I’ve always heard that launching a product can be an incredibly stressful experience, but as a marketer it’s something you have to go through at some stage.
I’ve heard some horror stories of things going wrong in major product launches, like servers going down, emails getting blocked because too many people are mailing out etc..
But I always figured those things happened to the “Big Name” marketers with hundreds of people promoting, and thousands and thousands of people flocking to the website.
So when it came for me to do my very first launch (albeit a “mini” launch) I thought that I was going to be safe enough and have a smooth run…
Boy, was I wrong!…
The reason I actually did a limited pre-release launch was two fold.
Reason #1
First of all, I wanted to give my readers a “front of the line” chance at getting my new product and putting it to use so that they’d have a headstart over everyone else who gets it when I do the main launch in the future.
I was also hoping to get some good feedback and possibly some more testimonials from people that I can use to improve the course for everyone.
Reason #2
But, since this was my first launch, I wanted to make sure that I did it small scale at first, so even if things did go wrong, I wouldn’t have a hundred angry JV partners after me.
You may not know this about me, but I’m a bit “particular” about making sure everything is as good as it can be. Which is why I test a lot in my marketing. And if I have partners that are good enough to mail out for me, I want to make sure that we all benefit from the partnership.
So what went wrong?
Well, in many ways the launch was actually a great success – I made a profit (which is always good 
) and people were excited about the product (which is also good!)
But there were a few things that I could have improved.
1) The first one was making sure everything was ready ahead of time … I mean WAY ahead of time.
One thing that I’m not particularly good at is copywriting, so I had to get help from a professional. My copy guy is great at what he does and I was really excited to see what he could do.
But then …
Things started to go against us…
First of all he actually had to go into hospital for surgery (he’s ok thankfully) which put him behind schedule.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, his wife then had to go in for an emergency appendectomy (is that how you spell it? :-)) a day or so before the site was due to go live.
The end result was that the night before the launch he stayed up all night working on the copy until about 8am just to make sure it was ready in time for me to launch.
I can’t thank him enough for the effort he put in – but it resulted in a lot of unwanted stress for both of us. (And with this being my first launch, I didn’t want any!)
2) The second problem was the delivery mechanism.
Because this course came on DVD, it was a little more complicated than just setting up a download page on my website. I had to have a way of taking orders, sending them to a shipping company, and then have them fulfill the orders all automatically.
I managed to get a script to do this for me. After testing it myself and with a few other people, it all seemed to work perfectly.
But, on launch day, I found out that there were some people who couldn’t order because their country wasn’t listed. (Apparently the shipping company only ships to certain countries)
During my testing this hadn’t been a problem since most people testing it were in North America or in Europe.
The problem only cropped up AFTER the site had gone live and when it was too late to change to anything else.
Fortunately, this was only for a small percentage of people and I was able to fulfill orders manually myself, but still, it wasn’t perfect.
So what’s the moral of my ramblings?
Basically, it doesn’t matter how experienced you are, you are always going to face problems in marketing (and I guess, life in general).
But what matters is how you react to those problems.
I was lucky that I had a great copy guy who worked through the night, when others could have easily postponed, especially given the circumstances. And I was also able to send out orders manually to make sure people got a copy of the course.
Everyday is a learning experience.
I think that one of the things that separates the successful from the not-so-successful is how you react and grow based on those experiences.
So whatever you do, try to LEARN from your experiences whether they be good, bad, or a mixture of both.
To YOUR Success,
Hey Richard!
Great advice indeed! Even what most people might perceive as ‘failures’ aren’t failures, as long as you are determined to not give up (they become learning experiences instead).
Congrats on the very successful launch and just as important, learning from it!
Jit
Congradulations on your first launch I ordered the course and looking forward to getting it.You’re right every day is a learning experience and what doesn’t kill only makes us stronger.
Hey Richard,
Don’t sweat it, you did the right thing by keeping your first launch small.
The ‘unknown probs’ can happen to just about anybody and it sounded like you overcame them, coming out unscathed fortunately. AND you even made a profit so, all in all, go pat yourself on the back ! :o)
Just think how you would have really sweated had you just gone through Frank Kerns’ Mass Control Launch today. He was also shipping out a bunch of DVD’s, Reports, Manuals etc. He told everyone he was restricting it to 2000 orders and did the tease of pre-emailing his sign-up website that was going to go ‘live’ at 12 noon PST today. At the appointed time his servers soon got jammed and he sold out in around 50 mins!
Now there’s a REAL potential headache right there, with the fulfillment,
shipping etc. plus all the angst of the people who weren’t quick enough and got shut out. But, I guess he has the experience and enough people to handle that hopefully.
You also did the right thing IMO, by not releasing your bonuses until after
we receive your course and have a chance to go through it.
That would have been ‘cart before the horse’ and possibly distracting.
Nope, from where I’m sitting, you can’t call yourself ‘an idiot’ as you said on your email, sounds like everything went according to your plan with very minor glitches.
So, just think ahead now, building on this foundation for a bigger launch in a few months. By then, you’ll have an extra mouth to feed ;o)
Congratulations Richard,
Thanks for the advice “How NOT To Launch A Product?” I have your course. I received the course in 3 days! Unfortunately, I am experiecing sound problems with my laptop. I have been unable to watch the training videos. However, I have been able to read the 27 PDF files this week.
Frankly, I can’t think of even ONE possible reason why anyone on your list would pass up your course “Traffic Uncut”. Everyone wants to know how to generate more traffic. The PDF’s are filled with good advice. resources and tips.
I have been reading, learning and implementing things to test little by little all week. Richard, your marketing methods have been proven to work by “regular people” like me. I have every confidence that your course will take my internet marketing skills to the next level.
“Thank You Richard”
Hi Richard,
Thanks for sharing your product launch experience as well as your philosophy on managing any issues that may arise; whether in business or life in general. I daresay success stems from ones mindset and successful people are those who have the courage to move out of their comfort zone.
3 types of people in the world today…
Ones who say that the glass is half full
Ones who say that the glass is half empty
And those who say……. Hey man! I ordered a beer not a milkshake!
Hope all is well with the imminent arrival of the bub.
Kind regards,
Matt
Hello Richard:
I guess the main lesson you learned with this mini-launch was this “Always expect the unexpected”. You did a great job of taking the problems you ran into and handle them very well. Who could have foreseen two trips to the hospital in you copywriters family at the worst time for your launch? You handled the stress very well and did what you had to do to make it work! This blog post will enlighten your list as to things to complete before a launch. Once again “Always expect the unexpected”. Thanks for the blog Ricard.
Your next product should be “How to launch a product”.
Hi Richard,
Good to see you are willing to share your learning experiences with the rest of us. This launch thing is big whether it is a pre-mini launch or a major launch. Keep up the great work.
Bee
Hi Richard,
I guess stuff happens and it always will. Attitude is the key here. If you can find a smile in the mess somewhere, you’ll be okay.
Lois
Great advice. My partner and I are in the process of working on a product and we will definitely keep this post in mind when we soft launch.
Thank you!