Use this detailed checklist to track all essential elements of your technology product launch. Customize it to your specific product and organizational needs, and adapt the timeframes based on your launch complexity and available resources.

Strategic Foundations (12-16 Weeks Pre-Launch)

Market Research and Analysis

• Conduct market sizing and segmentation analysis.
• Complete competitive landscape assessment.
• Analyze industry trends and market dynamics.
• Gather customer feedback and validate need.
• Document buyer personas and user profiles.
• Map the customer journey for key segments.
• Identify key market differentiators.
• Research pricing models and willingness to pay.
• Analyze sales cycle length and decision process.
• Document regulatory or compliance requirements.

Business Strategy and Planning

• Define clear launch goals and objectives.
• Establish specific success metrics and KPIs.
• Align launch with company strategic priorities.
• Secure executive sponsorship and buy-in.
• Develop launch budget and resource plan.
• Conduct preliminary financial projections.
• Identify critical success factors.
• Assess and plan for potential risks.
• Define launch scope and parameters.
• Determine optimal launch timing.

Positioning and Messaging

• Define product category and market position.
• Craft primary value proposition.
• Develop key messaging pillars.
• Create feature-to-benefit mapping.
• Develop audience-specific messaging.
• Create elevator pitch and product descriptions.
• Develop competitive positioning statements.
• Test messaging with target audiences.
• Create messaging hierarchies for different use cases.
• Develop objection handling guide.

Launch Planning

• Determine launch type and scale (Tier 1/2/3).
• Create detailed launch timeline.
• Establish launch team and roles (RACI matrix).
• Set up launch governance process.
• Create launch communication plan.
• Develop risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
• Schedule key launch milestones and checkpoints.
• Define escalation paths for issues.
• Create shared documentation system.
• Establish regular launch team meetings.

Go-to-Market Preparation (8-12 Weeks Pre-Launch)

Content Development

• Develop content strategy and roadmap.
• Create product website content.
• Develop product blog posts.
• Create video demos and tutorials.
• Produce whitepapers or ebooks.
• Develop case studies and testimonials.
• Create infographics and visual assets.
• Prepare technical documentation.
• Develop email marketing sequences.
• Create social media content calendar.
• Prepare FAQs and knowledge base articles.

Sales Enablement

• Create sales playbook.
• Develop training schedule for sales team.
• Build product slide deck and presentation materials.
• Create one-pagers and leave-behinds.
• Develop ROI calculator or value assessment tool.
• Create competitive battle cards.
• Develop demo script and environment.
• Create quote and proposal templates.
• Prepare email templates for sales outreach.
• Develop customer success stories for sales use.
• Create implementation and onboarding guides.

Marketing Preparation

• Develop integrated marketing plan.
• Create paid advertising strategy and assets.
• Prepare SEO strategy and implementation.
• Plan email marketing campaigns.
• Develop social media strategy.
• Create landing pages and conversion paths.
• Plan webinars or virtual events.
• Develop event marketing strategy (if applicable).
• Create partner marketing plans.
• Design lead generation campaigns.
• Establish marketing analytics tracking.

PR and Communications

• Develop PR strategy and timeline.
• Create press release.
• Build media kit.
• Develop analyst briefing materials.
• Create executive talking points and Q&A.
• Identify and brief customer references.
• Develop thought leadership content.
• Plan analyst and media briefings.
• Create crisis communication plan.
• Develop internal communication plans.
• Plan social media announcement strategy.

Channel and Partner Readiness

• Identify key partners for launch.
• Develop partner enablement materials.
• Create partner training program.
• Develop co-marketing materials.
• Plan partner communication strategy.
• Create partner incentives for launch.
• Develop implementation guides for partners.
• Schedule partner briefings and trainings.
• Create service provider alignment (if applicable).
• Define partner success metrics.

Pre-Launch Activities (2-8 Weeks Pre-Launch)

Product Readiness

• Confirm product development timeline.
• Establish product readiness criteria.
• Conduct user acceptance testing.
• Verify all features function as intended.
• Test scalability and performance.
• Complete security reviews.
• Finalize documentation and help content.
• Set up analytics and tracking.
• Prepare for data migration (if applicable).
• Establish quality monitoring systems.
• Create customer feedback mechanisms.

Technical Launch Preparation

• Set up production environments.
• Prepare deployment processes.
• Test backup and recovery procedures.
• Conduct penetration and security testing.
• Verify third-party integrations.
• Prepare monitoring and alerting systems.
• Test high availability and failover systems.
• Verify compliance with regulations.
• Document technical launch sequence.
• Create technical contingency plans.

Customer Success and Support Readiness

• Train customer support team.
• Develop support processes and playbooks.
• Create onboarding materials and workflows.
• Set up customer success metrics and tracking.
• Develop customer communication templates.
• Create escalation paths for customer issues.
• Prepare knowledge base and self-help resources.
• Establish SLAs for support response.
• Develop customer training programs.
• Create early warning system for potential issues.

Pre-Launch Marketing Activities

• Begin teaser campaign.
• Activate early access or beta program.
• Start thought leadership content publishing.
• Initiate influencer outreach.
• Begin paid advertising warm-up.
• Activate social media pre-launch campaign.
• Start email nurture to target prospects.
• Open pre-orders or waitlist (if applicable).
• Begin SEO optimization activities.
• Schedule pre-launch webinars or events.

Launch Readiness Assessment

• Conduct final messaging review.
• Complete sales readiness assessment.
• Verify marketing asset completion.
• Confirm technical deployment readiness.
• Validate support team preparation.
• Review analytics and tracking implementation.
• Conduct final budget review.
• Verify all legal and compliance requirements.
• Complete final executive review.
• Obtain formal go/no-go decision.

Launch Execution (Launch Week)

Launch Day Sequence

• Execute technical deployment.
• Activate website updates.
• Distribute press release.
• Publish blog announcement.
• Send customer and prospect emails.
• Post social media announcements.
• Launch paid advertising campaigns.
• Activate sales outreach.
• Launch partner communications.
• Begin proactive customer outreach.
• Monitor technical performance.

Real-Time Monitoring

• Track website performance and traffic.
• Monitor social media engagement.
• Track PR and media pickup.
• Monitor customer sign-ups or purchases.
• Track download or installation metrics.
• Monitor support ticket volume.
• Track sales activity and pipeline impact.
• Monitor conversion rates.
• Track competitive responses.
• Monitor system performance and uptime.

Immediate Post-Launch Activities

• Conduct launch day debrief.
• Address any critical issues or blockers.
• Capture initial feedback and insights.
• Begin tracking against KPIs.
• Send internal launch success communication.
• Adjust messaging based on initial reception.
• Respond to media and analyst inquiries.
• Engage with social media responses.
• Share early wins with sales and executives.
• Deploy rapid response team for any issues.

Post-Launch Optimization (1-12 Weeks Post-Launch)

Week 1 Activities

• Collect comprehensive first-week metrics.
• Gather sales team feedback.
• Analyze customer response patterns.
• Document early wins and challenges.
• Make tactical adjustments to campaigns.
• Address emerging customer questions.
• Optimize conversion paths based on data.
• Begin outreach to new customers.
• Collect competitive response information.
• Prepare first-week executive summary.

Weeks 2-4 Activities

• Conduct first formal launch assessment.
• Optimize marketing spend based on results.
• Refine messaging and positioning as needed.
• Create additional content to address gaps.
• Develop case studies from early adopters.
• Implement sales enablement improvements.
• Address product issues from early feedback.
• Plan next phase marketing activities.
• Adjust sales approach based on win/loss data.
• Begin planning for next release or update.

30-Day Review

• Compile comprehensive 30-day metrics report.
• Compare results to launch KPIs and goals.
• Identify key success factors and challenges.
• Document lessons learned.
• Gather cross-functional feedback.
• Develop action plan for ongoing optimization.
• Share results with leadership and company.
• Recognize team contributions and successes.
• Update launch playbook based on learnings.
• Begin transition to ongoing marketing and sales.

60-90 Day Assessment

• Conduct comprehensive launch retrospective.
• Create detailed launch performance analysis.
• Document ROI on launch investment.
• Develop best practices for future launches.
• Create plan for ongoing product marketing.
• Establish regular performance review cadence.
• Identify opportunities for product enhancement.
• Plan for expansion marketing activities.
• Develop customer retention and growth strategies.
• Share final launch report with stakeholders.

Special Considerations

Enterprise Product Considerations

• Develop detailed implementation methodology.
• Create account-based marketing plan.
• Develop solution architect enablement.
• Create customer success playbooks.
• Develop professional services offerings.
• Create executive engagement strategy.
• Develop reference architecture documentation.
• Create industry-specific value propositions.
• Develop procurement and legal documentation.
• Plan for extended sales cycles.

Consumer Product Considerations

• Develop viral or referral mechanisms.
• Create App Store optimization plan (if applicable).
• Develop influencer marketing strategy.
• Plan community building activities.
• Create social media engagement framework.
• Develop content creator partnerships.
• Plan for consumer PR and reviews.
• Create unboxing or first-use experience (physical products).
• Develop consumer support scaling plan.
• Create consumer privacy and data use documentation.

SaaS-Specific Considerations

• Create onboarding workflow and emails.
• Develop free trial conversion strategy.
• Create usage-based upgrade path.
• Develop customer health scoring system.
• Plan feature adoption campaigns.
• Create customer journey mapping.
• Develop self-service knowledge base.
• Create customer community plan.
• Develop product-led growth strategy.
• Plan ongoing engagement communications.

Hardware Product Considerations

• Develop supply chain and inventory plan.
• Create distribution strategy.
• Develop packaging design and production.
• Plan for returns and warranties.
• Create fulfillment processes.
• Develop user manual and setup guides.
• Create physical retailer relationships (if applicable).
• Develop technical support processes.
• Create shipping and logistics plan.
• Plan for firmware updates and maintenance.

Launch Team and Resources

Core Launch Team Roles

• Executive Sponsor: ____________________
• Launch Owner: ____________________
• Product Manager: ____________________
• Product Marketing Manager: ____________________
• Marketing Lead: ____________________
• Sales Enablement Lead: ____________________
• PR/Communications Lead: ____________________
• Customer Success Lead: ____________________
• Technical Lead: ____________________
• Support Lead: ____________________

Extended Team

• Content Creator(s): ____________________
• Digital Marketing Specialist: ____________________
• Design/Creative Lead: ____________________
• Web Developer: ____________________
• Analytics Specialist: ____________________
• Legal/Compliance: ____________________
• Finance Representative: ____________________
• Channel/Partner Manager: ____________________
• Events Coordinator: ____________________
• External Agencies: ____________________

Launch Budget Allocation

• Marketing budget: $____________________
• Sales enablement budget: $____________________
• PR/Communications budget: $____________________
• Events budget: $____________________
• Content development budget: $____________________
• Technical resources budget: $____________________
• Training budget: $____________________
• Customer success budget: $____________________
• Analytics and measurement budget: $____________________
• Contingency budget: $____________________

Launch Success Measurement

Key Performance Indicators

• Revenue target: ____________________
• New customer target: ____________________
• Lead generation goal: ____________________
• Conversion rate goal: ____________________
• Website traffic target: ____________________
• Social engagement goal: ____________________
• Media coverage target: ____________________
• Product adoption metric: ____________________
• Customer satisfaction goal: ____________________
• Other KPIs: ____________________