You’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into doing market research and building a product that your market will love.
You’ve picked a launch date for your product, maybe ran some ads, and talk about it endlessly on your social profiles.
You’ve ran the numbers and have a guess at what your launch day sales will be, but you’re a little nervous because you haven’t collected any money yet.
There is a better way than waiting until launch day to see how things go with your product launch.
It’s better not only for you and your company, but also better for your raving fans and other’s who may be interested in what you have to offer.
Do your launch the right way with a Product Launch Funnel.
Introduction to the Product Launch Funnel
The idea behind making a funnel to help launch your product is that you will not only be creating a better experience for your audience, but you will also be making money before the launch, getting market feedback, and having better estimates on what your launch day will look like.
You will also create massive anticipation and FOMO, which will help drive sales.
The process can be as complex or as simple as you’d like, as you can see from the graphic below.
Your Product Launch Funnel will start with an awesome product page that gives your audience all the specs, features, and benefits of your product they could need.
Then you simply ask your audience to keep updated on the development of your product and your launch plans.
The people who opt in will be good leads who are interested in your product, but you don’t have to stop there.
Since there are a lot of different things you can do in your launch funnel, we will cover some aspects in more detail below.
Gaining Followers Before The Launch
It’s important to gain steam going into a product launch.
If you simply run some ads for awareness, you won’t create much buzz or make as big of an impact.
If you make your product launch a real event and make an effort to build an email list, (which is a very powerful business asset) before your product launches, then you will be way ahead of the game in terms of finding people to sell to.
There are several ways you can go about gaining followers (and some pre-sale money) prior to your launch.
Giving Early Bird Launch Discounts
If people show interest in your product and sign up for your newsletter to stay informed about your product, they are considered a lead.
Why not test the lead right away to see if they are also a buyer.
After they sign up for your product updates, send them to a page that offers them an early-bird discount for your product.
Sure you won’t get as much money as if you had waiting for the launch, but an early-bird buyer is a vote of confidence in your product.
It’s also great revenue to pump right back into ad spend to reach more people than you would have previously. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow because of what you can do with it now.
Show Them Behind-the-Scenes
As people sign up for updates, let them know they will also be getting sneak-peaks behind the scenes of the development of your product.
If you are in very early stages of product development, you can even use the behind-the-scenes looks to ask your audience what they think of certain features of the product so far.
This will really help in shaping your product and giving your audience what they truly want.
If you have a finished product and are closer to launch, show people your company, your research rooms, the people behind the product.
Show them the different features of the product from a fresh perspective and how each feature will benefit them.
People love to feel like an insider. Give them insider access.
Keep Them Updated
People want to know the status of your product as you develop it. This is especially true if they take the early bird price.
Provide transparency in where you are at in development, and how likely you are to hit the current launch date.
Let them know of new features being added or taken away based on customer feedback.
Give Special Bonuses
Add value to your early-adopters.
Give them a special guide or course on how to use your product.
Show them different ways they can use it in their life than they may have already thought of.
Give them personalized access to you or your development team to answer their questions.
People love getting extra value for the same price.
Go above and beyond and give it to them in your Product Launch Funnel.
Let Loose The Affiliates
Want to increase your reach and make your current early-bird customers happy?
Create an affiliate program where customers can make money by sharing your product with others.
Money is a big motivator, and in this case you are only paying if your affiliate makes a sale.
Creating an affiliate program will vastly increase your reach before the launch.
If you are looking for a software that can help you build your Product Launch Funnel and already has an affiliate program build in, you should check out ClickFunnels.
They have a 14-day free trial to get you started.
Is It Unethical to Make Sales Before The Product Is Available?
No.
Everybody wins when you go about making pre-sales before you launch.
You get money that you can put back into marketing your product and expanding your reach.
You get early feedback from your audience and develop your product based on what they actually want, and not just guessing what they want.
Your audience gets an insider-experience. They get to say they were with the product form the beginning. They should also be given a fairly steep discount for showing you support so early on.
Many software companies offer lifetime deals for early adopters to help get this early feedback and backing money.
The Product Launch Thank You Page
The initial goal of your Product Launch Funnel is to get people to sign up for updates, thus building your lead list.
Next, you hit them with an early bird discount to go with their insider access.
Whichever route people take, you should present them with a thank you page on what to expect for their next steps.
If they don’t take the early bird special, maybe you want to offer them a monthly payment plan.
If they do, let them know when to expect their deliverables.
Either way, let them know on the thank you page what to expect from their insider access.
Learn More About Lead Funnels
The Product Launch Funnel is a great way to get people in early and get them excited about your product.
By having them on your email list you can constantly remind them of your product, and show them the development process while asking for and taking their feedback into consideration.
You can implement this funnel to gain leads, or you can check out some of the other types of lead gen funnels out there that can help you build up your email list.
If you want to know more about the elements that make up a good lead funnel, as well as check out over 106 world-class examples of lead funnels that work, check out The Lead Funnels Swipe File.
