A new product launch isn't just a one-day event. It's an ongoing process for the teams behind the scenes.  You can typically break it down into three main stages: 

1. Pre-launch: This is when you do your homework, build your plan, and start getting people excited about the product. This phase might last a week or even months, depending on the market or how complex your product is. During this time, you'll finalize product details, prepare marketing materials, train teams, and build anticipation among your target audience. 

2. Launch: This is the day (or week) you officially introduce your product to the world. It's when your preparation pays off, your marketing campaigns go live, your sales team starts actively selling, and customers can finally get their hands on what you've built.

3. Post-launch: At this point, you'll track activity after the launch, gather feedback, and make quick adjustments. This phase is often overlooked but can support long-term success. You'll closely monitor metrics, address issues, and refine your approach based on real-world use.

Product teams nail their launches because they plan ahead but stay flexible, get everyone working toward the same goals, and pivot quickly when something unexpected pops up.

Timing matters when launching a product. Here's what to think about when picking your launch date: 

• Is your market ready for what you're offering?

• Is your product ready to deliver on its promises?

• What are your competitors up to right now?

• Are there certain times of year that make more sense in your industry?

You want to launch when people are paying attention and ready to buy. Avoid major holidays unless they're relevant to your product, and consider whether there are industry events you could align with to increase your visibility.

A successful product launch is never an accident. It takes coordinating many moving pieces and ensuring everyone knows their roles. Having a solid product launch plan helps you prepare for what you expect and the surprises that inevitably pop up. 

Check out our product launch checklist to ensure you don't forget anything important, or simply follow these steps to create a successful product launch:

Set clear goals

Figure out what success looks like. Ask yourself: 

• How many sales or new customers do you want in the first month?

• What kind of media coverage are you aiming for? 

• How many people do you want to try your product?

Create a detailed timeline with milestones so everyone knows what needs to happen and when. A well-thought-out product launch timeline keeps teams aligned and helps you spot potential problems before they derail your plans. 

Use a product launch timeline template to simplify the planning process and keep your team on track for a successful launch.

Understand your target audience

You can't create a launch that resonates if you don't know who you're talking to. Talk to potential customers about their challenges. Watch how people behave with similar products. Build customer profiles that feel like real people, not stereotypes. Then, map out how customers will discover and start using your product.

Tools like Jira Product Discovery can help you organize all these insights in one place so they don't get lost in the shuffle or siloed in different departments.

Conduct market and competitor analysis

Looking at competitors helps you identify opportunities and avoid mistakes they have already made. Identify the trends your product fits into, examine what competitors are offering and how they promote it, understand what price points customers expect, and study which launches in your space have worked well.

These insights help you refine your approach and position your product more effectively. A a clear product development process makes everything run more smoothly as you move toward launch day.

Develop strong positioning and messaging

How you talk about your product matters as much as what it does. Create a simple explanation of why your product matters and develop a compelling value proposition and messaging that speaks directly to each type of customer. Tell a story showing why you're different, and ensure everyone on your team describes the product consistently.

Your positioning should connect your product features to real problems people face, making them feel like your solution is what they've been looking for, even if they didn't realize they were looking for it.

Build a marketing plan

Good marketing builds momentum before, during, and after your launch. Before launch, create teasers, get early testimonials, and build a waitlist of interested prospects. On launch day, make noise across all your channels at once for maximum impact. After launch, continue the conversation with success stories and educational content that helps customers get more value.

Mix things up with content, social media, email, PR outreach, and partnerships to reach people wherever they spend their time online and offline.

Align sales and support teams

When your sales and support teams are on the same page, customers get a seamless experience throughout their journey. Create simple training materials that highlight what matters most about your product. Give sales teams ready answers for common questions and objections they'll face. Ensure smooth handoffs between teams and keep everyone updated as messaging evolves based on customer feedback.

This alignment is critical for a good customer experience from the first touch to the product release and beyond.

Test and refine before launch

Getting feedback early on saves you from bigger problems later. Test the user experience to find any frustrating spots before they affect paying customers. Consider a small launch in one market before going wide, and try different versions of marketing materials to see what converts better.

Many successful products start as minimum viable products and improve as real people provide feedback on what matters to them.

Launch your product

When launch day comes, it's all about coordinated execution. Roll out your plan with careful timing across channels. Host product launch events (virtual or in-person) to generate excitement among customers and media. Talk directly with customers through demos and Q&A sessions to address their questions in real time. Get industry influencers to spread the word to their audiences.

If you've done the pre-work right, your launch should be the natural next step in a conversation you've already started with your market.

Monitor performance

Once you're live, pay close attention to how things are unfolding. Check your numbers against your goals daily to catch any issues early. Talk to customers and read their feedback everywhere it appears. Keep an eye on social media and review site mentions for unfiltered opinions. Fix issues quickly to maintain momentum and show customers your responsiveness to their needs.

Smart teams use this data to fine-tune and improve their product strategy over time.

Need a little inspiration to bring your strategies to life? Here are different approaches that can deliver impressive results. Each showcases a different aspect of what makes a launch successful, giving you ideas you can adapt for your own product.

Tech hardware company

Imagine a smart home company that builds excitement by showing different features over several months. They could let early fans try the product first, potentially getting mentions in hundreds of media outlets, which can help them meet or exceed sales targets. 

Sometimes, slowly revealing your product can create more buzz than a single large product launch.

B2B software platform

Consider an enterprise software company that spends several months discussing the most significant problems in the industry before revealing its solution. Establishing itself as an expert first, it might then develop a waitlist of interested prospects before it even launches the product. 

You can learn from this that showing you understand the problem deeply before offering a solution builds trust, even if you don't yet have a product to share.

Consumer app

A productivity app might involve existing users in the launch process. By having users test features, share stories, and become ambassadors, these fans could share personal experiences across social media when launch day arrives, helping the app gain widespread attention. 

Your existing customers can be your best launch partners if you give them the right tools and motivation.

Bringing a product to market means tracking countless details. Jira Product Discovery helps teams prioritize ideas, track progress, and align stakeholders throughout the launch process. Its list views give everyone visibility into launch activities, while custom fields show which teams have checked and approved different aspects of the launch. Seamless Jira integration connects high-level launch goals directly to the epics and issues your team tracks daily, creating a continuous flow from planning to execution.

Teams can use Jira's product development software to track all the moving parts of a launch with workflows that match how your team works, real-time dashboards, and automated notifications for important updates.

Successful teams leverage product roadmaps for big-picture visibility and apply product prioritization frameworks to focus on what matters most. 

Ready to make your next launch more organized? Get Jira Product Discovery free