Product launch playbook
Coordinate the landing page, what's-new entry, changelog post, email, and social shares so they go live together
A scattered launch loses half its impact. The landing page goes live on Tuesday, the email lands Wednesday afternoon, the changelog post shows up Friday, and the what's-new entry never gets written. Customers who hear about it from one channel hit the site and find no other context.
This recipe coordinates the five surfaces so they land together — same day, same message, same call to action. The result lands cleanly across the site, the email list, and social.
What is this for?
Use this recipe for a real launch — a new product, a major feature, a renamed offering. Skip it for minor releases that belong only in the changelog.
The end state on launch day:
- A landing page at
/launch/<slug>/or/<product-slug>/with the launch story, the proof, and the call to action. - A what's-new entry on
/changelog.sgen.com(or your site's What's New panel) with a card linking to the landing page. - A changelog post that names what shipped and what changed.
- A launch email to the list, written in SGEN voice, linking to the landing page.
- Social posts for the channels the brand is active on.
Good use cases
Major feature launch. A new module, a renamed product line, a new tier. Customer-visible enough that a landing page is warranted.
Re-launch of an existing offering. A repackaged offer or a new visual identity for a current product. Same coordination, different messaging.
Public beta opening. Inviting customers off a waitlist into a feature that was private. The landing page is shorter; the email is the main lift.
What NOT to use this for
- Minor bug fixes. A changelog post is enough. No landing page, no email, no social push.
- Internal-only changes. Backend work that customers do not see does not need a launch. Document it in the internal changelog and move on.
- Pricing changes. Pricing updates have their own playbook — usually a notice email and a pricing-page update, with no landing page or social.
How this connects to other features
- Pages + SG-Builder — the landing page is a SG-Builder page. Build it from the brand's existing landing-page template, not from scratch.
- What's New — the entry on the public what's-new panel is a Blog post in the Highlights category (ID 6). The carousel auto-pulls the newest six entries.
- Changelog — the changelog post follows the changelog format: dated, sectioned by Improved / Fixed / Notes, customer-facing language only.
- Forms — the email integration uses the standard form and integration setup. The launch email is one entry in the campaign sequence.
- Custom Codes — open-graph image, schema markup, and any social meta tags ride on the landing page via Custom Codes.
Before you start
You are signed in as an Administrator. You have the launch copy approved by whoever signs off on customer-facing language. You have the launch date locked and the embargo time, if any, agreed across the team.
You have the open-graph image at 1200 × 630 px. You have a customer or partner quote if the launch needs social proof. You have the email subject line and preheader written and reviewed.
Where to find it
| Surface | Admin path | Owner on launch day |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | Sidebar → Pages → SG-Builder | Marketing |
| What's New entry | Sidebar → Blog (Highlights category) | Marketing |
| Changelog post | Sidebar → Blog (Changelog category) | Product + Marketing |
| Launch email | Sidebar → Forms → Campaign automation | Marketing |
| Social posts | External channels | Marketing |
Steps
1. Build the landing page
Navigate to Pages. Click + Add New. Title the page with the product name. Slug is short and clean — /<product-slug>/, not /launch/2026/q2/foo-launch/.
Open SG-Builder. Start from the brand's existing landing-page template. The page structure follows the brand's hero → proof → details → CTA shape — do not invent a new structure for one launch.
Required pieces:
- Hero — 8 to 12 word headline, 15 to 25 word subhead, one call to action.
- Proof — one or two specifics that back the headline claim.
- Details — what shipped, what changed, what the customer can do now.
- CTA — repeated below the details. One verb-led call to action, not three.
Save and publish. Confirm the page renders at the public URL.
2. Add the open-graph and meta tags
The landing page needs an open-graph image, an open-graph title, and an open-graph description. Without them, social shares pull whatever is on the page and the preview looks broken.
Open the page in SG-Builder → Page settings. Add:
- Open-graph title — usually
<product name> — <one-line tagline>. - Open-graph description — under 200 characters.
- Open-graph image — 1200 × 630 px, hosted on the site.
Save. Test the preview with the open-graph debugger of whichever social network you launch on first.
3. Write the changelog post
Navigate to Blog → + Add New. Set the category to Changelog. Title the post with the product name and the action — <Product name> shipped is fine.
The post body follows the changelog formula. Three sections, in order, each optional but order is fixed:
## Improved— what got better.## Fixed— what got fixed.## Notes— anything else customers should know.
Keep bullets to one or two lines each. Link to the landing page once, near the top. Save as Draft. Publish on launch day.
4. Add the what's-new entry
Navigate to Blog → + Add New. Set the category to Highlights (ID 6). The what's-new carousel on the site auto-pulls the newest six entries from this category.
Write the entry as a short card:
- Headline — same as the landing page hero, or a tighter version.
- One-line description — what shipped, in plain language.
- Link — to the landing page.
The card image uses the same 1200 × 630 open-graph asset. Set the post to Draft until launch day.
On launch day, the same panel flips to Published across all four surfaces — the visual marker that the coordinated publish landed on schedule:
5. Build the launch email
Navigate to the email provider. Create a new campaign. The launch email is short — 100 to 200 words.
Anatomy:
- Subject line — 30 to 50 characters, no hype words.
- Preheader — 60 to 90 characters, sharpens the subject without repeating it.
- Hook — first one or two sentences. Pain in operator language.
- Bridge — why this email, today.
- Receipt — one specific that backs the claim.
- CTA — verb + outcome, linking to the landing page.
Send a test to yourself and one teammate. Read it on mobile — mobile preview cuts at line 3.
6. Stage the social posts
Draft posts for each channel. Same message, different shape:
| Channel | Shape | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Four to eight sentences, one architectural specific | ~600 chars | |
| X | One to three sentences, news format | ~250 chars |
| Newsletter community | One sentence, link, one specific | ~120 chars |
Hashtags max two. Image is the same 1200 × 630 open-graph asset (or a 1080 × 1080 square for X if the open-graph crop looks off).
Schedule each post for the launch hour. If launch is morning Manila time, that is afternoon US Eastern — pick the channel that matters most and time the launch around it.
7. Coordinate the launch day publish
On launch day, do these in order in a 30-minute window:
- Publish the landing page (move from Draft to Published).
- Publish the changelog post.
- Publish the what's-new entry (the carousel updates on the next page load).
- Send the launch email.
- Post on each social channel.
- Confirm every link resolves on the live site.
The order matters because the email and the social posts link to the landing page. If those go out before the page is live, the links 404 and the launch starts on a missed step.
What success looks like
After launch day:
- The landing page resolves at the public URL with the right open-graph preview when shared.
- The what's-new carousel shows the new card as the newest of six.
- The changelog feed shows the new entry at the top.
- The launch email shows in the campaign report with delivery, open, and click counts.
- Each social post is live on its channel with the right image preview.
- Clicks from email and social land on the landing page (verify in the provider's link-click report and the site's referrer analytics).
What to do if it does not work
The open-graph preview looks broken on social. The open-graph image or title is missing or the image is the wrong size. Re-check the SG-Builder page settings, save, and use the social network's preview debugger to force a re-fetch.
The what's-new entry does not appear in the carousel. The post is not in the Highlights category (ID 6), or it is still in Draft status. Open the post and confirm both the category and the status.
The email subject line landed in spam. The sending domain is not authenticated or the subject line tripped a spam filter. Re-check the SPF / DKIM records for the sending domain. Avoid hype words (FREE, ACT NOW) and excessive punctuation.
The landing page renders but the CTA button does nothing. The CTA link is empty or points at a relative path that does not resolve. Open the SG-Builder editor and check the button component's href value.
Social posts show the wrong image preview. The platform cached an older preview from when the page was a draft. Re-share with a fresh URL parameter (?v=2) or use the platform's preview debugger to clear the cache.
Variations
Blog post as the primary launch surface. For smaller launches where a full SG-Builder landing page is not warranted, the changelog post and a longer blog post carry the announcement. The blog post covers the story and the proof; the changelog is the short-form record. The what's-new card links to the blog post instead of a dedicated landing page. Social and email still go out on launch day.
Staged launch — waitlist then general. The landing page goes live two weeks before launch with a waitlist form. Waitlist signups receive early access on a set date; the general launch follows one week later. The email cadence has an extra send: "You are in — here is your early access link." The changelog post publishes with the general launch, not the early-access date.
Partner co-launch. Two brands launching a shared feature or integration at the same time. The landing page includes both logos and links to both brand's documentation. The changelog post on each site references the integration. Email and social are coordinated across both brands — same launch day, synchronized sends to avoid one brand breaking the embargo.
Launch tied to a customer story. The launch landing page leads with a customer quote rather than a feature description. The customer's outcome is the proof; the feature is the mechanism behind it. The case study page publishes the same day as the landing page. The launch email links to both — the landing page and the case study. Social leads with the customer story, not the feature.
Anti-patterns
Publishing social before the landing page is live. The social post goes out and links 404. The most engaged readers — the ones who click within the first five minutes — hit a broken page. The landing page must be published and confirmed loading before any outbound send. The order in step 7 is not optional.
Changelog in jargon. The changelog post uses internal build terminology, version numbers, or technical system names the customer has never heard. Changelog language is customer-facing: name what changed in terms the customer experiences, not what the engineering team shipped. See product naming rules for the naming conventions.
What's-new card that does not link to the landing page. The what's-new card on the site auto-pulls from the Highlights blog category. The card's link goes wherever the blog post's URL goes — usually the blog post itself, not the landing page. Set the blog post to redirect to the landing page, or add a prominent CTA in the first paragraph of the blog post pointing to the landing page.
Launching during a campaign window. A product launch during the Black Friday window or another active campaign competes for inbox attention and site focus. Coordinate launch timing with the campaign calendar. If the launch must coincide with a campaign, the campaign email takes priority — the launch gets a separate send or a secondary position in the campaign email.
Examples
Major feature launch. New module ships. Landing page covers the feature, two customer quotes, three specifics. Changelog post lists the user-visible changes. What's-new card highlights the headline. Email subject names the feature directly. Social leads with the architectural choice that makes the feature different.
The launch surfaces after publish — all four show Published on launch day:
Public beta opening. Existing waitlist invited into private beta. Landing page is a one-pager with a signup form. Changelog entry is one line: "Public beta open." What's-new card links to the landing page. Email is short — three sentences and a CTA. Social is two posts: one on LinkedIn, one on X.
Re-launch with a new identity. Existing product renamed and re-themed. Landing page covers what changed and what stayed the same. Changelog entry calls out the rename. What's-new card uses the new name and the new visual identity. Email reassures existing customers that pricing and access are unchanged. Social leans on the visual refresh.
The launch email analytics in the provider report on the first day show delivery, open, and click counts — the baseline for measuring whether launch day communication landed:
Related recipes
- Black Friday playbook — if the launch coincides with a sale, coordinate both playbooks; the campaign page and the launch page should not compete for inbox attention on the same day
- Case study publishing workflow — a customer story on launch day is the strongest proof a launch can carry; plan the case study timeline against the launch date
- Blog content calendar — 90-day plan — the launch blog post belongs in the editorial calendar; block the slot before drafting begins
Related reading
Last updated: 2026-05-25