What Is Product Launch?
A product launch is a planned and coordinated effort to bring a product to the market and make it generally available. Its main goal is to build sales momentum, but apart from this, it helps the business to build up customer anticipation for the product, collect early feedback and gain recognition, resulting in a quicker ROI.
Components of a product launch plan
To be a success, a typical product launch plan needs include the following key parts:
- Product vision: everyone engaged in the product launch needs to clearly understand the goal of the release, the value the product adds, and the customer needs it addresses.
- Marketing strategy: the team should be aligned on how the product is brought to market and what the timelines are.
- Communication plan: the team and stakeholders need to be aware of the meetings planned, their goals and content to be aware of the current state.
- Product launch checklist: A list of activities that need to be performed before the product launch.
- Success metrics: including PKIs and systems for tracking data and collecting feedback. These metrics can be used to monitor satisfaction, engagement, and revenue.
Types of product launch events
A product launch does not necessarily concern the final version of a product. A product can be released at different stages, each having specific purposes and benefits:
- Minimal viable product (MVP): this is a solution that has only the core features and functionality. It is launched to test the product with the target audience and collect initial feedback.
- Soft launch (beta launch): this is a limited release to a specific target audience used to get their responses and feedback and support last-minute changes.
- Full-scale launch (official release): in this case, the product is made available to the general public when it is ready to go to market.
Product launch stages
A product launch encompasses three stages:
1. Planning when the product team researches the target audience and market, sets the objectives and the timeframes, and develops the marketing strategy.
2. Execution when the product is formally released, including subsequent efforts to stir customers’ anticipation and interest in the product. At this stage, product and marketing data is collected to measure the launch success.
3. Analysis when the product transitions from the launch to the growth stage and all the product data and feedback is collected. It is time to determine if KPIs have been met and if the launch is a success.
Product Launch Checklist
A product launch checklist is a list of critical activities that need to be performed before the product can be released:
- The strategic vision of the product is successfully executed.
- Product testing is done.
- Sales and marketing collateral is drafted and distributed.
- The sales and the customer support teams have got sufficient product training.
- The product documentation is ready.
- The customer journey is developed and reviewed so that it is smooth and intuitive.
- There is a plan for gathering early user feedback.
- The metrics to measure the product launch success are defined.
- Stakeholders are notified about the approaching product launch.
- The team has conducted a product launch pre-mortem to think through potential problems during the launch.
At the same time, it is necessary to remember that the product launch is not a one-time event but a process that starts at the early product planning stages and runs through post-launch to improve the product following customer feedback.
