2 weeks ago, I launched [The Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Content Creators] on Product Hunt.

This is where I should tell you how many upvotes it got.

But I don't focus on upvotes.

Why? Because I only got 113 upvotes, a far cry from other successful launches 😅

I focus on these more useful stats:

✅ 255 folks visited my lead capture page

✅ 122 opted-in

✅ 89 confirmed subscribers

✅ 1 free trial sign up to BirdSend

I now have their contact info & can build relationships w/ them over time 🤝

So they know, like, trust, and buy from me 🥰

These are assets I own.

Upvotes, on the other hand, can't be captured. It's good for exposure & bragging rights, but you can't build an asset with upvotes.

 

Not much expectations for sales

I didn't have much expectations when it comes to converting PH visitors to customers since I've heard PH traffic wasn't good at converting.

Even Andrew Kamphey's launch which was #2 product of the day and upvoted 700+ times — only got 3 paid users. What's a launch like mine that only got 100 upvotes going to make? 😅

The most important metric is sales conversion to my product — BirdSend email marketing tool. After all, the only reason this guide is free is to serve as a lead generator for BirdSend.

The 2nd most important metric is new subscribers I get.

So far only 1 person out of 89 new subscribers converted to a free trial sign up. 1/89 = 1.12% free trial conversion.

Don't know if he is going to stay past the trial since we haven't gone past that time frame yet. There's also the possibility more folks from this pool of 89 subscribers and those who visited our guide join BirdSend in the following weeks or months.

For me, this launch is more for:

1/ Exposure → Subscribers

I'm mindful it's not easy for someone to buy from a stranger, even more so for a paid recurring subscription. To my new audience (folks who haven't heard about me or BirdSend), I am a stranger to them.

I'm looking more for the exposure this launch brings me → new audience → convert a portion into subscribers → convert an even smaller portion into customers.

2/ Formality

As a creator, you have to at least launch on Product Hunt once 😅

Interesting note: If your launch is about a guide, list, directories, and similar products (i.e. info products), it won't be shown on Product Hunt's homepage.

 

Why I created the guide

In May 2021, I was trying to grow sales for BirdSend email marketing tool.

I asked Twitter friends for ideas.

A few creators chimed in and suggested some interesting ideas. I especially liked this idea that Luke came up with — which is to create THE guide to email marketing.

 

I ran with the idea and researched.

Here's what I found:

• I couldn’t find a comprehensive (A-Z) email marketing guide specifically for indie / content creators.
• I couldn’t find a guide where creators can quickly jump to specific email marketing topics from within a central dashboard.

Even though the primary reason for creating this guide is to serve as a lead generator for BirdSend... to implement the strategies and techniques in the guide, you don’t need to use BirdSend. You can use most good email tools.

 

How I planned the launch

From Gene Maryushenko's Product Hunt launch guide, I got to know about Taskable Product Hunt launch checklist. Both proved to be helpful in preparing for my launch.

I use Notion to plan and keep track of all the important dates and content.

Here are the important dates (Aug 25 was launch day):

 

Here are the promotional content and when to release them:

 

3 key learnings

1/ If you want a successful or at least a good launch, you can't do it alone.

You must have the support of others. You need to first build relationships with people first before they support you. Be likable.

For me, that was my customers, subscribers, and Twitter friends.

I started using Twitter in March 2021, and have slowly built up a small group of creator friends there.

5 - 6 days a week, I engage with them — reply and share their tweets, engage in discussions, and post valuable content related to email marketing + casual content like how a regular human would post (this last part is important).

No one likes the person who is ONLY sharing valuable content all the time.

 

2/ Monitor & Engage

Reply to every single comment. The faster the better. Answer their questions. Thank them for their support and encouragement.

I recommend clearing everything you have on your plate for this 1 special day, and only focus on your launch. You've prepared so much already, it's only right to focus 100%.

 

3/ Promote multiple times to maximize exposure (even before launch)

Emails (my favorite, of course! 😍)

As you can see from the screenshot above, I sent a total of 5 emails to my list (customers and subscribers).

Email #1 — I sent to everyone 7 days before the launch, basically saying, "I'm launching my email marketing guide. Do you want to support? If yes, click here. If no, you don't have to do anything."

For subsequent emails, I only sent to those who clicked — i.e. those who want to support the launch. I do this because I don't want to bombard people who don't want to support with launch emails.

Tweets + my own email marketing Facebook group posts

Even though I only started blatantly posting about the launch on launch day... a week before the launch I've softly hinted in my posts that I've just finished the 2nd round of draft feedback from reviewers... and that I'm currently further improving based on their feedback, to prepare for the Product Hunt launch on Aug 25.

On launch day, I posted about the launch twice on Twitter and twice in my Facebook group.

 

Conclusion

I didn't and still don't expect much from a Product Hunt launch.

I believe more in building the business for the long term and get sustainable traffic and not for a one-off launch like this.

I'd rather have a consistent flow of traffic, subscribers, and customers rather than a huge spike in traffic for 1 day only.

The most important thing in business is:

WOW customers by providing a great customer experience.

To provide a great customer experience, build a great product + provide great customer service → a small portion become customers → an even smaller portion refer you to their friends willingly, even without compensation.

If you can WOW people, some who will never become your customers will also refer you to their friends and network.

Customers > Subscribers > Followers > Traffic/Exposure.