Verified against ChatGPT · 2026-08-12
Build a launch plan for one new SKU that accounts for what could actually go wrong on launch day
Produces a phased launch checklist for a single new product — pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch — with an explicit risk section instead of a generic marketing calendar.
The prompt
Ready to copy — highlighted parts are example details you can swap.
Build a launch plan for one specific new SKU going live on an existing store — not a general 'how to launch a product' guide, a plan scoped to this launch's actual constraints. PRODUCT A limited first run of 400 units of a new ceramic pour-over dripper, a new color variant of an existing bestseller. LAUNCH DATE September 3, 10am ET. EXISTING AUDIENCE 42,000-subscriber email list, 18,000-follower Instagram, no paid ads budget for this launch. INVENTORY CONSTRAINT Only 400 units in this first run, next restock is 6 weeks out. DEPENDENCIES NOT YET CONFIRMED Product photography from an external photographer, due 5 days before launch but not yet confirmed as on schedule. PHASE 1 — PRE-LAUNCH (working backward from launch date) List the concrete tasks that must be done before launch, each with a rough lead time before launch day and who it depends on (you, a vendor, a platform). Anything that depends on one of the unconfirmed dependencies must be flagged as at-risk, with what happens to the plan if it slips. PHASE 2 — LAUNCH DAY List what actually needs to happen on the day itself, in order — listing to go live, first announcement channel, any time-zone consideration for the existing audience. Do not include tasks that are really pre-launch prep restated. PHASE 3 — FIRST 72 HOURS List what to monitor and what specific numbers would signal a problem worth acting on (e.g., sell-through pace against the inventory constraint, return-to-cart abandonment on the new PDP) rather than a vague "monitor performance." RISK SECTION (mandatory, do not skip) Given the inventory constraint and unconfirmed dependencies, name the single most likely way this specific launch underperforms or breaks, and one concrete mitigation for it — not a generic list of possible risks, the one that's actually most likely given what's stated above. OUTPUT FORMAT Three phased checklists as specified, then the risk section as a short standalone paragraph.
Customize
Optional — swap in your own details for the highlighted parts above.
Why this works
The mandatory risk section, scoped to name the single most likely failure rather than a generic list, counters GPT-5.1's default behavior on planning tasks, which is to produce an exhaustive, hedge-everything risk list ('supply chain issues, weather delays, platform outages, negative reviews') that reads as thorough but gives the operator no actual prioritization — a launch plan with twelve equally-weighted risks is functionally identical to one with none, because nobody can act on all twelve simultaneously with finite launch-week attention. Forcing the model to reason from the specific inventory constraint and unconfirmed dependency stated in the prompt, rather than general e-commerce launch risks, produces a genuinely different answer for a 400-unit limited run than it would for an unlimited-stock SKU — the former's dominant risk is selling out and disappointing the announcement audience, which is a different problem requiring a different mitigation (a waitlist mechanism) than a generic 'launch could underperform' risk. Flagging pre-launch tasks that depend on the unconfirmed dependencies, with an explicit 'what happens if it slips' consequence, prevents the common planning failure where a dependency risk is noted once at the top of a document and then silently ignored in every subsequent phase that actually depends on it — tying the consequence directly to the task in Phase 1 keeps the risk live in the plan rather than treated as boilerplate.
What you get back
Risk section: "With only 400 units and a 6-week restock lag, the most likely failure is selling out within hours of the email send and disappointing the Instagram audience who see it later — mitigate by loading a waitlist form on the PDP the moment stock hits zero, framed as 'notify me for restock' rather than a dead sold-out page."
Verified against
ChatGPT GPT-5.1 · 2026-08-12
Changelog
- 2026-08-12 — Initial publish, verified against ChatGPT GPT-5.1.
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