This article is intended for: Community or Financial Engagement Admin Users.
Use this article to: soft launch your Engagement Website to a small group for feedback before publishing.
What is a Soft Launch?
A soft launch is a short, invitation-only period before you publicize your site, where you invite a small group of community members to be the first to review and provide feedback.
Before You Start - Checklist
Your soft launch invitations send people to a live site, so everything should be ready before the first email goes out:
- All pages reviewed, with content and financial data confirmed as accurate
- Feedback questions published, so there are specific questions to respond to
- At least one Update posted, so the site doesn't look static
- Someone on your team assigned to monitor and reply to comments daily for the next week
Pro-tip: Time your soft launch against your budget calendar. The window works best when it lands a few weeks ahead of a milestone residents care about, a public hearing, a budget workshop, or adoption, so participants can see their input arriving while decisions are still being made.
Step 1: Identify 15–25 Stakeholders
Build a list of 15–25 people you already have a working relationship with. Existing relationships matter far more than reach here; a personal note to someone who knows you will outperform a broadcast to a much larger list.
Good candidates include neighborhood association leaders, local business owners, chamber of commerce members, PTO or school group leaders, civic and faith organization leaders, library or senior center groups, and residents who regularly attend budget meetings or contact your office.
Step 2: Send Personal Invitations
Send each invitation individually. This is the step people are most tempted to shortcut, and it's the step that determines whether the soft launch works. Group emails and mass sends routinely produce zero comments.
Write from your own address, use the person's name, and say why you're asking them specifically. Ready-to-adapt wording is in Financial Engagement - Soft Launch Email Templates.
Note: Don't delegate these invitations. The value comes from the relationship between sender and recipient, so an email from the Finance Director carries weight that the same email from a general inbox does not.
Step 3: Follow Up After 2–3 Days
Send a short personal reminder to everyone who hasn't participated yet. Most soft launch comments arrive after the reminder, not the first email. Skipping this step is the second most common reason a soft launch stalls.
Step 4: Reply to Every Comment
Respond to every open-ended comment you receive, ideally within a day.
Early responses set the standard for the whole engagement period. When your first participants see a real reply from a real person, they come back, and others join in.
Pro Tip: Replies don't need to resolve anything. Acknowledging the input, adding context, or saying where a question will be answered is enough.
Know When You're Ready to Launch
Your site is ready for public promotion when it has:
- 15 comments
- 5 or more followers, not counting your own team
- A 100% reply rate — every open-ended comment has at least one response
Aim to reach this within about a week. Track your progress on the Analytics tab, which shows Total Followers, Comments, and your Admin Reply Rate.
If you're short of the numbers at the end of the week, keep going rather than moving on — add names to your list and send another round of personal invitations. Setting a specific target date keeps it from drifting.
After Your Soft Launch
Once you've met the criteria, you're ready to promote the site publicly! Share the URL through your newsletter, social channels, your organization's website, and at meetings.
Additional Resources
Check out our other training resources to learn more:
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