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Table of Contents
Pre-Launch
1 month before
Pick a deadline and make sure that it’s not a holiday in the US as the Product Hunt gets maximum traffic from the US. (23.63% according to SimilarWeb) Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday get more competition than other weekdays (Monday & Friday) whereas weekends have even lesser competition (Saturday & Sunday).
What’s your Product Hunt launch goal?
- Product of the day badge to show it on your website / social proof OR
- Maximum awareness from your launch
For the 1st goal, launch on weekends. For the 2nd goal, launch on Wednesday or Thursday.
I recommend creating a free Product Hunt upcoming page due to many reasons.
- You get another way of promotion on Product Hunt, and it keep going unlike one day launch at PH. PH keeps on featuring upcoming pages even the product is launched or not.
- It brings extra hype for your launch as users can subscribe in 1 click.
- When a user subscribes, their email is shared with you in the upcoming page dashboard. And you can export it as well.
- On launch day, notify this email list and get maximum support on Product Hunt.
Examples:
https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/input — 4178 subscribers https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/virus — 3575 subscribers https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/gameapart — 2843 subscribers https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/lastform — 2250 subscribers
Buy a memorable domain and setup your high converting landing page
✅ Set up Analytics and Conversion Tracking. I prefer Google Analytics.
✅ Setup Hotjar on your site to record user behaviour and collect feedback.
These heatmaps show where users are clicking on the page. The “hotter” (more red) a section is, the more often that section gets clicked on. This way, you can optimize your landing page for better conversions. Start for free. https://www.hotjar.com/pricing/personal/
✅ Check your site speed and improve it. https://tools.pingdom.com/
✅ Setup a lead magnet as well.
✅ Add testimonials on your site.
✅ Add different CTAs wording & colours. A/B test it before launch.
✅ Want to retarget visitors. Add Fb, and other pixels. Google Tag Manager is the easiest way to do so.
After completing your landing page design and copy, get it reviewed by your maker friends.
They will spot grammar mistakes and offer advice to improve it even further
IMPORTANT: Also send it to Soar for review
Makerwidget is a nice way to quickly tell people who you are, what you did before and where to find you.
It’s a sticky widget so it offers more visibility. It brings more followers and some eyeballs to your other projects as well.
It’s free. https://makerwidget.com/
Start talking about your project on social media. Add a link in your bio, and post it on your timeline as well. This will build your email list.
P.S. If you have 20 followers, I still recommend it because you can add Twitter profile link on Product Hunt now. And if your profile is active, you will get followers there as well.
Are you a fan of building in public? Add your product on Indie Hackers (https://www.indiehackers.com/new-product) and Maker Log (https://getmakerlog.com/products/create)
Then keep the community updated with your progress.
P.S. If you are a fan of building in public, join Maker Log Telegram Group (https://t.me/makerlog) and push updates from Telegram. This way you will make new friends, and get valuable feedback as well. These new friends will definitely support you on the launch day.
This way you can connect with your friends. And when you launch your product, they will be notified (if they follow you).
Product Hunt’s headline is just like Twitter bio. It is shown under your handle wherever you comment etc. So add your website in the website section and in the headline section.
Don’t waste that promotion opportunity. Add your full website link including domain extensions such as .io or .com. This will bring visitors to your website.
Edit your handle by visiting this link https://www.producthunt.com/my/settings/edit
Support & follow other makers. Upvote / comment / give feedback to other maker’s products on their launch day.
This will build connections and your following on the Product Hunt.
This requires consistency and 5-10 mins of your time on daily basis. And it will help you on the launch day as the Product Hunt notifies your followers when you launch something on Product Hunt.
Discussions were a neglected part of the Product Hunt. But after the arrival of Josh Buckley as the CEO at Product Hunt, they are boosting them now by adding it on the top and sidebar of the homepage.
Try to add value in discussions and participate more in these discussions. This will build your following as well. https://www.producthunt.com/discussions
1 Week before
Sometimes, people interesting products. Even the founder doesn’t know that. To make sure that your product isn’t hunted, visit https://www.producthunt.com/posts/new and add your product link there. If it’s hunted already, you will get a message that it’s hunted already. If it’s hunted already, then talk to Product Hunt support, they will help you then.
Before we dive into finding a hunter, we should know the benefit of getting hunted.
When someone hunts your product, Product Hunt sends a push notification to his/her followers and many of them check your product. (In the past, all followers of a Hunter received an email notification that a new product was being launched.)
This brings more upvotes and engagement which helps you in getting into the top 5 products of the day.
Where to find hunters: – https://upvote-bell.com/leaderboard (recommended)
P.S. Top hunters like Chris Messina are booked two months in advance.
How to find a Hunter?
It’s easier than you think. Search for products that you feel are similar to yours and see who has hunted them. Then connect with Hunters through Email & Twitter. Twitter works best and most hunters have Twitter DMs open.
How to get Yes from Hunters?
Each hunt is a portfolio of a Hunter. So, they take extra care before saying “Yes” to hunt any product. So, try to build a quality product and connection with Hunter first.
Start interacting more with their hunts & tweets. After a week (ideally a month) or so, approach them for hunting.
Check your copy for grammar & styling mistakes. Does it make sense without a video? If no, redo the copy.
And don’t add random images on the homepage. Only add images/gifs that explain product features.
Test your website across multiple devices for free by using https://bluetree.ai/screenfly/
You can add videos to your launch page.
Here is the catch:
People overthink about videos. You shouldn’t. It’s simple. You have 2 options: a. have resources – get it done by professional. b. solo guy / don’t have resources. – no need to panic. Make a Loom video with the camera on / off (depends on you).
https://www.kapwing.com/video-editor is an awesome video editor that offers watermark-free video export in the free plan.
Then upload this video on YouTube. And add this link in the video field of the product submission form on Product Hunt.
This tip is for SaaS & startups.
Product Hunt favors real startups in their upcoming section. Others don’t make it to the Upcoming products section, unfortunately.
If you got traction there, you will have many people on the list. Export this list and plug it into an email marketing tool and notify them about your launch.
Most people will forget who you are or why they signed up for your launch. So always be in touch with your mailing lists.
P.S. Try to start conversations with this list to get more support. (Try the Linkedin hack shared below)
Product Hunt is a less known community. It has 3+ million members only. So lots of people may not have heard about it yet.
The first step is to educate them about Product Hunt, so they can upvote you once the time has come. Ask them to create an account now to support you on the launch day.
Creating an account now ensures that the account isn’t new and upvotes don’t land in spam on the launch day.
Add Product Hunt sign-up link (https://www.producthunt.com/login) in the email to make signing up on Product Hunt even easier. Mention that creating an account will take 1-2 minutes maximum.
Also, notify them about your launch date.
Generally, people compare your product with other products so they will ask how your product is better than XYZ or other questions like
– Show us your roadmap.
– Will my data be secure?
– Can you help us migrate from XYZ to your platform
– Any chance of integrating with Intercom this year?
– Your pricing is high.
– I would like to do some partnership with you?
– Why is sign up only via Facebook or Google?
– Are there any plans for mobile? and many others.
Saying “Thank you” to all replies looks boring. (I did it and I feel it). So create a list of thank you replies. Here are some happy replies for you:
1. thanks a lot 🙌
2. thank you very much!
3. so happy to hear that 🙂
4. glad to hear that 🥳
5. 😻 means a lot!
6. 🚀🚀 :)) Thank you 🙂
7. thanks a million!👋
8. thanks for your support 🥳
9. thanks! So glad you get value from it. 🙏
10. wow. Thanks
11. looking forward to it!
12. 👊 Glad you enjoy them.
13. thanks for the kind words <name>!
14. thanks for the kind words <name>!
15. thanks for the support <name>! Means a lot.
16. thanks <name>! 👊
17. thanks so much for being an early supporter.
18. thanks <name>! Grateful for your support.
19. thanks <name>! Always appreciate your support.
20. 🤝 you are awesome.
Running an exclusive deal for Product Hunt visitors?
Add a timer on your landing page to create a sense of urgency.
AppSumo’s is offering 100% of the sale for every new customer and 5% commission for returning users.
So sign-up for the AppSumo affiliate program https://go.appsumo.com/become-appsumo-affiliate and run a lifetime deal with them.
AppSumo takes a 5% commission on all sales. The real benefit is in the 30-day cookies. You will be sending a lot of traffic and it will bring a good amount in affiliate commission.
It’s beneficial for SaaS, ebooks or whatever you are selling.
Have a meeting with your team and assign tasks to your team members for the launch kit, promotion and engaging in discussions etc.
P.S. If you are a busy guy, share your PH account credentials and ask them to be active on Product Hunt.
We need support for the launch. Family & friends are the best people to reach for getting the much-needed support.
So, make a list of your support network on every social media and communication app before launch.
Check
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Linkedin
– Whatsapp
– Telegram
– other social networks and make their list in your favourite note-taking app or use the “People” table to create the list.
LinkedIn offers import contacts functionality. Simply upload your email list, and send a connection request to the people. This will strengthen your relationship with your customers/users/email list and spark few conversations as well.
Everyone has friends that can go the extra mile to support you. Reach out to them and if they haven’t created an account on Product Hunt, ask & guide them in creating the account.
How to guide them?
Step-1: Visit https://www.producthunt.com/login and create an account using Google etc.
Step-2: Fill in your personal details (1st page only).
Step-3: Quit onboarding and visit https://www.producthunt.com/ and upvote 2,3 products.
P.S. I don’t recommend it unless you are just starting out.
Here is an awesome hack to save time.
1. Install OneTab Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/onetab/chphlpgkkbolifaimnlloiipkdnihall
2. Open Twitter messages.
3. CTRL + click on every chat bubble that you think will support you on launch day. It will open that conversation in a new tab.
4. When you have opened max 20 tabs, click on the OneTab Chrome extension icon.
5. BOOM! You have created a list of 20 supporters that you can reach out. Only 1-click will open all of these tabs on launch day.
6. Repeat this process.
Be an active member there and engage with the community.
Ask 1-3 team members to join them as well. This will help on your launch day. How?
Once you share your launch in the community, make sure your team members message that they have upvoted your product. This initiates a chain reaction. More people will follow them and the product will get more upvotes.
Browse Product Hunt and look for similar products to yours, Create a list of people that commented there or upvoted similar products. Then talk to them.
Some of them will like your product, reply and help you on the launch day as well.
P.S. Create a Twitter list and engage with them. Then reach out to them.
Assign Product Hunt account creation to each team member and ask them to engage on Product Hunt as well for the full week.
Ask the team members to make a list of their support network on every social media and communication app.
Urge them to check
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Linkedin
– Whatsapp
– Telegram
– other social networks and make their list.
Go to https://www.indiehackers.com/new-product and add your product on Indie hackers.
Also, add it on https://getmakerlog.com/
Visit the Launch kit section