AMA: Salesloft Director of Product Marketing, Holly Xiao on Product Launches

This will require a huge amount of cross-functional buy-in and support. Change management is hard, but it can be done. For me, it’s important to start with the why and overcommunicating to help teams understand the reasoning and how it’ll benefit them. Here’s how I’d approach the process: Gather feedback from customers and internal teams: collect feedback from customers through surveys, interviews, and support interactions to understand how they perceive and use the product. At the same time, en ...Read More

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to introducing new features. The most effective strategy depends on the nature of the feature and how it integrates with the rest of your product. That said, I’ve found that a combination of four tactics typically works well: In-App Announcements: This is a no-brainer. These ensure that users are immediately aware of new features the next time they log in. Pop-ups or banners can highlight key benefits and encourage users to explore the update. However, it ...Read More

When I reflect on my most successful launches, a few key elements stand out: Internal activation: This often gets overlooked because we tend to focus on the external splash. However, internal activation is SO crucial. This internal momentum builds excitement and ownership, fosters cross-functional collaboration, and addresses potential issues early, amplifying the impact of your external marketing efforts. When your internal teams understand the new product's value and are equipped with the righ ...Read More

I’ll need more context to give you a better answer, but the launch seems to only target existing customers. Also, I’m assuming that you’re starting small with the rollout to see if there are any critical issues without impacting a large portion of your customer base. With those assumptions in mind, I’d start by setting clear expectations and goals with your leadership team. This would include answering questions like: How are we selecting the initial users? What are the qualifications?  How are ...Read More

This is tough, but it really starts with earning the trust and respect of your key stakeholders. Demonstrate your team's value and be a thought leader in those conversations to earn a seat at the table. Here are some tactical things you can do to show you’re strategic and future-looking:  Deep market insights: Invest in comprehensive market research to understand industry trends, competitive landscape, and customer needs. Use these insights to inform not just product launches, but also broader c ...Read More

Each organization thinks about this differently, and both approaches have pros and cons. Three things to think about here: market impact, efficiency/scalability, and customer experience.  Typically, I advocate for monthly releases (unless you’re an early-stage startup). Bundling releases together can help drive: Market impact: Larger, more significant launches can create more buzz and media coverage, generating greater market awareness and excitement. Efficiency: Coordinating marketing, sales, a ...Read More

This depends on your launch goals and the target audience.  Start by understanding your target audience. Analyze their behavior and content preferences with surveys, social media insights, and web analytics. Find out how they learn about similar products to yours. Do you do it through forums, tradeshows, networking events, etc? Next, define your launch goals. If your goal is to create widespread awareness, broad-reaching channels like social media ads, PR, and influencer marketing might be effec ...Read More

Teasers have worked really well for me. Start running teasers on social, emails, and ads about one to three months before the launch to build anticipation. Some organizations aren't comfortable sharing sneak peaks, so figure out how much your leadership is comfortable sharing — and at what altitude. At Drift, we produced high-quality, short, hype videos as the core assets for the teasers.  Post-launch day, consider following up with a larger "reveal" push to maintain momentum. The key is to crea ...Read More

Key considerations include tracking important metrics, maintaining regular communication with relevant teams, and optimizing for adoption/impact.  Market response: Evaluate the market’s response to the launch. Monitor social media, press coverage, and industry reviews to gauge overall sentiment and public perception. If it’s negative, understand why — and create a GTM strategy to change that perception.  Customer feedback: Collect and analyze feedback from customers to understand their experienc ...Read More

This really depends on the main objectives of the launch. But here are some activities to consider: Launch retro: These are crucial because they provide an opportunity to reflect on the entire launch process, identifying what went well and what could be improved. This will help the launch teams learn from the experiences, fostering continuous improvement and ensuring that future launches are even more successful and efficient. Performance monitoring and analysis: Track key usage metrics such as ...Read More

This is such a good question. Product readiness is a critical factor that significantly affects the success of a product launch. But it’s a multi-faceted aspect that means different things to different people. On top of that, every company has a different tolerance level for what they’re willing to go to market with. Some companies launch products that they haven't even started building yet (and might never build), while others only launch GA products. I personally believe that there’s a happy m ...Read More

I don’t think product launches should be directly tied to revenue targets, especially if the product doesn’t have its own SKU. Product launches are all about making a big splash with something new. They focus on introducing a new product or a significant update to the market. And the primary goals for launches are immediate market penetration, driving adoption, and generating sales momentum (e.g pipeline).  If your organization is a big proponent of attaching revenue targets to launches, I would ...Read More

Product marketing should be involved in the launch process as early as possible. In an ideal world, we’re involved before product development even starts to align on the perception the business wants to drive in the market and ensure that there’s a compelling, differentiated narrative. This also gives you the opportunity to do market research, customer interviews, and competitive analysis to help shape the product’s features/scope and positioning. However, that’s not always the case, and it real ...Read More