8 Steps for a Successful Product Launch

I probably don’t need to tell you how important it can be to have a successful product launch. The launch of a new product can set the tone for how that product will be received down the road. It is important to hit the ground running on product launch day so that you can capitalize on that momentum and keep it going. In this article, I will be looking at a product launch from a technical perspective. Server crashes, payment processing snafus, and slow reaction times are all factors that can cause your big launch day (not to mention your sales numbers) to fizzle. Ideally you should have a plan for your launch at least two weeks before the big day. In the real world, it might not end up like that, but it’s still worth shooting for. My checklist for a launch usually looks something like this:

Pre-Launch

1. Build your website with all the necessary graphics and content. For an online launch, the website is the most crucial aspect. If you build the majority of the site several weeks in advance, then you will be less stressed out when you have to make small changes to the site before launch.

2. Get your payment processing working and tested. Make sure that you have the correct code/process in place to accept online payments before launch day. You don’t want to launch your product and have to deal with not being able to accept payments.

3. Install analytics. Google Analytics works great. You won’t get to see the results until the next day, but this data will come in handy when you analyze how your launch went.

4. Test out the entire process several times on different browsers. You might find that some exit pop-up code is only working in Firefox, or that the payment processing form only works in IE. This could isolate a majority of your customers and cause the launch to fail.

5. Set goals for a successful launch. Without setting goals in the beginning, you will have no benchmark to judge your success on. Set realistic goals.

Launch

6. Be on hand to deal with any issues that arise immediately. I was part of a launch where we were experiencing such a high amount of traffic that it was bringing down the server. We were able to migrate the site over to a better server and redirect traffic within about 15 minutes. Without quick reaction time, you could lose a big amount of sales.

7. Have access to accurate sales reporting throughout the day. If the sales stop coming in, there might be a technical problem that will need to be addressed. If the sales are rolling in, then keep doing what you’re doing because it’s working!

Post-Launch

8. Analyze the launch to see if you met your goals. Meeting your sales numbers could have been one goal, or getting a certain number of leads might be another. By analyzing your analytics data you can see if customers had a hard time following your sales path. It could be that you have too many steps in the sales path, or that it was confusing to follow. This data will be very helpful for your next launch down the road.

By following these guidelines for the technical side of a launch you will be sure to have success in your product launches. If things go really bad, it will give you a chance to learn and grow so you will have more success down the road.

Action Steps

• Plan out your launch two weeks in advance.

• Test your entire sales path in different browsers before launch.

• Use analytics to analyze the success of your sales path.

• Have your technical staff on hand during launch to deal immediately with any problems that arise.