As counterintuitive as it may sound, having a great product is only step one on a product launch checklist. You can have the best product, with offerings and features that far exceed what your competitors are offering. Yet, if the brand fails to follow the qualitative steps in the product launch checklist below, it will not receive the market reaction and adoption that it deserves.
This 12-step new product launch checklist will cover a few critical steps, actionable recommendations, questions, and test metrics that need to be added to any new product launch checklist. Jump in.
What Exactly is Product Launch
Product launch refers to the process of introducing a new product to the marketplace. Multiple promotional, marketing, and other organized activities are followed in the process to generate a buzz about the product, attract new customers, and increase sales. Product launch is not for launching a new product alone. Occasionally, an improvement to an existing product line can be launched through these launches as well.
What is the Product Launch Checklist?
Product launching means the procedure of releasing a new product into the market. Various promotional, advertisement, and other well-organized activities are undertaken in the process in order to create a hype regarding the product, bring in new customers, and boost sales. Product launching is not just meant for the launching of a new product. Sometimes an enhancement to a current product line can be launched via these launches too.
Memorable Product Launch: Checklist
Define Your Audience
Always start with what your customer needs.
Prior to blueprinting a product, conduct extensive market research to determine the potential customer’s pain points.
Interview 10 or 15 of your target user persona groups, and inquire about what issues they have with their existing tools or solutions.
Gain clarity on the specific issues they wish to address in an alternative product.
Ask accurate questions to bring forth precise answers since there is no such thing as having too much information.
If you already have existing customers in the same field utilizing other products from your company, focus on speaking with them. These people already appreciate your services and will most likely buy a new product if it suits them.
After you gather all these critical points of data, you can then develop buyer personas. This necessitates a deep dive into customers’ needs and pain points and is possibly one of the most important things to include on any product launch checklist.
Strong Brand Positioning
Here’s what your brand positioning statement should be able to respond to:
Who is the product actually for?
What does the product precisely do or fix?
Why is it unique compared to other similar products that already exist?
Once you respond to these, attempt digging a little deeper and respond to the following:
Why is my target audience most likely to purchase this product?
How do I demonstrate that this product is measurably distinct from the competition?
If my product addresses several issues, which one is the most important?
After stakeholders have responded and signed off on these questions, you’ll know how to talk about your products in all sales and marketing collateral. This is crucial for establishing brand image and tone when introducing a new product.
Set Realistic Goals
What do you hope to get from your launch? Impressions? Engagement (shares, comments)? Follower growth? More inquiries on your product? Signups and sales?
Establish realistic objectives so that you don’t put your team in a position of failure.
Success measurements must identify how effective launch campaigns are and provide learnings to future campaigns and customer-facing practices.
Of course, product launch checklists will begin to differ from here on. Salespeople will care about buys, while marketing will care about clicks and impressions.
Test Everything You Can
Prior to a product launch, you need to make sure that the product is reasonably bug-free. You won’t be held to the expectation of having every feature implemented and ready for use by the general public, but make sure the fundamental functionalities your customer will expect are implemented and working under various real-world scenarios.
All features customers plan to use need to be adequately tested on actual browsers, devices, and operating systems.
Do not rely on tests conducted on emulators and simulators since they cannot fully mimic actual user conditions.
Test your product through a range of tests intended for various scenarios.
Make sure the website or app is able to function as well on any combination of devices-browsers-OS.
Make sure the product is readily accessible and highly usable, regardless of the location of the user, situation, preferences, or technology.
Think of conducting tests in low network environments, accessibility tests, and lastly, geolocation testing
Make Sure Product Branding is Spot On
Creating spot-on product features is half the success. Initial impressions count a lot to current consumers due to the fact that they are spoiled with choices. These crucial pointers should be in place for your product developers.
The packaging of the product has to echo the brand identity through design, color, images, illustrations, logos, fonts, and so much more.
Take special note of the packaging text and the product itself.
Make sure it provides utmost clarity and shuns unclear or contentious wording.
The product should also bear all required compliance and regulatory approvals mainly if it addresses a global customer.
Make sure your products look like they ought to be both online and offline. Real-life vs. smaller screen size perspective may confuse your users.
Test Your Product Exhaustively: Test your product on different devices and browsers through real-device and cross-browser testing to make sure that it performs as expected on a variety of different real-user environments and conditions. This shouldn’t be a single-time effort. Ensure that you perform testing every time the product is upgraded.
Bottom Line
A product launch is certainly one of the most significant events in any business. Each product is (or should be) the best foot forward for the company. Amplify the work of your engineers, developers, product managers, & marketers with this practical product launch checklist & key takeaways.
If you want to make your product launch more memorable contact Maze Events for a smooth and feasible product launch. Get your free quote today.
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