🪐 To the moon
A successful product launch has the potential to generate nearly $3M in sales in only two weeks. Dutch company VanMoof achieved these monumental numbers with the launch of their ebike in 2018, so why can’t your product be next? 🤑
Let’s get straight into how to build hype, value, and everything else your consumers need to ensure your product launches and soars to new heights! 🚀
🙌 Preach!
Leverage available social media and communication channels to build awareness around your new product launch.
From here on out, we’ll refer to dedicated product launch posts as “hype posts” simply because they build excitement and awareness about the product you’re launching. 📢
Keeping hype posts and related blogs restricted to your website significantly reduces your product launch's impact since only your most dedicated fans will access your site regularly.
Respect consumers' privacy and social feeds by limiting your hype posts to 1 - 2 per week and only about 2-3 weeks before your product actually launches.
Why?
Because you want to leave enough time for people to organically build hype around your product.
Launching your product too quickly after its announcement may let all of your efforts slip under the radar.
🤏 A teaser
Your product information should be vague enough to pique your viewers’ curiosity while ensuring they know it’s your brand they need to be watching for the next little while.
Keeping some details about the new product hidden from the public lets intrigue naturally build in your audience.
Apple’s new M2 Mac Mini ad does a great job of partially concealing the new product while leveraging the brand’s reputation for minimal and stylish products.
Provide just enough detail so that people want to know more about how your product is an improvement over your old one or how this new product will benefit the consumer in a new way.
🚂 Ride the hype train
Use the hype your social media posts generate to grow your subscriber lists.
Offering priority access to new information or the product launch itself could generate valuable attention from new and returning customers, converting them from checkout guests to members in a heartbeat. ❣️
And if consumers really love your product after their first purchase, there’s hardly a reason why they wouldn’t sign up for priority access to your next big thing!
Offering exclusive access to product launch windows through subscriptions can work well too. Consumers expect significantly more value in member-exclusive launches, so consider offering a slight discount on top of exclusive access to sweeten the deal. 🤝
Remember that consumers don’t like to be forced into a membership, so offer any additional benefits you can afford if your brand chooses a member-exclusive launch strategy.
You could also blend these two strategies into one by offering a discount on the first 100 orders so people can rush to purchase your products.
✏️ Craft messaging and copy to leverage the FOMO experience
Provide a live inventory count as products are pre-ordered. This approach works extremely well for seasonal releases or collaborations with adjacent brands because it elevates the exclusivity of the product and drives purchase intent through the roof.
You could also try a staggered release. This is where brands release batches of new products to purchase over several days, giving people more opportunities to participate in a launch event.
If a consumer were to miss the first launch event, they could show up for the next batch of products and still achieve the same thrills that come with snagging the latest product on launch day. 🛍️
For brands, it’s an effective way to keep an audience coming back to your site and locking their attention on your socials over multiple days.
Consumers will want another shot at grabbing a new product for themselves, which boosts valuable engagement levels and newsletter sign-ups.
🚀 It’s all led up to this moment
It’s time to launch your product, but don’t stress! When launch day approaches, follow these tips 👇
📣 Utilize incoming reviews and testimonials
Early adopters will likely post reviews, unboxing videos, and share testimonials about your product. Tap into that content leading up to the release of your next batch of products to get more audience attention and build anticipation.
Additionally, everyone has a friend they want to share their latest purchase with! If one friend buys your product at the initial launch, you can bet their friend will want to be first in line to get a product of their own so they can share their excitement.
🤓 Engage with your audience on socials
Stay in touch with the comment section on your hype posts to answer questions for your audience or provide more specific details about the launch event.
More eyes are drawn to accounts actively engaging with their social media content, and for your upcoming launch day, the more eyes you can get on your content, the better! 👍
🤝Stock your CX
Your social media posts aren’t the only place your consumers will try to reach you. 👀
Whether you use email, a chatbot, or a good ol’ fashioned telephone, make sure you have ample customer service support available 24/7. 📞 This ensures that all customer queries are answered promptly, helping drive sales and loyalty.
♻️ Post-launch experience
Once the initial honeymoon phase of your launch is over, expect people to reflect on how excited they were as they waited for your product to arrive and what it felt like to see their new product for the first time. ✨
Double-dip into those feelings and feature unboxing and reaction videos on social channels and email campaigns. 🎁 This adds credibility to your product and generates excitement for your brand far beyond the initial launch period of a new product.
You might even want to use past unboxing experiences and reactions in your next launch campaigns as a way to say:
“Remember how excited you all were for the last drop? We’ve got something even bigger coming your way!”
🐺 Prep your customer satisfaction survey
Ask customers for feedback on their launch experience to improve your process for the next time.
If something like the checkout didn’t go smoothly or your ecommerce site experienced some technical difficulties, it’s important to iron out these issues before your next launch. 🙌
Ask questions about the customer experience: what did they enjoy, what didn’t they like, etc. Use survey forms like Typeform or Survey Monkey to help distribute your questionnaire.
By gaining insight into customer sentiment and satisfaction, you can leverage these insights for smoother, more effective launches in the future!
🚀 3… 2… 1…
A successful product launch could be your gateway to viral success and put your brand on the map for many years to come.
It may take a few tries to get right, but once your launch experience lands with the right audience, there’s no telling how far your brand will go. 💪
What was your last launch experience like? What learning did you take away from it to improve the next one? Let us know in a reply!
