Imagine spending months creating the perfect course, pouring your expertise and passion into every detail, only to see it fall flat upon launch!
It's a nightmare scenario that too many experts and course creators face. Despite their knowledge and experience, even seasoned professionals can stumble when it comes to launching their courses.
In this post, I'll uncover the three biggest mistakes that I've seen destroying many launches in the past years and, more importantly, how you can avoid them to ensure your course gets the attention and success it deserves.
As you may know by now, I've been promoting launches since 2007 as a JV partner of the big names of our industry... especially high-ticket launches... these launches are usually big launches with many affiliates promoting them, so it's very embarrassing when a launch fails miserably which had happened several times because of different reasons...
There are usual reasons such as split-testing different pages, creatives, copy, or even the offers themselves... However, I've seen 3 specific launch mistakes that were responsible for the failure of different launches many times...
These mistakes may seem weird to you... but based on what I've seen, they are catastrophic!
Let's start with the first and most obvious one...
Launch Mistake #1: Failing to Understand Your Audience Deeply
The first and most important part of any sales process is understanding your audience...
Their pain points, their desires, what they want, what keeps them awake at night... in other words, you must enter the conversation happening inside their heads...
And selling your product during a launch begins with this step early before you even create your product or offer!
Understanding that and knowing the language they use to describe their feelings or emotions can drastically affect your results...
It will affect how you communicate with them, the message you use, the prelaunch content you'll use to nurture and prepare them for the launch, and even some parts of your offer!
For example, one of the most common objections I always see during product launches is that most experts and thought leaders are not good at dealing with the tech part of the process (whatever you are teaching them,) so they don't feel confident that they can apply what they will learn in your program, and so they end not buying!
To overcome something like this you can easily offer a bonus that teaches them every single tech step they will need to apply what you teach!
You can even add an upsell of a DFY (done-for-you) service to do all the tech for them.
If you don't know your audience deep enough, you may not know this and so you won't be able to handle that objection early.
So what can you do to understand your audience deeply?
The first thing is to create your ideal customer avatar ... and it's normal to have more than one avatar...
For example, a social media marketing course is suitable for social media managers, small business owners, freelancers, and experts looking to build personal brands... these are 4 different avatars...
Each one of them has its own pain points and desires... you want to cater your marketing message to each segment of them... And the media where you can find them might be different as well...
For example, small business owners could be on LinkedIn and want to learn social media marketing to promote their company or to learn how to hire and manage social media managers effectively... unlike experts looking to build personal brands could be more on Instagram or Facebook and they want to build awareness about themselves so they can achieve the Know Like Trust (KLT) factor.
Do you think you will talk to both avatars the same way? I don't think so!
So you need to understand your audience and your avatars well before you even create your offer.
Now let's jump to the second killer pitfall...
Launch Mistake #2: Not Leveraging the Power of FOMO
Let me ask you 2 questions...
First, how many times did you buy a course or a product because it will not be available after a specific date?
And second, when was the last time you felt the urge to buy a product that's available all the time?
I'm sure that if you revise your latest purchases, you'll find that you bought 80% of products because they won't be available again while only 20% or less are the products you bought while they are always available (and even those, I can guess you were in an urgent need to get them, am I right?)
That's why every product MUST have a limited-time opening or a launch done for a couple of weeks then the product is not available for sale!
I know what you might be thinking...
"I want to sell my product all the time!"
Even though this looks good, it's a killer of products' sales numbers!
Why do you think big names in the industry are doing a yearly launch of their products where they open enrollment for a few days and then close it for a whole year?
Because of what I've already told you above...
Sales numbers are huge during these launches and not compared at all to sales numbers of evergreen products. In fact, if a specific evergreen product is doing an X amount of sales per year, then I assure you that it can make 5X-6X in sales when it's open for enrollment only once or twice per year!
Why is that?
Because of the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)...
When a product is only open for a few days, people will do whatever possible to get it before doors close... Of course, I'm talking about people who really need this product, not tire kickers!
If you sell a course to teach me how to sell on Amazon and I really want to sell on Amazon, I won't want to wait another year to get it! I want to be in the game ASAP because I need to be an established brand when the holiday season begins... But what if your course is open all the time?
Most probably, I'll wait some time thinking, analyzing, reading reviews, etc., and maybe I'll find another course other than yours and won't buy your course at all!
People are doing this ... I'm not exaggerating... there are some simpler reasons for not buying you won't imagine!
I've seen that all the time...
A very famous name in our industry has fallen into that trap... He launched a course that broke most sales records during its initial launch... but this person decided to make it evergreen after the end of the launch... guess what happened?
The course lost its popularity and sales are 90% lower than the launch time... so what did this person do?
He launched the course under a different name the next year (as if it's a new one and changed a few things) then once the launch was over he closed enrollment for an entire year!
He learned the lesson the hard way! You don't want to do the same, don't you?
So leverage the power of launches... use the months between launches to build a new audience, add them to a waiting list, engage with them, nurture them, and build anticipation for the next launch... then do a prelaunch for 10-15 days and open cart for 4-7 days only!
This time frame is based on successful launches I have seen all over the years...
In the last decade, we used to see one-third of sales coming on day 1 of the open cart, one-third on the last day of the launch, and the remaining third happens in the middle period...
Now I'm seeing a new pattern... most launches now see 30% of sales on day 1, 60% of sales on the last day, and only 10% during the rest of the launch!
What does this till you?
Yes! FOMO and scarcity are the big players these days! Leverage them to your advantage.
And this takes us to the final mistake that I've never seen anyone mention it...
Launch Mistake #3: Failing to Value and Respect Your JV Partners
This is a huge huge mistake...
Of course, when you are launching for the first time, you won't have any JV partners because you need solid numbers before recruiting them to promote you...
But as you have these numbers and do some proven launches, you'll want to invite affiliates to promote your course... this is a game changer...
But never undervalue them... or don't you dare to treat them with a lack of respect... otherwise you will be destroying your reputation!
Here are some mistakes I've seen when it comes to dealing with JV partners (a.k.a. affiliate partners):
- Not paying them on time
- Not reciprocating (i.e.: promoting the products of your top JV partners)
- Neglecting their emails or requests
- Not tracking their sales correctly
- Promising them something then not fulfilling it
These are examples of some common mistakes I've seen repeatedly...
The worst of them are the first and the last...
Not paying on time will kill the trust between you and your affiliates... while not keeping your promises will end the partnership forever!
Let me tell you a story but I won't mention any names here!
I was a participant in the biggest launch in the history of our industry... The vendors (product creators) were new to the market... nobody had known their names before that launch... and at the same time, they were teaching a new business model at the time, so no one was even familiar with what they taught...
What did they do?
They partnered with a pioneer in the online business world whom all of us know very well as he was very kind and successful... They made a deal with him to introduce them to affiliates and to be the director behind that launch...
As you can imagine the big players responded to this man and promoted very hard and the offer was great, so the product literally crushed it and put these guys on the map and a new niche was born...
They launched 3 or 4 times later with even bigger success... so what happened after that?
Those course creators made every possible mistake you can imagine (except for payments to be honest!)
They didn't treat that pioneer with the respect he deserved (and when I talked to him later, I noticed bitterness when I referenced that launch and I realized they hadn't acknowledged him!)
These guys didn't reciprocate with their top affiliates on their launches, and therefore those affiliates stopped promoting any subsequent launch for that product...
They created a group of elite partners who achieved a certain amount of sales and told us that we'll be VIP guests for any future live event they host FREE... and guess what? They didn't keep this promise and even asked us to pay to attend any of their live events!
They also promised a 3-day retreat for the elite partners' group that they canceled later and never hosted!
They even didn't respond to my latest emails (while in the earlier days, they were the ones who contacted me regularly to promote them!)
Do you know why they did that? Because at that time, they decided to stop launching that product and thought they would never need those JVs again!
But since all the following products have failed miserably, they went back to that product, updated it, and then relaunched it...
What do you think the result was?
No one of their early affiliates promoted them... No one single big name promoted them... and as a normal result, their latest launches failed as I've never seen before!
Sad story, right? However, it's 100% true!
This is why you want to treat your affiliates with the most suitable respect they deserve as these guys and gals are doing their best to help you build your business and bring new customers to you that you'd never have if not for them!
JV partners are the needle movers for any big launch... and you want to leverage that... but once they come, give them the respect and acknowledgment they deserve.
Now you know the biggest 3 launch mistakes that are capable of killing all your efforts ...
Key Takeaways
1. Deep Audience Understanding: Create comprehensive customer avatars and understand your audience's needs and objections. This will help you tailor your messaging and offerings to better resonate with them.
2. Utilize FOMO: Plan your launches with specific open and close dates to create a sense of urgency. This strategy can significantly increase your sales compared to keeping your course available all the time.
3. Respect Your JV Partners: Ensure timely payments, reciprocate support, maintain good communication, and honor commitments. Building strong, respectful relationships with your JV partners is essential for sustained success.
By avoiding these common mistakes and implementing the recommended strategies, you can enhance your course launch's success, build a strong reputation, and ensure long-term growth in your business.
Now if you are ready to take your course launches to the next level and avoid these common pitfalls, download my free 13-step launch checklist to ensure every aspect of your launch is covered.
This checklist will help you plan, execute, and optimize your launches for maximum success. Click the button below to get your free checklist and start launching like a pro today!
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