How to launch a new product in 10 steps
New product launches offer big rewards, but also carry risks. Thorough preparation maximizes your chances of success.

November 2023 | Published by Xero
Why your small business might launch a new product
Got a bright new product idea? Business is booming and you’re ready to expand? Bringing a new product to market helps you:
- Find new customers and re-engage your existing ones
- Improve people’s awareness of your brand by creating buzz
- Diversify your offerings to widen your appeal
- Stay ahead of the competition
But the stakes are high. Launching a new product can be costly – you might lose money or damage your reputation. So here’s practical advice on how to successfully hit the market.
Where to begin with a product launch
Maybe you want a soft launch involving just a few trusted people. Or maybe it’s part of your product launch plan to go full-scale with a live event, advertising campaign, and new website.
Whatever your vision, your success depends on a strong go-to-market strategy. This sets out the steps you’ll take to bring your new product to market, including your pre-launch, launch, and post-launch activities.
10 steps for launching a new product
Here are the 10 successful product launch steps for your go-to-market strategy.
Step 1: Figure out how your product fits the market
Your product must provide a compelling solution to an existing problem. This is your value proposition.
Here are two important activities to help you define your product’s unique value:
- Research your market
Who is your customer? How can you make their life better?
Your research might involve customer surveys, focus groups, and competitor analysis. Although these activities take time, they give you crucial information about how your customers think and shop.
- Identify your customers
Create consumer profiles that describe the people in each consumer group you’re selling to. Think of each profile as an individual: what’s their name and how old are they? What’s their job and where do they shop? Think about what it is about your product that they’ll value enough to buy it.
Here’s more on defining buyer personas from the Digital Marketing Institute.
Use a SWOT analysis to quantify your risks
Think about the risks of this business venture – and how you can lower these.
A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool you can use to judge four significant factors of your product idea:
Strengths: what are your advantages? What are the unique features of your product that give you an edge? What resources do you have?
Weaknesses: what do you lack in your team and resources?
Opportunities: who (which customers) might value your new product? What do you stand to gain from the launch?
Threats: what might go wrong? How can you prepare for problems? Who are your competitors?
You might set out your risks in a risk register – a tool to highlight and organise risks, and lay out ways to deal with them. Here’s more info from Asana.
Step 3: Develop and test your product
Is your product market-ready? Find out by scrutinising its design through four product development stages.
Set a budget
How much time and money will it take to develop your product? How many employees will be involved? List any costs and factor them into your business plan.
Nail your product design
At the prototyping stage, apply your market and competitor research to your new product. Your prototype could be a drawing, model, or minimum variable product (MVP) – a basic version of your product.
Test your product
Don’t use your customers as product testers – make sure it stands up to use (and misuse), preferably by involving people who won’t just tell you what you want to hear.
Also, test the other things needed to create and launch your new product, such as machines, materials, and packaging.
Refine your product
Now’s your last chance to respond to any feedback, make changes, and to do more testing if you need to.
Step 4: Craft your product launch strategy
You need to know when and how you’re promoting your new product – and how you’ll judge your launch’s success.
Set a launch date and lead-up timings
Think about the best time of year to launch – is your product a seasonal one? When are your customers most likely to be interested?
But most importantly, give yourself enough time before the launch date to build momentum and marketing buzz.
Decide on a soft launch vs hard launch
The right type of launch depends on your budget, business goals, market conditions, and how ready your product is.
- A soft product launch lets you test the market. It’s a limited release so you can gather feedback and adjust your product before trying again.
- A hard product launch is a full release and promotion to all your audience at once. A bigger risk, but potentially much bigger rewards.
Step 5: Set up your budget and your finances
Once your budget’s in place, you’re less likely to overspend and more able to manage unexpected launch costs.
Create your budget
Budget for the costs of:
- Buying, making, or providing the new product marketing and advertising
- Ongoing research and development
- Commerce and sales, like retail partnerships or processing fees for online payments
- Contingencies for surprises, like production cost hikes or having to buy more stock if sales go well
Set sales goals and KPIs
How will you know if your launch is a success? Set clear goals and measures to track your product's performance, like KPIs. Check out our business KPI examples.
Set your pricing strategy
Be realistic about your pricing. Ultimately, your product's revenue should exceed its production costs – that’s your profit margin. It’s not always that simple, of course: all kinds of unexpected things can affect a product's costs – and therefore your revenue.
Pricing is always a delicate balance between profit and customer loyalty. Here are some well-known pricing approaches to go with at launch:
- Penetration pricing – setting prices low for launch then raising later
- Price skimming – setting prices high for launch then dropping later
- Sweetener deals – introductory specials
Calculate your BEP and ROI
Here are two more calculations you can use to set your goals and strategy.
- Your BEP (break-even point) is when your total income equals your total revenue. Reach this point and your business has recouped its spending. Here's more on BEPs.
- Your ROI (return on investment) measures how well your business uses resources to generate revenue. It’s calculated by dividing product-generated revenue by its total cost. Here's more on ROI.
Step 6: Plan your marketing strategy
Your marketing campaign should create and share consistent, compelling messages across different media and platforms – all created with your customers in mind.
Your value proposition is your foundation
Your product’s value proposition forms the cornerstone of your marketing campaigns. It consists of an impactful headline and a brief statement (2–3 sentences) of your product’s benefits for the customer.
Your marketing channels are powerful tools
Your main launch tools for spreading the news of your new product are probably your website and your email lists. Create a new product page or use promotional features on your existing site to improve visibility. Use your email lists for campaigns, giveaways, exclusives, or member deals.
You can do more on social media to encourage sharing:
- Engage influencers for reviews, and pitch to publications
- Make the most of any social media ads by timing them carefully and targeting the right customers – perhaps by offering incentives like introductory discounts, free delivery, or sign-up rewards
Consider traditional marketing methods
In addition to digital marketing campaigns, you can also use traditional marketing strategies, like print ads or direct mail, depending on your budget and if you’re aiming to reach a broader audience.
A good launch is an organised launch
Lay out the content you’re publishing – emails, articles, social media messages, and so on – and when. Don’t forget your launch announcement: the moment you tell the world about your exciting new product.
Step 6: Plan your marketing strategy
Your marketing campaign should create and share consistent, compelling messages across different media and platforms – all created with your customers in mind.
Your value proposition is your foundation
Your product’s value proposition forms the cornerstone of your marketing campaigns. It consists of an impactful headline and a brief statement (2–3 sentences) of your product’s benefits for the customer.
Your marketing channels are powerful tools
Your main launch tools for spreading the news of your new product are probably your website and your email lists. Create a new product page or use promotional features on your existing site to improve visibility. Use your email lists for campaigns, giveaways, exclusives, or member deals.
You can do more on social media to encourage sharing:
- Engage influencers for reviews, and pitch to publications
- Make the most of any social media ads by timing them carefully and targeting the right customers – perhaps by offering incentives like introductory discounts, free delivery, or sign-up rewards
Consider traditional marketing methods
In addition to digital marketing campaigns, you can also use traditional marketing strategies, like print ads or direct mail, depending on your budget and if you’re aiming to reach a broader audience.
A good launch is an organised launch
Lay out the content you’re publishing – emails, articles, social media messages, and so on – and when. Don’t forget your launch announcement: the moment you tell the world about your exciting new product.
Step 7: Choose the right distribution channels
How will your customers find and buy your product?
A distribution channel is a group of people and businesses who move a product from a manufacturer to a customer.
Here are some ways to sell your product:
- Traditional retail: in physical shops and on market stalls
- Wholesale: in large quantities at low prices
- Direct sales: straight to the customer – such as door-to-door
- Subscription services: selling a product or service on a recurring basis
The right distribution channels depend on your product type and the market. For example, direct sales are great for luxury goods as customers can see and touch them. Cleaning supplies might call for wholesale selling, however.
Step 8: Prepare your team and partners
Depending on your business and product, you might need to train your team. It’s also a good idea to hold a pre-launch meeting to clarify roles and responsibilities:
- Your production and distribution team needs to know timeframes and resourcing.
- Your marketing team needs to understand the key promotional activities and when to publish content.
- Your sales team needs to know all about the product’s features and your pricing strategy.
- Your customer service teams need to know the product’s specifications, and other things people might not understand, so they can answer customer questions.
Step 9: Prepare to launch
Now’s the time for the last-minute jobs:
- Have your product launch plan ready to share with your team and stakeholders, including a product launch checklist
- Set up tracking and analytics on your website and email lists so you can monitor traffic and engagement
Prepare to collect feedback from your customers, and decide how and where to organise it
Step 10: Execute and evaluate your launch
You’re launched! Let’s see how your new product introduction went.
Look at the data
Take a deep breath. Then look at your metrics to see what went well, what didn’t, and what you could do differently next time.
Your KPIs will tell you how successful you were in areas like your sales volumes or website conversion rates.
Make data-driven adjustments if necessary
If you’re not selling out in week 1, be patient. Any tweaks you make to your sales or marketing strategy should be based on insights backed by data.
Protect your intellectual property
Think about whether you need to protect your product or idea through intellectual property (IP) or trademarks. If you’re onto a great thing, you might want to protect that asset.
Lessons from your launch
There’s no such thing as a perfect product launch, but you can learn so much about both your product and your market. Take these lessons and apply them to your next launch, and your business strategy in general.
Support your product launches with Xero
Xero accounting software accelerates your behind-the-scenes work to launch your latest product. All your numbers are stored in one central place, ready for you to check your stock levels, manage your cash flow, or gain in-depth insights from a range of reports. Even better: access Xero on the move to see your numbers available at a glance.
Disclaimer
Xero does not provide accounting, tax, business or legal advice. This guide has been provided for information purposes only. You should consult your own professional advisors for advice directly relating to your business or before taking action in relation to any of the content provided.
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