The Secret Ingredient For a Successful Launch Strategy

Eighty-one percent of business owners never make even $100. Not to be a buzz kill, but that's one sad stat. It's sad not only because the numbers are so low, but because I know people who are part of this 81% (and I bet you do too).

The good news?

Most beginning business owners are enthusiastic entrepreneurs who are excited about leveraging new technology to build something new and creative around a passion or skill. 

Now that we can work with!

And there's an under-utilized technology that's been right in front of your face this whole time.

Every week someone writes an article on how email is dead or dying and needs to be replaced. The social media gurus will only talk about how to increase your Twitter and Facebook followers. What they won’t say is that engagement is terribly low on those platforms.

On Facebook it is often hard to get even 15% of your fans to see a single post, and even then there is no guarantee they will actually read it. Or make a purchase because of it.

Compare that to the fact that the ROI on email for small businesses has staggering return on investment of 73%.

Let me say that again: the Return On Investment for email marketing is 73 percent.

Got your attention? Good!

Cooking up a Killer Launch Strategy

There's one oh-so-important ingredient to get in place before you set it loose: your email launch strategy.

But don't worry. We've got you covered.

Here's your Zero Guesswork email launch strategy for your next big product:

Keep It Simple

For each new launch, you'll want to create a new email list. All the subscribers—no matter where they signed up—go onto that one list. Doing this marks them as someone who has shown interest in that product or course (making it even easier to email them about your amazing new creation).

The first place to start getting email subscribers on your list is from a pre-launch interest list added to a custom landing page. You can link to that landing page in emails, on social media, and in groups you're part of (if that's okay by the group admin). Start collecting email addresses before you're ready to sell your product and you'll have a leg up.

Sign Them Up

Now you need two sign up forms that each point to that same list. The first sign up form is what you connect to your pre-launch interest list page, the second will go at the end of each of your educational blog posts.

Pro tip - A great place to re-use your email content is on your blog. Change up the wording slightly so it reads like a blog post and not like an email and make use of that valuable real estate at the bottom of the post with an email opt in form.

Using Simplero makes it really easy to setup multiple forms and track views and conversion statistics separately for each one. For example a good landing page should convert qualified visitors to an email subscriber at a rate between 5% and 11%. Whereas a form at the bottom of a blog post typically converts at a significantly lower rate.

A note on conversion rates

A bit off topic, but we have to stop here to make a quick note about conversion rates.

Most people think that a page or form converts at a certain rate. Meaning if you take any traffic source, point it to a specific page, then x% of purchasers or subscribers will come out the other side of the Internet machine.

That’s simply not true. The outcome of your landing page have far less to do with the total conversion rate than the quality of each visitor. Conversion rates often start high (as your most dedicated fans hit the page), then drop as you promote the page to a larger audience.

If you hear of a radically high conversion rate, always ask about where the traffic came from and how pre-qualified it was. That’s actually why email is so insanely effective compared to other sources: you have time to pre-qualify and pre-sell all the traffic.

Time To Write

Instead of writing a dozen or more sales-centered emails to your new list of adoring fans, focus on writing three to four emails educating your audience on a topic you’re passionate about (hopefully it’s related to that course you’re selling at the end).

This could look like some course content you decided to pull from the final product, maybe it’s the behind-the-scenes of how you use what you’re teaching in your own business.

Since many course creators teach what they wish they had known when they started out, dig back into your thought archives and recall what mattered most to you back then. Give them what they need now and provide as much value as possible - you won’t be taking anything away from your course content by doing this, promise.

Just be sure your educational emails contain the following:

• a quick update on the progress of the course
• a request to share the email (or the blog post where you’ve already setup this email content on your blog)
• value - some people would even say to write something so valuable you almost want to charge for it. That’s when you know you’ve got something good.

Pro tip - Use these same emails and publish them on your blog (taking out the email formatting, of course) and then add your post-blog opt in form at the bottom. Add in a call to action at the end of your post inviting your readers to join your email list. Adding the call to action inside your blog post can increase conversions 3-4% on that form.

Launch Time

Once it’s launch day, the hard work is done. Send a simple email (and post it on your blog) saying that the product is ready and pointing them to where they can buy it. Keep this one simple and super clear.

You’ve built up anticipation for weeks or even months and your list is primed to hear about it. When you get lazy and cut straight to the sales pitch that's when your launch starts to hit the danger zone.

So, yes, your emails matter (and can do double duty) in a course launch but there’s one more tool you can use to get even more sales through those emails in the days after you’ve officially launched and before your doors close.

Hot Ticket Item

Have you ever been out shopping and been on the fence whether or not to buy that pair of shoes? Often just knowing that it is 30% off today (and won’t be tomorrow) is enough to push you over to buying now. Urgency is a really common marketing technique because it works so well.

For course creators it is very dangerous if a customer thinks “Oh, I’ll buy that later.” Because chances are if you don’t buy it right now, when your interest is the highest, you’ll forget or lose interest.

There are four easy ways that you can create urgency in your launch emails to get your on-the-fence customers to purchase now:

1. Have sale or promotional pricing ending soon
2. Make the product available for a limited amount of time
3. Provide an additional bonus available for a limited time for your previous customers
4. Limit the quantity available for sale

And all of this can and should be communicated via email. The timing will vary depending on how long your cart is open, if your course is evergreen, and a few other factors but these urgency based emails will all come after that initial launch email.

Should you do all 4? Absolutely not. But picking one or two strategies that will resonate with your audience can produce massive results. With careful planning, your urgency emails can skyrocket sales up front and then create a ripple effect for the rest of your launch.

You + Email = A Winning Formula

We want your course launch to be successful and this guide is a great outline to have it all line up. With the powerful tools Simplero provides to build your course and email marketing, you’ll be ready to roll for your next launch and beyond.

Now it's your turn! Share how you're using email in your next launch in the comments below. Have a launch or email strategy you've implemented with Simplero and want us to feature it on this blog? Email us at hello@simplero.com!