The 4 Stages of a Great Launch Campaign

One of the best ways to find shed loads of new customers, wheeling them into your business by wheelbarrow, and dumping them off right by the cash register, is having a launch.
In the last few years, we’ve enjoyed great success by implementing launches. Each has been bigger and better than the last, as we’ve learned what works. Launches work best if you’ve got something completely new to offer, but can also bring a boost in sales to the same products/services you’ve been selling for years.
Through our experience, we’ve found the best launches have 4 distinct stages. These stages help push your potential customers through the campaign and get them to buy. The next time you do a launch of any kind – make sure you have all 4 of these stages in place.
Below is a rough timeline of what a great launch campaign should look like. The numbers show the days of the campaign and the colour bars show you which stage of the campaign you should focus on at that time.
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Stage 1: The Pre-Launch

The pre-launch stage is a critical step to a successful launch and yet most people ignore it all together. A launch works well because people are excited about the cool new thing suddenly on offer to them. You need that buzz for your potential customers because if they’re not excited – they’re not going to buy.
In the pre-launch stage we set up a ‘Priority List’ sometimes called an ‘Early bird List’ etc.
The only aim at this stage is to get people to volunteer to join a priority list – so that they hear about the launch before everyone else. There’s no obligation for them to buy (and you should tell them that!) but don’t tell them what it is you’re launching. Just hint at it. You want to build intrigue as well as excitement.
The key word here is scarcity.
We find the best way to make a launch work well is to have a limited number of products available.
If you only have 200 products available (our favourite number to use) then the priority list becomes a really easy ‘sell’ because you might sell out before you even have a chance to launch to the public!
When we run launches this involves 3 emails driving people to sign up for our ‘VIP Priority List’.
A great little trick here is to offer some bonuses to people who do purchase after they’ve signed up for the priority list.
e.g. “To get on the Priority List so that you get all the info first about this brilliant new product (seriously, it’s the best thing we’ve ever done) make sure you click the link below. There’s no obligation but it makes sure you get a chance to jump the queue if you decide to get involved AND you’ll get extra added bonuses…”  
The key thing here is that we are getting people to volunteer to receive emails about whatever it is we are launching. It’s a great way to build excitement, curiosity and a list of people who you can be sure are going to open the first announcement email you send!

Stage 2: The Priority Launch

Now that you have a list of excited prospects all dying to hear about your launch – it’s time to let them know what the launch is all about.
But before we do… let’s build the excitement even more! A couple of emails hinting about how amazing your new product is, perhaps showing the response you’ve had from people who’ve had a sneak peek at the new product etc. are a great way to get people very excited about what’s coming up.
A few days later – it’s time for the Priority Launch.
This is where you announce your product/service to the Priority List (do not release it to anyone else yet!).
We find the best way to announce a launch is through video. So these few emails should drive your priority list to a video where you can go into detail about the product and sell it.
The good news is we should now have a list of people begging to know more about the product and who will jump at the first opportunity to learn more.
This means you shouldn’t need to sell too much in the emails – you don’t need to try too hard to convince them to learn more because they’ve already volunteered!
We usually give our priority list 2 days before we launch to the wider world. Send them an email announcing they have access and another reminding them the next day.
Assuming your product is good, your webpage and video convert well and your audience is right for what you do – you should make a nice chunk of sales just from the priority launch.

Stage 3: The Launch

Now we’re getting to the main event – the launch.
The priority launch is done – hopefully, you’ve made some sales – now it’s time to go wide and launch to anyone who didn’t sign up to the priority list.
Start by looking at what emails elicited the greatest response from the priority list and tweak them for the main launch.
We like to run our main launch over 10 days. It’s long enough to make sure the prospects receive enough information and have time to think about their decision – but also short enough that the message isn’t dragged out and we stay in people’s mind.
Your sales page and video should do the selling of your product – the focus of your emails should be to ‘sell’ the click to get them there.
We usually send an email every day during a launch. It’s important that people know what we’re selling and have all the information they need to decide whether to buy.
We like to keep our emails a little more fun and informal to stand out from the usual marketing emails out there.

Stage 4: The Deadline

This is the final stage in a great launch campaign – and the most profitable!
No matter what we’re selling, no matter when we’re selling it deadline day always brings in the most sales.
Any great launch campaign needs a deadline – it needs a reason for people to buy NOW.
We like to mention the deadline throughout the campaign but really push it hard as far as 5 days away.
Depending on your campaign you may have several deadlines…
You may have a deadline for the priority list, one for the bonus gifts, etc.
The most important thing when it comes to your deadline is to stick to it.
There’s nothing worse than the cheesy ‘We’ve decided to extend the deadline’ email….
As soon as the clock strikes 12 (or whenever your deadline is!?) you should shut down the cart and send a nice thank you email to everyone who received the marketing. It’s the classy way to end a launch campaign and will keep your prospects in good spirits with you until your next launch!