The webinars are over, the questions have all been answered and the cart is closed… but now that it’s all over, you’re wondering what to do….
What to Do After You Launch Your Course or Membership
A lot goes into an online launch. There are emails to write, landing pages to design, masterclasses and webinars to record, live events to host, questions to answer and open carts to promote.
When the cart closes on the very last day it’s common to get a feeling of finality. It’s done. You gave your all – for better or worse and now you feel like taking a long nap. The reality is, even after the cart has closed, you’ve got work to do to prepare to make your next launch is even better.
Post Launch Strategy
Congratulate yourself
First, congratulate yourself. Take at least a ½ day to just think about what you’ve accomplished. Whether you view the launch as ultimately successful or not, you did a lot of work. Recognize and appreciate that, particularly if it’s your first launch. Nothing is as hard as a first launch.
Send non-buyers an email and brief survey
You send a lot of emails during a launch, but one you need to add to your list is the post launch email. After your cart has closed, let a day or two go by and then send a short email out to those people who didn’t buy and thank them for their attention during the launch.
The reality is, even if someone didn’t buy from you now, there’s a good chance they’ll buy from you in the future. So be sure to treat your non-buyers well. In addition to thanking them, you could ask them to fill out a very short survey asking:
- Why they didn’t buy
- How can you serve them best in the future
Surveys work better than “reply to this email and let me know” because they feel anonymous and like less work than sending an email.
Post Launch Debrief
Once the dust has settled and you’ve had a day or two for rest, do a brain dump session. First on your own, and then with your team. Ask your team to write down their thoughts prior to the meeting so they don’t forget their first thoughts. Talk about worked and the things that didn’t.
Some of the things to consider:
- Where did you and the team shine?
- What did you struggle with that you need to change or eliminate next time?
- What new ideas did you come up with during the launch that you just didn’t have time to implement properly?
- What questions were asked that will need addressing in the future?
- How did the timeline feel? Was the cart open too long? Not long enough?
- Do you need to add team members to any component of the launch process?
Look at Your Launch Numbers
Next take a look at your numbers. There are nearly endless numbers to consider beyond the number of sales you made. Dig into all the components of the launch, from ad spend to email click thrus, masterclass attendees to sales page views.
As you document your numbers you’ll start to see patterns:
- Did certain email subject lines get more clicks?
- Did your audience attend spontaneous FB lives more than they did pre-scheduled webinars?
- Was one day of the week better for holding a webinar or masterclass?
- Where did most of your buyers come from, your list (warm traffic) or an ad (cold traffic)?
These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to numbers you need to consider.
Launching is a numbers game for the most part. It can be easy to feel defeated if your cart closes and you didn’t get the sales you expected, but when you break down and investigate the numbers, many times you can take away the sting by realizing your numbers weren’t all that bad. It’s about more than sales.
Prepare to Launch Again
Your first launch should be thought of as your practice launch. It’s the one you use to get all the pieces in place so you can grow and improve the next time. If the launch didn’t go as you’d planned, try to really think through what needs improvement moving forward rather than giving up on your offer altogether.
- Do you need a different lead magnet to add a different type of person to your list? Is your current lead magnet not in alignment with your offer and attracting the wrong type of person for what you’re trying to sell?
- Do you need to spend time building a bigger list? If a successful launch is 3-5% of a warm list, perhaps you just need more people on the list before you launch again.
- What types of questions were you being asked during the launch and did your offer answer those questions?
- Would a different time of year work better?
Launching is a lot of work. There are many steps to the process you can’t fully understand until you’ve got that first launch under your belt. Make it easier on yourself by truly thinking of it as a practice launch that you can use as a baseline for continued growth and improvement for each launch moving forward. Take notes, look at the data and prepare to come back stronger every launch that you do.
Would you like to get a round up of all of the steps to a launch? You can get my launch checklist here.
