The Launch Strategy That Made Me $8k in 3 Days

My Pre-Launch Strategy

💡 marks things I’d do differently, which are all discussed below.

For context—I’m a full-time freelancer. I talk about it on social media and get a lot of questions. A course made a ton of sense because I simply don’t have capacity to answer each question one-on-one.

In April, I shared that I was launching a course. The initial plan was to launch by the end of May (spoiler, it launched at the end of July 💡).

I created 5 videos during that time to promote the course. I used ManyChat to automate sending a link to a waitlist hosted on Stan. 💡

I closed the waitlist 3 days before the course launch, downloaded the email list from Stan, and uploaded it into Kajabi (where I host my course).

The Actual Launch Strategy

The course launched on Friday, July 26th at 8 AM EST. 💡 Waitlist members received a 20% discount code expiring that Sunday at 11:59 PM EST.

I queued up 5 emails to go out, following this format:

1. 2 days before: Launching Soon (begin to build hype)

2. 1 day before: Launches Tomorrow (gave them their code, let them know what’s inside the course)

3. Day of: Course is Here (more on what the course included)

4. Day the code expired: FAQ (answering any objections they may have)

5. Day after code expired: One Final Reminder (won’t pester you any further, just here to answer questions you might have)

The majority of conversions came on the course launch day (this is expected). Another 3 customers converted on the FAQ though.

It’s worth setting up a full 5-email series. You never know when someone will convert.

What I’d Do Differently

LESSON 1: 💡 I’m not sure what planet I was on when I thought I could get an entire course created and launched in 2 months…on top of my full-time work and keeping up with normal content creation work.

Map out how long you think it’ll take you, then double it.

LESSON 2: 💡 Don’t announce the course until you’re closer to the actual launch. Maybe 1 month out. I had 650 people on the waitlist by the time I launched, but many likely forgot they had even signed up.

This isn’t the end of the world. I now own those emails and can continue to market to these folks. But I probably would’ve converted more if the time between waitlist signup and course launch was smaller.

LESSON 3: 💡 Set up your waitlist in whichever course platform you choose. Not the end of the world to have it in two separate places. Just makes your life easier when it’s all in one.

No need to import a list from elsewhere. Plus, you can set up an automatic waitlist signup confirmation to keep people engaged until the product launches.

LESSON 4: 💡 Launching on a Friday at 8 AM EST wasn’t a bad idea, but it did give me a moment of panic when it was 10 AM and only a few people had purchased.

A friend reminded me that half the country wasn’t even awake yet, which calmed the nerves. But it might’ve been smarter to launch during an hour where more people would be on their phones.

What I’m Doing Moving Forward

Now that the course is created, it’s really just about generating sales. I’ll be setting up a webinar funnel to take people from viewer to student.

Here’s an example of a webinar funnel.

It’d look something like this:

• Post a video on IG. In the caption, tell people to comment a certain word if they’re interested in attending your free webinar on XYZ topic.

• Use ManyChat to automate sending them the sign-up link.

• The webinar feels live, although it’s one you pre-recorded. It’s got a live feed of participants’ messages. Host it through WebinarJam.

• At the end of the webinar, you plug the course. Students can purchase right from there.

If you’d be interested in learning more about funnels, let us know and we can do another issue on it.

Quick Links

😬 TikTok hit with yet another federal lawsuit.

🛍️ Snapchat demographic allowing creators to earn more affiliate commission.

🤦🏼 IG launches AI boyfriends and girlfriends.

📉 Is Twitch going under?

👀 YouTube ad revenue is on the rise.

See ya next week,

Karat