We ended up with #2 on product hunt today. A great joy for us.
Thought I'd share the exact tactics we used (PS we've launched more than 9 (11) products, a few at #1, #2 and #3 and 2 that screwed up hard LOL)
So this formula or process is pretty repeatable and I'm sure anyone who implements it can get similar results, (conditions apply)
Have a product hunty type product. I've seen too many incredible businesses (now $1M ARR businesses) that have ended #4 or #5, clearly top 5 on PH doesn't matter
Even if you don't have one, make a spin on it - we launched the ultimate startup checklist, 3 weeks before an actual product launch - got some emails through that ( ~300 emails)
First 45 minutes matter a lot, get your product out of the /newest and onto the main page. We've tested enough to know direct links or asking people to go to /newest - find you and upvote , doesn't matter
Have friends and people you know create accounts 1 week before, so it doesn't look like a fresh new account. Also accounts with more "karma" hold more weight
You don't need a famous hunter
Do what you can to get the app to the top 4 before the US Wakes up, i.e that's 1AM in Aus
Make sure people upvote AND comment, also comments from existing customers who're using the product are VERY valuable. It encourages others to try it out
Make sure people click on the "smiley" on the top, this leaves good ratings and boosts up your SEO
Write a detailed comment about why you built the product, the goal, who its for and why you
Write a blog post to share some unique insights about your product
Share it on dedicated slack groups in your niche, and at the end of it mention you've launched on PH (give and take) so it's not spam
Rinse repeat across any newsletter, Reddit, LinkedIn, growth hackers, hacker news & Indie hackers as well
Make sure you have a giphy for your image and a YT video explaining your product
Offer a PH exclusive deal for higher conversions
Respond to every comment
Share your journey throughout the day on twitter and social media to keep the engine going and get people excited! (Helps ALOT)
Stats
Hope this helps!
This is a great list! Thank you. How long did it take you to plan the launch?
And how much effort did you put into supporting content - like blogs or social media, newsletter etc? In comparison to the product hunt launch itself.
The launch plan is usually a day. We go crazy on the day with sharing etc. But if I were to be "smarter" I would plan over a few weeks, where I nurture existing customers about going live and asking for their advice as well as setting up FB groups / slack channels with early users to notify when you go live etc
Majority effort was in supporting content, this time around I didn't hit some popular FB groups because I wanted to run some tests, but usually, I would have.
I guess the main takeaway is to always keep a give ask balance
Thanks for sharing. Any suggestion on which day to launch? I'm thinking about Thursday. Maybe competition is not that much, but it's not a slow day like Friday or weekend.
Monday is enh, Tuesday most competitive and best, Wed is lower, Thurs is good, Friday is enh
So IMO
Tuesday
Thursday
Wed
Mon
Fri
Weekend
Saw your tweet in the morning. Congratulation. :D
Thanks mate!