diff --git a/docs/RELEASE.md b/docs/RELEASE.md
index f13f021671..87fad2160a 100644
--- a/docs/RELEASE.md
+++ b/docs/RELEASE.md
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 # Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) CSI driver Release Process
-
 NOTE: Your GitHub account must have the required permissions and you must have generated a GitHub token.
 
 ## Choosing the release version
-
 Using semantic versioning, pick a release number that makes sense by bumping the major, minor or patch release version.  If its a major or minor release (backwards incompatible changes, and new features, respectively) then you will want to start this process with an alpha release first.  Here are some examples:
 
 Bumping a minor version after releasing a new feature:
@@ -29,14 +27,14 @@ v1.6.2 -> v2.0.0-alpha.0
 ```
 
 ## Choosing the release branch
-You also might need to create a release branch, if it doesn't already exist, if this release requires backporting changes to an older major or minor version.  For example, in the case that we are backporting a fix to the v0.5 release branch, and we have a v0.6 release branch (which we don't at the time of writing), then we would do the following:
+You also might need to create a release branch, if it doesn't already exist. For example, in the case that we are backporting a fix to the v0.5 release branch, then we would do the following:
 
-1. Create the release branch (named release-0.5) if it doesn't exist from the last v0.5.x tagged release (or check it out if it already exists).
+1. Create the release branch (named release-0.5) if it doesn't exist or check it out if it already exists.
 2. Cherry-pick the necessary commits onto the release branch.
 3. Follow the instructions below to create the release commit.
 4. Create a pull request to merge your fork of the release branch into the upstream release branch (i.e. <user>/aws-ebs-csi-driver/release-0.5 -> kubernetes-sigs/aws-ebs-csi-driver/release-0.5).
 
-## Create the release commit
+## Create the release commit in the release branch
 
 ### Generate the CHANGELOG
 We need to generate the CHANGELOG for the new release by running `./hack/release`. You need to pass previous release tag to generate the changelog.
@@ -50,19 +48,16 @@ This will print the CHANGELOG to stdout. You should create a new section for the
 ### Update the README
 Search for any references to the previous version on the README, and update them if necessary.
 
-### Update the build and deployment files
+### Update the build and helm deployment files
 1. Update the VERSION variable in the Makefile
 1. Update Helm values
    - `aws-ebs-csi-driver/values.yaml`
    - `aws-ebs-csi-driver/Chart.yaml`
-1. Update `deploy/kubernetes/overlays/stable/kustomization.yaml`
-   - ECR images are deployed via an AWS-internal process. Please don't update the ECR overlay.
 
-### Send a release PR
+### Send a release PR to the release branch
 At this point you should have all changes required for the release commit. Verify the changes via `git diff` and send a new PR with the release commit against the release branch. Note that if it doesn't exist, you'll need someone with write privileges to create it for you.
 
 ## Tag the release
-
 Once the PR is merged, pull the release branch locally and tag the release commit with the relase tag. You'll need push privileges for this step.
 
 ```
@@ -73,19 +68,37 @@ git push upstream v0.7.0
 ```
 
 ## Verify the release on GitHub
-
 The new tag should trigger a new Github release. Verify that it has run by going to [Releases](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/aws-ebs-csi-driver/releases). Then, click on the new version and verify all assets have been created:
 
 - Source code (zip)
 - Source code (tar.gz)
 
-## Promote the new images on GCR
-
+## Promote the new image on GCR
 Promote the new images from the staging repo by sending a PR to the kubernetes/k8s.io repo. Here's an [example PR](https://github.com/kubernetes/k8s.io/pull/1606).
 
-## Merge the release commit to the main branch
+## Promote the new image on ECR
+Follow the AWS-internal process.
+
+## Verify the images are available
+In GCR:
+  - `docker pull k8s.gcr.io/provider-aws/aws-ebs-csi-driver:v1.1.1`
+In ECR:
+  - `aws ecr get-login-password --region us-west-2 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin 602401143452.dkr.ecr.us-west-2.amazonaws.com`
+  - `docker pull 602401143452.dkr.ecr.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/eks/aws-ebs-csi-driver:v1.1.1`
+
+## Create a post-release commit in the release branch
+
+### Update the kustomize deployment files
+1. Update the kustomize overlays
+  - `deploy/kubernetes/overlays/stable/kustomization.yaml`
+  - `deploy/kubernetes/overlays/stable/ecr/kustomization.yaml`
+
+### Send a post-release PR to the release branch
+The kustomize deployment files must not be updated to refer to the new images until after the images have been verified available, therefore it's necessary to make these changes in a post-release PR rather than the original release PR.
+
+## Merge the release and post-release commits to the main branch
 
-Once the images promoted, send a PR to merge the release commit to the main branch.
+Send a PR to merge both the release and post-release commits to the main branch.
 
 ## Verify the helm chart release