Launch week triage

Fix now

Broken checkout links, incorrect prices, and payment failures need fixing within the hour — these directly cost you sales and trust. Pin a note at the top of your to-do list during launch week: 'does this stop someone from paying?' If yes, drop everything.

A wrong shipping date or a typo in an email subject line is embarrassing but not urgent — correct it in the next send, don't scramble to recall an email.

Keep a short list of who to contact if something breaks outside your control — your payment processor's support line, your email platform's status page, your website host — so you're not searching for a login in a panic while sales are actively being lost.

Answering DMs at volume

Write three or four canned answers in advance for the questions that repeat every launch: 'can I pause', 'what if I'm outside the US', 'when does it ship'. Paste and personalise rather than typing fresh each time.

Set a visible reply-time expectation ('replying within 24 hours during launch week') in your bio or an auto-reply so people don't assume they're being ignored.

Batch replies at two or three set times a day rather than answering the moment each message arrives — constant context-switching during launch week is what actually burns people out, more than the volume itself.

• Pre-written answer: pausing and skipping months
• Pre-written answer: international shipping and customs
• Pre-written answer: ship dates and cut-offs
• Pre-written answer: refund and guarantee wording
• Pre-written answer: what happens if an item arrives damaged

What to genuinely ignore

One-off negative comments with no real substance behind them ('too expensive', posted once, no follow-up) don't need a response during launch week — respond kindly if you have capacity, but don't let it derail your day.

Resist the urge to redesign anything mid-launch based on a single piece of feedback. Note it, save it for the retro after close, and keep the page and offer stable while cart is open.

Protecting your own energy

Decide in advance which day of launch week you'll step fully away from messages for at least a few hours — even a capped, healthy business needs the owner to eat a meal without a notification going off. Tell your list in the auto-reply if it lines up with a known gap.

Launch week burnout is the most common reason clubs shrink their launch cadence the following year, not lack of demand. Building small breaks into the week protects your ability to do this again in three months.

If you have any help at all, even a partner or a friend for a few hours, hand them the canned-answer list and let them handle first-pass replies during your break. Members rarely mind a slightly different voice for a day if the answer is accurate and kind.

The retro that makes next launch easier

Within a week of close, write down every fire that came up and whether it was truly urgent or just felt urgent in the moment. Most lists shrink a lot on a second look, once the adrenaline has worn off.

Turn the recurring ones into permanent fixes — a canned answer becomes a line on the sales page, a checkout bug becomes a pre-launch test step. Each retro should leave launch week slightly calmer than the one before it.