Everyone’s talking about a slump in the online industry. About how it’s so much harder to make sales from a live launch or evergreen funnel. And there may be some truth to it.
The real truth is, in the before days, people could get away with being a little lazy because everyone had suddenly shifted online. Everything was new and shiny. People were happy to have some connection with online humans via a Zoom room and online courses were giving people a chance to learn from people they didn’t have access to before.
And then we all got a little burnt out.
Burnt out from being sold to constantly. From the overwhelm of choice. From being disappointed. From being on our screens 24/7. From surviving a freaking pandemic.
Now there’s less room for laziness because you need to put in some upfront effort to get your sales machine working smoothly for you.
It’s not all doom and gloom. People are still having incredible launches and making great money via evergreen funnels.
So I’m seeing it as an opportunity to do things differently and get more out of the effort you’re putting into your launches and funnels.
The good news? The people who put in a little more effort will be the ones who thrive. And I’m gonna give you the exact steps to take so you can action them and get the results you’re missing.
Ready?
1. Start with a debrief
OK, I know debrief is one of the least sexy words on the planet… but if you don’t debrief your launches or funnels, you’re leaving money on the table. And you’re leaving your next move to guesswork.
Yes, even if you’re getting good results, there’s always room for improvement.
By looking at all elements of your launch or funnel and taking note of what worked well vs what didn’t work so well, you can create a strategy to improve your sales time after time.
So what kind of things should you be looking at?
For launches + funnels
Revenue (of course)
Email click-through rates
Email conversion rates
Sales page conversion rates
Audience size
Audience growth since the last launch
Return on ad spend (if using paid ads)
Ad cost per lead
Data from last 2-3 launches if you have it. If not, a rough idea of your typical conversion rates and click-through rates on emails and sales pages should be enough
If you ran an event like a challenge or webinar, what was your show-up rate, conversion rate, and sign-up rate?
I also recommend journaling on all of these questions if you ran a live launch:
Were there any tech hiccups? Did you allow extra time for these?
How did you feel during the launch?
Were you happy with the sales process?
Did you spend too much time answering Qs during your launch?
What Qs came up repeatedly?
Did you enjoy it? Why? Why not?
Did you have enough time to get everything done?
Did you have time to look after yourself?
What would make it feel even better next time?
Then look at all that data and look for opportunities to improve. Compare data from multiple launches if you have it to see what your typical benchmarks are.
If your conversion rates are down, can you pinpoint it to specific messages or emails?
If you received a lot of questions or feedback on the offer, is there anything you can change?
Highlight things you can do differently next time and allow time to make those changes. Or look for someone who can support you with them.
Need some help? Apply for a done-with-you launch debrief here. Walk away with an exact roadmap of steps to take before your next launch to max out on your results.
2. Speak to your audience
The only way you can know what your audience need is to have conversations with them and ask. Polls and surveys are great but the best way to get the data you need is to get on market research calls. Then you can get detailed answers to your questions.
Questions like:
What do they need right now?
What are they struggling with?
Do they need more community?
How are they consuming content?
What’s going on in their life?
Ask questions to help you understand where they’re at and what their current priorities are right now. This’ll help you with steps 3 and 4.
Another hot tip is to speak to both people who bought in your launch and people who didn’t.
This’ll help you understand the real reasons someone didn’t buy and the real reasons someone else did. With that info, you’ll be able to create something relevant, test new ideas, or articulate your current offers better.
3. Optimize your offer
Your offer needs to be an absolute F*CK YES to your ideal client. If you haven’t updated your offer in a couple of years, it might be time to make some changes. And if your offer was brand new for the last launch, maybe you’ve learned a thing or two that can help you make it even more irresistible.
That can look different for every offer. But a good place to start is the level of support, as people’s consumption habits are changing.
What level of support are you offering? If people aren’t showing up to Zoom calls, can you offer support another way? If people stop consuming the course content halfway through, can you offer additional support or bonus resources to get them through roadblocks that come up frequently?
If your audience are big podcast fans, can you add a podcast feed with course content to encourage them to learn on the go? If they learn by reading, can you add transcripts or workbooks to help them process the information differently?
Look at every aspect of your offer, from the content, to the support, to the time they have access, to how it’s delivered, and see if you can make it a bigger f*ck yes.
4. Optimize your copy (or outsource it to a launch copywriter)
Never skip step 3 to get to this point. Without total clarity on your offer, it’s impossible to write compelling copy that’ll actually convert. But now you have insights from your audience, you can strengthen your copy to speak to their current needs.
Whatever was missing before, add it in. And be sure to explain any exciting changes to your offer so people can understand what’s new. This also shows you’re listening to their wants and needs. Hello, brownie points.
Not confident you can write copy that actually converts? Apply for my done-for-you copy services here and I’ll tackle it for you. (page is slow to load, be patient!)
5. Segment your audience + use the power of personalization*
*(no it’s not as fancy or as scary as it sounds)
Your audience is likely burned out from constant sales messages. So to avoid being another voice screaming “buy my stuff!” you should aim to keep as many of your emails as relevant as possible to the person reading them.
How?
The magic of tech. Now, don’t freak out if this is new to you, it’s super simple. And if you’ve been segmenting your list already, there are some more advanced tips for ya.
This is all done inside the email service provider you use to email your list. I use ConvertKit* and I really recommend it for its combo of ease and powerful features that are designed to help small businesses grow.
*Affiliate link. I use it myself and wholeheartedly recommend it. Other email providers are available but I can’t recommend many first-hand!
Beginner tips:
The easiest way to segment your list is to add “tags” in your email service provider. I use tags to show products and services people have bought or downloaded, things people have registered interest in, waitlist participants and more.
For one client, we even used them to separate clients who are business owners vs employees. It just helps you understand more about what topics interest your audience and why they joined your list in the first place.
You can then send emails that seem relevant to people with a specific tag so the others don’t get bombarded with allll of your sales emails and get tired of irrelevant content.
Advanced tips:
If you’re no stranger to segmenting your email list, you can also use it as an opportunity to track certain actions a reader takes, like sales page views or link clicks. Then you can score your readers based on the number of specific actions they’ve taken. This is amazing, as you can quickly see who your most engaged readers are!
The ones with the biggest score are more likely to be your next buyers, so you could test out new offers or messaging to a handful of your list to see what’s working.
(This is only possible on certain paid plans of software like ConvertKit or Active Campaign. Other software has this feature but I’m not an expert in choosing the tech – these would be my top 2 recommendations, based on what I’ve tried).
Another advanced way to segment your list is with a quiz. A strategic quiz can divide your list into different personality types, stages of business, level of skill in your area of expertise.. Whatever you want. This can help you create marketing messages, offers, and content that’s all relevant to each person who got a specific result. It’s a lot of work to set it up and do it properly but so effective!
And that's it! No fancy tech. No crazy sales advice. It's all about doing the basics WELL. Instead of rushing ahead and skipping steps.
if you're a coach, course creator, or digital product owner who's ready to outsource more strategy and copy for your launch because you want even BIGGER results, apply to work with me here.
If it's a good fit, we'll hop on a call or Voxer to chat about the details. And if not, I'll make some recommendations for ya.