Yes, that's $7k in launch sales in 5 days, not $70k or $700k.
I was hoping to at least crack the 5-figure mark, but I've made some mistakes that hampered my sales.
Overall, I still consider it a modest success, and more importantly, it successfully validated my product idea (market), my product itself (execution), and my marketing strategy (distribution).
Where I launched
So I don't have an audience or anything like that.
I have only 2k Twitter followers, no TikTok, no Instagram, no YouTube. Nothing.
What I did have was a list of 7k emails that I've amassed over the years from free trials, lead magnets, newsletter sign-ups, etc.
Unfortunately, these emails are stale, as I rarely emailed them at all.
Regardless, I decided to leverage that to launch my new product to them.
I've decided not to launch on AppSumo, Pitchground, or Product Hunt for 2 reasons:
I wanted to know for sure I could launch products on my own without depending on a partner/3rd-party platform. I've launched on AppSumo before and made plenty, but unfortunately, I didn't learn anything, other than to be dependent on them again whenever I wanted to launch a new product.
I wanted to learn the skill of converting an email list into actual revenue. I couldn't ignore email marketing anymore. It's more important than SEO and social media, and most likely more profitable than paid ads.
What I did
My new product was Zylvie - a platform to sell digital products.
I know that to jumpstart sales and have a successful launch, I needed to offer something unprecedented, something people can't refuse.
I decided to do a 0%-commission lifetime deal (most platforms take 5-10% in commissions and/or monthly fees).
To validate my product itself, I decided to also use my product to create a landing page, and long-form sales letter to sell this deal (eating my dog food).
So literally using my own product to sell my own product.
I wanted to make sure I could create a high-converting landing page myself using my own product before selling it to my customers.
To increase conversions, I decided to limit my launch deal to the first 100 buyers, 5 days in total, and add a countdown timer.
You can still see the landing page here: https://zylvie.com/deals/p/BFCM2023
Pre-launch
For about 7 days leading up to the launch date itself, I sent out a few email broadcasts with valuable info.
They're short (1-min reads), but I tried to make them as insightful as possible.
Toward the end, I dropped crumbs/hints that I had an upcoming launch offer coming for my new product. Just 1-2 lines.
Here are the subject lines for my 3 pre-launch emails:
"Just a few quick tips for Black Friday!"
"Digital products are the key to escaping the rat race."
"The formula for a successful product business"
The good thing was that a few of my email subscribers emailed back with positive feedback, like "can't wait to see what you have brewing" and "I'll be keeping an eye out for your launch deal," so I was confident enough to move forward with my launch.
Launch
I decided to launch on Cyber Monday (27 Nov, 9 am PST).
The deal was to run to Saturday (2 Dec), for a total of 5 days.
For each day of the launch, I sent out 1 email promoting the deal.
These are purely promotional, but for each one, I added something new -- I shared a testimonial, and sales receipts for social proof, answered some FAQs, etc.
On the last day, I sent out 3 emails: one for 12 hours, 8 hours, and 3 hours before the deadline.
You wouldn't believe the number of unsubscribes I got from doing that, but I'm glad I did that, as sales spiked towards the end of the deal.
Results
Day 0 - $2,114.78
Day 1 - $1,229.87
Day 2 - $134.95
Day 3 - $449.91
Day 4 - $1,629.82
Day 5 - $1,529.84
Total: $7,089.17
What surprised me was that, on average, each email subscriber was worth about $1.
If I had built more trust/authority with them beforehand and had optimized to build a larger email list over the past years, I bet I could have grossed even more, maybe $1.50 or $2 per email subscriber.
Post-Mortem
What I Did Right
I had multiple plans ranging from $99.99 to $499.95. I intended for the $499.95 plan to be a decoy, just there to make the other plans look cheaper/more reasonable, but 2 customers actually bought the $499.95 plan. This was crucial, as I had no idea what my customer's willingness to pay was.
I offered promo codes for customers residing outside the US/EU (parity pricing). Most of these customers who emailed me for a better deal ended up converting after being provided a discount code. Unfortunately, some customers used the code multiple times (which was an unintended form of abuse).
I emailed them daily during the entire period of launch. Despite the unsubscribes, it was necessary to sustain traffic to my landing page.
I continually updated my landing page/long-form sales letter, as I had more social proof or FAQ answers after launching.
I added conversion boosters, like a "quantity left" indicator and a countdown timer.
I actually honored the end time of my deal, so my deal deadline had real teeth to it.
What I Did Wrong
I didn't set up an affiliate program beforehand. So many people reached out and asked if they could promote my deal for a kickback. And I couldn't partner with them because I didn't set it up.
I didn't plan to launch simultaneously in LTD Facebook groups, like Ken Moo and LTD Hunt. It would have made a big difference. This also ties into 1, because these private FB groups would only allow self-promotion with affiliate links.
I didn't take email marketing seriously before this. My list was stale, my deliverability was shit, my open rates were abysmal, etc.
I ended the deal on a Saturday night. This was a terrible, terrible idea. I probably lost out on a lot of sales here, because most people aren't at their computers at this time.
I launched the deal on Cyber Monday when most people already have buying fatigue from Black Friday deals.
What Now From Here?
Right now, I'm still running a closed beta with my paid users, implementing their feedback one at a time.
At the same time, I'm also running a deal on AppSumo (https://appsumo.com/products/zylvie/) to keep garnering feedback.
I'm planning to monetize in the future in 3 ways:
Monthly plans/subscriptions
Commissions for each sale
Lifetime deals
But that will come shortly as I work to get my product closer to product-market fit.
For more success stories, subscribe to our Newsletter!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
