SaaS Launch Checklist

Complete checklist for launching a SaaS product to paying customers.

work, productivity, finance

by Morris

Pricing Strategy

Define your monetization model, tier structure, and pricing psychology before writing a single line of billing code.

Wire up Stripe for payments, subscriptions, and the customer self-service portal before any user touches a credit card form.

Create Stripe account, complete business verification, and enable live mode
Create Products and Prices in Stripe for every plan and billing interval
Install Stripe SDK and implement checkout session creation on the backend
Set up Stripe webhooks for all critical subscription lifecycle events
Enable the Stripe Customer Portal for self-service plan changes and cancellations
Test the full payment flow in Stripe test mode using test card numbers
Configure Stripe Tax or validate tax collection requirements for your target markets
Set up Stripe Radar rules to reduce fraud on new subscriptions

Build the flows that keep subscribers paid, informed, and retained - trial conversion, failed payment recovery, and cancellation handling.

Implement trial-to-paid conversion prompt triggered 2 days before trial ends
Build a dunning email sequence for failed payments (days 1, 3, 7, 14)
Build a cancellation flow with an exit survey and a pause or discount offer
Implement access revocation and grace period on subscription cancellation
Build a reactivation flow for canceled subscribers
Create an admin dashboard view showing active, trialing, past-due, and canceled subscribers
Test the complete subscription lifecycle end-to-end in test mode

Design and build the sequence of touchpoints that turns a new signup into an activated, habitual user.

Define your activation event - the action that predicts long-term retention
Build an in-app onboarding checklist shown to new users until they complete key setup steps
Write and schedule the Day 0 welcome email sent immediately after signup
Write Day 1, Day 3, and Day 7 onboarding emails focused on feature discovery
Write Day 14 email as a check-in or trial expiry notice depending on user state
Implement a new-user tooltip or product tour for the core workflow
Set up a welcome modal or empty state that guides users to their first action
A/B test the onboarding flow with two variants of the welcome email subject line

Instrument the app so you can see crashes, user behavior, and business metrics in real time from day one.

Install and configure Sentry for frontend and backend error tracking
Set up PostHog or Plausible for product analytics and pageview tracking
Define and track the 5 most important product events
Build a metrics dashboard tracking MRR, churn rate, and activation rate
Set up uptime monitoring with alerting for production downtime
Configure Sentry performance monitoring and set alert thresholds for slow transactions
Create a logging strategy for backend events with structured JSON logs

Get the legal foundations in place before you collect any user data or process any payments.

Build a support system that handles user questions efficiently without requiring you to manually check an inbox every hour.

Set up a live chat widget using Crisp or Intercom and configure your availability hours
Identify the 10 most common user questions and write help doc articles for each
Create a support email address and set up email routing to a shared inbox
Add a help doc search widget or link inside the product dashboard
Write canned responses for the 5 most common support scenarios
Set up a public status page to communicate outages and maintenance windows
Define your support SLA and communicate response time expectations publicly

Plan and execute your distribution strategy across the channels where your target customers spend time.

Establish a structured cadence to review what's working, diagnose problems early, and course-correct before small issues become fatal ones.

Schedule a Week 1 metrics review meeting (or solo review) covering traffic, signups, and activation
Conduct 5 customer interviews with users who signed up in the first week
Analyze churn signals at Week 2: identify users who signed up but never activated
Set up a Month 1 NPS survey sent to all users who have been active for 30 days
Review Month 1 financial metrics: MRR, average revenue per user, and trial conversion rate
Identify the top 3 product issues raised by users in Week 1-4 and prioritize fixes
Write a launch retrospective document capturing lessons learned for your next launch