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Product launch marketing checklist: claims to clear before go-live
A product launch marketing checklist for go-live week: log every public claim, match it to evidence, check reviews and clear US and Canadian rules.
What to take away
- Every public claim gets a row in a claim register before it publishes.
- A row needs a source, a date, its limits and a named signer.
- Narrow or cut a claim the evidence does not carry.
- Check reviews and customer names against the FTC guidance on reviews.
- Clear US and Canadian rules separately, because one does not stand in for the other.
- Test each promise on a failure path, not only on a clean purchase.
List every promise the launch makes
Start with a claim register: one row for every promise a launch asset makes. Most launch checklists fail because they list activities instead of decisions, and a public claim is a decision someone has to defend.
Walk each asset the buyer will meet: the landing page, the ad, the sales deck, the launch email and the press note. Copy every objective promise into the register word for word, so the reviewer judges the text that will actually publish.
| Claim type | Where it appears | Evidence to attach | Who signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome promise | Landing page, ad | Source, method, date, limits | Marketing lead |
| Comparison with a rival | Sales deck, comparison page | The basis of the comparison and the date it was checked | Marketing lead |
| Customer name or quote | Case study, homepage | How the customer came to be named or quoted | Launch owner |
| Review or rating | Product page | How the feedback was collected and from whom | Marketing lead |
| Delivery or support promise | Checkout, onboarding email | Support load, fulfillment and recovery path | Operations lead |
The register is the claim evidence field of the launch packet: source, method, date and limits, signed by the marketing lead. Blank fields block the release, so a claim with no evidence holds back the asset that carries it.
Launch decision packet fields
- Scopeaudience, problem, promise, exclusions
- Claim evidencesource, method, date, limits
- Capacitysupport load, fulfillment, recovery path
- Measureadoption definition, cost, quality, stop rule
Match each row to a rule
Judge every row against the exact promise and the audience in scope. The FTC's advertising substantiation policy says advertisers and ad agencies need a reasonable basis for advertising claims before they are disseminated.
Launch pressure pushes teams to write the biggest promise the product might eventually keep. When the evidence falls short, narrow the claim or cut it. A promise the product may keep later belongs in the roadmap, not on the landing page.
Check reviews before you quote anyone
Reviews get their own pass, because a quote or a rating reads as proof. The FTC guidance for marketers using reviews covers fake feedback, selective requests, conditioned incentives, hidden relationships and paid ranking. Run each of those checks before you name a customer or quote a comparison.
- No feedback was written or bought by the team and presented as a customer's
- Requests for reviews went to buyers generally, not only to the pleased ones
- No reward was tied to a positive review
- Every relationship between reviewer and company is disclosed
- No ranking position was paid for without saying so
For US consumer products, who regulates the launch lists the agencies to check beyond the FTC.
Clear Canada separately
Canada has its own test. Read the Competition Act's deceptive marketing provisions with the Competition Bureau, and confirm the current position with counsel rather than treating a US rule as universal.
The Bureau's deceptive marketing practices page covers the types of misleading claims under the act. Keep the PIPEDA and CASL checks and what to file in the same packet as the register, so a Canadian asset never ships on a US sign-off.
Test each promise on a failure path
A claim holds only if the product behaves that way when something goes wrong. Before you scale spend, walk the launch twice: once through a clean purchase and onboarding, once through a refund, a failed integration or a delivery miss.
Run normal and failure paths
- Pick a defined population and comparison basis
- Watch one normal path end to end
- Watch one failure path end to end
- Preserve claims, inputs, versions, decisions
- Record uncertainties and rejected explanations
- Set the stop rule and next review date
Each failure you hit either bears out a row in the register or breaks it. If a promise of quick onboarding fails on the refund path, narrow the promise or fix the path, and name an owner for the repair. A pre-launch test gives the walk a defined audience.
The go-live morning list
Run this list on the morning of release. One unticked box holds back the asset it belongs to, not the whole launch.
- Every objective claim on every asset appears in the register
- Each row has a source, a date, its limits and a signature
- Reviews and customer quotes passed the five review checks
- Canadian assets were read against the Competition Act on their own
- The failure path was walked and each failure has an owner
- The wording on each page matches the register word for word
After go-live, correct a wrong claim where it appeared and keep a dated record of the change. Watch support contacts too, because a rise there is often the first sign that a promise missed.
Common questions
Who signs a claim?
The marketing lead signs claim evidence in the launch packet. A blank signature is a blank field, and a blank field blocks the release.
Is a US rule enough for a Canadian launch?
No. The FTC policy is American. Read the Competition Act's deceptive marketing provisions with the Competition Bureau, and confirm the current position with counsel.
What if a claim has no evidence yet?
Narrow it to what the evidence supports, or hold it back until the source record exists. The register shows which rows are still blank.
Does a customer quote count as evidence?
Only for what the customer actually said, and only after it passes the review checks. It does not replace the source record behind an objective claim.
