Designware Ultimate Launch Checklist
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MediaGenieDesignware Ultimate Launch Checklist
Uploaded by
MediaGenieThe Ultimate Launch Checklist
THE
ULTIMATE
LAUNCH
CHECKLIST
Confidently publish your
apps & websites.
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
CONTENTS
3 Why a Checklist?
4 Content
8 User Testing
10 Analytics & Tracking
13 SEO
15 App Publishing
19 Technical & Legal
22 Quality Assurance
26 Marketing
31 Ready To Launch
32 Printable Checklist
33 About Designware
P.2 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
WHY A CHECKLIST...
Designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, or developers: whether you're working on your first
project, or your 100th, you need a checklist before publishing your next app or website.
Here’s why:
Save time. Most of the time, just when you Boost discoverability. Launching is not just
feel like you're ready to go live, your project about making sure your project is ready, it's
is actually 98% there. But no matter how also about presenting it to the world. Love it
detailed-oriented you are, there's always a or hate it, you need to prepare marketing
small typo, a broken link, or a stretched descriptions, tags, and creative assets. Don't
image to be found. Sometimes, issues are wing it or ignore discoverability—that's a fast
hidden on higher or lower resolutions. Don't lane to the bottom of search results, AKA the
waste time running in circles. Use a digital cemetery. Use a checklist.
checklist.
Protect the integrity of your work. You've
Avoid surprises. If you're building an app, a spent weeks or even months perfecting your
rigorous checklist will help you avoid the project. At this stage, tunnel vision sets in,
most frustrating experience of all: being and it’s all but impossible to see objectively
rejected by app stores. Trust a team that’s anymore. Even the smallest bug can lead to
built numerous projects; the back and forth higher bounce and lower return rates for a
is no fun. App Store, Google Play, Microsoft website. Or a higher uninstall rate and
Store—they all have their own rules and negative reviews for an app. Your first
regulations. Failing to comply can delay your impression is everything—use a checklist to
launch by days or even weeks. Guess what ace it.
you can use to be prepared? That’s right. A
checklist.
Projects built in Designware can be published in all major formats, and this checklist will
touch on each one. The checklist is also relevant for external projects, so keep it handy
wherever you go.
P.3 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
CONTENT
Review The Copy
These are the most critical words of your project. Your header should
tell visitors exactly what you do and explain your main value
proposition in the most condensed, powerful way possible. Your
subheader should explain the "how" to boost your visitors' trust in your
ability to serve them.
Display Social Proof
If you’re trying to get them to convert, know that visitors are more likely
to trust you if other people have vetted you. Social proof can be clients'
logos, testimonials, case studies, sales milestones, and more. Try to get
creative with them: people are growing blind to simple ranges of logos.
Website Apps P.4 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
CONTENT
Check Your Conversion Path
Look at your primary pages (home, features, pricing, etc.) and ask
yourself:
Is it clear what visitors need to do to convert, purchase, sign up, or
join?
Can visitors quickly spot the CTA?
Are CTAs visible enough?
Is it clear what your visitors will gain from clicking on it?
Proofread Every Single Page
There’s a very fine line between good copy and truly great copy, and it
can be incredibly hard to identify the difference. Start by doing a first
review yourself using Grammarly or a similar tool. Then ask someone
(preferably skilled in grammar and flow) who hasn’t worked on your
project at all to proofread each page. You might also consider hiring a
professional proofreader on Fiverr. You can have a typical website
checked for $30 to $75.
Remember, even if you’re a proud member of the grammar police, you
and your team cannot be the final approvers. At this stage, your brain
is in recognition mode and is not reading the words anymore. When
your very own brain is working against you, it’s best to look for help
elsewhere.
Website Apps P.5 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
CONTENT
Apply UI Best Practices
Leverage common UI patterns and icon guidelines to maintain high
ratings. You don’t want users to mistake one of your featured icons for
a back button, or get frustrated with ads getting in the way of app
navigation. For more information on icon and pattern best practices,
check out these resources from Google, Apple, and Windows.
Compress Your Assets
While the quality and size of our phones and data plans continue to
grow, storage space and data are still high currencies. Reducing your
app size is a critical step towards improving your installation rates. You
can leverage sites like squoosh.app to compress your images, and
media.io to compress your video or audio files before integrating them
into your project.
Website Apps P.6 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
CONTENT
More On This Topic:
Growth Marketing Guide: Landing Pages
How to Get People to Do Stuff: Master the Art and Science of
Persuasion and Motivation
Website Apps P.7 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
USER TESTING
Conduct User Testing
The best way to check if your website or app is easy to use is to put it
in potential users' hands. You’d be shocked to see how little people
read your copy and how things you thought were obvious are
confusing for many. List the main tasks you want visitors to do and use
Lookback to screen-record users while they try to achieve those tasks.
These recordings can be a goldmine of insight. Usually, you only need
five sessions to uncover main friction points. However, if there are no
overlaps between your five first interviews, run more until a pattern
emerges. Then fix it.
Keep Localization In Mind
Is your app usable and accessible by your intended audience? Be
careful, localization is more than just representation of necessary
translations. In order to connect with geographically specific target
audiences, your app or website will need to adapt to meet their needs.
Beyond language translation, you should also consider local customs,
trends, cultures, and preferences. If you miss the mark here, your users
may have a difficult time using or relating to your project. Consider
things like:
Local currency
Local vocabulary
Time & date preferences
Legal guidelines
Website Apps P.8 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
USER TESTING
Run Customer Interviews
If you don’t have the time or budget for usability testing, book a 30-
minute call with three to five of your clients or prospects. Don’t be shy.
Reach out, send LinkedIn connections, or shake down your network.
Make it clear that you’re not trying to sell anything and that you just
want to pick their brain. People like sharing their opinions and learning
about new things.
Once you've booked your meetings, send a link to your project preview
at least two days in advance. Prepare your list of questions before the
call to make sure the conversation leads to actionable insights. And
when it’s time for the interview, don’t forget to ask for their permission
to record.
Ask Colleagues & Friends
It’s also good practice to ask people who are more familiar with you
and your company for feedback. Your engineering team might catch
some inaccuracies in your product description. Your friends might be
more direct about something weird going on with your design. Again:
send them the link to your project preview, prepare concrete
questions, and collect feedback. Live conversations are better than
surveys because you’ll get to dig deeper and ask tangential questions.
Pro Tip: If you’re a Designware user, use your project’s dedicated
preview link to share and update drafts before publication.
Website Apps P.9 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
ANALYTICS & TRACKING
Set Up Your Analytics
Publishing your project is not the end of the journey, it's the very
beginning. You'll need to continue to update and optimize it over time,
and for that, you need real-world data. You need to understand who’s
visiting your site or app, where they're coming from, and how they're
interacting with your content. Google Analytics is the most popular
analytics tool, and it's also free.
To set it up: create your account, get your tracking code, and add it
into the <head> section on every page of your site.
Pro Tip: If you're a Designware user, you simply need to add your
retargeting pixel in the page's code tab with the toggle set on "This
Page."
Website Apps P.10 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
ANALYTICS & TRACKING
Filter Your Internal IPs
Get a more accurate view of your data by asking Google to filter out
traffic from you and your team, since these visitors will skew your
analytics. If your team works remotely, that means having everyone
send you their IP addresses. They can find it by typing "what is my IP"
into Google. From there, add the list of IPs you want to filter out of
Google Analytics by following these instructions.
Add Your Retargeting Pixels
If you're planning to advertise on platforms like Facebook, Google, or
LinkedIn, retargeting pixels are a must, as they allow you to target
people who've already shown an interest in your website. Because
these people are way more likely to click on your ads and convert,
retargeting is a powerful ROAS booster.
So go to your marketing platforms of choice, get your account pixel
and add it to your website code, following each platforms' instructions.
Pro Tip: If you're a Designware user, you simply need to add your
retargeting pixel in the page’s code tab with the toggle set on “This
Page” if you need place it in the <head> section, or in a HTML block in
the body of the page if you need place it in the <body> section.
Website Apps P.11 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
ANALYTICS & TRACKING
Set Up A Heat Map
Another great way to understand how visitors interact with your
website or app, especially a new one, is to use a heatmap. Heatmaps
let you visualize where people are clicking, scrolling, and leaving. Hotjar
offers a great free plan that can help you get started with this kind of
analytics tool.
A Beginner's Guide to User & Usability Testing
Just Enough Research
Website Apps P.12 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
SEO
Add Titles & Meta To Pages
Meta descriptions are page descriptions that appear in search results.
Though they’re not a ranking factor, they do impact your click-through
rate, which then affects your ranking.
Write a unique title and meta description for each page.
Descriptions should be less than 160 characters (Google cuts at 120
characters on mobile).
Titles and descriptions should include your keywords in order to get
highlighted by Google.
Describe what the page is about and include your value proposition
when relevant. Try to have a call to action and avoid alphanumeric
characters.
Make Your URLs SEO Friendly
Help visitors and search engines understand what your page is about
by keeping URLs short and intelligible. Make sure to include your
keywords (one or two maximum). Send your sitemap to Google and
Bing.
Website Apps P.13 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
SEO
Name Images & Add Alt Text
This will help improve both your SEO and accessibility. Use relevant
keywords to help users understand what they should see when images
are not loading and let Google know what you're showing on the page.
Google will then surface your visuals in search results. Keep your alt
text descriptive and under 125 characters.
Set Up Your Redirects
If you are redesigning a website, you need to redirect your old URLs to
your new URL. You want to keep your link equity while avoiding "404
page not found" situations. These are frustrating for your users, and
Google will penalize you for it. Export your old website sitemap and set
up a domain-wide 301 redirect. A domain-wide redirect will work for
pages that follow the same URL structure, like
www.oldsite.com/product → www.newsite.com/product. But you need
an individual redirect for when going from www.oldsite.com/product to
www.newsite.com/featurexyz. Find more info on how to set up your
redirect in this ahref detailed blog post.
A Simple (But Effective) SEO Checklist for 2020
The Art of SEO
Website Apps P.14 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
APP PUBLISHING
When Not Using Designware
iOS & MacOS
1. Create an Apple Developer Account.
2. Review the App Store Review Guidelines. Apple has strict rules
about apps that can be published on the app store. Ignoring these
rules could lead to a rejected submission and cause delays along
your launch timeline. Warning: these rules change regularly. If you
think you’re familiar with them but haven’t checked them in a while,
we strongly suggest a quick refresher.
3. Be thorough when filling out your app information and metadata.
Consider all App Store ranking factors.
4. Craft detailed explanations of non-obvious features in the App
Review notes to accelerate the approval process. Include help
documentation, if available.
5. Submit your app for review. 50% of apps on the App Store get
reviewed within 24 hours, and 90% in 48 hours, which will feel like 6
years. Consider keeping your beverage fridge stocked.
Website Apps P.15 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
APP PUBLISHING
When Not Using Designware
Android
1. Review the Developer Program Policies thoroughly. If you haven’t
checked them in a while, we strongly suggest a quick refresher.
2. Sign up for a developer account. You’ll need a credit card; there’s a
one-time $25 registration fee. Remember that it can take up to 48
hours for your account to be approved, so build this cushion into
your timeline.
3. Build an Android App Bundle in Android Studio. This will help Google
optimize your app for each device, and will become a mandatory
step in Q3 of 2021.
4. Make sure your app’s UI complies with Google’s quality guidelines
for each specific platform (mobile, tablet, TV, and auto).
5. Upload your App Bundle to the closed or open track and optimize
your release using the pre-launch report that is automatically sent
to you - this can take up to 7 business days.
6. Set up your app listing details, including product details, graphic
assets, languages and translations, contact details, categorization,
and privacy policy. Consider all App Store ranking factors.
Website Apps P.16 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
APP PUBLISHING
When Not Using Designware
Windows
1. If it’s your first time submitting a Microsoft 365 app, build some
extra time into your plans for app approval, as first-time
submissions tend to take a bit longer.
2. Review Microsoft 365 app general policies and pay close attention
to policies related to your app’s integration and audience for things
like Office 365, Teams, etc.
3. Confirm that your manifest is compliant by leveraging one of these
Microsoft-recommended tools.
4. Update your Partner Center account settings to include the correct
ID information.
5. Provide testing information for third-party services or SaaS offers.
Include your test plans, testing accounts, and instructions in the
Notes for certification box.
6. Include critical information links to avoid being rejected. Addresses
for a support URL, a privacy policy URL, and an end-user license
agreement (EULA) URL are required. Make sure your app is included
in your company’s privacy policy - a Terms of Use is not considered
a privacy policy.
7. Get your store listing ready by filling out your marketplace listing.
Include any screenshots or videos you’d like to use to promote it.
Website Apps P.17 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
APP PUBLISHING
If You Are Using Designware
Designware lets you fly through the publication process and increases
your chances of getting approved by app stores by eliminating the risk
of them finding bugs in your project.
Check out help.designware.io for detailed publishing instructions and
step-by-step guidance to make go-live a breeze.
Publishing - Websites & PWAs
Publishing - iOS Apps
Publishing - Android Apps
Publishing - Windows Apps
Publishing - macOS Apps
Website Apps P.18 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
TECHNICAL & LEGAL
Test Your Website Speed
Loading times have a direct impact on bounce rates, especially on
mobile. They also impact your Google ranking. It's even more important
when your audience is on mobile. To benchmark your website, go to
PageSpeed and let Google run a quick scan. It will tell you if your pages
load fast enough on both mobile and desktop. It will also give you
recommendations to optimize.
Set Up An SSL Certificate
Setting up an SSL allows you to encrypt and protect your website data.
Even if you're not manipulating sensitive data, this is a must. First,
because it's a Google ranking factor, second, because in the absence
of an SSL certificate, browsers will flag your website as "Insecure." You
can buy an SSL certificate from GoDaddy or similar companies. If
you're not familiar with the process, we recommend asking a developer
to help.
Pro Tip: All websites created with Designware come with a free SSL
certificate that is automatically setup.
Website Apps P.19 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
TECHNICAL & LEGAL
Enable A Cookie Pop-Up
You know these annoying "enable cookies" windows that pop up every
time you visit a new website? GDPR made them mandatory for
websites that collect any personal information from visitors located in
the EU. California has a similar law, CCPA, that makes it compulsory for
websites to disclose what data they collect and how they use it. In both
cases, you must offer a way for visitors to see and delete their
personal information. Visit CookiePro or another cookie management
provider to create your pop-up.
Remember that under GDPR, cookies must be explicitly accepted. This
means that pre-checked boxes buried in legal jargon are not enough.
There's more to GDPR and CCPA, and we're not qualified to provide
legal advice. We recommend that you use this checklist and seek
trusted legal counsel.
T&C And Privacy Policies
A privacy policy is required if you're collecting any type of personal
information from users. It's also something you need to advertise on
most platforms (Google and Facebook to start with). A terms &
conditions policy isn't always required, depending on your website, but
it is good practice to offer one if you represent a business. You can
create policies on your own on TermsFeed. However, we recommend
that you seek legal counsel since these are legally binding contracts.
Website Apps P.20 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
TECHNICAL & LEGAL
Check Your Copyrights
Even if you worked with an external designer, it's your responsibility to
make sure that you are not violating any copyrights. List all your
marketing assets, and check that you own the rights for each of them.
Schedule Regular Backups
Protect yourself against malware, server crashes, and human errors.
Schedule automated backups that will help you recover data in case of
an accident. It's usually something you can set up within your hosting
platform or with your website or app builder.
Pro Tip: If you're using Designware, this is something that is done
automatically in the background.
Run A Stress Test
If you're planning a big launch involving the press or a massive paid
campaign, run a stress test to ensure your website or app can support
the traffic. Go to Loader.io and sign up for a free account. It enables
you to test for one minute with 1000 user requests. If you need a
larger-scale test, sign up for a paying account (or look into similar
services).
Pro Tip: If you're using Designware, you don't need a stress test. The
same infrastructure powers your account whether you're a small
startup or a multinational corporation. You're covered.
Website Apps P.21 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Check Your Videos
A simple but important test. Check that all your videos are playing
correctly on all devices and browsers. Ensure that they play the way
you want (autoplay? without audio? full screen?), at an acceptable time.
Test Out All Forms
You haven't done all this work to miss out on leads because your forms
don't work. For each form, check that:
There are no unnecessary fields that could harm your conversion
rate.
The right fields are marked as required.
There is a readable error message popping when you try to submit
a form without completing all required fields.
There is a confirmation/thank you message appearing when forms
are successfully submitted.
Confirmation emails & marketing automation flows are sent to the
right people in your team.
Website Apps P.22 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Click Every Link
Make a list of all your pages. Open each of them one after the other
and click on every single link. Make sure that there are no broken links,
but also that the correct pages are opening. Don't forget to test your
navigation bar and your footer.
Check Browser Compatibility
Each browser renders code a little differently. You need to thoroughly
test that your website displays correctly on at least the most common
browsers, if not all browsers. Use a tool like Lambda to confirm
browser compatibility and run automated tests.
Website Apps P.23 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Set Up A 404 Alert
At this point, you've looked for broken links and prepared all redirects.
There should be no reasons why your visitors would land on a "404
page not found". Yet it seems to always happen eventually. If you
haven't yet, create a custom 404 page that will encourage visitors to
stay on your website despite the broken link. Ensure the page is on-
brand and offers a simple way to find what they were initially looking
for. You can have a little fun with these pages and other error
messages. Our designer Steven wrote a hilarious and very informative
article about them.
Website Apps P.24 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Run A Proper App QA
Before you release your app or website into the wild, it’s crucial that
you conduct a bit of QA testing, as it’s nearly impossible not to miss
something when building or even reviewing your own projects. When it
comes to QA testing, you have a few options.
Depending on your budget and timeline, you might want to look into
organizations like testlio or Sofy - they take a bit of the heavy lifting out
of QA testing. If you’re on a budget or prefer to keep QA testing in-
house, check out this outline of QA testing checkpoints before getting
started.
A few of the most important components to consider:
Start/load/open time
Responsiveness and impact on battery life
Differences in device performance
Compatibility with device hardware
Connectivity
Layout and design functionality
Web Application Testing Complete Guide
Website Apps P.25 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
MARKETING
Add Social Media Previews
When you share a link on Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media, a
preview is automatically generated. This preview is managed via an
open graph tag. Open graph tags can be customized per page,
following these instructions from Ahref. You can use a default open
graph tag on the pages that don't require a custom preview, like your
contact page.
Website Apps P.26 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
MARKETING
Integrate Your Social Media
Improve your traffic and grow your social audience by linking your
social media accounts to your site. There are plenty of different ways
to do this, like:
Adding social media icons to your header or footer.
Adding "Follow" and "Share" buttons on your content pages.
Adding your URL to your social media accounts.
If social media are an essential part of your marketing strategy, look for
ways to make more room for them. For instance, you can add a live
social feed that highlights your most recent posts or integrate User
Generated Content (UGC).
Website Apps P.27 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
MARKETING
Add A Favicon To Your Site
Favicons are the icons that appear on your browser tab. Adding a
favicon will only take a few minutes, make your website much more
professional, and help your visitors manage multi-tab sessions. To do
so: find your logo, convert it to .png and rename it favicon.png. Then
add it to your public_html folder.
Pro Tip: If you're using Designware, you just have to download yours as
a PNG or SVG, ensure it has square dimensions and a minimum
resolution of 196 x 196px, then upload.
Create A Promotional Offer
Now that your website is ready to be shared, it's time to work on your
launch strategy. One common marketing tactic is creating a launch
offer that will encourage people to visit your site or app and boost
word of mouth. If you're part of professional Facebook groups,
Subreddit, or Slack channels:, create specific coupons for each group
to develop a sense of exclusivity.
Website Apps P.28 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
MARKETING
Announce To Your Email List
The first people you should invite to your site are the ones who are
already on your email list. Because they've shown interest by signing
up for your emails or buying your product, they're more likely to be
interested in your new site. Prepare an email tailored to them
specifically. Don't re-introduce your whole brand but instead, focus on
the new features. Keep it short and sweet, make it visual (show don't
tell), and highlight what benefits they can get from this new
experience.
Announce On Social
Prepare several posts for each of your social media platforms in
advance, and announce your website launch over a few days. Just like
for your email, focus on the visuals, and make sure to integrate images
and videos, which your audience is more likely to notice and interact
with than just text. Tell them why they should care about your site, and
don't forget to include your promotional offer if you have one. Let your
colleagues, friends, and family know about the announcement, and ask
them to like, save, and share for maximum visibility. Better yet, they will
be more likely to share and comment if you prepare a few messages
for them to use.
Website Apps P.29 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
MARKETING
Create A Content Backlog
The best way to keep the momentum going is to continue posting fresh
content frequently and regularly after launch. Start engaging your
audience by posting new articles or videos right after your launch. The
chances are that you'll find yourself quite busy analyzing, optimizing,
managing, and advertising. Consider preparing enough content for the
month following your launch, and get the ball rolling.
Monitor App Reviews
After launch, be sure to keep a close eye on comments and reviews.
Reply to your users and be ready to make adjustments if needed.
Pro Tip: If you’re using Designware, you can make changes in your
projects and save your edits directly without having to republish the
whole app.
Go the extra mile by thanking users for their reviews - good or bad - to
increase the likelihood that you become a trusted creator and source.
11 Tactics to Successfully Launch (& Announce) Your New Site
Contagious: Why Things Catch On
Website Apps P.30 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
READY TO
LAUNCH
Once you’ve completed your necessary checklist items
(find a printable version on the next page) and have
determined you’re clear for takeoff, there’s no better
feeling than seeing your app or site take flight.
If you’re ready to make the switch to Designware to cut
out a few of the complicated aforementioned steps, you
can try us for free!
Website Apps P.31 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
READY TO LAUNCH
Content Technical & Legal
Review the copy Test your website speed
Display social proof Set up an SSL certificate
Check your conversion path Enable a cookie pop-up
Proofread every single page T&C and privacy policies
Apply UI best practices Check your copyrights
Compress your assets Schedule regular backups
Run a stress test
User Testing
Conduct user testing Quality Assurance
Keep localization in mind Check your videos
Run customer interviews Test out all forms
Ask colleagues & friends Click every link
Check browser compatibility
Analytics & Tracking Set up a 404 alert
Set up your analytics Run a proper app QA
Filter your internal IPs
Add your retargeting pixels Marketing
Set up a heat map Add social media previews
Integrate your social media
SEO Add a favicon to your site
Add titles & meta to pages Create a promotional offer
Make your URLs SEO friendly Announce to your email list
Name images & add alt text Announce on social
Set up your redirects Create a content backlog
Monitor app reviews
App Publishing
Meet publishing requirements for
iOS, MacOS, Windows, or Android Open in Google Sheets
Fly through publishing requirements and make it your own.
with Designware
Website Apps P.32 | designware.io
The Ultimate Launch Checklist
ABOUT DESIGNWARE
Designware is the first visual editor for both websites AND apps. It allows creatives to
design and publish fully hosted websites and PWAs, as well as apps for iOS, Android,
Windows, and macOS. Without code or training.
Traditionally, apps or websites are made with editors with limited templates or require
long and expensive custom development. With Designware, users can now create fully
customized projects for a fraction of the cost and the time.
Stay up to date
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