Send Your Team a Pre-Launch Alert 7 Days Before a Product Goes Live
A launch-day email tells your team what's happening now. A pre-launch alert gives them time to act. Setting a metafield once creates a standing alert system that emails every relevant person 7 days before every product launch — without you managing a calendar or sending a single message.
Why 7 days before matters
Different teams need different lead times before a product launch:
- Marketing needs time to prepare social content, schedule emails, and brief any influencers
- Warehouse needs to verify stock levels and prep pick locations
- Customer support needs time to review product details and prepare for incoming questions
Seven days covers most teams' prep needs. If your business needs more lead time, the offset is adjustable — use 14 or 30 days instead.
Step 1: The launch date metafield
This workflow runs off the same metafield as your launch workflow. If you've already set up automated product publishing or launch-day email notifications, you already have custom.launch_date configured. No extra metafield setup needed.
If not, go to Settings → Custom data → Products and create:
- Namespace and key:
custom.launch_date - Type: Date or Date and time
Step 2: The DateCue workflow
Timing: 7 days before the date
Action: Send email
To: team@yourstore.com
Subject: Launching in 7 days: {{product.title}}
The email fires exactly 7 days before the launch date on the product's metafield. If the launch date changes, the alert adjusts accordingly — DateCue always calculates relative to the current metafield value.
Stacking alerts at different offsets
You can run multiple pre-launch alert workflows from the same metafield with different offsets. For example:
- 14 days before → email marketing to begin campaign prep
- 7 days before → email warehouse to check stock
- On the date → email everyone that the product is live
Each workflow fires independently at its configured offset. The launch day email workflow is covered in Auto-Email Your Team When a Shopify Product Launches.
Setting a different lead time for different product types
If some products need more preparation than others (a complex bundle vs a simple item), you can create workflows with different offsets and filter each by a tag. Tag complex products "high-prep" and add a filter to the 14-day workflow — only high-prep products trigger the extra-early alert. Standard products get the 7-day alert only.
💡 What if the launch date is less than 7 days away? If you set the custom.launch_date metafield less than 7 days before the launch, the pre-alert trigger has already passed. DateCue won't fire it retroactively. The launch-day email (if you have one configured) will still fire on time. For time-sensitive additions, set the metafield at least 7 days in advance.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send different pre-launch emails to different people?
Yes — create separate workflows for each recipient group. Each workflow has the same metafield and offset but different recipient addresses and email content. DateCue evaluates them independently, so each sends to its own list.
What if the launch date gets pushed back?
Update the custom.launch_date metafield on the product. DateCue will calculate 7 days before the new date. If the old alert has already fired, it won't fire again. If the new date is far enough out, the alert will fire 7 days before the updated date.
Will this fire for every product with a launch_date metafield?
Yes, unless you add a filter. If you only want pre-launch alerts for certain product types, add a tag filter to the workflow (e.g., "filter: tag includes 'notify-team'"). Products without that tag won't trigger the email even if they have the launch_date metafield set.
Can I include product details in the email body?
Yes — the email body can include the product title and a link to the product. Use the template fields in the workflow email action to include dynamic product information in the message.
Ready to build a launch alert system that runs itself?
Set a date on each product. DateCue handles every alert from there.
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