Launch2 min read
Your first month after launch.
What to watch, what to fix first and what to ignore for now.
Launch is when the useful information starts
Until now, everything was a guess. The first month is when you find out which guesses were right. It's tempting to start building the next big feature straight away. Don't, yet.
Watch what people do
Set up simple tracking before launch so you can see:
- How many people sign up, and how many finish signing up
- How many complete the main thing your product is for
- Where people stop or leave
- How many come back after the first day and the first week
People coming back matters more than people signing up.
Talk to your first users yourself
Call them. Not a survey, a call. Ask what they were trying to do, what confused them and what almost made them give up. Early users are usually happy to talk, and you won't get this kind of honesty once you have thousands.
Fix in this order
- Anything that loses data, money or trust. Fix it the same day.
- Anything that stops people finishing the main task.
- Things that confuse people, even if they get through in the end.
- Requests for new features.
Fix what frustrates people first, then add features based on what you learned.
What to ignore for now
Big redesigns. Performance tuning for traffic you don't have. Features one user asked for loudly. Comparing yourself to competitors who've been around for years.
Write these down, so they aren't lost, and come back to them once the basics are steady.
Keep releases small
Small, frequent updates are easier to test and easier to undo if something breaks. One big release at the end of the month is how new bugs get past everyone.