I dunno about you but I get sick of seeing posts that show someone hitting crazy sales numbers, without painting the whole picture. Because there’s always more to it than meets the eye. Don’t even get me started about the lack of transparency around expenses*.
Those 6 + 7-figure launches you see? Yes, they happen. Yes, they might technically make $200k in 2 hours (insert other large numbers here) - But all that money isn’t just made in the few days the cart is open. It’s months and sometimes years of work that add up to produce each big cash injection.
The longer you’ve been in biz and built up your reputation and brand, the easier it gets to hit those big revenue goals. If you’re not there yet, it’s totally OK. And it doesn’t mean it’ll never happen for you!
But if you wanna have your own 6 or 7-figure launch one day, here’s what you need to focus on now to hit that magic number in the future. And if your last launch brought in high 5 figures, these tips could help you get over the line.
Step 1. Build Your Audience. And Keep Building It
Launching is a numbers game at its core. The larger your audience, the more sales you’re likely to make. People do hit crazy sales figures with smaller audiences but it’s harder and much less likely - I always recommend doing everything you can to build your audience and increase your odds of success.
You can grow your audience organically or pay for ads but, whichever you choose, you ideally want to be pushing people to sign up for your email list.
Subscribers that come from ads are most likely cold traffic and won’t be familiar with your brand, so they may need some time on your email list to get to know you, before responding well to a heavy promo period like a live launch.
If you need to launch fast, organic methods may be a good option as those people will be more familiar with you and your work. Be aware these can take a lot more time and energy. But the effort you put in upfront will make a huge difference when it comes to your cart open when you do launch.
Not sure how to grow your list organically? Here’s a few options you can try:
Host a free training in a community where your dream clients hang out
Host a giveaway
Host a summit
Host a bundle
Speak on other people’s podcasts, all within a short space of time
There’s sooo many other things you can try but these are all a good way of building fast trust with an audience and getting them to want more from you.
Step 2. Nurture Your Audience
Once you’ve built up an audience, ideally on your email list, you want to be building a relationship with them. If you want them to buy from you when you launch, you need them to know, like and trust you.
How? By sending them regular content about what you do, who you help and how you help.
One of the easiest and fastest ways to do this is to create a Welcome Email Sequence, a series of automated emails that are designed to introduce someone to your business, personality, and offers, within a short space of time.
Welcome Sequences have much higher open rates than any other email and are 42% more likely to be read (Campaign Monitor) because when people sign up to hear from you, they’re more likely to be excited about you. So be sure to make the most of it!
If they start off opening and enjoying your emails, they’re more likely to continue reading future emails. Like when you launch. It’s a no-brainer way to get more eyes on your sales emails with a little upfront effort.
Don’t have a welcome sequence? Apply here to have me write yours in a single day, so you can start nurturing your audience ASAP.
Step 3. Optimize Your Offer - Make it one they can’t refuse
Even the best copy in the world can’t cover up a sh*tty offer. Before you launch anything, you need to make sure the thing you’re selling is giving your audience what they want or need. Equally, you could have the best offer in the world but if it’s not optimized for success, it’ll harm your launch sales or your student success rates.
But what the heck does this even mean?! Your course is your offer, sure. But what other details do your audience need to know before they’re likely to hand over their precious credit card deets.
Here’s a list of questions you can ask yourself to see if your offer is as irresistible as possible.
1. Is it clear? Ask yourself these questions:
What’s included?
What’s the transformation?
When is it available?
2. Is there a reason for someone to buy NOW? Ask yourself these questions:
Is there a one-time discount?
Is this the first time you’re launching at a BETA price?
When will you be launching again?
3. Do you have a refund policy or guarantee?
Is there a clear policy on refunds and how long people have to claim any money back?
Will people get 100% of their money back?
What do people have to prove to get a refund?
How do they apply for a refund?
4. Are there any bonuses included that add extra value to the offer?
Are the bonuses relevant?
Will they give people a quick win?
Are they essential to the success of your students or clients? If yes, should they really be included in your main offer instead of being a bonus?
Once you’ve answered these questions, do everything you can to fix any issues before you launch your offer into the world.
Step 4. Boost Your Conversion Rate
You need to know your numbers if you want to see what you can do to get bigger results, launch after launch. If you’re launching a course or group program via email, it’s normal for 1-3% of people on your list to buy during a launch - that’s your conversion rate.
An obvious way to increase your sales is to increase your conversion rate and get more people to buy from you. There’s no one way to do this as every launch is different, but you’ll need to look at your copy, offer, messaging, webinar or challenge if applicable, and every piece of content shared when promoting your launch to see what worked and what could be better.
If you don’t want to do that yourself or don’t know what you’re looking for, apply for a launch debrief here and walk away with a plan to boost your conversion rate on your next live launch.
Step 5. Consider an Upsell or Downsell Strategy
These are great ways to get more sales from one launch, without a ton more effort. Not everyone in your email list will be ready for your course. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t want to buy from you at all.
Could you sell one of your course modules or bonuses separately to people who didn’t buy this time around? They might not be quite ready for the whole thing but maybe they could benefit from some of the things you teach to get them to the next level.
For people that did buy, they might also be interested in your other products. Is there a relevant course or product you could upsell buyers to once they purchase your main offer?
Both upsells and downsells create a bigger revenue injection and provide your audience with more of what they need. Win-win.
*And a final note on revenue vs profit in 6-7 figure launches.
Launch numbers are nothing without an idea of the profits. Most launch figures you see online will share the revenue their launch brought in, while some may share their expenses and profit so you know truly how much money was made. Be sure you know what you’re looking at!
Whatever you do, don’t go comparing your launch profits with someone’s revenue and feel inadequate. Many of the huge 7-figure launches you see will have huge expenses such as contractors hired, FB ads budget, tech, and more.
It’s easy to feel like you’re failing because you didn’t hit 7 figures. But did you also have a $100k ad budget or a team of 5 contractors? If not, then it’s totally OK to not get the same results.
Are you planning a course launch in 2023? Tell me about your plans here and let’s see how we can make it a success.