexible to be able to quickly address all the changes along the way, especially if you work in an agile environment.

What is a product launch plan all about? #

A product launch plan is a document that details the tasks and timelines behind getting users to interact with your new product or a new feature. It is an essential part of any marketing strategy behind a new product.

Creating a solid product launch plan will make it easier to identify your goals, set out your strategy, and designate tasks for different teams and members. It sounds like this one document has a lot to cover, but with a good online roadmap maker , you can design a roadmap that will help you implement your launch strategy and get your whole organization aligned around a single source of truth.

10 tactics to create the product launch plan that your new release deserves #

When in the planning process for your next product launch, you need to ensure that all bases are covered. Start from customer and UX research then progress steadily through all other key actions, like adding milestones and checklists. Here are our top tips for product management team success with their product launch plans.

1. Start with customer research #

Your product roadmap is focused on a specific goal: the launch of your product. But getting there requires high-level feedback from the target audience of your launch, and the chief among them are your customers.

Though this may seem like a labor-intensive task, product launches will not be complete without asking your customers for their thoughts on product features you have produced so far, and what they wish you would do differently.

Here at Chameleon , we add beta users of new products and features to our Slack channels to have a direct line of communication for support, bug hunting, and—as a great end result—improving feature adoption among beta users.

👉 Check out this interactive demo to explore how Chameleon Microsurveys help streamline in-app feedback.

Have you had customers who weren’t happy with how a product worked? Find out before creating your roadmap. Applying firmographic segmentation strategies to shape your ideal customer profiles and knowing what makes customers happy will help you map out the customer journey , organize your launch, and streamline the further development of your product.

The above example of a customer journey map outlines what the process for customers is now and how it can be changed in the future. A chart like this could be the starting point for creating a plan for your new product launch.

Depending on your customer journeys, you can decide the scope of your launch and iterate your product roadmap. Also, don't forget to validate it with your users first .

🎬 Webinar: Validating Product Roadmaps With Your Users

Learn how to validate new product ideas and solutions with user feedback in this webinar with Maze

2. Create actionable product launch goals #

With customer research complete, you also need to think about what kinds of goals you have to outline to complete your product launch formula . But, more importantly, you need to decide what does and doesn’t impact your overall goal.

💡 Take a look at the series of best practices on how to announce a new feature , along with a specific framework to make this section even easier.

A little bit of analysis is needed for this phase of your roadmap. Dive into your product analytics to find which product goals, marketing goals, and sales goals to achieve. Then, list out the key performance indicators (KPIs) for each goal. What resources do you need, and how much effort and man-hours are required?

Once you have the answers to these questions, then understand what launch activities you have to undertake to achieve your goals.

3. Organize your product roadmap template #

Using a roadmap template can help you visualize your product strategy and save time. For example, you can start with Roadmunk's roadmap templates with a swimlane or a timeline view.

Once you have chosen a roadmap format that suits your needs, you can add your brand identity. According to the latest branding statistics , high-level branding is a necessity for both external and internal company communications. And, it's particularly important for launches since they often involve both employees and customers.

With your branding in place, you should be looking at choosing a select set of icons as a visual reference in your launch roadmap. Icons are a simple, yet poignant tool for sharing and organizing information effectively. Icons also remove the need for adding long paragraphs to explain a subject, as you can see in the example below.

4. Expand your roadmap color palette #

Visuals like icons help better with recall, as do colors. Using a set of contrasting colors in your roadmap will make information stand out and lead to people remembering points better. Using a unique color palette is also an effective way to add personality to your brand . You can also use colors to demarcate sections or phases of the product launch. This will make it easier for your team members to access the section most relevant to them.

Alongside a varied color palette, you should also use shades of colors, especially if you only have access to a limited color palette. You can see in the roadmap below how shades of a single color have been used to create sections.

By using shades of the same color, you can expand the number of colors you can use, while still remaining minimalist.

5. Create a product launch plan index #

An index provides a brief description of what your plan is all about and which ideas you are looking to implement. It also outlines the various phases of the launch. You can choose to show this in a variety of ways: as a standard index, a timeline, a mind map, a graph, or a table.

For anyone reading your plan, an index will ease them into the project and give them the lay of the land before they begin working.

6. Add milestone highlights #

A product roadmap, especially one for a significant new product or feature launch, is likely to cover a lot of information no matter which roadmap format your choose. If you want to hold your teammates' attention, make sure the document is skimmable.

The modern human is increasingly busier and more overloaded with information than ever, and our attention spans have decreased as a result. We're used to skimming over headlines in our social media feeds, and quickly scanning through any articles we do click on.

Add visual hierarchy to your roadmap by pinpointing the salient points you need team members to focus on and highlighting them. You can achieve this in a number of ways - you can use bold or italics, break sections down to include more subheadings, or underline key phrases so they are immediately noticeable, as you can see in the example below.

What you will also have noticed is that these highlights don’t only extend to headings or subheadings; you could emphasize different words and phrases within the body text of your product roadmap. This will ensure that your teammates know exactly what is the most pertinent information they need to get from that section.

7. Add calls to action #

Product roadmaps have sections that are relevant to some staff members, but not others. But you don’t want the team members who aren’t involved in every step of the product launch to miss key deadlines or deliverables, which is why you need to include calls to action across your roadmap.

Instead of focusing on one end goal—the launch of the actual product—break down your phases into smaller goals and include a call to action for each of them.

For every phase of the project, include a section about what needs to be achieved or produced by the end of it. Use the aforementioned ways of highlighting text to make this call to action stand out to the reader.

Including calls to action, every step of the way will make the end goal feel more achievable, while also making your roadmap relevant to those who may not be involved in every aspect of the new product launch.

8. Visualize your product launch timelines #

A great way to structure your roadmap is by creating a timeline. Using a simple timeline maker tool or taking advantage of timeline infographic templates , you can design a timeline that shows every step of your product launch with the amount of time required for each phase. You can also include what needs to be achieved within each phase.

You can see in this timeline roadmap below how each step towards the goal has been clearly outlined.

A timeline is a great way to show a project at a high level so everyone has a clear understanding of what needs to be achieved and by when.

9. Use a checklist #

Aside from timelines, checklists are also one of the great product management tools to use in your product roadmap planning. Checklists break down a massive project, like a product launch, into smaller actionable tasks that can be achieved and marked off when completed.

This will help you ensure none of the important steps are missed. For example, as you prepare for your new product release, make sure that your Product Marketers are working along to prepare product announcements for different channels, including emails , blog posts, and in-app messages .

A checklist will require some work to create as it needs bigger goals to be broken down into its minutest components. But once that part is decided, the checklist will make it so much easier for everyone involved in the project to manage their workload.

Look at this checklist below which breaks down a marketing campaign into smaller, achievable tasks.

Checklists also make the Product Manager’s job better; they will no longer need to keep following up with colleagues about whether or not tasks have been completed. A quick glance at the checklist will tell you everything you need to know, so you can move on to the next task. Using a specialized tool like ProductPlan also makes sharing a roadmap overview an easy task.

10. Include dates to be updated #

A project as big as a product launch will require many hands to be involved from different departments. Not everyone will be privy to changes or updates made to the plan—and we all know that plans are constantly subject to change. You don’t want someone to be working off of redundant information, but you can hardly email every single person about every slight change on your way to the big launch date.

This is why a successful product launch roadmap needs to have a section that includes the date it was last updated. This doesn’t need to be overly large or interfere with your design. You can choose to tuck it away in a corner—but make it visible enough that everyone can easily notice it when they look at the roadmap. And, of course, keep your roadmap flexible to be able to quickly address all the changes along the way, especially if you work in an agile environment.

Also, the important thing to remember is that everyone is looking to this one document for their workflow so they need to know when things have changed. A key aspect of product management skills is ensuring that everyone is on board and in the know at all times.

Adding a small note about the date it was last updated will make it easier for everyone to work, and save you the hassle of coordinating endless email exchanges. This will also help you manage your product launch email campaign.

Wrapping up product launch planning #

With a few key tactics, you can create a product launch plan that is succinct, informative, and goal-oriented .

You need to do a little bit of research, make sure that your roadmap is easy to skim through without losing out on the salient features of the project, and keep in mind that the ever-changing nature of a live project needs to be reflected.

Incorporate the building blocks of your plan into a roadmap for a successful product launch. And don't forget to prepare positioning messages and in-app messages that will help your users realize the value of your new product quickly.

Boost product adoption with in-app messaging

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This article is written by Ronita Mohan, content marketer at Venngage , the online infographic and design platform. Ronita specializes in writing about visual content, online engagement, and digital marketing. All images in the article are sourced from Venngage.

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Product Launch Plan: 17 Tips to Ensure a Seamless Launch

Published: July 20, 2021

If your product team is working on the next big thing , there ought to be an equally awesome promotion strategy to spread the word.

While some companies are guilty of drafting a press release, crossing their fingers, and hoping that the users will come, there's actually much more to it than that.

Quite simply: If you have big news, you need a big strategy. And that's where your product launch marketing plan comes in.

Product Launch Plan

A product launch is the coordinated effort of bringing a product to market and announcing it to the world. The marketing plan outlines the messaging and marketing strategy for doing so effectively with the end goal of getting customers to adopt the new product.

From establishing the proper messaging and creating the assets to enabling your sales team and keeping momentum, there's a lot that goes into putting together a solid product launch plan.

At HubSpot, I work on the product marketing team, and we're responsible for launching all of HubSpot's new products. Our experience has shown us that there are three distinct phases of a product launch: the pre-launch, the launch, and the post-launch.

Free Product Go-to-Market Kit

Free templates to ensure that your whole team is aligned for your next product launch.

• Product Launch Template
• Product Roadmap Template
• Sales Plan Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Before you launch, take the time to get really close to the product. Work with your product team to understand the problem they are trying to solve. Join them as they do users tests. Chat with them about their product philosophy. And most of all, ask a ton of questions -- especially if you’re not familiar with the space.

Focus on understanding their vision and becoming a product expert. Outside of the product manager, the marketer launching the product should be the most knowledgeable person at your company about that product.

By understanding the product and performing market research, you'll be able to align your messaging strategy with the product. The primary goal will be to bridge the gap between what the prospects' pains are and what the competition is not doing to address them.

• Where you'll advertise (e.g. search engines, social media, traditional channels)
• Where you'll promote your message organically (e.g. social media, blog, website homepage, events)
• How you'll get picked up by media outlets (i.e. your PR strategy and media outreach)
• Who you'll rely on to spread the word (e.g. partners, communities, forums, third-party marketplaces)

During the pre-launch phase, you'll have decided what channels to promote on, established relationships with any partners who will help you do so, and created the assets that will draw attention to your messaging on these channels.

The launch phase is simply the execution of all your planning. This phase is much shorter than pre-launch: it can take a day, or a week -- depending on how long you feel you need.

As you prepare to move on to the launch, you want to stay focused on the work and be ready to put out any fires.

Post-Launch

The work isn't over simply because the product is launched. In the post-launch phase, you'll do a retrospective, pulling together the data to determine what went well and what didn't go so well.

In addition, a product still needs to be maintained and improved upon beyond its launch, taking into account customer feedback in order to maintain adoption and retention.

This is, of course, a high-level overview of a product launch. However, there are some specific tactical things that you can do to help your launch go off without a hitch.

Product Launch Tips

• Research the space in-depth.
• Focus on a single buyer persona.
• Write a mock press release.
• Build your messaging, but don't marry it.
• Try out your messaging.
• Get involved in the beta.
• Change your messaging and find the best hook.
• Set ambitious goals.
• Take the time to get the market ready.
• Build compelling creative assets.
• Assemble your go-to-market strategy.
• Choose the right channels.
• Activate your sales team.
• Make it an event.
• Lean into the momentum.
• Revisit your go-to-market doc for reporting.
• Shift your focus on retention.

1. Research the space in-depth.

At most companies, the product manager will own the problem that the product solves. They’ll have a deep understanding of who the end-user is and what their unique needs are.

The product marketer's job is to understand the market. They must be able to answer questions like:

• What’s the larger narrative around this space?
• How do current customers feel about it?
• What do people like and dislike?
• Is it growing and cutting edge or old and getting disrupted?
• What are the leading strategies and tactics in this space?
• What is your company's unique point of view when it comes to this space?

2. Focus on a single buyer persona.

You may not need to reinvent an existing buyer persona, but you should outline who amongst your target audience is a great fit for this new product. What kind of challenges do they have? How do they work? How big is their team? Talk to people who fit this profile to really understand their needs and goals.

If you need help organizing this information, check out these buyer persona templates or this handy tool .

3. Write a mock press release.

At HubSpot, we write a mock press release before we launch a product. We do this very early on in the product’s life to ensure that everyone involved in the launch is aligned on the messaging.

To give you a better sense of how this exercise unfolds, here's an example:

But we're not the only ones practicing this approach. In fact, the folks at Amazon use this exercise , too. The idea is that when you work backward and start with the press release, it's easier to put yourself in the customer's shoes.

If the press release doesn't sound very interesting or fails to conjure a reaction, it's likely that there's more work to be done.

(Need some help getting started here? Check out these free press release templates. )

Free Press Release Template

A free guide and template to help you run your company's PR.

• Company Announcements
• Promotion Checklist
• Guide to PR Best Practices

4. Build your messaging -- but don’t marry it.

Messaging or positioning is mostly about refining your product narrative to focus on only the most valuable aspects of the new product via a simple message.

This is tough.

Most product people have the urge to communicate how great individual features are --something you want to avoid in launch messaging. At launch, you may only have someone’s attention for a few minutes or seconds, so your messaging needs to be persuasive, simple, and unique. It needs to communicate what your product actually does and communicate its high-level value.

You want to get this right, but don’t over-commit to messaging. It can (and should) change as you share your messaging with internal folks and customers.

Elements of good position often include:

• The problem it solves
• A list of core features
• The value prop
• A 10-word positioning statement

In the screenshot above you can see some of these elements in action on the HubSpot Ads product page .

5. Share your messaging with everyone.

It’s time to take the messaging you’ve been slaving over and get it in front of your co-workers, customers, and prospects.

This is often the least fun part of a product launch. Mainly because no matter how good your positioning is, it takes time to get the pitch down, and not everyone will get it.

It’s good to start with individuals who may be a little more forgiving and honest before presenting to executives. Use every meeting to pitch people and ask questions. You want to gather as much info as possible here and root out any confusing or bad messages.

6. Get involved in the beta.

Having a group of beta testers evaluate your product before you release it to the public is a really important step. At HubSpot, we release products to a group of folks -- our beta testers -- that have opted-in to give us feedback in exchange for early access.

If your company does this, make sure you are talking to the customers using the tool in the beta. Capture their stories, review their performance, and validate your value prop with them. This is your opportunity to test your messaging and build real-world proof to support your pitch with an audience that is ready to share feedback.

7. Change your messaging and find the best hook.

After talking to prospects and salespeople, and seeing how beta users use the product, it’s likely that you've uncovered a thing or two about your messaging that you might want to adjust. That's good.

If you’ve done things right, this won’t mean drastic changes, but most likely a tweak to the value prop or tagline.

8. Set ambitious goals.

You need to be deliberate and ambitious with the goals you set, and that can be challenging when you have a new product without benchmarks. To combat that, we ask the question: “If everything went exactly right, what is the highest possible number -- whether that be leads, users, etc. -- we could achieve?”

This sets a ceiling for your campaign -- a number that is realistically almost never achieved.

If I project that the highest possible number of leads the campaign can generate is 500, and I end up with 450, I know we got just about everything right. If I generate 550 leads, it means I probably didn’t do a great job of setting a realistic ceiling. And if we only generate 300 leads, we know some tactics didn't work at all.

The image below can be a useful slide as part of your go-to-market plan:

9. Take the time to get the market ready.

If you’re launching a new product that enters your company into a new space -- potentially a space where your company doesn’t have a ton of authority -- start creating content about that space pre-launch.

You’ll want to seed this content for SEO purposes and to establish your company as experts in the market. It’ll also give you a chance to see what kind of content resonates prior to the launch, as well as help you surface any issues.

10. Build compelling creative assets.

At this point, you’re close to launch and it’s time to start building launch assets. But before you start writing emails or building landing pages, think about the customer journey:

• How do people make purchase decisions in your space?
• What do they need before buying?
• Is it a free trial? A demo?
• Is it best for them to talk to a salesperson?
• What do they need to know before they get to that point?

Once you've answered those questions, outline your conversion path. How will you first get people's attention? Perhaps it's an email, that drives people to a landing page, where users are encouraged to fill out a form.

Once you have this, get to work building the actual forms, site pages, videos, social posts, emails, and other tactics that will drive users down your funnel and to your conversion point.

(If you're looking for inspiration, check out this list of the best promotional product videos we've ever seen. )

11. Assemble your go-to-market strategy.

All the elements I’ve mentioned should come together in a deck or a doc -- something that is clear, complete, and easily shareable.

This is your go-to-market guide: A holistic document of all launch activities, planning, and goals. This can include pricing recommendations, market research, competitive analysis, and any other relevant information you might need.

12. Choose the right channels.

During the planning phase, you should have outlined the channels you want to use to share your message. This is not a "the more the merrier" sort of thing -- a mistake new product marketers often make.

Be sure to avoid channels where the audience may not be the right fit. Pick one main channel -- an event, a Product Hunt post, or blog post -- and use email, social, paid, and other channels to support that main post.

For example, in 2018, we launched HubSpot's free email marketing tools on Product Hunt . We choose Product Hunt because it serves as a great way for startups and technology companies to introduce new products to a community of product-centric influencers.

Before you launch, do a final check to ensure that everything works -- buttons are functioning, forms are working, copy and creative looks good, and so on.

If you’re at an event, make sure you’re over-communicating with your team. At this point, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Be prepared for that.

13. Activate your sales team.

Work with your sales team to coordinate meetings and outreach the day of the launch, or directly after. And use signals from your marketing efforts to drive the hottest leads to sales right away.

If you running an event, make sure your sales team has the opportunity to talk to customers in an organized way. That might mean ensuring there is a comfortable space for them to meet with customers, computer access, or a system for booking meetings.

14. Make it an event.

Even if your launch isn’t a live event with speakers, you can still make it an occasion.

Host a webinar or Hangout On Air, do a Reddit AMA, or try out a live social chat. Leverage apps for startups to manage and host events for free. ( Here's a helpful guide to get you started on the right track with Facebook Live. ) Invite influencers to check out your product. Bring customers and press into your office for a live demo of the new product from your product team.

Whatever you do, strive for an in-person element. It'll help propel your launch even further.

15. Don’t lose your momentum.

You’ll reach a lot of people with your launch, but it often takes several touchpoints before someone is convinced to start a trial or get a demo. Make sure to continue to move folks who’ve raised their hands as "interested but not ready to buy" down your funnel.

This means nurturing emails, free trials, demos, and more in-depth, product-focused webinars and activities. Build extra creative, like a longer video or social media posts that you can save for after the launch. This will give you fresh assets to share.

And don't forget about educating your sales team. It will take a while before all your salespeople feel comfortable with this new product, so it’s important to arm them with amazing sales collateral (demo video, one-pagers, etc.).

Beyond that, you can make a big impact by joining their calls: Getting on the phone and pitching the product with them the first couple of times will give them the confidence they need to carry the torch.

16. Revisit your "go-to-market" doc for reporting.

With all the work that’s going into launch, you don’t want to have to retroactively figure out what to report on. If you’ve done a good job with your go-to-market doc, you should be able to create a new slide and fill in your results with real numbers.

Once you’ve had a little more time away from your launch, spend some time analyzing the results. Where did your campaign succeed and fail? What did you fail to anticipate? What did you learn? Post these to your internal wiki or as a public blog post.

17. Shift your focus on retention.

Now that you’ve successfully launched a new product, shift your attention to retention. Marketing can generally play a bigger role in driving new users, but it’s important to work with your product team to figure out how you can help keep those users around.

This means more ongoing education like post-launch product webinars, as well as sharing case studies and success stories to show your users what they can achieve with your product.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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New Product Launch Checklist: How to Plan a Successful Launch

13 min read

Every new product launch is equal parts intimidating and exciting. As the market becomes increasingly saturated with similar SaaS products, your product launch can easily get lost in the noise.

Therefore, you need a solid product launch plan to ensure your product isn’t among the 95% of new products that fail each year.

In this article, we take a deep dive into the technicalities of a product launch. We provide a product launch checklist to ensure you launch successfully and consider examples of successful SaaS product launches.

• A product launch refers to all of a company’s coordinated marketing efforts to bring a new product to the market.
• A new product launch should be planned well in advance of the launch day. A typical launch plan includes everything from the ideation phase to the conceptualization and testing of your ideas.

An effective product launch checklist includes the following:

• Define your target audience and build out your user personas.
• Conduct market research to identify competitors and determine avenues for product differentiation.
• Craft your product positioning statement.
• Create and release your MVP with only core product features.
• Create a targeted go-to-market strategy for your launch plan.
• Choose the appropriate marketing channels to reach your target markets.
• Launch coordinated product marketing campaigns to reach your audience.
• Ensure your teams are aware of your goals and their roles in them.
• Launch your product.
• Measure the success of your launch by tracking relevant product metrics.
• Collect user feedback and see how well your product was received.
• For your launch to be successful, you must carefully identify the best time to launch, build hype around the launch event, leverage social proof to drive marketing, and work with a detailed checklist.
• Userpilot empowers SaaS your product team to run in-app marketing campaigns, collect customer feedback, and analyze users’ interactions with your product. Book a demo to learn how it works.

What is a product launch?

A product launch is a company’s coordinated attempt to bring a new product to the market.

It includes every action and event designed to build awareness and excitement around a new product and ensure it achieves early success.

When should you start working on your product launch plan?

A successful product launch is planned ahead of time, in coordination with the product, marketing, and sales teams. In fact, we can divide every product launch into three stages: pre-launch, launch , and post-launch.

Pre-launch activities precede the actual launch date, often including product ideation , proof of concepts, and testing. It may also include a soft launch designed to seek early feedback from pilot users.

Apple’s product launches, for instance, often include publicized leaks of the product specs and a well-advertized launch event that attracts attendances in the millions.

How to plan a successful product launch strategy?

Every product launch comes with its own unique set of challenges. However, following the right product launch checklist can provide the structure and direction needed for success:

Define your target audience

To successfully market your product, you must know your target audience. You need to know your audience’s preferences, who they are, how they think, and why they need your product.

Thankfully, you can get all the data you need by speaking to your existing customers or those of your competition.

Then, use the data you acquire to create your ideal user persona . These personas should capture the customer’s demographics, pain points , and how your product aims to help them.

Conduct market research

Now that you know your customers, it’s time to research your competitors. First, you need to identify all the companies (or, at least, the major ones) whose products solve the same problem as your product.

Next, analyze their product, brand, and marketing strategy. A thorough market research should reveal:

• The overall competitor landscape.
• What each company offers and their different prices/pricing plans.
• The mistakes and successes of each company’s business strategy.
• How you can differentiate your product from the competition.
• Your unique value proposition.

Put simply, your goal at this step is to understand what your competitors sell, how they sell it, and how you can outmaneuver them in the market.

Decide on your product positioning statement

Armed with the information from your market research, you’re now ready to craft your positioning statement.

Your statement should identify who needs your product, what it does, and what differentiates it from other products in the market.

Good product positioning helps the customer understand your product and how it satisfies their needs. It creates the right setting for your product, delivering crucial information about the product to attract the ideal customer.

Create your MVP

Before launching your product, it’s important that you first get some responses to gauge how it will be received in the market. This is where your minimum viable product (MVP) comes in.

An MVP is essentially a prototype of your product, with a minimum subset of the features required to demonstrate your product’s primary use case.

Because it is a lightweight version of the final product, MVPs allow you to test and validate your product ideas before committing precious time and resources.

This testing will help you discover defects/strengths in your idea and build on them. It can also reveal whether you’ve chosen the right target audience for your product and how best to align your marketing efforts with their needs.

Create your go-to-market strategy

A go-to-market strategy is a comprehensive roadmap for bringing your product to prospective customers. It details all that you’ll do to lay the groundwork for a successful business well beyond launch day.

Your go-to-market (GTM) strategy will combine all of the information you’ve learned in the previous steps into a robust market entry roadmap. This roadmap should generate demand for your product and mitigate any product launch risks.

A good GTM plan spells out your chosen product launch strategy, value proposition, and when/how you intend to bring the product to the customer.

It should propose an overall timeline for your launch, up to the launch date, and highlight what “success” means for you and how you will measure it.

Choose your marketing channels

The success of any new product launch lies in how much buzz you can generate pre-launch. Thus, the final piece of your GTM strategy is the selection of the most effective channels for promoting your product.

Use everything you’ve learned about your customer in the steps above to determine where they are located and how you can reach them effectively. Also, ensure you diversify your marketing efforts to reach different customer segments.

Promote your product with marketing campaigns

It’s now time to set your product launch marketing plan in motion. This is the time for your marketing teams to step in and produce content that will support and align your pre-defined marketing strategy.

Of course, there are many different things you can do at this stage to generate the required buzz. This includes:

• Social media posts: Use your social media platforms to tease your new product and its features. You can also reach out to influencers, journalists, and others in the industry with large followers to spread the word.
• Press releases: Create and share an embargoed press release with as many media outlets as possible so that they’re all talking about your new release on launch day.
• Email campaigns : Use captivating emails with compelling CTAs to nudge your email list to check out the new product. Good email campaigns use a combination of a catchy subject, visually appealing body content, and compelling call-to-action to get users to sign up for the new product.
• Ad campaign: Ads are expensive, but they can also be very rewarding. If your budget allows it, create ads for the key channels you identified while crafting your GTM strategy.

Make sure your teams are aligned with your goals

Successful product launches are the result of coordinated teamwork. For that to happen, your goal must be clearly spelled out, with everyone’s role at each stage of the launch properly defined.

For example, your marketing team needs to know when to release the different promotional materials they’ve created. Likewise, your customer service team should work with your product team to understand the product’s features and how it works.

Use memos, presentations, and emails to keep different internal teams up-to-date on their role in the launch process.

Launch your product

Finally, it’s launch day! It’s time to generate as much excitement as possible and gather as much attention as possible for your product. This is the time for your press releases and promotional content to fly.

To be successful on launch day, you must equip your sales and marketing teams to spread the word about the product. They should understand the value the product brings and be prepared to share that message with their audience.

The customer service team must also be on high alert. They should understand how the product works and be equipped with the resources to answer any questions customers throw their way.

Measure the success of your product launch

Your work doesn’t end after launch day. With the day behind you, it’s time to take stock and track your performance. Your goal here is to understand whether your marketing efforts were successful or not.

So, look back at your goals and see how well you did. How many people…

• Saw your promotional posts and messaging?
• Signed up for a free trial ?
• Reached out to your sales team?

If the launch didn’t meet your expectations, try to track down what went wrong and adjust your go-to-market strategy accordingly. The data you gather will also be helpful in future product launches.

Collect customer feedback post-launch date to improve your product

The final part of your post-launch strategy should be to hear what users think of the product itself. Customer feedback is an invaluable ingredient for continued long-term growth.

Collect customer feedback from users with email and in-app surveys , using their responses to improve your product.

The feedback you receive from users will tell you what features they need, the challenges they face with the product, and how you can improve the product to match their expectations.

You may also find that there are other market segments where your product may enjoy even greater success, or learn of better ways to position your product.

Best practices when launching a new product

Now that you know what your launch process should look like, you can ensure it’s effective by keeping to the following best practices:

Listen to the market to identify the best time to launch your product

There is a science to determining your new product launch date. To have a successful launch, you must pay attention to every possible market factor.

For example, you don’t want to launch your product on the same day a well-known competitor is launching a product. Instead, you need to either launch before them or wait for the buzz around their launch to die down.

Despite its mega success over the years, Google learned the importance of paying attention to market factors the hard way when releasing Google Glass. With privacy as a major concern at the time, spectacles with cameras didn’t feel right. At $1,500, it was also too pricey for most.

The result? Google Glass was very poorly received. Despite its many futuristic features, the product failed spectacularly and was finally killed for good earlier this year.

Display social proof to frame your new product positively

Consumers love to see that others have succeeded after taking the risk to purchase your product. Thus, the use of social proof on your landing page is a necessity as it gives others the confidence to trust you.

Thankfully, getting social proof isn’t a complex process. As part of your pre-launch phase, beta-test your product with existing customers or others who have shown interest.

Have them use the product for a while and share their insights with you. As they do, collect their positive feedback and showcase them in your product launch marketing campaign.

Build hype pre-launch date

Build up anticipation within your target audience by creating an air of suspense and mystery around your product. You can do this by teasing about the product early without going into detail.

This is what makes every Apple new product launch so exciting. They keep key details about the product secret, sending users into an overdrive of speculation long before the product is even announced.

Apple is also great at using little “leaks” to keep anticipation for new products high before launch. In addition to teasing your product’s core features, you can also use influencers to test out the product and build up the hype around it.

However, always ensure that the hype doesn’t become bigger than the product, or your brand may never recover from the resultant negative market perception.

Have a checklist to monitor the product launch process

Finally, always work with a checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything. For instance, your pre-launch checklist may look like this:

• Are all team members meeting their milestones and deadlines?
• Have you tested the product with target customers in a controlled setting?
• Have you acted on the feedback from your tests?
• What product launch event type will you use?
• Is everyone aware of the launch date?
• Have you trained internal teams on the new product?
• Are all marketing materials ready and distributed to the teams that need them?
• What metrics will you use to measure success?
• When will you begin analyzing product metrics results and who will be in charge of it?
• How will information flow to the right people and departments through the launch?
• Have you gone over the final launch itinerary and timelines with the team?

Examples of successful product launches from various industries

Thankfully, there are several product launch examples you can look to for ideas. Consider a few:

OpenAI released a demo of ChatGPT on November 20, 2022. Although this was the third iteration of the GPT (GPT-1 was released in June 2018), it was only with this release that GPT went truly viral.

ChatGPT enabled users to interact with the AI and test out its capabilities for themselves. Users quickly began sharing what it could do – article writing, poems, coding, etc. on social media. In just five days, ChatGPT had attracted over a million users.

The secret? A masterful launch strategy that got influencers to try out the product, speak about it, and get others to try it out, too. It also helped that the chatbot was very impressive.

On February 22, 2023, digital workspace provider, Notion, announced the release of the highly anticipated Notion AI. At the time of its release, nearly two million people had already signed up for the alpha waitlist ten weeks prior.

How did Notion achieve such success? Like OpenAI, it created a buzz ahead of time. Notion leveraged social media channels to build anticipation around the integrated generative AI.

But it didn’t stop there. Notion leveraged in-app modals and email campaigns to introduce the feature to its already large user base. With anticipation at an all-time high, the product was released with great success.

Userpilot’s AI writing assistant

On May 2, 2023, Userpilot email subscribers received a mail announcing the launch of a new feature – Userpilot AI Writing Assistant. But users were already in anticipation of it.

The feature was first introduced in-app and released to beta testers to provide market feedback and insights. Once it was ready, the product was teased on social media before it was released on Product Hunt.

Social media posts directed users to the Product Hunt announcement where they caught a glimpse of the product and could leave upvotes. The writing assistant is also featured in Userpilot’s onboarding, ensuring new users know how to get the most out of it.

The commission-free stock trading platform, RobinHood, acquired almost a million users before it launched.

The secret? A masterclass in product launches and referral marketing. First, the app landing page clinically displayed its unique selling point – $0 commission trading!

Next, RobinHood ensured the signup process was seamless – gain early access by providing your email address. Finally, those who signed up were incentivized with a shorter wait time to refer others.

How Userpilot can help you with your new product launch strategy

With Userpilot, creating your new product launch doesn’t have to be tedious. Userpilot helps you to:

Build product marketing campaigns with different UI patterns

Userpilot enables you to build and launch complete in-app product marketing campaigns without writing code.

You can create a slideout, modal, banner , or tooltip to inform users about new features or key changes to existing features. In addition to text content, you can embed videos and images to demo the feature.

Collect customer feedback in-app

Learn what users think of your new features with automatically triggered in-app surveys .

From user experience surveys to product research and customer satisfaction surveys, Userpilot provides a variety of templates to help you feel your users’ pulse. Or, you can design one from scratch, code-free.

You can choose when and where each survey appears and customize everything, including its appearance and content.

Analyze customer interactions and identify friction points

Go beyond what users say and watch how they interact with the new feature. Are they using it often? Does it work as it should?

Analyzing users’ in-app interactions can reveal a lot about how the feature is received. It can also help you identify and fix any friction points early.

Every product or new feature launch is a big deal that only happens once. This is your one chance to ensure your product hits the ground running, and with the right launch strategy, you can do just that.

If you would like to learn more about how Userpilot can simplify this process for you, book a demo today !

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Business Plan Template for New Product

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Thinking of launching a new product? You need a solid business plan to make your vision a reality. ClickUp's Business Plan Template for New Products is your secret weapon for success!

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ClickUp's Business Plan Template for New Product is the perfect tool to help entrepreneurs and business owners effectively plan and execute their product launch. This template includes:

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Use tasks in ClickUp to break down your marketing and sales strategies into actionable steps and assign them to team members.

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Product launch strategy: How to launch a new product in 5 Steps

What is a product launch strategy, the standard product launch strategy is holding you back, 4 common reasons product launches fail, how to launch a product in 5 steps, companies prove this system works, getting started, product launch strategy faqs, join our newsletter for the latest in saas.

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For most companies, product and feature launches are always top of mind because of the potential to attract and retain more users.

Product launch strategies aim for user adoption and brand growth. They are linear and focus on sharing a new product or feature with the entire user base via email campaigns,  regular notifications , posts on platforms like Product Hunt, and general press.

While this approach gets the product or feature in front of a large audience — and results in a short-term spike in growth — there's a lot of needless friction along the way. So much so that developing a sustainable  growth strategy  isn't likely to happen.

Brian Balfour, Founder and CEO of  Reforge , spoke at  Recur  conference and explained why this approach doesn't work (and  what you should do instead ).

A product launch strategy is a planned effort to launch a new product in a market. The goal of most businesses is to launch something and get as much growth and traction as quickly as possible. Many steps, actions, and people are involved in a project launch process. Because of this, having a launch strategy helps you stay focused on the end goal.

Brian shared a quote from the founders of TBH, a social quiz app for teens that was acquired by Facebook, that briefly explains how they were able to launch their product.

“It's critical to design a process that allows you to launch vastly  different product experiences within specific communities  so your product can reach critical mass.”

Taking a one-size-fits-all approach can only hold it back. Instead, companies should make sure that the product launch is tailored to the product one is launching and to the intended audience, similarly to what TBH did.

Often, companies skirt around this concept and, as Brian points out, their new product launch strategy fails for one of four reasons. Let's discover how these hold you back from long-term growth.

1. Word-of-mouth is not enough

At the heart of almost every successful growth strategy is word of mouth (WOM). Brian explained that a good way to evaluate your growth is to take away all other forms of your marketing  strategy  — this means emails, paid ads, anything that promotes your product — and see whether your company continues to grow.

If churn outpaces growth, then WOM isn’t strong enough to support your business on its own. With WOM, growth might be slow over time, but this sets the stage for accelerated growth later on because it builds such a strong foundation.

The problem, as Brian pointed out, is that “brands see WOM as something that just happens, not scientific, and not something that can be controlled.”

Think of WOM as a loop that looks something like this:

New users sign up to use a product, they use the product and realize that it exceeds their expectations in comparison to other alternatives, and in turn tell other people about it. Those people decide to try the product as well, and the loop repeats itself.

What brands don't realize is that Step 2 of the loop, Greatly Exceeds Expectations, can indeed be controlled. Brian explained that, at this point, you control “the audience coming in and what the audience experience is.”

All too often,  product launch  strategies show the same promotional material to the entire audience and expect users to want to share it. But because new products and features are launched as early versions not meant for everyone, users whose expectations have not yet been greatly exceeded give negative feedback and kill the WOM cycle.

The people you want to focus on are those you’ll meet at Step 2 — it’s the segment of users who are most likely to have already had their expectations met and will be most likely to tell everyone about a new product or feature.

2. Validating product and feature hypothesis slows down

An important part of your launch plan is validating the product and feature quickly. This is done by using the following:

Qualitative signals

Like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) can be corrupted when you get negative feedback from users who are not meant to test the first version of your product or feature. Avoid “noisy” qualitative feedback, which hides the real feedback you need and slows down your validation process, by segmenting your audience.

Feedback from the entire user base (in gray) drowns out the feedback from your target segment (in blue).

Quantitative signals

Like  retention curves show how well you're able to retain users over time  and deliver on the promised value. Without segmenting your audience, this, too, can result in a slow validation process.

Launching to everyone results in lower retention rates over time.

Brian explains “It's easy to think that we can work backwards to try to find that diamond in the rough. In reality and in practice, this is 10X more difficult than we actually think it is... It's highly unlikely that you'll find that diamond in the rough in hindsight if you fill your system with needless data.”

The result is that it takes much longer to deliver on a product that meets the needs of the right segment of your audience.

3. Too much communication

Users have only so much attention to give your product. It's in your best interest to be protective of their experiences and avoid bombarding them with irrelevant messages that test their patience.

Reforge uses the “Psych” Framework, developed by Darius Contractor, to determine user intention and motivation. “Psych,” Brian explained, is defined as “a unit of measurement of user motivation or attention.”

Brian used the analogy of a fuel tank that can be filled with all the items users want. He explained that these are things that add value, meet user needs, and result in a positive experience. But fuel can also be removed from the tank — for example, irrelevant messages consume fuel.

The problem, as Brian pointed out, is that “it's much harder to fill the fuel tank than it is to drain it in today's environment, where all of our customers are getting overwhelmed with messages.” The reasoning is that irrelevant messages require more of a user's attention than positive, targeted messages, which require less attention.

Standard, linear product launch strategies target all users, an approach that depletes the fuel tank and threatens successful future launches.

4. Only envisioning the short-term

The goal for launches is to create a long-term, sustainable growth strategy. Reforge thinks about their sustainable growth strategy as a qualitative growth model grounded in strong communication. This includes various components, like publishing and endorsements, categorized by acquisition loops that feed the system and by habit loops that manage retention.

Are you setting yourself up for success? Brian suggested asking yourself two questions:

• How does one cohort of users lead to another cohort of users?  This requires you to look at the series of actions that leads to getting more users in the future.
• How does one user interaction lead to more interactions?  This requires you to look at how your system retains users.

The problem is that a lot of time and energy goes into thinking about launches and little time goes into making sure the strategy behind them leads to medium- and long-term growth.

Brian advised switching that thinking so that “the launch is used in service of the model. It's there to jump-start that engine and the sustainable system.” He continued, “The launch isn't meant to be the be-all and end-all because it only provides a short-term spike that goes away very quickly.”

So how do you improve product launches? Stop launching to the masses and start small.

Instead of the standard product launch strategy, use a more detailed, five-part loop based on TBH's approach to growth: Launch a vastly different  product experience  to specific communities in order to reach critical mass.

When these elements are combined, you’ll find the right users to target and improve long-term retention. Here's what the product launch process (or “loop”) looks like:

• Define your scope
• Access who needs the product
• Filter your list for the best users
• Use a success signal
• Leverage your signals for the next user group

We define these launch strategy steps in more detail below.

1. Scope the launch

Start by defining your target audience. Brian explained that instead of blasting your entire audience with your product or feature, you should use product development to build products and features for specific audiences.

This requires narrowing down your target audience within your user base as much as possible.

Once you've scoped out your audience, define it so that you're targeting the people most likely to have already had an experience with your products that exceeded their expectations.

2. Access your target audience

Next, get in front of these people. Use tactics like Hacker News, email, paid ads, press releases, a  changelog  to announce product changes, referrals, Medium blog posts, and Product Hunt to promote your product or feature to your audience.

3. Filter to your best users

Once you have your audience's attention, find the users most likely to appreciate and understand the beta version of your product or feature. Who are your early adopters?

Brian explained that sharing your launch with your target group is a little like casting a net. You're going to find some people who fit the scope you've defined, and others who aren't an exact fit. Filtering helps you get to the right audience.

To find your audience, gather information from the following sources:

This gives you access to “passive data,” so when users sign up, you can use their email addresses to  learn more about your audience . For example, their company, its size, their role, and the location.

Internal data

This includes information you gather from sales and support conversations if you're launching a feature within an existing product.

User-submitted information

This offers good friction and helps you find your target audience. For example, use surveys, wait-lists, and special-access lists that incentivize the right people to join.

4. Identify a success signal

Brian pointed out that narrowing down your target audience makes it easier to get to success signals than if you target everyone at once.

The result is more accurate, less noisy qualitative and quantitative signals that give a stronger indication of whether you've achieved  product/market fit .

If you're launching a feature inside a larger product, go one step further to find feature/product fit. Casey Winters, former growth lead at Pinterest and Grubhub, explains feature/product fit this way:

"Feature/product fit requires the feature to improve retention, engagement, and/or monetization for the core product... If it doesn't, this means it is cannibalizing another part of the product."

Without feature/product fit, you end up with lots of new features but no lift to retained users.

A better scenario is to introduce features that support the product and have a positive effect on the retention curve. Feature/product shifts the curve up to show that the adoption of new features results in higher  customer engagement  and retention.

5. Leverage for your next launch

The final step of the loop, once the success signals have been identified, is to figure out how to leverage these signals and launch to the next group of defined target users.

It takes time to release a product or feature, so the goal should be to introduce it to a new layer of users as you go until it's eventually exposed to your entire user base.

Brian encourages to “Expose your product or feature to more users progressively over time as more value is added to the product... For example, tightly control the WOM loop and validation until the point where you hit a tipping point and can launch to everyone without worrying about killing WOM loop and slowing down validation process with too much friction.”

Keep repeating this five-step loop until you get the new product or feature out to all users.

An example of a company making this five-step approach work is  Superhuman , a fast, new email service provider.

It was launched over two years ago but isn't publicly available yet. To get access, interested users have to join a waitlist first and then go through an extensive validation process to determine whether they're an ideal user.

Based on Brian's experience, his validation process looked like this:

After joining the waitlist, there was an initial survey to gauge basic demographics. Then there was a more detailed 20-question survey about email usage. This was followed by a manual follow-up email meant to clarify one of the answers from the survey. The final step was a manual onboarding process that leads had to sign up for.

For most people, this process would be a turnoff. But the results show that this company has more WOM promotion than most new companies. They're using the five-step process, which allows them to identify their ideal target users with the waitlist, filter users down with survey questions, measure success signals by verifying product/market fit, and leveraging this through the tech press and social media shoutouts they receive.

The main takeaway here is to realize you can't launch to everyone and then narrow down your target list based on who uses the product most. You can't start big and then work backward based on what sticks.

While this approach might have worked for a product like Flickr, it's rare and doesn't work for the majority of brands. This approach fails because of one of the four reasons typical launches don't work. A better approach is to stick to a proven, structured, scientific process that has proven to get results.

The five-step, repeatable launch process works and is a quicker path to validating questions and assumptions. There is more work required up front in your pre-launch phase, but this pays off in the end with a higher retention curve.

Take a look at your product launch strategy as it stands today, and find gaps and opportunities to filter your target user audience and find your success signals.

Developing your customized, repeatable launch process takes trial and error because tactics that work for one company may not necessarily work for you. You can nail your next product launch with the right market research and pre-launch planning. Find your mix of tactics, product tools, and processes that will get you to attract more of the right users and retain them for longer.

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Here are the answers to the most popular product launch strategy questions.

How do you create a product launch strategy?

A product launch strategy has many steps and moving parts. It usually takes multiple teams and people to both create and implement it. Some of the most common steps include: Understanding the problem the product is trying to solve, deciding what channels to promote the product, creating launch assets, and doing a post-launch retrospective.

What are the six steps of a product launch plan?

The six steps of a product launch are: testing the product before the launch, training the team, preparing for the launch, launching the product, establishing launch metrics, and the post-launch retrospective.

What are the three types of product launches?

In software development, most product launches fall under one or more of the three types. They are:

• Products that create new value
• Maintenance or support of an existing product
• Investing in internal products and other capabilities

Related reading

• Integrations
• Learning Center

The Beginner’s Guide to a Product Launch

• Table of Contents
• The Product Launch
• Kickoff the Product Launch
• Product Development and the Product Launch
• The Role of the Roadmap in the Product Launch
• Cross-Departmental Engagement
• Set the Stage for Product Launch Success

Product Launch Metrics

• Hone Your Product Launch Pitch
• Download Book

We’ll be discussing the term “product launch” plenty of times throughout this guide. It’s important that we’re aligned on the definition before diving in. A product launch refers to a company’s planned and coordinated effort to debut a new product to the market and make that product generally available for purchase. Product launches help organizations build anticipation for their product, gather valuable feedback from early users, and create momentum and industry recognition for the company.

Start with the end in mind

Before you get too deep in the trenches of building your product launch, it’s valuable to determine what you’d like to achieve. Just building the product and shipping it is not a success in itself. If you’re building a minimum valuable product (MVP) for example, think about the type of product and business you want to be five or ten years down the line. How are you going to get there? This is the product vision—every product manager needs to have one.

By defining a high-level product vision, you can get the executive team, marketing, support, engineering, and the rest of the organization onboard with the product launch strategy.

Product launch goals:

As you read through this guide, always keep in mind the goals of your product launch. What does your product team hope to achieve? Good goals are clear, measurable, and have an expected time frame.

Goals that businesses are typically hoping to accomplish with a product launch, range from:

• Find a product-market fit
• Capture new customers
• Increase in revenue
• Build product awareness
• Build the company’s reputation in the industry

Who needs to be in your product launch kickoff?

The upcoming product launch activities will include the involvement of representatives from most departments in your organization. Although they may not be assigned any tasks until the final stages of the launch, it’s essential to have every stakeholder identified and included upfront at the product launch kickoff. Not all teams need to be involved/represented in the product launch kickoff, but there should be clear communication regardless.

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1 http://mediafiles.pragmaticmarketing.com/Framework-Files/LeadersGuide_1307.pdf

Product launch kickoff meetings can run longer than other meetings. When you’re ready to schedule a meeting, 90 minutes will be enough to do everything while leaving time for any housekeeping items.

When everyone is all together, the first thing to do is inform each representative that they’re speaking on behalf of their department. Once you get confirmation that each individual represents their department, select someone to take notes throughout the meeting. A visual of how each department will contribute to the launch can be a great asset at this stage t.

When everyone is onboard from day one , no one can claim they were unaware of things further down the road. It also offers them an opportunity to chime in with ideas and opinions earlier in the process instead of second-guessing things further down the line. By inviting them into the feature launch kickoff process, they know they’re valued and have something to contribute.

Ensure all attendees know what the product kickoff meeting is for and what the ideal outcomes should be before leaving the room. Then address everyone’s roles, what they are actively responsible for, and how you anticipate everyone working together.

Kickoff communication

Before the meeting wraps up, let everyone know how you’ll be communicating any future next steps, whether in meetings, online video chat, in the roadmap, or notes. Some product launch kickoffs can occur months or even years out from the eventual product launch, so you’ll want to set up a good system for future communication.

Remember, you don’t want to alienate anyone in the meeting. The fastest way to estrange anyone is by speaking in the terminology they don’t understand. Try to be conscientious of not over-using your favorite acronyms. It adds a tiny bit of extra work for you to be inclusive but will help you leaps and bounds later on. Take the time to explain the concept and state that it will be a recurring topic. This cues the opportunity for questions and makes it clear that you aren’t just throwing acronyms out there for the sake of it.

Emphasize the value of the product

At this early stage, your product launch kickoff should focus entirely on the new product’s value (or the next version) will deliver to customers. The details are likely to change, so it’s better to avoid confusing functionalities with overarching value.

During the kickoff, harken back to the vision, themes, and goals of the product. These should become the emphasis for a successful launch. This conversation will drive messaging, channels, activities, and target audiences.

The kickoff conversations should answer the following questions for meeting members.

• What problems is the product solving?
• How does this align with the company vision?
• What pain points is it addressing?
• Whom is it helping?
• Why are we building this?

At the same time, it’s a good idea to come to terms right away because your product won’t be all things to all people.

Getting too aggressive with your goals from the get-go usually leads to product failure and disappointment. While your organization can have lofty goals of world domination, an individual product release can only do so much. Accepting that this product will not be all things to all people upfront helps temper organizational expectations.

Delay the product details

Launch kickoffs can be months or years before the actual product launch. As such, avoid getting deep into any specifics. With so much time between now and when the product ultimately is released, there are bound to be tweaks and changes along the way.

Couching the product strategy in themes gets people out of the habit of focusing on specific functionality and back to primary objectives. The goal is to communicate the why more than the what . Work with your team to understand the why and the jobs to be done before development begins to commit time and resources.

You should still deliver something solid in terms of commitment, though. That commitment can sound like, “When delivered, our customers will be able to x,y, and z.”

The early stages are more about roles and responsibilities and less about the details of implementation and execution. For instance, avoid conversations around pixels and buttons. Because you’ve got such a head start, there will be plenty of opportunities to flesh out those topics at a later date.

Then, conduct a product launch pre-mortem where your product launch kickoff team thinks through possible missteps that could hurt your product launch and prepare plans of action in advance. Knowing there are strategies in place (understood by others, not just you) relieves pressure for if/when something goes awry.

Demonstrating the value this product will bring to the business, and its customers can be undervalued in product development . But it’s as essential as ensuring sales and marketing comprehend these things.

Product development has an enormous responsibility in this phase of the product launch to implement the vision. That weight means they’ll rebuff following orders blindly and would rather understand what it is they’re trying to build and why.

Product development ownership

Instill a sense of development ownership. If they feel like they’re part of the process, they’ll help you identify compromises and opportunities. For example, they’ll let you know if there are better technologies that may solve the problem faster.

Why is this outcome so crucial? Uninformed equals unengaged. Developers have to make hundreds of decisions during a project, all of which can impact that project’s scope and impact. When they get what you’re trying to do and the broader context, they’re far more likely to code conscientiously and consider their decisions’ long-term ramifications.

Innovation springs forth when engineers and designers feel like they’re part of the team. They’re then able to accurately judge compromises and opportunities based on their impact on the end goal.

Roadmaps aren’t just helpful in product management. They’re useful for a myriad of different roles and departments, including the product launch.

Your product roadmap serves as your guiding strategic document, communicating transparency, and where you want to take your product eventually for your entire company. The roadmap will notify everyone of any shifts in your product launch strategy.

Various departments will be interested in the different phases and functions of the product launch. So keep the roadmap as updated as your one source-of-truth to increase curiosity, engagement, and efficiency.

You may need to create different versions with varying levels of detail for different cohorts of stakeholders. Because some of your stakeholders will need to be attuned to changes down to the sprint level, but other departments may just need to know by quarter.

Don’t over-communicate dates early on in the project, but provide enough context to keep stakeholders engaged and confident.

Jumpstart the Product Feedback Process

Product launches for software products typically happen only after several levels of testing have been completed.

“Regular” employees often don’t get their hands on products until after they’ve been through a formal QA process, have proven capable, and have moved into alpha testing.

Alpha testing is a product’s first round of end-to-end testing, usually done by its employees. When the product clears this level, it’s ready for beta testing, which involves real users but is still before the product’s official commercial release.

But that delay between QA and alpha is precious time. As much usage as possible by your employees will uncover more bugs, reveal enhancement opportunities, and test the product’s scalability. By not waiting until it’s passed acceptance testing, you’ll get the rest of the company more familiar with exactly how the product works.

Additionally, this serves as an opportunity to confirm the product does what it was intended to do. Employee testing verifies the product is heading in the right direction, solving the problems it was designed to address, and adding value for future customers.

Different parts of the organization need different things to prepare for launch. Carve out time with each department, pursuing a specific agenda each time. This agenda provides them with the information they need and ensures those departments will complete their deliverables on time and accurately.

You may need to set aside more time than anticipated, given that these departments are not ones that you engage with on a daily or even weekly basis. Alignment in engineering and development can often occur naturally and often because of the extreme overlap; however, this may not be the case for marketing, sales, and support.

Every new product launch needs people outside of your internal team to:

• Be aware of the product launch.
• Understand the value the launch provides.
• When to expect the official product launch.

All those things won’t happen unless the marketing team is involved. Marketing will craft compelling messages and talking points that speak to the product’s unique value proposition. To ensure accuracy, it needs to be done in collaboration with product management .

Don’t make a mistake and put off talking with marketing until you’re ready to speak to sales. The role of marketing, particularly product marketing, comes into the product launch process much earlier. Marketing sets the stage and initiates the processes that will make the sales team successful.

Give a clear priority to marketing when you’re developing the value proposition. The team must understand users and buyer personas and how the product fits into the competitive landscape to generate compelling, on-point materials and execute successful campaigns for the new product. If they don’t have that solid foundation to build on, things can go wrong very quickly.

Product management should have the opportunity to review everything for accuracy early enough that they can catch and correct any errors. If looping in marketing happens late, though, this crucial opportunity can be taken away in the interest of shipping messaging and positioning for the sake of the launch.

Training up the sales team is essential to bring in the revenue your strategy was built to generate.

Before getting into the product itself, the sales team requires some foundational education—train sales on the product’s value proposition, benefits, and ideal customer profile. Explain how the product you designed and built offers specific benefits to a particular target audience. Set some parameters around what makes for a good prospect and realistic use cases for the product.

Without conveying this information to sales, there’s no telling whom they’ll try to sell it to and what promises they’ll make. Left to their own devices, you risk getting inundated with square peg-round hole scenarios if there isn’t a match.

Sales Collateral

Consistency across the sales team is crucial. This consistency is where assets like slide decks, collateral, and sell sheets come in. There should be a robust catalog of resources, tailorable for different target segments, and follow-up materials for each sales funnel stage. Ensure sales has the quality and comprehensive sales tools that you’ve verified for accuracy and quality.

Sales Demos

Almost every customer will want to see the product in action before buying it, which means you’ll be swamped with requests to provide customer demos. It’s not a particularly scalable solution. Train sales on the product, so they’re comfortable and knowledgeable enough to give their own demos.

Please don’t underestimate the time it takes to become enough of a product expert to demonstrate its value and confidently sell it to prospects. It’s particularly challenging if the product is breaking new ground or requires pre-existing technical acumen.

Of course, those demos and presentations will inevitably lead to questions from prospects. You’ll want to prepare sales for when things go off-script as well—arms sales with FAQs, talking points, and responses to common objections.

While some things can be anticipated ahead of the launch, others need to be added based on real-world experiences in the field.

Support (or customer service or customer success) is instrumental in successfully adopting and utilizing your product. If the support team feels lost or stuck, you can bet your customers will feel even more confused. Don’t leave your dedicated support crew in the dust in your excitement to move the product along.

Your future self will thank you for thinking far enough ahead and making the support team product experts. When other departments or customers have questions, support can be the go-to, and you’ll only be called in when things require escalation.

You’ll also want to develop an escalation and feedback process for more difficult product issues (or more difficult customers). A process should be in place to document all contact your support team has with users.

Decide how to unleash your product

At this point, product development is wrapping up their work. It’s time to think about unleashing this fantastic offering upon the world. Work with your marketing team to create a PR and go-to-market campaign. That includes establishing a prepared way to explain the product’s pricing structure.

Don’t overlook this step just because it falls outside of strategic product planning and product development. It’s your job to not only create a great product but to make it a successful one.

Heavily mine beta data.

Consider the public beta your “soft” launch. A “soft” launch is an opportunity to gather massive amounts of feedback. You can tweak as many things as you want without an official product launch’s constraints and responsibilities.

But remember, you never get a second chance at a first impression, and the beta is making first impressions. They’re the early adopters and influencers that could pour cold water on your release before it’s even out the door if things seem shaky.

Your beta-launch’s goal isn’t to offer up perfection; it’s to generate feedback and spot potential problems. Better to push out a beta that needs some adjustments than to delay it for so long that you won’t have enough time left to do much with the feedback you receive.

Make the most of your dress rehearsal so the final product reaches its full potential.

Implement effortless onboarding

In most cases, you won’t be personally shepherding each prospect through the discovery, trial, and purchase phases. You’ll need to put a scalable onboarding solution into place. The goal here is to move prospects as quickly as possible to that moment when they realize the value proposition is real, and the product is helping them do their job or live their lives better.

You can minimize setup time with pre-set defaults. But asking people to check a bunch of boxes and flip a bunch of switches before they’ve even started using the product is both off-putting and misguided. How will they know what they want until they’ve got some experience?

Instead, give them a robust and common starting point and then let them tweak it themselves after they’re more familiar with the product and see how it applies to their particular needs.

When a product has a steep learning curve, many new users will bail out before realizing any value. Acknowledging that users need a little education to be successful is essential.

Train the Trainers

Sometimes onboarding a user requires an internal team member’s personal touch. In those cases, your peers across the organization will need to be trained on the product. An efficient approach is to train your trainers. The trainers are your peers across the organization, such as a sales engineer, that can train others rather than relying solely on the product team. Making sure those people are ready before the product launch is key.

Training users

Training doesn’t necessarily mean a week-long class or a giant user manual. It can be as simple as short how-to videos for specific tasks or interactive webinar walkthroughs. Just make them easy to access and discover, with a mix of self-service and full-service options.

If your product is digital, you can build some onboarding capabilities directly into your product. Identify which behaviors are crucial to converting trialers into adopters. You can proactively nudge them toward those actions with helpful prompts in the user experience. Also, make sure there are implemented means for users to offer direct feedback about the product experience.

Whatever your research has indicated as key moments that generate customer delight, do everything possible to usher users there. On-screen pop-ups and highlights, helpful hints, and in-app walkthroughs are things you can do to decrease the time-to-value.

No matter how intuitive your product may be, people will still have questions about using it. Make it easy for them to overcome obstacles and complete tasks. Make sure support documentation has been developed, reviewed, and made easily accessible.

This documentation could include FAQs on your website, a help section built into your product itself, or a printed product owner’s manual (if you’re selling a physical product).

If things go great, you may soon find yourself overwhelmed with new users, all clamoring for help and guidance to make the most of your product. All the new users mean it’s time to create a strategy for scalability.

When the masses descend, a lone product manager can’t be onboarding and training hundreds or thousands of customers each week. Support will play a crucial role in training customers. It’s Customer Support’s time to shine.

Otherwise, turn to self-service or broadcast methods to get users up to speed. Save personalized support for strategic customers.

Nature vs. nurture

Once a user gets hooked on your product, your job isn’t done. You’ll need to prevent complacency from kicking in after that initial rush of success.

Craft a strategy for maintaining momentum, such as new assets, for the long-run. Once you’ve established an initial user community, continue to offer them additional tidbits to encourage usage and adoption. These can highlight other features glossed over at launch, provide more in-depth training or tutorials, and include case studies demonstrating how real customers realize the value in various ways from the product.

The communication strategy should leverage notifications, emails, and prompts. Ideally, base these on programmatic triggers keyed off user behaviors in the product (or a lack thereof).

With your product about to hit the market, everyone will be dying to know how it performs. You need to get the whole organization on the same page about what matters. Revisit the strategic goals for the product that were proposed before and during the product launch kickoff, and create consensus on concrete success metrics.

Sales, revenue, new users, page views, and adoption make a sizable metric pool. However, many metrics are entirely irrelevant if they don’t align with the organization’s KPIs. There are many dangers in using such vanity metrics to taint the lens of viewing your product, so don’t fall prey to this. Metrics that answer questions about the overall product strategy should always be the focus.

Beyond purely figuring out if you’re achieving your goals, you’ll also want to establish additional measures to track early on. Develop your plan for what key metrics to track that is most important for your team.

Identify Product KPIs

Identify those product KPIs and automate data collection and reporting. These include the red flags to watch out for (such as high churn and abandonment) and positive trends (such as repeat users and conversions from trials to paying customers).

You’ll want to regularly check these figures, so make sure it’s not an overly manual process to get your hands on them. By tracking this data right away weekly or on a schedule you’ve predetermined, you’ll be able to spot hiccups early on. You can then intervene before problems fester and damage the momentum of your launch.

Over time you may need to augment the KPIs you looked at on day one as you learn more about what moves the needle and matters most.

After spending so much time obsessing over every detail of your product, you’re going to be excited to talk about it publicly, finally. You could ramble on for hours about every nuance and impressive feature. But most people aren’t going to give you very much time to grab their attention. If you’ve only got two minutes to pitch about your product launch, what would you say?

Work with your marketing team to place these limits on yourself. It forces you to figure out what the most important and compelling points are.

You’re going up against short attention spans and busy schedules. Convey the value, the solution, and give justice to the dedication involved in producing this product.

You never know under what circumstances you’ll need to discuss the product, its reason for being, its main benefits, who its main competitors are, and who it’s for, to name a few.

A prospective customer at a conference might have a full minute or even longer. But you may only have a few seconds with a CEO. Be ready to make your case in both instances.

Make Some Noise

Your launch date is set, and you’ve communicated to everyone throughout your organization who needs to know. Now it’s time to let customers and prospects know what’s coming officially. The big reveal is an exciting step, but it’s also a high risk-high reward moment in your product launch process.

While you’d love to expound for hours on everything the product can do, nobody has patience for that. Briefly articulate your value proposition. Share the elevator pitch that you developed in the last step. Remember, features and functionality are irrelevant. What matters are the beneficial outcomes it provides to customers.

Map out the most relevant and resonating use cases and focus your follow-up announcement on those. There will be plenty of time later to highlight all the other things your product can do.

Parse out the news

You can’t talk about everything all at once. Work with marketing to implement a staged messaging campaign highlighting other remarkable capabilities and benefits post-launch. You’ll maintain momentum and win over holdouts that didn’t connect with your initial messaging focus.

Check back in with your target market and choose when the target market is most apt to be receptive and responsive to your messaging.

Research your buyer personas and identify where and how they prefer to gather their news and updates.

Meet prospects where they are by leveraging channels they’re already using. Depending on the product and target audience, that could range from snagging a featured review in The New York Times to advertising on a Twitch stream.

Then, identify an ideal launch date. It might be timed to coincide with a related event, industry conference, or even a holiday. While you might feel impatient sitting on a finished product for a few weeks, you only get to launch once, so make the most of it.

The Real, Deal Product Launch

You’ve done your work and shepherded this from conception through birth. Now it’s time for the big debut and a round of congratulations. We don’t get many moments in life where we can pat ourselves on the back, but this is one of them. However, you didn’t get here alone. Take time to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of others on your team.

Read more in the Anatomy of a Product Launch, below.

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New Product Launch: Your 10-Step Checklist

7 Min Read | Oct 25, 2023

Companies like Apple make super successful new product releases look easy. They’ve dialed in the secret formula for hyping up superfans who wait in line for hours or accidentally crash websites to get their hands on the latest and greatest device. That’s the dream, right? Not to have your website crashed, but to get the market to stand up and notice that your new product has arrived—whether your brand is well-known or still building a name for itself.

A new product launch is never a sure win, no matter who you are. That’s one reason why even Apple cofounder Steve Jobs demanded painstaking attention to detail every time his company worked on a new, high-tech gizmo. From the research and development phase all the way to executing the product launch strategy, success is in the details.

Just what are the details you can’t afford to miss when you’re ready to launch a new product? Use the checklist below to work through 10 components of a successful product launch strategy.

Your Checklist for How to Launch a Product

Before we start talking about how to launch a new product, we’ve got to point out the obvious: For a truly successful product launch, you’ve got to do some homework to make sure the potential opportunities of your product launch outweigh the risks. In other words, you need to do some soul-searching, fact-finding and number-crunching by digging into the 10 Questions to Ask Before You Launch a New Product .

Related article : Everything You Need to Know About Critical Thinking Skills for Business Leaders

If you work through those preliminary questions and are ready to keep moving, this checklist will guide your new product launch from start to finish.

1. Clarify your key customer.

Who do you want to reach? If you’re hoping for more customers like the ones you already have (but don’t have the luxury of doing a fancy focus group), survey existing customers to learn about them. Ask questions like:

• What lights you up?
• How and when do you like to be communicated to?
• What pain points would you love to overcome in our product?
• How do you know when you’re ready to buy?

If you’re interested in attracting a new audience, dig into any resources you can find that help you learn more about them and use the same set of questions.

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2. Develop your prototype, and test, test, test.

In the value discovery process , you identify the problem you’re trying to solve for your key customer and why. Then, you use what you learn to develop your product idea, refine it, run it through quality assurance, and see how early users respond to it.

Pro tip: Most products never make it to the market in their original form. Allow your product to die and be reborn repeatedly. It will get better each time. Whether you need input on a label design, product name or price point, ask the people you want to use your product or service what they think.That said, you don’t want perfection to get in the way of progress. At a certain point, it’s time for blastoff. That’s the only way you’ll get the response you need for a new and improved version of your product.

3. Set your pricing.

The most important part of pricing is to understand what competitors charge so you come in at the right point. If your price is lower than others, or if it’s higher but for good reason, think of clever ways to tie that into your messaging. And be sure to account for any promo codes, sales and discounts for bundles.

4. Position your product.

This goes right along with knowing your value proposition and competition . What makes your product different? Emotion drives the majority of our buying decisions. So lead with the mission behind your brand and how your product makes the customer’s life better.  

5. Plan your marketing strategy.

This is where you break through competitor noise and reach your potential customers. You must believe your product is the best product to help your customer solve their problem. And remember that you are serving them—not trying to make a sale. Much like passion wins over logic, conversation wins over marketing. As you create your content, talk with your audience, don’t schmooze them.

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Use a combination of these media channels to communicate:

• Paid (display ads, commercials and influencer partnerships)
• Owned (your website and landing pages, email journeys, press releases and blog content)
• Earned (reviews, word of mouth and interviews)
• Shared (social channels)

For online sales, double-check that your payment collection method is easy to use, secure and ready to handle the number of customers you expect.

Pro tip: Be prepared for high promotional costs to get the word out about your product. Just like a jet uses the most fuel at takeoff, a new product requires a huge chunk of time and money to get off the ground.

6. Set your launch goals.

Since you already defined what success looks like for your product launch , now you’ll tie that success to real numbers. For example:

• How many people do you want to try your product versus buy it?
• How many sales do you want to make in the first three days, three weeks and three months?
• How many people do you want to add to your mailing list?

Related article : How to Set Business Goals

7. Time your launch.

Timing is more than deciding which month is best for your product launch strategy. Yes, you’d be smart to launch a landscaping business in the spring and an e-commerce store right before the Christmas shopping season. But timing also considers the economy, the current political climate, where your business is located, and cultural trends. Money expert Dave Ramsey published The Total Money Makeover when everyone was obsessed with makeovers for their home, hair, wardrobe—and even their financial fitness. That book quickly became a bestseller and has since sold more than 5 million copies. It pays to know what’s happening in the world around you.

8. Prep your teams.

Timing also considers how ready your team is to support your new product launch.

• Do your sales and customer service teams have the details they need to talk about your product confidently and troubleshoot problems?
• Are your product and marketing squads clear on timelines and expectations?
• Are key stakeholders aware of how the product launch plan is progressing, and have they approved your projected launch date?

Regular stand-up meetings, team meetings and stakeholder updates keep everyone in the loop and bring any confusion to the surface.

Related article : How to Communicate Effectively

9. Track your results.

Those launch goals you set? Now you get to track your progress so you know what levers to pull to help you reach them.

Related article : What Is a Key Performance Indicator?

10. Schedule a retro.

A retro, also called a postmortem or debrief, is where you’ll talk through data and other learnings to decide what’s next for your product—and how to improve the product launch strategy next time. As you look at your wins and losses, keep in mind that an effective launch strategy for a new product helps a bad product fail faster and a good one fly farther. So learn everything you can and keep flying.

What’s Next: Use Your New Product Launch to Build Momentum

Momentum isn’t a random lightning strike. You have to build it at every stage of your business to keep growing. And that’s exactly what you’re doing every time you successfully launch a new product. From the Treadmill Operator stage of business to the Legacy Builder stage, the new product checklist helps you get your product ready for the market and boldly declare to the world that it has arrived.

If you’re ready to learn more about how to build momentum throughout the five Stages of Business, check out our  EntreLeadership Stages of Business Assessment . Once you know where your business stands, sign up for Elite to get the full plan to take your business to the next level. Elite includes digital tools to help you grow your business, serve your customers well, and achieve your goals.

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About the author

Ramsey Solutions has been committed to helping people regain control of their money, build wealth, grow their leadership skills, and enhance their lives through personal development since 1992. Millions of people have used our financial advice through 22 books (including 12 national bestsellers) published by Ramsey Press, as well as two syndicated radio shows and 10 podcasts, which have over 17 million weekly listeners. Learn More.

What Is a Key Performance Indicator?

No one wins the Super Bowl by accident. It’s the same in business. KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, help you set the right goals, track your progress, and stay on target for big wins.

Everything You Need to Know About Critical Thinking Skills for Business Leaders

Critical thinking may seem like a lost art in a world driven by feelings and emotions. But it’s a skill every leader can build and use to grow their business.

Product Launch Marketing Plan Template

Used 5,343 times

Reviewed by Alexey Gorovenko

The Product Launch Marketing Plan Template can be like a roadmap and its deadlines are an important part of the GTM planning procedure. It summarises the goals, key characteristics, timelines, and resources required for launch.

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Created by:

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] ​ [Sender.Company] ​

Free Product Launch

Summary template.

​ [Sender.Company] ​

​ [Product.Name] ​

(Launch day)

The purpose of this product launch marketing plan is to aid in planning the product launch process for the company's new product to enter a new or current market. The plan shall define, create, feature, and execute key company initiatives during the product launch planning process. Most importantly, the product launch marketing plan shall provide the guidelines for all aspects of the product launch and evaluate the plan's success.

​ [Sender.Company] shall launch a new product, the [Product.Name] on (Launch day) to diversify revenue streams and meet new target customers. While the product development team will handle all aspects of product manufacturing and packaging, the [Sender.Company] product marketing team will support all other teams and aspects of the successful product launch project.

Within the product marketing team, the public relations team will be responsible for managing and supporting product launch focus groups, post-launch surveys, press release creation, press release distribution, and media monitoring software. The content creation team will create all written and visual messaging tools for the product launch plan, including key phrases. The advertising team will create and place all paid media in digital, print, and social outlets.

The employee training team will handle all aspects of employee education, messaging, and management of new information. All product launch teams will report directly to the Vice President of Marketing.

Product Description Template

The [Product.Name] will provide a variety of new, key features, including (list new features here. For example, a unique flavor, new design, optimized layout, to enhance customer value). The product will also feature new packaging.

The [Product.Name] was created after receiving insight and feedback from segmented stakeholders who said they needed (list needed features/avoided pain points here). The product's key specifications include (list product specification details here).

Product Launch

Plan template.

​ [Sender.Company] 's new product is anticipated to enhance brand positioning and stakeholder value. The current target buyers are (enter target buyer information here) while the target audience is (enter target audience information here).

This product launch is anticipated to increase [Sender.Company] 's revenues by (number%) over a (number) -year period while simultaneously bringing more value to customers. Currently, [Sender.Company] has budgeted a total of ($0.00) for the product launch project.

The product launch marketing plan as follows will outline all of the product marketing efforts for [Product.Name] 's product launch, including:

• Go to market launch strategy

• Pre-product launch research and marketing

• Pre-product launch employee messaging

• Product launch advertising

• Content creation/Product marketing

• Product launch public relations

• Product launch success metrics

Product launch marketing is a necessary tool for [Sender.Company] to create successful entries into new and current markets. Therefore, the proper management of this launch and future product launches is essential for the company

to execute its overall marketing plan.

Launching the product under these specifications and adapting to the ever-growing personas of new customers will help [Sender.Company] achieve greater recognition in the (specific market. For example, software as a service, consumer packaged goods) market.

Timeline Plan Template

The anticipated timeline plan for the product launch project is below to execute a successful product launch. The product marketing team will execute the timeline plan and all deadlines.

Pre-launch focus groups:

(Beginning and end dates)

Focus group data analysis:

Product launch progress/status update:

Product roadmap:

Internal employee messaging:

Product launch content creation:

Product launch post-review:

Product launch ROIs are determined:

All deadlines will be final unless otherwise written or stated by the Vice President of Marketing.

Product Launch Go To Market Strategy Template

The [Product.Name] will be launched on (launch day) . To support the product launch project, [Sender.Company] 's go-to-market strategy will include (list product marketing strategies here. For example, uploading fresh content on the website/social channels, issuing paid digital advertising, issuing a press release).

The main goal of the product launch plan's go-to-market strategy is to inform customers [Product.Name] is available and more (affordable, innovative, etc.) than the other related items on the market, creating greater brand value.

The product marketing team will be responsible for tying all product launch plan marketing initiatives back to these objectives. Launching this go-to-market strategy and messaging initiatives will be critical in the success of the current and future product launches.

Pre-Launch Research Marketing Plan Template

Pre-launch research and planning will require several initiatives. Specifically, the company will conduct focus groups for target buyers and the target audience to tailor product launch messaging to these populations. The product launch plan will specifically aim at identifying customer pain points.

The market analysis evaluation will determine when and where we can outcompete other products in this category. Stakeholder positioning will include notices and pre-launch messaging to distributors, wholesalers, and other partners regarding the product launch plan.

Details on the product launch plan, pre-launch pricing, and research are listed below.

Advertising Product

Launch plan template.

​ [Sender.Company] will be issuing a few types of paid advertising, including digital advertising on local news organization sites as part of the product launch plan. Digital advertising will also include advertising via Google AdWords. Social advertising will primarily target Facebook and Instagram channels.

Print advertising will feature handbills, giveaways, and advertisements in trade magazines. The advertising teams will provide an example of each type of advertising to the Director of Marketing before final placement.

The table below provides an outline of all advertising costs executed as part of the product launch plan.

Content Creation and Product Marketing Launch Plan Templates

A majority of the content creation product launch marketing will be geared toward messaging for both [Sender.Company] employees and customers. Emphasis will be placed on educating the customer about resolving customer pain points, key features of the new product, the pricing of the product, and how to access the product.

Production of video content creation will inform the customer on how to assemble the product, if necessary. Significant content and product marketing will be uploaded to the company website.

Please review the table below for details on launch-related content creation and its pricing.

Public Relations Marketing Product Launch Templates

The product public relations plan will be a coordinated effort to get the product launch news into the hands of the media at large and relevant stakeholders. Press release planning, such as creation and distribution, will provide the public with facts, figures, and relevant quotes from company executives about the new product launch.

The company will utilize media monitoring software to track press release pick-up and positive or negative feedback from customers on social channels. Some agency fees are anticipated to educate external stakeholders beyond the current public relations teams' bandwidth. ​

Please review the table below for details on public relations planning and related costs.

Product Launch Plan Success Metrics Template

The product launch plan will be deemed successful after creating several success metrics. In past launches, [Sender.Company] has utilized the following tools. The first success metric will be ROI, return on investment. The product marketing team estimates ROI will reach (number) % or more within the first 12 months of the launch. ​

Another success metric will be the number of new customers and new distribution sites. Essentially, these data sets should provide insight into how much market share we are gaining in the overall (type of market) market. The final metric to evaluate the success of the product launch plan is reduced return rates. The business currently has a return rate of (number) %. With the emphasis on product marketing and content creation, the marketing teams hope to reduce this figure to (number) % for the new product.

The company will execute success metrics (in-house or via software service).

Finalized Product

Marketing launch plan.

The current version of the product marketing launch plan has been reviewed and authorized by the Vice President of Marketing.

The Vice President of Marketing will finalize any adjustments made to the product marketing plan and its timeline.

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] ​

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Useful resources

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5 Steps for Launching a New Business or Product

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• Finance Your Business
• Market Your Business
• Keep Your Business Compliant

Business Know-How

Your business or product launch is the first impression people will remember. These five steps can help you make your launch a success.

It’s not enough to create a great business or product. If you want to be successful, you need to take steps to plan and execute a well-timed, memorable launch that will bring your product to the attention of more people in more locations. In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses need to begin their promotional efforts before they actually start selling their wares. Additionally, companies need to find ways to stand out from the noise while making the right first impression on early adopters.

Here are 5 steps for launching a new product in a way that’s smart, strategic, and most of all effective: 1. Conduct Testing Just because you’ve created an ingenious product that (you believe) fills an existing dearth in the marketplace doesn’t mean you’re ready to start selling. Savvy business owners take time to test their new items and perform necessary adjustments. Before listing a product for sale on your website, or stocking it in your retail store, send out complimentary versions for trusted clients to test and evaluate. The goal is to collect feedback from surveys and focus groups so you can make any needed improvements before releasing the product wide.

One of the reasons that testing is so crucial is that it ensures a product’s first impression with buyers will be a positive one. After all, if you release a flawed or buggy item, customers will remember that fact and be loath to try future versions. The internet means shoppers have virtually endless options, and they are unlikely to give a second chance to a disappointing company or product.

RELATED:  How to Know if a Product or Service Will Sell Before Launching It

2. Contact Influencers

Blogs and social media sites are great for marketing new businesses and products online. However, if you only post about your brilliant invention on your own website, you’re unlikely to generate the sales results you desire. Instead, startups should target key influencers, or trusted brand advocates, in their chosen industries.

Start by creating a list of popular bloggers, social media mavens, and even high-profile customers who have shopped with you before. You can then email or message these individuals and ask them to review a free sample of your product. If they like the item, the chances are good that they will blog about it or share details with their social followers. The goal is to generate buzz and excitement about a product before you launch and identify any outstanding issues that could affect your item’s ability to generate a profit.

3. Get Your Team Excited

It doesn’t matter how strong your product is if your marketing and customers service teams aren’t behind you. Before launching your new item, it’s important to educate your employees and get them excited about the item. (Ideally, you will also involve product managers and sales staff throughout the item’s development, so they can weigh in on aspects.)

To prepare your team members for launch, sit down with them to discuss the product ahead of time and ensure they have the resources needed to support customers and answer their questions. If your staff is going to be selling products over the phone, consider creating new talk tracks to aid in the process. For best results, create a number of small but attainable goals so employee morale stays high throughout the launch.

4. Create a Schedule—and Stick to It

It’s easy to lose sight of your goals while trying to launch a new product. Smart business owners create detailed production schedules to ensure tasks are completed on time and team members are held accountable for their roles. Additionally, you should review your timetable to ensure it covers all the necessary tasks, from performing market research on your target audience to contacting your favorite blogger or YouTube star, and set clear objectives. If you want to sell 1,000 products in the first month, put that goal in writing and commit to achieving it.

While it’s important to ensure your schedule is realistic, entrepreneurs also need to consider the best times of year to release their new products. For example, depending on the item you’re selling, you might want to consider seasonal factors or the timing of trade shows or pop culture events. And of course, you will want to ensure you are properly staffed for the launch. The last thing you want is to find yourself struggling to release a new product because several of your employees are out for summer vacation.

RELATED:  Tips for Starting and Succeeding in Your Own Business

5. Identify Your Marketing Channels

Gone are the days when businesses could market their wares on one or two sales channels only. Today, savvy startups maximize potential sales by targeting as many potential channels as possible. Along with traditional outlets like TV, radio, and mailers, modern businesses promote their goods on websites, social media pages, and online retail sites. They create email marketing campaigns, utilize PPC advertising, and even contact customers via text. The more channels you target with your marketing materials, the more opportunities you will have to find new and profitable audiences.

RELATED:  Marketing Strategies That Work

Following these tips can help your business go the distance.

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New Product Launch Business Plan Sample

SEPT.30, 2013

New product launch business plan for starting your own business

Clueless on how to add a new product line to your enterprise? Well, adding a product line is not a simple process. It isn’t just hiring a few more people and acquiring additional equipment.

Establishing a new product line needs adjustments on all organizational levels, and your operational plan & strategic plan. It may require you to carry out marketing analysis and overall risk assessment again. And therefore, you require a comprehensive business plan to launch a new product no matter how established your business already is.

A good practice is to get developed a business plan online or by industry experts near you so that all features of the new product launch can be taken care of.

To help you fathom how a new product launch in the market is introduced we are providing a sample business plan guide adopted by NYC House Cleaners when they added construction debris cleanup to their services.

Executive Summary

2.1 the business.

NYC House Cleaners was a cleaning company founded in New York. The company was established in 2009 and in 2021, the enterprise owner decided to add a new product line and broaden his services to the city’s construction sector. In this sample, we will provide some segments of the business plan for launching a new product following which the owner successfully launched a new product.

2.2 Management of new product launch

Management of a new product launch is just as complicated and expedient as that of initiating a new startup. Only by properly following the steps for launching a new product can you ensure better management.

In this business plan for franchise , we will explain how to launch a product line and how to adjust all the segments of your previous business plan according to the new needs.

2.3 Customers of new product launch

The buyers (of your new product line) depend on the type of your basic business. In the case of NYC House Cleaners, they were contractors, construction managers, disaster management organizations, and construction firms.

2.4 Business Target

Presenting a new product, you would have certain fiscal and social expectations. In your business plan for a new product launch , it is expedient to pen them down so you can remain focused on achieving them.

The business targets of NYC House Cleaning are demonstrated in the graph below.

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

NYC House Cleaning is owned by Frank Max. Max is a Harvard graduate with a passion to provide unparalleled services to consumers and make profits.

3.2 Why the new product launch is being started

In almost 10 years, Max was able to strengthen the business working with which he started. To bring innovation, and explore more opportunities, he decided to launch a new product.

3.3 How the new product launch will be started

Step1: Create Business Plan New Product

The foremost step is to study as many business plans for new products as are available. They will help you understand the process for different types of businesses. After that, you should delineate launching a new product plan.

In case, you lack a professional business diploma or degree, you should consider hiring a business consulting firm to make for you a new product business plan sample. You can have a great deal of insight into what that plan would look like by reading this sample product business plan.

Step2: Execute the Plan

The second step is to execute and administer each part of your business plan. You have to recruit more people with qualifications that match your product specification. You will have to develop sales strategy and marketing strategy accordingly.

Step3: Use the Web

The forthcoming step is to make your consumers aware of the new product or service. Using the web and social media will be the best choice as your reach can grow multiple times using them.

Step4: Manage and Grow

After you have integrated the new product into all the business features, you will have to develop a brief strategy on how to grow your business even further by capitalizing on the new product.

Services of new product launch

When you have concluded which product or service you want to add, the forthcoming step is to thoroughly investigate how to launch a product line. For a systematic approach, you should discuss all the features of the new product in very specific terms in your business plan for product launch.

If you don’t know how that can be accomplished, you can study business plans for new products available online like this one. In this business plan sample for new product launches, we will explain what type of new products are usually added by enterprises.

• Extension of Service

Enterprises whose model is based on service provision usually extend the service line. This includes either providing the same set of services to other areas or increasing services on the list.

• New Product

This includes adding an entirely new product to your business. This needs a proper business plan sample for new product since the areas to consider are the same as they were when you launched your business.

• Product Mix

This category caters to the scenario when a startup entirely shifts its range of products.

• Changing Product Features

This includes adding new features or bringing innovation to an already existing product or service.

In this product business plan sample we will explain how NYC House Cleaners extended their services. You can also see the new arrangement and staff in the later segments of this product business plan example.

Marketing Analysis of new product launch

Excellent work.

excellent work, competent advice. Alex is very friendly, great communication. 100% I recommend CGS capital. Thank you so much for your hard work!

Even if you have already carried out the flawless market analysis in your operational plan, you are required to do it again when making a marketing plan for the launch of new product . It includes understanding market statics and dynamics and taking them down in your business plan for the new product launch.

For micro-trends, you should include a portfolio of your business rivals, their offerings, services, and sales. In your new product marketing launch plan, you should outline how you can outperform your competitors. Macro trends such as interest rates and inflation can also impact your earnings profoundly, that’s why it is expedient to consider them as well in your marketing launch plan new product.

In this sample business plan for new product we will explain marketing steps to launch a new product. Based on your type of business, you may also benefit from business plan for video game or Mexican restaurant business plan .

5.1 Market Trends

In the United States, it is quite common for businesses to keep on adding new products and service lines. It is because technological changes are happening at a pace never witnessed before. Either it is needed to bring innovation to the service or product or drop the prior product altogether.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

When you are marketing for launching a new product, you are actually adding customer segments to your business. To make sure you meet the new criteria, it is incumbent to mention the new consumer groups in your sample marketing plan for the new product launch. This will help you in reaching a wider audience as well as gathering best business ideas. 

If you are marketing a new product launch , your consumer groups would depend on your niche. For instance, in the case of tobacco shop business plan , they will mostly be adults and seniors. If you make oyster farming business plan , they can be youngsters, teens, adults as well as seniors.

In this new product launch marketing plan example, we are listing a generic list of groups that can be your consumers for the new product.

5.2.1 Individuals

If you are a restaurant, a gym, or a service provider whose prior consumers belonged to individuals of all ages, your customer groups will likely remain the same.

5.2.2 Small Businesses

In case you run a business that offered services like hardware or software outsourcing, office management, office cleaning, and business consulting, then your consumers will mostly belong to small enterprises.

5.2.3 Large Businesses

Based on services, large and already established businesses can be a customer group as well.

5.2.4 Manufacturing Industries

If your new product line provides raw materials for manufacturing industries whether they deal in food, chemicals, or technical products, then your consumers will fall in this category.

5.3 Business Target

By adding a product line, NYC House Cleaners intended to:

• Acquire a CSAT score of 90+ concerning the new product
• Make at least $55k in monthly profits by the end of the first five years 

5.4 Product Pricing

NYC House Cleaners decided to keep the prices of construction debris cleaning in the same range as their competitors.

Marketing Strategy of new product launch

if you are presenting a new product, you have to look for marketing strategies for a new product launch so that your consumers learn about it. You can meet your monetary expectations from the new product only if you successfully carry out your product launch marketing strategy.

In this business plan for new product sample, we are providing NYC House Cleaners’ marketing strategy to launch a new product.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

• Our biggest competitive advantage is that we have built the name and reputation of our brand by providing excellent customer service during the past years.
• We have been in contact with enterprises and contractors who will hire us for professional cleanup.
• We are situated in a location where construction cleaning service is not offered by most startups.

6.2 Sales Strategy

• We will contact our target consumers by sending our sales executive and digital business cards.
• We will offer a 20% discount to our consumers for the first two months of our launch.
• We will promote ourselves through the web and social media.

6.3 Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Personnel plan of new product launch.

For putting forward a new product, you need to have a team that is acquainted with the new production procedure. While drafting your business plan for launching a new product, you should clearly define the personnel you would require to carry out additional responsibilities.

In this business plan sample for a new product , we are providing the general staff that you can need to hire to incorporate a fresh product line. You may need to hire more people according to the product specification and adjust your business plan to launch a new product accordingly.

7.1 Company Staff

• 1 Operation Manager to manage the distribution
• 1 Social Media Manager to make the product known
• 1 Sales Executive to reach out to enterprises
• 1 Web Developer to develop a website for a new product launch
• 1 Customer Care Executive to assist consumers with the new product
• 1 Business Strategy Consultant to help integrate the new functionality
• 2 Technical Assistants

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

Financial plan of new product launch.

Even if you had done accurate fiscal planning for your enterprise at the initiation time, you will need to still do it again to incorporate the new product. A new product launch will have its risks, investments and profits associated. To make sure you can generate profits and strengthen your business by putting forward the new product, it is expedient to renew financial planning in your business plan for a new product launch.

Sometimes, financial planning for a new product line is considered more complex than the one for a startup. It is because, for the new product launch, you have to carefully analyze if and how you can use your prior resources to build manpower and funding for the new venture.

In this new product launch business plan template, we are documenting the financial plan of NYC House Cleaners. These segments are taken after Max had incorporated revised figures for the product launch in his new product launch business plan.

If you are looking for legal assistance or document destruction business plan , you can have a general idea from here.

8.1 Important Assumptions

8.2 break-even analysis.

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

8.3.1 profit monthly.

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

8.6 business ratios.

Download New Product Launch Business Plan Sample in pdf

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How to launch a new business: Three approaches that work

COVID-19 and its ongoing repercussions have forced business leaders to reevaluate their priorities and strategies. One area where businesses across all regions have accelerated their commitments is around building new businesses. Leading growth businesses in particular have made this strategy a top priority, according to recent McKinsey research .

About the authors

This article was a collaborative effort by Ralf Dreischmeier , Philipp Hillenbrand , Jerome Königsfeld , Ari Libarikian , and Lukas Salomon, representing views from Leap by McKinsey, McKinsey’s business-building practice.

Yet despite the growing enthusiasm for business building, incumbents with good ideas, strong commitments, and big ambitions will frequently run headlong into a big question: How do we actually go about building a business? Getting the answer to this question right is crucial because it shapes the entire operating model of the business-building venture, with significant implications in terms of budget, organization, and strategic direction.

A leading industrial company learned this at a cost. When executives wanted to optimize operations in their factories, they believed setting up a fully independent start-up dedicated to developing new factory concepts was the only way to make it happen. Despite millions of dollars of investment, however, it didn’t work. The start-up struggled to access data and insights, failed to fully grasp the challenges of the core business, and did not attain sufficient support in the parent organization to test and implement changes. This example supports our research, which shows that fewer than a quarter of businesses launched ten years ago are viable large-scale enterprises today .

Figuring out the right approach to business building is especially important now as new opportunities for innovation surface. Prompted by the pandemic, new business-building archetypes have emerged, such as remote service provision, digital retail, and collaboration platforms.

As is true for many complex undertakings, there is no single right approach for launching a new business successfully. In addition, certain strategies will be important no matter which approach a company takes. Joint ventures and alliances, for example, can help to reach scale and enter new markets, and working with partners in ecosystems that, in some cases, include erstwhile competitors can expand offerings, access capabilities, and accelerate scale.

After analyzing more than 200 corporate business builds that we have supported, we have identified three major approaches that have proven successful. While other approaches can certainly work, the three we explore in this article have an established track record and clear conditions for success. The characteristics of each are unique, and so, too, are the criteria and conditions for success (Exhibit 1).

Would you like to learn more about Leap , our business-building practice?

1. internal vc-like incubator.

In this approach, incumbents develop a broad portfolio of ideas, with the goal of producing a few winners that can be successfully commercialized. Teams within the parent organization develop concepts for new businesses and pitch them to a dedicated venture-capital-style board comprising internal and external experts, who select the most promising ones. Successful teams receive milestone-based funding and resources to validate core assumptions and develop a minimum viable product (MVP)—a crucial governance necessity no matter what approach a business chooses (Exhibit 2).

The business has to be vigilant to ensure that the start-up culture “sticks” and that the legacy corporate culture doesn’t slowly start to take over. One way to do that is to assign an experienced business-building coach to each team to build up and nurture an agile test-and-learn culture.

Establishing an incubation approach is particularly suitable for incumbents that have a clear overall sense of the future direction of their business and sector, as well as a strong pipeline of promising early-stage ideas. They may, however, lack initial certainty on what the “winning concepts” will be and how they should be set up for the long term—as an internal division or an external spinout, for example. In our experience, the internal incubation approach works best when the new business is expected to focus on the parent’s core business.

A leading consumer food company achieved great success with this internal incubation approach. After a successful restructuring program, the company’s CEO and board first set a clear vision and ambition that new ventures should primarily benefit the core business and enable significant improvements in the top and bottom lines. Management then invited employees to form small teams that included a team lead and a management sponsor, such as the division head.

Over the course of six weeks, these teams then independently developed more than 100 ideas for new businesses aligned with the overall strategy. All teams scoped out MVPs and pitched their concepts to a newly created internal venture-capital (VC) board that included senior managers, external venture capitalists and technologists, sector experts, and strategic customers.

The VC board then provided initial funding to ten concepts that covered a wide range of applications, including IoT devices, process automation, data platforms, and resourcing marketplaces. Key decision criteria were resources required, path to scale, time to impact, expected overall P&L impact, and unique advantages of the parent company that could be leveraged to build the new businesses. Each initiative was assigned a delivery lead, an experienced business-building coach who helped employees to identify and de-risk the core assumptions first .

Over the course of the next six to ten weeks, these teams built out their MVPs to test core assumptions, such as market demand, required investment, and potential to scale. Those that were successful then approached the VC board and business-unit leadership for additional resources to scale the MVP. Within 16 months, the program to incubate the new businesses became self-funding.

Key success factors

• Adopt a true VC mindset, and kill ideas without clear potential early on in order to cut losses and strengthen the organization’s focus and resources on concepts with high potential.
• Include external experts on your VC board to increase objectivity and add important new perspectives.
• Match venture teams with experienced delivery leads to provide crucial coaching and skill building to test and adapt quickly.

2. Scale-up factory

Frequently, an incumbent organization already has a strong pipeline of new-product and -business concepts that have been validated with first customers and partners. But because it lacks the specialized resources, talent, and expertise required to quickly and successfully scale an entirely new business, promising ideas wither.

A scale-up-factory approach can help address these issues. In this model, the parent sets up a fully owned “factory” that is exclusively dedicated to rapidly scaling promising concepts from the parent’s R&D pipeline into independent businesses. Typically, with this approach, the parent is the first and largest customer of the new businesses. In return, the factory’s new businesses can leverage the parent’s brand, reputation, and customer network. Importantly, providing employees with equity gives them “skin in the game” and helps attract and retain the best digital talent from start-ups and tech firms.

Despite a strong R&D pipeline, new ideas at a leading global energy player frequently did not reach sufficient scale to generate meaningful new revenue streams. To change this, the company used the scale-up-factory approach to address a key business goal: build and scale disruptive technologies and business models from the internal R&D into rapidly growing and revenue-generating businesses.

The new scale-up factory is located in a separate office and staffed with a dedicated team, most of whom were hired to meet the need for specialized skills and a “start-up mindset.” The new company is governed by its own leadership and a dedicated, internal board of directors, rather than by business-unit leaders. While senior group leaders dedicate significant time to strategic decision making and steering toward targets and milestones, they do not get involved in the scale-up factory’s day-to-day decision making.

After two years, the businesses developed by the scale-up factory have scaled to more than 100 employees and have already become a significant revenue-growth motor for the parent company.

• A strong pipeline of “potential blockbuster” ideas within the parent company that have been validated and deemed commercially viable
• Clear funding and governance to establish accountability for each project that has business-unit and factory representation, remove any ambiguity in approvals and funding (such as joint signatures between factory and business unit), and align up front on milestones for the release of further funding
• Strong learning and pattern-recognition processes —the more scale-ups the factory executes, and the better team members become at collecting and codifying learnings, the more efficient the factory’s processes will become (a key insight from our latest research )

Why business building is the new priority for growth

3. ‘clean slate’ business building.

In some cases, executives have identified a big, promising idea for a new business well beyond their organization’s core focus, such as leveraging a disruptive new technology or entering a new industry. In this case, a clean-slate approach works best, with the new business typically fully owned by the incumbent (or jointly owned with external investors) and all talent hired externally.

Similar to the scale-up factory, the new start-up enjoys organizational independence but has greater entrepreneurial latitude. Speed is more important than process perfection in areas such as HR, IT, and procurement. The new business develops its own tech stack, for example, and explores different business models, even working with traditional competitors. It has different compensation and hiring models than the parent company, as well as its own R&D and insights capability to aggressively test completely new markets. Incumbents that have been successful in driving growth via clean-slate business building often start to shift to adapting principles of the scale-up-factory approach described in the previous section.

“Acqui-hiring” talent (that is, hiring an entire team or acquiring a company to access its talent) can be used to turbocharge business builds in any of the three approaches outlined in this article, but it is particularly suitable for accelerating clean-slate builds when internal capabilities are limited. Acqui-hires provide incumbents with immediate access to a well-integrated team with relevant capabilities who can hit the ground running.

Acqui-hiring can work only if the new venture has a strong culture that can quickly and successfully integrate the acqui-hired team. Clear leadership communication and strong alignment of incentives—such as equity awards distributed to all members of the business-building team—are critical to bringing the new team on board and avoiding potential resentment from members from the incumbent organization.

Using a clean-slate approach enabled one of the world’s leading engineering companies to quickly build a highly innovative IoT platform to sell software through an app store. Initial testing had validated the concept, which also had strong support from top management. Given the need to move quickly and lacking the right talent internally, the company set up a new start-up with strong financial backing, a separate office several hundred miles away from parent-company headquarters, and a leadership team hired from leading technology players.

Senior executives from the parent organization narrowed down the catalog of more than 1,000 rules, regulations, and governance processes that new divisions were typically required to implement to only about 50 that were essential. To establish the new business’s neutrality, the company set up a new industry alliance and collaborated with external partners—some of them direct competitors of the parent company—from day one.

To further accelerate this process, the company decided against gradually hiring developers or retraining staff. Instead, it acqui-hired a full development team of more than 30 people from a major software producer. This approach enabled the building of a highly complex digital solution and a thriving ecosystem with dozens of partners at record speed: first sales were generated less than 15 months after the acqui-hire had been completed.

• Strong focus on culture through strong investment in regular team-building activities that are crucial to integrate teams and unite them behind a common goal
• Foundations for an ecosystem of partners built early on by engaging with external partners—even competitors—as soon as the new business is set up, so that the market perceives it as a neutral player; then build out a large-scale ecosystem over time
• A start-up CEO fully committed to the new venture, through incentives (equity, bonus structure, and so on) that are fully tied to the start-up’s fortunes and do not include a “safety net” in the form of guaranteed continued employment with the parent

Business building is increasingly a core strategic pillar for companies operating in a digital world. Selecting the approach that is right for any given business, based on an understanding of the necessary trade-offs, conditions, and criteria for success, is one of the most important decisions incumbents need to make, as it can unlock the opportunity for rapid growth.

Ralf Dreischmeier is a senior partner in McKinsey’s London office; Philipp Hillenbrand is a partner in the Berlin office; Jerome Königsfeld is an associate partner in the Cologne office; and Ari Libarikian is a senior partner in the New York office, where  Lukas Salomon  is a consultant.

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• Product development process: The 6 stag ...

Product development process: The 6 stages (with examples)

The product development process is a six-stage plan that involves taking a product from initial concept to final market launch. This process helps break down tasks and organize cross-departmental collaboration. Find out how to implement a process of your own.

Product development is both an exciting and difficult endeavor. From initial ideation to research and prototyping, no two product launches are the same. However, there’s a general process that can help you get started with the product development process. 

The product development process describes the six steps needed to take a product from initial concept to final market launch. This includes identifying a market need, researching the competition, ideating a solution, developing a product roadmap, and building a minimum viable product (MVP).

The product development process has evolved in recent years and is now commonly used by dividing each step into six separate phases. This helps better organize the process and break individual deliverables into smaller tasks.  

What is product development?

Is product development the same as product management.

Though they sound almost identical, there's an important difference between product development and product management. Product development describes the process of building a product, where product management is the overseeing of that work. It's a slight difference, but an important distinction. A product manager, who often oversees a team that is in the product development process, will lead product management.

The 6 stages of product development

Not only does the product development process help simplify a launch, but it also encourages cross-team collaboration with teamwork and communication at the forefront of the process. 

Let’s dive into the product life cycle and define the six product phases. All of which can help you successfully launch your next product. 

1. Idea generation (Ideation)

The initial stage of the product development process begins by generating new product ideas. This is the product innovation stage, where you brainstorm product concepts based on customer needs, concept testing, and market research. 

It’s a good idea to consider the following factors when initiating a new product concept:

Target market: Your target market is the consumer profile you’re building your product for. These are your potential customers. This is important to identify in the beginning so you can build your product concept around your target market from the start.  

Existing products: When you have a new product concept, it’s a good idea to evaluate your existing product portfolio. Are there existing products that solve a similar problem? Or does a competitor offer a product that doesn’t allow for market share? And if yes, is your new concept different enough to be viable? Answering these questions can ensure the success of your new concept.

Functionality: While you don’t need a detailed report of the product functionality just yet, you should have a general idea of what functions it will serve. Consider the look and feel of your product and why someone would be interested in purchasing it.

SWOT analysis : Analyzing your product strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats early in the process can help you build the best version of your new concept. This will ensure your product is different from competitors and solves a market gap. 

SCAMPER method : To refine your idea, use brainstorming methods like SCAMPER , which involves substituting, combining, adapting, modifying, putting to another use, eliminating, or rearranging your product concept.   

To validate a product concept, consider documenting ideas in the form of a business case . This will allow all team members to have a clear understanding of the initial product features and the objectives of the new product launch. 

2. Product definition

Once you’ve completed the business case and discussed your target market and product functionality, it’s time to define the product. This is also referred to as scoping or concept development, and focuses on refining the product strategy. 

During this stage, it’s important to define specifics including:

Business analysis: A business analysis consists of mapping out distribution strategy, ecommerce strategy, and a more in-depth competitor analysis. The purpose of this step is to begin building a clearly defined product roadmap.

Value proposition: The value proposition is what problem the product is solving. Consider how it differs from other products in the market. This value can be useful for market research and for developing your marketing strategy.

Success metrics: It’s essential to clarify success metrics early so you can evaluate and measure success once the product is launched. Are there key metrics you want to look out for? These could be basic KPIs like average order value, or something more specific like custom set goals relevant to your organization. 

Marketing strategy: Once you’ve identified your value proposition and success metrics, begin brainstorming a marketing strategy that fits your needs. Consider which channels you want to promote your product on—such as social media or a blog post. While this strategy may need to be revised depending on the finished product, it’s a good idea to think about this when defining your product to begin planning ahead of time. 

Once these ideas have been defined, it’s time to begin building your minimum viable product (MVP) with initial prototyping.

3. Prototyping

During the prototyping stage, your team will intensively research and document the product by creating a more detailed business plan and constructing the product.

These early-stage prototypes might be as simple as a drawing or a more complex computer render of the initial design. These prototypes help you identify areas of risk before you create the product.

During the prototyping phase, you will work on specifics like:

Feasibility analysis: The next step in the process is to evaluate your product strategy based on feasibility. Determine if the workload and estimated timeline are possible to achieve. If not, adjust your dates accordingly and request help from additional stakeholders.

Market risk research: It’s important to analyze any potential risks associated with the production of your product before it’s physically created. This will prevent the product launch from being derailed later on. It will also ensure you communicate risks to the team by documenting them in a risk register . 

Development strategy: Next, you can begin working through your development plan. In other words, know how you’ll be assigning tasks and the timeline of these tasks. One way you can plan tasks and estimate timeline is by using the critical path method . 

MVP: The final outcome of the prototyping stage is a minimum viable product. Think of your MVP as a product that has the features necessary to go to launch with and nothing above what’s necessary for it to function. For example, an MVP bike would include a frame, wheels, and a seat, but wouldn’t contain a basket or bell. Creating an MVP can help your team execute the product launch quicker than building all the desired features, which can drag launch timelines out. Desired features can be added down the road when bandwidth is available.

Now it’s time to begin designing the product for market launch. 

4. Initial design

During the initial design phase, project stakeholders work together to produce a mockup of the product based on the MVP prototype. The design should be created with the target audience in mind and complement the key functions of your product. 

A successful product design may take several iterations to get just right, and may involve communicating with distributors in order to source necessary materials. 

To produce the initial design, you will: 

Source materials: Sourcing materials plays an important role in designing the initial mockup. This may entail working with various vendors and ordering materials or creating your own. Since materials can come from various places, you should document material use in a shared space to reference later if needed.  

Connect with stakeholders: It’s important to keep tight communication during the design phase to verify your initial design is on the right track. Share weekly or daily progress reports to share updates and get approvals as needed. 

Receive initial feedback: When the design is complete, ask senior management and project stakeholders for initial feedback. You can then revise the product design as needed until the final design is ready to be developed and implemented. 

Once the design is approved and ready to be handed off, move onto the validation phase for final testing before launching the product. 

5. Validation and testing

To go live with a new product, you first need to validate and test it. This ensures that every part of the product—from development to marketing—is working effectively before it’s released to the public.

To ensure the quality of your product, complete the following:

Concept development and testing: You may have successfully designed your prototype, but you’ll still need to work through any issues that arise while developing the concept. This could involve software development or the physical production of the initial prototype. Test functionality by enlisting the help of team members and beta testers to quality assure the development. 

Front-end testing: During this stage, test the front-end functionality for risks with development code or consumer-facing errors. This includes checking the ecommerce functionality and ensuring it’s stable for launch.

Test marketing: Before you begin producing your final product, test your marketing plan for functionality and errors. This is also a time to ensure that all campaigns are set up correctly and ready to launch. 

Once your initial testing is complete, you’re ready to begin producing the final product concept and launch it to your customer base. 

6. Commercialization

Now it’s time to commercialize your concept, which involves launching your product and implementing it on your website. 

By now, you’ve finalized the design and quality tested your development and marketing strategy. You should feel confident in your final iteration and be ready to produce your final product. 

In this stage you should be working on:

Product development: This is the physical creation of your product that will be released to your customers. This may require production or additional development for software concepts. Give your team the final prototype and MVP iterations to produce the product to the correct specifications. 

Ecommerce implementation: Once the product has been developed and you’re ready to launch, your development team will transition your ecommerce materials to a live state. This may require additional testing to ensure your live product is functioning as it was intended during the previous front-end testing phase. 

Your final product is now launched. All that’s left is to measure success with the initial success metrics you landed on. 

Product development process examples

Now that you understand the six stages of the product life cycle, let’s look at real world examples of some of the most successful product development strategies of iconic startups to inspire your own.

Example 1: How Figma expanded their product features

Originally started in 2012, Figma was the first professional-grade UI design tool built entirely in the browser. Today, Figma has grown into the leading competitor for design web applications.

Their mission is to make design accessible to more people and help them bring their creativity to life. They’ve shown this by continuously adding new product features—like multiple flow capabilities, a brainstorming timer, and an interactive whiteboard—coordinating successful software releases, and building trust through transparency.

Read our case study to learn how Figma uses Asana to manage development backlogs. 

Example 2: How Uber solved a market gap

While today we think of Uber as the biggest ride-sharing service, that wasn’t always the case. They too started with a compelling product strategy that made them into the innovative company they are today. 

Uber’s strategy began by solving a gap in the existing taxi industry: creating an easier ride-hailing process with simplified payment processing. But they didn’t stop there: they continued to innovate their product portfolio by developing ride tiers ranging from luxury to budget-friendly. 

While each situation varies slightly, with the right product strategy, you too can create an innovative portfolio. 

Who is part of the product development team?

There are many stakeholders and various teams that assist with the product development process. The main leader is the product manager, who oversees all product tasks related to ideation, research, development, and product launch. 

Additional important stakeholders include:

Product management: A product manager oversees all areas of the product life cycle and works to bridge communication gaps between various internal and external teams. The product manager works to initiate new product launches and initiates product ideation and market research.

Project management: A project manager may be involved in the product development process to assist with cross-departmental communication. They might also assist with task delegation and goal tracking.

Design: The design team helps during the prototyping and designing phase to support the visual product concept. It’s important to connect product designs with brand guidelines and UX best practices. 

Development: The development team helps with the implementation of the product on your website. Most commonly, a team of developers will work together to build the new product offering depending on the complexity of the concept.

Marketing: The marketing team will assist with developing the marketing strategy and testing it before the product goes live. They will also measure the success of the marketing initiatives.

Sales: The product manager works with the sales team to come up with an effective strategy and report on success metrics after the product has been implemented. 

Senior management: Senior stakeholders may need to give final approval before the product can go to launch. 

In addition to these important roles, other teams that may be involved are finance, engineering, and any other related stakeholders. All of which can play a role in the process depending on the complexity of the concept. 

The process that simplifies product development

The right product development process can help you streamline each step with organized tasks and team collaboration. The six stages outlined above will get your team through all steps of the process, from initial idea screening to the development phase. 

But you might need help along the way. Coordinate tasks and organize your product development process with Asana for product management . Asana can help get your products to market faster by tracking workload and simplifying planning.

Related resources

How Asana uses work management to streamline project intake processes

6 ways to develop adaptability in the workplace and embrace change

How to run more effective stand-up meetings

Waterfall, Agile, Kanban, and Scrum: What’s the difference?

Plan For the Successful Launch of the New Product

There’s thorough planning and organization involved when launching a new product. It’s not easy at all because of the competitive state of the market. We think that there are a lot of similar products out there that can only make it with the promotion of their distinct features.

This is not necessarily true. Case studies show that a successful product launch mostly depends on a good product launch strategy. However, every good strategy requires a checklist. So, here’s a successful product launch checklist.

Understanding user needs

It’s necessary to be user-centered. This means that you need to understand who your users are, what their needs are, and why they need what they need. Answering these questions gives us the outlines of a product we want to design because the product is the answer.

User-centeredness can result in a successful product launch because it shows our users that we’re interested in them, it boosts the customer experience, and it can outline a strategy for further development and delivery.

Luckily, there are many things we can do to understand the needs of the users so we can meet them properly. These involve using analytics, doing surveys, creating your Buyer Persona , and reviewing different forms of feedback users provide. Another great way to understand them is to hire an agency to research users.

Understanding your competition

It’s essential to understand the competition. Fortunately, it’s easy to get to know your competition nowadays because we have almost everything online. This means that you can find out everything about the competitors by going to their website.

Also, many businesses have opted for automated customer service responses. Sometimes, improving customer service by automating responses can be bad for business because a competitor might use the customer service bot to their advantage.

Certain things are more important than others, and you should consider creating a slideshow to remember them. These are the things you should know before launching your product:

• Product : Know what the product is, and how it’s presented to potential customers. Study it, and try to understand what they might have done better.
• Logistics : Understand their distribution and delivery methods. There might be ways to improve that as well.
• Customer loyalty mechanisms : Try to analyze their loyalty programs and how they manage to retain customers.
• Design : It’s important to see what your competitor did to make the design appealing to the customers.
• Social media campaigns : Analyzing social media posts can help you organize your product campaigns.
• Price : The price is right when it’s better than what the other person is offering. However, you should account for the expenses when making a product.

Prototyping and testing the product

You must make a prototype of your product and test it. Testing a product before its official launch can solve so many things, and it can make the design and functionality much better to fit the customer’s needs. Prototyping a product helps in:

• Assessing the costs of production, the time it takes to produce it, and the materials that are used.
• Procuring adequate machines for the production process.
• Discovering issues early in the design stages.
• Receiving feedback from the customers and clients.
• Get additional funding for your product if necessary.
• Finalizing the product and distributing it to the customers.

Product reconfiguration

Once you’ve prototyped the product and tested it, you can reconfigure it according to the previous research you’ve done on your potential users and the results of the tests. This should make a great ground for reconfiguration, and it can push the customers to make the purchase decision easier.

Run the numbers

Running the numbers means that you need to think about the margins. The profit you’re expecting to make versus the profit you’re making. Take a look at all the aspects of your production and try to set the expected profits realistically.

This means that you should account for everything and calculate the net profit of your products sold. Once you calculate that, you should be able to know what you can achieve, and you should look at these numbers for patterns and see if you can improve something.

Marketing before the launch

A smart move for a successful product launch is a marketing campaign building up to the launch. This means that your potential customers will build anticipation and awareness of the new product through social and email campaigns . Think big, and think about your reach:

• Email campaigns : People usually say that email is something that bothers them because they receive promotional emails most of the time. However, a good email with a good CTA can boost your product’s potential in the future.
• Blogs and social media : The most utilized marketing mediums, these offer you the possibility to build an entire community around a product that hasn’t been released yet.
• Ads : Don’t forget the good old-fashioned ads that are in places that people see. Even if you decide to advertise your product on a radio station, make it catchy, and people will notice it.

Think about logistics

Before launching the product make sure to analyze the approximate demand for the product. Also, make sure to establish connections and routes between manufacturers and stores for easier distribution.

It’s good to think about how much of the product you should have in stock. However, you can opt for just-in-time manufacturing, and that can work in your favor because it cuts certain costs. Plus, you give just the right amount to the customers.

Make the product public

Networking and sharing your product means that you need to make the product public to your friends, your followers, and everyone you think might be influential. It’s time to launch it, and there are tons of ways you can make the launch public.

The best way is to create compelling content to share your product with and make a good product presentation. It’s easy because you can use an online video editor to do it. People love visuals, and the most pleasing way to advertise something is through video content.

Reach out to media after the launch

Different types of media are always a good advertising opportunity. So, why not use some PR agencies to squeeze a little more marketing into the product launch. Share your product story, your initial idea with them, and how the product came to be.

Everyone enjoys a good story, and telling one about your product can help you increase your reach and improve customer satisfaction. Once you have a great product, and great customer experiences, the story can be the cherry on top. You can also revise the marketing budget and push it forward.

Analyze feedback after launch

Finalizing the product launch strategy means asking for feedback after the product is released. Feedback is the most valuable thing any business can get from its customers. Feedback helps us improve the product and adjust it more.

After receiving feedback from our customers, we can launch a new product line, an upgraded version of the product, and this can bring us much more profit. However, you need to be careful when interpreting the feedback.

Planning a successful product launch needs to be thorough, and it should involve all the mentioned steps. The good thing is that all these steps can be repeated when creating another product line.

Finally, don’t forget to use the feedback as much as possible, and remember that the feedback you get from the customers after the launch can help you reconfigure the product or make a new one that’s more successful.

Kossi Adzo is the editor and author of Startup.info. He is software engineer. Innovation, Businesses and companies are his passion. He filled several patents in IT & Communication technologies. He manages the technical operations at Startup.info.

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