As you may know, we recently launched a new product — our Landing Page Templates.
We love reading behind the scenes of other business’ launches and decided we would peel back the curtain and share all the juicy details behind our latest launch.
We know many of you out there (ourselves included) appreciate getting a true picture of what it actually takes to launch a new product, because it is certainly not easy.
We’re sharing it all in this post: the good (what worked!), the bad (what didn’t work :(), what we wished we’d done differently, and what we’d like to do in the future.
We hope you enjoy it!
P.S. We share even more behind the scenes of our business every week in our newsletter. Sign up now to get access!
Behind the Scenes of Our Landing Page Templates Launch
Preparing to launch
For us to properly launch a new product, we knew this launch had to be different from any other. In order to do that, we had to prepare way ahead of time.
We started working on the launch for our Landing Page Templates back in February. Granted, these were very loose plans (as in, we decided that’s what we wanted to offer), but this product was months in the making.
Here’s what we did to prepare for our launch:
- Mapped out our editorial calendar & launch emails
- Crafted social media posts
- Emailed our best business buddies
- Created an affiliate plan
- Shared sneak peeks to our audience on social media and our newsletter
- Settled on a launch revenue goal
Related post: What It Takes To Launch Two New Products in 3 Months
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What worked
Now to the good stuff, what actually worked for our launch!
1 | We planned well
Like we mentioned above, we planned out well in advance what our content calendar would look like, in addition to our email newsletters and communication to affiliates. This was imperative to our success because our audience was primed and ready to purchase our templates weeks before they actually came out.
It also helped because we weren’t scrambling last-minute blog posts or emails to promote our new product. Everything was thought of carefully ahead of time and we were able to tweak any updates along the way.
2 | We outsourced
Outsourcing is seriously one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for our business. Having someone help with creating our content calendar, launch emails, affiliate emails, and so much more. It was great to not really have to worry about all of those tasks and really focus on creating an amazing product.
We also outsourced the sales page copy to a copywriter. It was a relief to work with someone who knows a lot more about creating actionable copy than we do. I would 100% recommend outsourcing this task if writing copy isn’t your thing!
3 | We had a downsell after the launch offer ended
We had never done this before but boy, oh boy, are we going to do this again! It takes a little extra leg work initially to set up a down-sell offer (timing is everything) but it was amazing to still bring in money from people who weren’t quite ready to purchase our full landing page templates set but wanted to purchase something.
4 | We implemented a chat feature on our sales page
We are SO glad we did this. On the last day of our promo price for the landing pages, we received a lot of questions about the templates from the chat feature.
We were happy to answer people’s questions immediately while they are on the sales page, versus them having to go to our contact page on our site and submit that way.
We don’t have exact numbers on this as of right now, but we’re certain that this helped us convert more visitors into customers.
Check out a behind the scenes look at @bluchic’s launch for their Landing Page Templates!Click To TweetWhat didn’t work
With every launch, there is bound to be something that goes wrong or doesn’t pan out the way you want it to. That’s the nature of being a business owner.
Besides Andrew’s new computer going out literally a week before our launch (yes, this really happened), there were a couple of other things that didn’t work out well for us.
1 | Trying Facebook ads for the first time with no plan
Trying to run Facebook ads at the same time you’re launching something new is practically impossible. Especially when you aren’t a Facebook ads expert.
It was incredibly stressful and we didn’t even have a funnel for our ads so wasn’t worth the time we spent.
2 | Not giving ourselves enough white space
This is a lesson we are continuously learning and is one that is hard for every business owner.
Launch weeks inevitably end up being crazy, stressful times no matter how much planning you do, but we always tend to overestimate how much we’re capable of.
Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. It is worth it to 1) build in buffer days into the weeks leading up to your launch and 2) outsource some tasks that you aren’t the absolute best at doing.
What we’d do differently next time
With every launch comes new lessons to be learned, so here are the things that we’ll be doing differently for our next launch.
1 | Prepare even more social posts in advance
While we loosely planned some social posts, most of the time we were winging it. Not a good idea. Next time we’ll definitely plan more social posts in advance.
2 | Incorporate live video
Video still terrifies us, but we know it’s a great way to connect with our audience. Hoping to dive into Instagram Live and/or Facebook live in the future!
3 | Have a funnel in place for Facebook ads
Facebook ads can be incredible for growing your email list and increasing revenue. We started working with a Facebook ads expert to help us refine our funnel and give us a boost in future launches. Excited to see how this goes!
Related post: How We Plan Our Editorial Calendar (Tips On How To Plan Yours Too!)
Final Thoughts
We hope you found this post insightful and gained some knowledge on what it really takes to launch a new product. If you want even more behind the scenes, be sure to sign up for our email newsletter (plus you get access to all kinds of freebies!).
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