Product release versus product launch: tips to improve your product release strategy

Learn more about the difference and how to make the marketplace impact you’re hoping for.

Understanding the difference between a product release and a product launch is crucial for successful go-to-market strategies. A product release represents the technical completion and availability of your product, while a product launch encompasses the marketing and promotional activities surrounding that product release.

Many organizations confuse product release with product launch, treating them as interchangeable terms. However, effective product release management requires recognizing that a product release is just one component of a comprehensive launch strategy. This guide explores the product release process, product release planning, and how to coordinate your product release with launch activities for maximum market impact.

Product release versus product launch: understanding the difference

Some companies mistakenly equate production readiness with launch readiness. However, while a sound product strategy covers both elements, there are striking differences between a product release vs product launch:

Product release in detail

A product release marks the moment when your product becomes technically ready for market distribution. Effective product release management involves multiple stages:

• Product release planning: Coordinating development teams, timelines, and technical requirements
• Product release execution: Final testing, bug fixes, and deployment preparation
• Product release communication: Internal announcements and partner notifications
• Product release documentation: Technical specifications and user guides

The product release process requires meticulous attention to detail. Without proper product release planning, even the best products can fail to reach their potential. A well-executed product release creates the foundation for successful market introduction.

Read about how companies are utilizing AI to update and manage product content at scale.

Product launch: Your organization introduces a new product to the market, focusing on product marketing and generating buzz. What does “launch” mean? Think of your launch plan as a fanfare – your new product’s moment in the spotlight. A launch requires strategic product marketing, focusing on informing the media and public about the product’s new features. Yes, it depends on the product being ready for release, but it’s also when other core business operations get involved, particularly sales, marketing, and legal teams. While a product release is a step forward, product marketing efforts to launch a product ensure it captures market interest.

Read more about the importance of product data management throughout your product lifecycle.

When does a release become a launch?

Understanding the distinction between a product release and a product launch is essential, but knowing when a release becomes a launch is equally crucial. Consider the following key factors when transitioning from a release to a launch:

• Market Readiness: A product release indicates technical completion and readiness for the market or usage by partners and customers.
• Core Business Operations: A launch incorporates product marketing strategies involving sales, media, marketing, and legal teams to promote your product.
• Communication and Visibility: A strategic launch plan ensures your product receives the attention it deserves, capturing the interest of your target audience. An effective launch increases visibility through various media channels, engaging the market with your brand.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Successful transitions from release to launch require close collaboration between product development, marketing, sales, and customer support teams.
• Launch Goals and Strategy: A launch sets specific goals to maximize customer adoption, accelerate revenue growth, introduce new features, and deliver an exceptional customer experience.
• Continuous Improvement: Evaluating the impact of the release and gathering feedback helps refine future releases and improve the overall product lifecycle.

By recognizing these factors and planning accordingly, you can ensure a successful product introduction that resonates with customers and achieves your desired marketplace impact. Effective cross-team collaboration, strategic communication, and a focus on specific goals are the pillars of a well-executed launch.

Product release checklist: roles & tasks

Typically, the Product Manager is responsible for the entire product release. They’ve mapped out the requirements, agreed on the Epics, and often identified the BETA test customers. Just as each of the teams involved in the product development has its own checklist, the final checklist for release rightfully belongs to the Product Manager.

Here are some of the activities that fall under a typical product release:

• Define features and document requirements: Ensure clear documentation for the engineering team.
• UI/UX design: Provide designers with specifications, UX research, and wireframes.
• Engineering: Build the fundamental capabilities to bring the product to life.
• QA and operations: Test the new product in a real-world environment. Fix any issues. Rinse and repeat until the product is ready to roll out!
• Internal training: Train internal teams on product usage, support, and troubleshooting to prepare for the release.

Once you have a live, stable, and relatively bug-free product, it’s time to execute your actual product launch based on the strategic planning started earlier in the product launch process.   

Product launch: what you need for success

Now it’s time to launch. You worked hard to perfect your product release. Partners and customers are going to love it. (And if they don’t, you’re about to find out.) 

“According to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, there are over 30,000 new products introduced every year, and 95 percent fail.”
– Inc.com

How can you make sure that your product will be one of those 5% that succeeds? It boils down to closing the release-launch gap. To ensure a quick, seamless transition from product release to product launch, involving development and product marketing teams is key to success. Think product development, marketing, and sales. And don’t forget your customer support organization! Working together, you have a far better chance for a successful product launch, especially when you’ve crafted a launch plan with the end goal and launch date in mind. Teams that do effective planning are more likely to meet their go-live date, accelerate adoption, and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

To create an effective launch plan, make sure it includes:

• A description of the features that will enhance functionality and improve customer experience
• Planned deliverables (and due dates) from sales, marketing, and other teams
• Outline of dependencies between phases (product releases and launch) and groups (particularly product development, customer support, sales, and marketing) 
• Milestones and associated dates that influence the actual launch. Remember to add your Issue and Risk logs to monitor dependencies or hidden surprises

Product launch checklist: roles & tasks

If you want your product launch to make the impact you’re hoping for, make sure you spend time clarifying and reviewing the following key deliverables:

• Product documentation: Complete your documentation for the launch so your partners and customers can get familiar with what’s new and review relevant product information.
• Legal considerations: Make sure your legal team creates an appropriate legal agreement, where needed, that outlines your promises and liabilities to the partners and customers.
• Product release training: Train your sales reps, customer support teams, and partner network on the product’s key features and benefits.
• Assess the launch delivery plan: Review your product delivery methods. How do your customers want to buy products like yours? Is your partner network fully up to speed? Are you engaging your target market effectively? Do you have a plan for tracking and reviewing success metrics?
• Plan feedback collection: Decide what methods, types of feedback, and channels you’ll use.
• Set up pricing strategy: Agree on the product pricing structure in advance. Include pricing in your sales and partner enablement training.
• Marketing: Plan your promotion strategies for existing customers and prospects! Decide on your communication channels, create new marketing content, and add relevant articles to your knowledge base to get the word out.

After you launch, you also need to follow up on your release. Consider how this product release stacks up against existing releases and how it impacted your bottom line, marketing strategy, customers, teams, and organization. This will help you refine future product releases, including tracking new features to gain insights into customer usage.

Of course, this is just the start. Any new product launch requires an adjustment to how you manage your product catalog. Read our guide on how to utilize PIM to synchronize your product catalog data across all channels while minimizing errors and inaccuracies.

Plan your product release for a successful product launch

There are many stages to a successful product launch, with team involvement across your company. While a product release is a critical milestone, a release without a strategic launch won’t resonate with your customers. Your successful product launch requires meticulous planning, cross-team collaboration and communication, and a coordinated delivery plan.

For an e-commerce look at product release and launch, find out how a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution and a Product Information Management (PIM) solution are complementary when it comes to launching products for your omnichannel landscape. The inriver PIM solution helps syndicate product information, making things simple regarding launch time.

Product release vs product launch: frequently asked questions