# Launch checklist — Ecommerce

The launch checklist with the rows a store needs before a season or a promotion starts: the catalogue feed, stock cover on every advertised line, the offer live in the same words as the ads, delivery cut-offs recorded, and the return policy the campaign depends on.

Everything else is the general checklist, unchanged. One row per check, with an owner by name, a due date relative to the start, an honest blocking flag, a verification method and evidence kept.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Delete the rows that do not apply to this launch rather than marking them as not applicable.
3. Give every row an owner by name, and a due date relative to the start.
4. Be honest about which rows block, and keep that list short enough to mean something.
5. Write how to verify before the week of the launch, while there is time to think.
6. Keep the evidence, not just the tick.
7. After the launch, add the rows you wished you had had.

## The columns

**Area** (Text). Which part of the launch this belongs to: catalogue, stock, offer, delivery, tracking, pages, access. In a store the first four break far more often than anything inside the ad account.

**Check** (Text). The thing to confirm, written as something a person can do and answer: open each advertised product from the feed as a customer would. Not the feed is fine, which anybody can tick.

**Why it matters** (Text). What goes wrong if it is missed, in a store's terms: an ad pointing at an unavailable product spends the whole budget producing complaints, and the platform keeps spending happily while it happens.

**Applies to** (Text). Which campaigns this covers: shopping only, the promotion campaigns, everything. A store runs several launches a quarter and a row that applies to one of them should say so.

**Owner** (Text). The person who does this check, by name, and here it is often split between the ecommerce manager for the catalogue and the media buyer for the account.

**Due** (Text). How far ahead of the start this has to be done. Feed and stock checks belong the day before, because both move; the offer check belongs on the morning the promotion opens.

**Blocking** (Text). Whether the launch may proceed without it. Stock cover and the offer being live on the site genuinely block; a second creative ratio does not, and calling everything blocking is how the whole list gets overridden.

**How to verify** (Text). The specific action: complete a real purchase with the campaign's parameters and confirm the value, currency and campaign in the reporting, then refund it. Vaguer than that and two people check it differently.

**Evidence** (Text). What is kept: the feed diagnostics with no errors on the advertised set, the stock figure with the date it was read, a screenshot of the test purchase with its timestamp.

**Status** (Text). Not started, done, or blocked. Blocked is common in a store because several rows depend on the merchandising team, and marking it is better than leaving a row looking unstarted.

**Verified by** (Text). A second name, where the row is worth confirming by somebody other than its owner. Stock cover is worth a second pair of eyes from merchandising; a tracking check is not.

**Verified on** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The day it was confirmed. Stock and prices move daily, so a catalogue check from last week is worth doing again before a promotion opens.

**Notes** (Text). What the next person needs: the line that nearly sold out, the feed field that had to be remapped, the delivery cut-off that arrived earlier than expected, the check worth adding next season.

## The launch checklist

| Area | Check | Why it matters | Applies to | Owner | Due | Blocking | How to verify | Evidence | Status | Verified by | Verified on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- Every row has an owner by name and a due date relative to the start.
- Stock cover is confirmed for every line the campaign advertises.
- The offer on the site matches the ads in the same words.
- The catalogue feed has no errors on the advertised set.
- Delivery cut-offs are recorded and reflected in the creative plan.
- The blocking rows are few enough that blocking still means something.
- Every completed row has evidence attached, not only a status.