Product Launch Checklist for eCommerce & Crowdfunding (2026)

Product Launch Checklist for eCommerce & Crowdfunding (2026)

Generic launch checklists list 200 items in alphabetical order and tell you nothing about which ones decide the launch. This one is different. The order matters: items earlier in the list are the ones that, when skipped, kill more launches than the rest combined.

It is calibrated on 46 campaigns we have run as a pre-launch agency for eCommerce and crowdfunding founders, totaling $1.2M+ in committed revenue.

How to use this checklist

Three phases, 30 days each. Do not parallelize phases — the outputs of phase 1 are inputs to phase 2. Founders who try to compress 90 days into 30 typically launch with no audience, blame the platform, and quit physical products.

Phase 1 — Validate (days 1–30)

The phase that decides the launch. Skip these and the rest does not matter.

• One sentence wedge: which buyer, which use case, which substitute they leave for you


• Five interviews with target buyers about how they currently solve the problem


• Pricing hypothesis with a 30% margin floor on landed cost-of-goods


• Competitive teardown: 5 adjacent products on Kickstarter, Gamefound, Amazon, DTC


• Lead magnet decision: sample, deposit page, discount tier, or guide


• Domain + brand basics (you can iterate the brand; you cannot iterate the domain mid-campaign)


• Landing page wireframe with one CTA, not three


• Three message angles written for paid testing


• MailerLite or Klaviyo account set up with welcome flow


• Meta Pixel + GA4 + UTM convention agreed in writing


• $1,500–$3,000 ad-test budget reserved for weeks 3–4


• Founder calendar block: 2 hours/day for the next 60 days, non-negotiable

If items 1–6 are not done by day 14, stop and finish them before moving on.

Phase 2 — Build (days 31–60)

Working funnel that pulls signal.

• Landing page live with deposit or waitlist mechanic


• Privacy policy, terms, refund policy linked in footer


• Three Meta ad variants (image, UGC-style video, carousel) — same hook, different formats


• TikTok Spark Ads tested if your buyer is under 35


• Pinterest tested if your buyer is over 30 and product is visual


• Google Search tested only if intent keywords already exist


• Daily ad spend live for 14 days minimum (less is not enough signal)


• Email sequence drafted: welcome, story, social proof, scarcity, launch announce


• UGC creator outreach — 5 micro-creators in your niche


• Founder-led video #1 published (behind-the-scenes, not promo)


• CPL tracked daily; red line at 2× target CPL kills the variant


• Landing-page conversion rate above 8% on paid traffic before scaling spend


• Lead-quality spot check: 10 leads emailed manually, response rate above 30%


• Production timeline locked with the factory; deposit paid only after MVA hits 60% of target size


• Customer support address live and monitored


• Inventory plan documented: minimum order, lead time, shipping cost per unit


• Launch-day platform decision finalized: Kickstarter, Gamefound, Indiegogo, or Shopify pre-order


• If crowdfunding: campaign page draft started, copy and gallery


• Backer-only rewards tier designed (early bird, retail, super-backer)


• Shipping calculator built or imported


• Tax and customs basics for top three destination countries

If CPL is still 2× target by day 60, the message is wrong, not the spend. Go back to phase 1.

Phase 3 — Launch (days 61–90)

Activation, not preparation. If you are still preparing in phase 3, the launch is going to underperform.

• T-14 days: founder Loom video #2 to MVA — what is shipping, what is at stake


• T-10 days: scarcity tier announced (early bird capped, deadline visible)


• T-7 days: warm-up email + behind-the-scenes content drop


• T-3 days: countdown email + retargeting layer turned on


• T-1 day: final reminder email + Stories/Reels go live


• Day 0 — 9am: wave 1 email to MVA hot segment


• Day 0 — 1pm: wave 2 to non-openers (different subject line)


• Day 0 — 5pm: wave 3 with morning buyers' social proof


• Day 0: live ad spend doubled, no creative changes for first 48h


• Day 1: wave 4 with funding velocity update (if crowdfunding)


• Day 2–7: daily founder updates (video preferred, text minimum)


• Daily ROAS review; pause variants below 1.5× by day 3


• Lookalikes from day-one buyers turned on day 5


• Influencer outreach activated for week two — not week one (week one belongs to the MVA)


• Customer support inbox checked twice daily; sub-12-hour response


• If crowdfunding: stretch goals announced once 80% funded


• If DTC: Late Pledge / Late Bird / pre-order extension page ready by day 14


• Post-launch debrief documented at day 30 with metrics, mistakes and channel-by-channel ROAS


• Retention loop or repeat-buyer flow shipped before day 60 post-launch

What kills launches that are not on this list

• Hiring a "Kickstarter agency" with no MVA logic at week 4 (too late to build an audience)


• Skipping pricing validation and locking margins after deposits are taken


• Running cold conversion ads with no email warmup


• Treating the campaign page as the marketing — it is not, the audience is

Free 30-minute pressure test

If you want this checklist applied to your specific product, book a free strategy call. Or read the full eCommerce pre-launch agency breakdown for how we run it as a 90-day engagement.