Nobody likes mistakes. Especially me (recovering perfectionist and all that!).
But the truth is that every time we make a mistake, we’re given an opportunity to learn and improve the situation for the future.
And as entrepreneurs, that’s a really good thing. Because when we improve things + learn, our businesses thrive + grow more quickly. We’re able to provide better services to our customers and clients and we’re able to have more success.
Plus then we get to teach others how not to make the same mistakes. Like I’m doing in this blog! So i can save you from a lot of the stress and confusion that I went through.
Recently, I launched the Authentic Affiliate Academy again — and it was a much smoother launch process than when I did it earlier in the year.
Wondering why?
it’s beach I learned from the mistakes I made during that launch (of course some new mistakes popped up during this launch but that’s a story for another blog)! And now I’m ready to share them with you so you can avoid them too during your next launch. Read on to learn about 3 mistakes you can avoid when launching.
Mistake #1: Sending all launch e-mails to your entire e-mail list
So during my launch earlier in the year, I was using Mailchimp as my e-mail provider. it was a big hassle because i had one HUGE mailing list and no real way to know who was interested in affiliate income. That means that every single e-mail that I sent during that launch went out to everyone on my list.
Even people who were already in the program got the launch e-mails.
This was honestly super stressful for me and I’m sure it was annoying for people on the list who weren’t interested in my launch at that time. I got a very high rate of unsubscribes at the end of the launch which was frustrating as I knew some of those could have been avoided if I had a way for people to opt out of the launch sequence.
This launch was much better for me when it came to my e-mail strategy. I now use ConvertKit which gave me so many options for tagging and segmenting. This means that I was able to have a clear idea of the people who were interested in affiliate income and send them more e-mails inviting them to my webinars and to join the program. People on my list who just weren’t interested in the launch e-mails were able to opt out of them without having to unsubscribe from the whole list!
Thanks to the amazing automation options that ConvertKit offers I was able to decrease my unsubscribe rate and make sure that the people most interested in the Authentic Affiliate Academy were getting the e-mails consistently.
Click here if you want to get a free month of ConvertKit and try it out
Mistake #2: Not having a clear strategy for sales
So last launch I kind of just threw together a few random webinars + sent a series of launch e-mails that I was basically writing out the day they were going out. It’s honestly amazing that I made as many sales that I did because I had no clear strategy.
I thought I did but I really didn’t (and yes I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this).
I mean I really can’t believe I just threw together some webinars with absolute NO strategy as to how I was leading people to the sale of the program!
Luckily during this launch, I connected with an amazing webinar productions company. Not only did they take care of all the yucky tech involved with my webinars, they actually helped me with my webinar content as well. They introduced me to the Perfect Webinar strategy by Russell Brunson — using this strategy helped me create a great balance of content + selling strategy. Yep it’s totally okay to sell on webinars but you don’t want to go into it blindly like I did during my last launch — you actually want to have a process to take your attendees through in the webinar that leads them to purchasing your product!
CRAZY right??
Seriously though, it is so important that you have a strategy not only for the actual webinar and pitch of your product but also for the e-mails that go out to people who missed the webinar live. You can miss out on thousands of dollars of sales if you leave out these important steps.
Mistake #3: Trying to do it all on your own
A launch is so much work. There are TONS of moving pieces and honestly there’s a good chance that you won’t know how to do everything you need to in order to get the best results. Plus launching takes a lot of energy and many days you feel (slightly) insane — you need to have a support system so that they can help you stay on track with all you have to do (and reassure you that you’re not THAT insane).
Depending where you’re at in your business means you might not have the money to invest in multiple team members BUT I recommend that you invest in at least a few hours of admin support and work that into your budget. Or you can also just hire a baby-sitter to make sure you stay focused (#jokingnotjoking).
The team members that helped me the most during this launch supported me in the areas of general admin support, creating Facebook ads, website tech + support, affiliate management and e-mail writing. Seriously I am eternally grateful for them for the tasks that they in addition to keeping me calm and brainstorming with me on a daily basis <3
Doing it all on your own is NOT necessary and can burn you out — remember depending on what you are launching, you might need a lot of energy for right after the launch when you have to serve your customers and clients so it is important to not burn yourself out!
Now I want to know, which mistake are you going to avoid in your next launch?? Let me know in the comments below!
P.S. Business isn’t something you need to do alone. I’m ready to help you create a success strategy for 2017 + I have limited coaching spots available. CLICK HERE to learn more.
Some of the links in this blog are affiliate links and I may receive a commission if you click on them and purchase anything in the future.
