Product

Mastering the Post-Delivery Phase: How to Keep Your Product Thriving After Launch

Lisa

12/6/2024

What’s the most exciting part of launching a product? If you’re an entrepreneur or part of the founding team, you’d probably say it’s the launch itself. Why the launch? Because after countless hours, intense sprints, and maybe a few too many sleepless nights, you finally get to share your creation with the world. It’s thrilling, right? But what happens after the excitement fades? That’s when the real challenge begins. The post-delivery phase. It’s often more complex and unpredictable than the launch itself. You’ll get real feedback, and let’s be honest, not all of it will be positive. But don’t worry, at Good Code, we know how to handle this phase. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to make the most of it and keep your product thriving long after the big launch.

Before we dive into how to do things right, let’s imagine what could happen if you decide to skip this phase or give it too little attention. You risk losing more than just time - you can lose your customers’ trust. After your product is launched, it’s easy to think the hard work is over, but that’s when the real journey begins. Customers expect you to keep improving and fixing any issues that come up. If they encounter problems and see no effort to resolve them, they might start feeling frustrated or even lose confidence in your product. This can lead to bad reviews and, ultimately, customers walking away.

One of the major steps in the post-delivery workflow is collecting and responding to feedback. Collecting not enough feedback—or worse, not collecting it at all, means missing out on valuable insights. Real users often spot bugs, suggest features, and highlight usability issues that you might never have noticed. Without actively collecting feedback and addressing it, you risk letting small problems grow into bigger, more complex ones. Not collecting feedback at all means you’re flying blind, making it much harder to make informed decisions or improvements to the product.

Skipping post-launch attention also puts your product’s long-term success at risk. Launching your product is just the beginning. Without ongoing updates and fixes, your product could quickly feel outdated and lose its value over time.

As we’ve seen, skipping the post-delivery phase can lead to losing customer trust, valuable feedback, and long-term success. So, how can you avoid these issues? The key is staying proactive, listening to your users, and improving your product. Here’s how we suggest to handle the post-delivery phase and keep your product thriving:

1. Start Collecting Feedback as Soon as You Can

The moment your product goes live, collecting feedback should be one of your top priorities. At Good Code, we prioritize early feedback because it allows us to quickly address issues and make improvements. Users are often the first to spot problems or identify areas for improvement, so the sooner we gather their insights, the better.

Our team loves using PostHog for this. It’s an essential tool for tracking user behavior in real-time, and it helps us quickly identify which parts of the product need attention. One of our favorite features is the Recordings, which allows us to review user sessions. By watching how users navigate the product, we can understand which elements they interact with the most and identify where they might be getting stuck. This provides invaluable insights into how the product is being used and where improvements are needed.

We use these recordings to get a clear picture of user behavior. Are they clicking the buttons we expect? Do they skip certain features? Are they spending time on areas we thought might be confusing? This real-time data helps us spot issues right away and adjust the user experience before it becomes a bigger problem.

PostHog also allows us to set up events to track key actions, like button clicks, feature usage, or page visits. By combining this data with the user session recordings, we can get a more complete view of how users are engaging with the product.

By gathering feedback early and continuously tracking user behavior, we can make improvements faster. This not only helps us fix problems before they grow but also shows our users that we care about their experience. At the end of the day, being proactive about feedback builds trust and loyalty with your users.

1. Refine Before Expanding

There’s always something more you can do to enhance the experience, and it can be tempting to jump straight into adding those extra functionalities. But we always suggest holding off on expanding until the core product is in its best possible shape.

Think of it like building a house: you wouldn’t add a second story until you’ve ensured the foundation is solid. Before anything else, it’s important to make sure that your initial features are working seamlessly. Focus on resolving any bugs, smoothing out usability issues, and making refinements based on the real feedback you’ve received from users. It’s easy to overlook these early-stage improvements, but they lay the foundation for future growth. If your core product isn’t rock-solid, adding new features or complexity can make things harder to manage, and you could end up creating more issues in the process.

We recommend taking the time to polish what’s already there. Only after you’ve refined the basics and addressed any issues should you start thinking about new features. By focusing on improving what you already have, you create a stronger product that’s ready to grow smoothly without sacrificing quality. This approach helps keep your product reliable, simple, and user-friendly, laying the groundwork for long-term success.

1. Keep an Eye on Your Competitors

The market is always shifting, and your competitors are not standing still. After the launch, you need to monitor your competitors closely to ensure your product stays relevant and competitive. If you let too much time pass without regular updates or improvements, your product can quickly feel outdated.

We suggest setting aside time each month (or even more frequently) to research what your competitors are doing. What new features have they added? How are their users responding? Are there emerging trends you need to consider? Keeping tabs on these factors lets you adapt your own product to stay ahead of the curve. This proactive approach helps you avoid falling behind while giving you the insights you need to innovate and stay competitive.

1. Take a breath, conduct a retro, and celebrate

We get it - after everything you’ve put into launching your product, all the feedback, updates, and monitoring, it can feel like there’s no end in sight. It might even feel like there’s always more work to do. But here’s where we remind you to pause and take a moment for yourself and your team. You’ve made it! It’s so important to appreciate the journey and all that you’ve accomplished so far.

Conduct a retrospective with your team to discuss what went well, what could have been improved, and the lessons learned. This helps you gather insights for future projects while recognizing everyone’s contributions.

Celebrating milestones, big or small, boosts morale and keeps the team motivated. Post-delivery isn’t just about fixing issues - it’s also about appreciating the journey and setting the stage for continued growth.

Taking care of the post-delivery phase is key to keeping your product strong and thriving. Sure, it can be challenging at times, but it’s also your chance to make improvements, fix issues, and build lasting relationships with your users. At Good Code, we’re here to support you every step of the way. Whether it’s refining your product, gathering feedback, or staying ahead of the competition, we’ve got you covered. If you’re looking for help with post-launch support or anything else along your product development journey, head over to Good Code and let’s make your product shine!