The product manager's checklist for launching a successful product
A 5-step checklist that every product manager launching products should have in their arsenal of documentation
Launching a product to solve real life problems is mostly an exciting yet challenging experience, for several reasons.
Let me paint a picture that most Product Managers (PMs) are likely familiar with- The engineers are building [coding] the product, UX designers are ensuring users have the best visual experience, the PM is coordinating with sales & marketing to double down on the big launch and also keeping both eyes on all parallel tasks in order to achieve a “Go” status on launch day.
It’s clear that being a product manager is mostly characterized by difficult calls, multiple trade-offs, high stress levels and because of this, as a PM, it is important to soak it all in, stay calm, remove impediments, resolve bottlenecks and heighten team morale. Now, whilst this build up is mostly not for the weak at heart, a perfect product launch is quite achievable.
For a Product Manager to be able to pivot focus to multiple moving parts, they must have a working yet nimble framework that will support this launch process. I am here to share that structure with you, which should help you feel more confident when launching new products.
In order to keep all tasks in parallel, a PM will need a well defined Product Launch Checklist that contains requirements to be satisfied and tracked before “Go Live”.
Disclaimer - This is not a substitute for your product strategy, roadmap, PRD, or other strategic product documents, This is a personal high-level checklist for you as a PM to excel at your role prior to product launch.
The Product Launch Checklist
This launch checklist is product agnostic. This means it focuses on universally critical factors however, you will still need to tweak slightly for your specific product.
1. PM’s Product Checklist
Your research is comprehensive: One of the things that I have learned building products is that when you solve the deepest problems for your user segment, you drive the biggest impact. Be double sure that you are solving the right problem and know why you are solving it.
Have all stakeholders buy-in: Multi functional teams must be sold out to your product vision and are committed to owning a slice of it. This also assures you of dedicated resources from their units.
Organize your beta, carefully: This easily signals if your product is ready to hit the market. You can select power users, certain demography and other variables. This is the time to learn even deeper and possibly have a SWAT team, in case of a rollback. Super important.
Define success metrics: The overall team should know when their work is “done”. Important to define quantitatively, what success means for all team members at launch on a task level.
2. PM’s Marketing Checklist
Your pricing strategy: Ensure your team is clear on the pricing structure. Most SaaS start out on either free tiers, the freemium, on-demand, ad-based or limited seat upgrades. Know clearly and communicate to revenue assurance teams.
Your promotion strategy: All team members must be clear on channels for promotion , messaging, scripts, content positioning , online listening lead generation, PR/editorials, influencers and social media. By now, the press release should be ready complete with feedback models incorporated.
You have an “Always be Launching” plan: Once the big Launch day is behind you, you’re not done. In fact, your marketing team must have a plan to sustain the momentum with automated drip campaigns and launch content over several weeks post the big launch. With so many distractions around us today, it’s highly likely that many of your target customers will miss out on the launch communication — that’s exactly why it’s important to run the launch campaigns for weeks to ensure target market coverage.
3. PM’s Legal Checklist
Product License[s]: Check again to be sure your operating license and contracts with any 3rd party are in place. The last issue you want is infringements, so you need the legal team to be water tight on this.
Data Collection and Privacy: These days, how data is used, processed, retained and destroyed must be clearly spelt out and explained. Be sure to have it incorporated in your T&Cs..
4. PM’s Sales Checklist [B2B Case]
Sales Training: The sales team must be carefully aligned on the functionalities, value and impact of your product. An excellent practice is to have a siloed training manual that is easily accessible on the go. Also include FAQ’s to support them. If you have a large team, dedicate two junior PMs as back up front-line, should they have any problems.
Measure and Tracking Sales Progress: You should agree with the head of sales on the KPI’s even after launch and strategies to keep the fire burning. This helps the sales team keep their focus and maximize your chances of getting your products more eyes.
5. PM’s Customer Support Checklist
Train the support team: You should dedicate a sizable amount of time in training the CS team with key components and the customer’s entire buying journey. A clear problem handling framework should also be established complete with scripts and SLAs [service level agreements].
Keep a centralized dashboard: Customer support tickets must be transparent to everyone on the product team. This is very important because feedback is key at this stage for iterations. You want to keep your new customers very happy so they can refer new customers as well.
Track all data: Always insist your teams track all data, no matter how unnecessary it might appear. In further product development, all data comes very useful and will help in making critical changes that can affect metrics and user behavior.
Finally, always continue to keep a small QA team [where you are the chief QA]. Continue to test your products , all use cases must be logged daily, this helps you to monitor product health and stability.
Do not forget to pat your teams on the back! They have owned the vision and you all have worked so hard from validation to launch. Continue to iterate and drive that impact for your product.