Lessons learned from an (almost) 6 figure launch

Inspired by Michael Mayo's thread for Warriors that registered way-back-when, I wanted to make a good old fashioned post sharing the key points I've learned from my recent (almost) six figure launch.

First off, what's the "almost" about ...

Well, truth be told when I closed the launch offer down yesterday the total was $95,204.00, which is just shy of the coveted 6 figure launch but I set a date for when I was going to close it so I stuck to my guns and went with it without any "Extended for just 1 more day" rubbish

What are the key lessons learned -

1. Sell what people want to buy not what you want to sell

I've done lots of launches over the last 12 months and the bottom line is I always sell more when I'm selling what people want to buy more of. I know it sounds obvious but if you're honest with yourself how many times do you come up with something to sell and find an audience for it rather than finding the audience first, discovering what they want and then making it for them. Yeah ... me too!

2. Upsells aren't evil, only evil upsells are evil

After purchase I had up/cross sells for a number of other related products. Clearly explained why they'd want product X if they'd just bought product Y and a clear "No Thanks" link if they didn't. This isn't about tricking them and squeezing extra value out of them. It's about putting extra value back (I also included discounts on all the stuff I was up/cross selling).

3. Don't sell product variants as upsells when you have other products to upsell

I used to follow the standard model of personal license on the front, resell/PLR/dev rights on the back. Until I discovered that you make way more money letting the customer just choose which variant they want right on the sales page and then upselling them other related products. Seriously, try it.

4. A flexible support team is a must

Big launch = lots of sales = lots of support

Even with the perfect product you will always have issues and the more you sell, the more support there will be.

If it hadn't been for the hard work and flexibility of my support team we'd have been absolutely snowed under but with 3 fantastic people on the front line and technical guys backing them up here in the office we got 99% of people dealt with effectively and a fast refund to the 1% where it went wrong.

Two people working 20 hours a week is far more valuable than one working 40 hours a week. The flexibility during launch peak volumes is invaluable.

5. Have a launch plan and tell people in advance

My launch plan looks like this.

A few days before launch I start telling my list about what is coming up in a couple of emails.

During the first week I'm only mailing my customers (and honouring all previous affiliate cookies) to make sure the offer converts as well as I'd expect.

After that affiliates can come on board for two weeks by which point they KNOW they'll make money on it because I have the sales data to prove it. I don't just rely on luck and people mailing on day one.

Regardless of how often you and your affiliates mail your lists during the launch period (Pro tip, more is better than less) make sure you send out an email or two with 48 and 24 hours to go. There is ALWAYS a spike as it's about to close of people sitting on the fence that will take action to buy if you remind them but will let the deadline pass if you don't.

More important than the exact layout of the launch plan, I communicated this plan to all of my partners and affiliates with plenty of advance notice so they knew what was going on and could block out time for it. Everyone had beta test copies plenty of time in advance of the launch too so they could see what the product was like and not be forced to rush a test of it on launch day to make sure they weren't promoting a turkey.

6. You don't win by recruiting general affiliates you win by attracting the right affiliates

I used to go after as many affiliates as I could. It's not hard to get several hundred people promoting during a launch. Unfortunately these are the kind of guys that will send 3 clicks and no sales.

Now I focus on working with the people that can drive hundreds or thousands of clicks each for dozens of sales and I focus on making them as much money as I possibly can. Hence high commission percentages paid on every product for life. Not just 100% of $5 now and nothing after that. The more you pay the more people will promote for you.


I hope that helps some of the aspiring product owners in the forum.

For everyone else. What are your top product launch strategies?

Cheers,

Andy

ETA: Whoops, sig deactivated!