‘Product Hunt’— a popular destination for startups, early adopters, and investors. It is considered to be a go-to platform that turns your product into a business if done right.
Considering that, we launched ‘Typo’ on 22nd February 2023 on Product Hunt.
To our surprise, it exceeded our expectations and we became product #1 on launch day with ~2000 upvotes. But, that’s not all! We also became the #1 product of the week and #2 product of the month.
It not only gave us 300+ signups globally but our website traffic was also boosted by 8x.
In this article, we have shared our extensive learning that made our product a success. Hope it helps everyone who is planning to launch their product soon on a product hunt.
Key strategies mentioned below for successful product launch at Product Hunt:
Why choose Product hunt for launching your product?
We are proud of how ‘Typo’ launch became a huge success. But, it wouldn’t have been possible without the Product Hunt platform. We prepared everything for our launch, the Product hunt gave us much-needed attention and visibility.
- Enhance company reputation and visibility: Since we were the #1 product of the day, Product Hunt featured us in their newsletter. It further increases our validation and visibility. The top 3 products are usually featured in their blogs and social media channels. It let others know that the product is worth checking out and help in grabbing the right people’s attention.
- Exposure to relevant personas: This community-driven platform attracts early adopters in the tech ecosystem. This allows us to network with them and expose our product to them.
- Genuine feedback: When a different set of communities got to know our product, they shared honest feedback. What they liked about it and what needs improvement. Since most of them are early adopters and beta testers, we got real-time feedback about Typo. We did take it on a good note and promise to make changes accordingly!
- Acquire potential customers: And not to forget, it helped us to get target users too. Since the product hunt gives you the option to choose categories we are interested in (and our product was on the top on the launch day), it helps us get the sign-ups from the right clients for Typo.
First things first: Set your goal!
Before you start with the pre-launch preparation, know what your goal for your product is. I.e. Get clear on what outcome you want to achieve!
Our main aim was to find early adopters who can give us product feedback.
Following are the few objectives that you can choose from:
- Increase customers and followers
- Attract investors
- Find product-market fit
- Feedback solution
- Earn the PH badge for marketing purposes
P.S: Choose the goal that will be beneficial for your product in the long run.
Pre-launch
Now, as you are clear about your goal, you can start with pre-launch preparation.
We set aside 3-4 months for pre-launch time. We jot down the entire plan and created visuals and content. Everything was done during this time.
3 months before the launch
Ensure that the product is ready: Who would like to give the new users hard time while they test our product? Nobody, right?
The first thing we checked was that all the features in our product are working fine. We tested it constantly. Also, if there are any bugs, we ensure to fix them on a priority basis.
We also ensure that the website is appealing and has a smooth user interface. Our CTA needs to be visible. Also, everything about the software should already be on the website.
Makers need to be active in the product hunt: Makers = The ones who create the product and launch them on the product hunt.
Ensure that the makers are active and responsive prior 3 months before the launch. By this, we didn’t mean to keep promoting your product. But, you need to try out new products shared on the platform, share feedback and ask questions to the creators.
In short, you need to take part organically in the platform. Ensure that you are not active only for the sole purpose of launching your product. Be deeply involved in this platform.
For us, it has been the most important aspect of our launch time. Our makers were constantly engaging with other creators and sharing their feedback. And in the end, it was all worth it!
1 month before the launch
Decide the time and date beforehand: The product hunt homepage is set to 24 hours cycle. Hence, deciding the time and date is the crucial aspect of the launch day.
We decided to launch our product on 22nd February, Wednesday at 12:00 AM PST. Let us break it down for you to understand why we choose this particular day and timing.
As mentioned above, we aimed to acquire early adopters to get honest feedback. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are considered to be the perfect days for the same. Hence, Wednesday it was.
The product hunt homepage refreshes at 12 AM PST every day. So, we decided to make it live at this time. It will ensure that users will get enough time to review and experiment with our product.
Note that, posting after 9 AM PST is a big no-no.
Get your team on the same page: Product hunt launch is a team effort. Ask your team members to be actively engaging on this platform. Let them know how their efforts can contribute to the success of our product.
Make them understand what you are doing and assign the roles accordingly.
Example: Who will be in charge of content planning?
Who will be posting on social media channels?
(This particular part we will be covering in the next section)
We created a slack channel where we discussed everything regarding our product hunt launch. It allowed us to be aligned with everyone on our team. If there are any suggestions from their side, they can discuss them openly in that slack channel.
2 weeks before the launch
Have content strategy planned for the next few days: The content strategy plan is the most overlooked yet important part of the launch. Since, the next few days will be quite busy, prepare a content strategy 2 weeks before the launch. We did the same and then assigned roles to the different members of our team.
You need to prepare and post individual content on social media channels. It includes Reddit communities, Discord channels, Facebook and Telegram groups, and many more. Also, make sure that you are not spamming on any of these platforms. As it could harm the product even before its launch.
Create a coming soon page for your product: Schedule your launch on Product Hunt at least 10 days before. It further allows you to create a coming soon page for your product. After this, you can see the CTA of ‘Notify me’ on the page.
Anyone clicking on this will get a notification via email about the launch of your product. Try getting as many followers as you can get before the launch day. So, you are assured about the early upvotes on your product when launched.
Identify hunters of your product: Hunter: The early adopters of the product who can ‘hunt’ the product and show it to the rest of the community.
Having a hunter is not a necessity, but it can bring a lot to your table. Their followers also learn about your product, increasing engagement and visibility.
Kudos to Kevin William David, a well-known hunter who agreed to hunt us on a product hunt. This was another major factor in the success of our product.
If you are looking out for the hunter, check out their previous hunts and pitch your idea to them. You can reach out to them via email or Twitter. Try identifying your hunter at least 10 days before the launch. You can find the hunter for your upcoming launch here.
Besides this, self-hunted products can also be considered.
1 week before the launch
While major work is already done, here are a few other checklists that also need to be kept in mind.
Set the right positioning of the product: The description is the most important part of your Product Hunt launch. It should be specific and have a clear message about your product.
- Title: Name of the product
- Topics: 3 or more topics to be added
- Description: < 260 characters
- Tagline: < 60 characters
For the Typo page, we wrote a description that is to the point and short. We answered the two major questions:
- What does our product do?
- How it can help your organization.
Ensuring that it is well-optimized and connected to our unique value proposition. As it resulted in driving organic traffic to our product.
Decide visuals for the profile: Visuals attract a lot of attention. Create appealing images, GIFs, and launch videos to add to your product hunt profile. Make sure they are of high quality and clarity in messaging.
The visuals we created for our page have a minimal design yet clearly describe our product’s features. Our launch video includes all the important information about our product that helps users understand our product in-depth which further, assists their experience.
You can also add image/video screenshots to your page. Also note that, if you are using a GIF image as a thumbnail, it shouldn’t be flashy.
- Thumbnail: 240 * 240 pixels
- Videos and images in gallery: The image should be 1270×760 pixels. For videos, only YouTube links are supported.
Add PH widget to your website: This will act as an indicator who still haven’t heard of the launch yet. And even for those, who want to learn more about the product.
Keep a check on website traffic: While you have already created a website, it’s important to keep a check on how much traffic it can bear. (Just in case your product goes viral!)
1 day before the launch
You can keep this day flexible. As the launch day could be your no-sleep day. (Since 24 hours are crucial for your product)
On this day, you can re-check if everything is on track for tomorrow. Don’t keep anything for the last moment.
Launch day
This is like a 24-hour battle. Here, you are competing with various products that are launching on the same day. Make it worthwhile and for that, you need to be active throughout your day.
Involve every member of your team: Your team is your biggest supporter and cheerleader. Make them your brand evangelists so they promote the product in every way possible. But, also make sure they have explored the platform in advance. So, they know what and how it needs to be done.
You can also assign duties to them in advance so they don’t get lost at the last moment.
Also, don’t forget to let them know that they need to ask for support, not for upvotes. Since product hunt is strict about its guidelines and can report them as spam. (You don’t want to see any of your team members’ efforts go in vain.)
We are a team of 15 members and with our combined efforts, we became the #1 product of the day. If we as a small team, can do so, we assure you can give it a shot too. Trust us, size doesn’t matter. All it matters is your dedication and efforts.
Don’t reach out to your contacts all at once: This is a 24-hour activity. Don’t reach out to everyone altogether. You can divide your outreach into various parts.
For example:
- In the first 3 hours, you can reach out to your family and close friends.
- In the next 3 hours, you can ask for support from your friends and ex-employees.
And so on…
You can also ask a few of the team members to upvote early and some of them later. But, make sure that they are members for a decent period before the launch. Since creating new accounts for upvoting on the same day of the launch can again be considered spam.
No fake accounts as well! Since it can lower your upvotes or even avoid your product from being visible on the homepage.
To know your product and competitors’ performance on the product hunt, check out this link: https://pw2.akkio.com/ .
Create buzz on social media platforms: Just like how active you are on the product hunt, the same goes for social media platforms too. You need to let the people know that your product is now live.
A few of the social media channels that we used are:
- Telegram
- Discord
We posted hourly updates on LinkedIn about how many upvotes we are getting. Either from our product’s page or a team member’s account.
We also posted BTS on our social channels. So that the audience can connect with us.
In Reddit and discord communities, we shared that our product is live. So, that they can support us and give us honest feedback.
In short, you need to make a lot of noise about your product on D-day. But, again make sure that you are not becoming spammy.
Be responsive on product hunt: Makers’ work doesn’t end with releasing their product. You need to respond to every comment and feedback on your product.
Keep interacting with them to learn how you can deliver them an even better experience. As engagement helps to bring visibility and recognition to your product.
Ensure that your answer are insightful & helpful for the users. Also, don’t forget to thank early adopters and hunters for trying out the products.
These responses and feedback can help in prioritizing your product roadmap. And can create a smooth user experience in the upcoming future.
Seek support from other tech startups: We work in a co-working space. Hence, we leveraged it to gain support from other tech startups working there where they shared their honest feedback and opinions about our product.
So if you are too working in a co-working space, it’s the sign.
Create a pre-launch and launch plan on google sheets: It’s not possible to remember everything regarding your product launch. Hence, it is advisable to prepare a detailed plan in advance on google sheets. (Or any other application that suits you well).
We created an in-depth plan that was shared with every team member. It made our product launch easier since everything was in one place.
Post-launch
Your product is now live. But, this is not over yet. You now need to ensure how much users are liking your product and what are the improvements to be done.
In other words, the Post-launch period is all about analyzing your product and making changes accordingly.
Thank everyone who support your launch: We became the #1 product of the day and our happiness seemed no bound. But, it wouldn’t have been possible without people who supported Typo.
The first thing we did after launch day was to express our gratitude to them. We let them know how much we appreciate their support.
And this isn’t about being the top product on the platform. Even if we haven’t been one of them, we still would thank them for their support. Since they took out their time to help us out.
Also, make sure that you personalized your message accordingly. You can also use social media channels to thank your supporters.
Analyze your launch: No matter how well we did on the launch day, the real game begins after it. We checked what really worked for us and what did not. We tracked our Product hunt statistics that includes upvotes, comments, and referrals. How many signups did we get and what do users usually expect from us? We did detailed analyses of our product on the platform.
Not to forget, we also keep a check on our website through google analytics too. We tracked website traffic during and after the product hunt launch, time on site, and bounce rate.
Since you are creating a product for the long run, analyzing every aspect of your product is crucial.
Track user usage: We prepared a questionnaire for tracking the beta users’ feedback. A few of the questions we include were:
- How did they find our product?
- How was their onboarding experience?
- What did they like most about our product?
- What needs improvement?
We kept the questionnaire short and crisp. And so should you. We also tracked what features are users using, what they are finding difficult, and many more.
Ensure that you are transparent with the users about the tracking process. And also, you act on the insights as early as possible.
Keep promoting your product subtly: Social media channels are a great way to reach out to a wider audience. But, you don’t have to keep promoting your product directly always.
After the product went live, we shared the BTS of launch day – How fun yet challenging it was. We also posted a video thanking our supporters, creating memes around it, and so on.
We just make sure that we aren’t only asking people to try out our product. Rather, educating them, informing them about features, and so on.
We also started our blog section where we inform our target audience regarding engineering metrics, developers’ burnout, engineer managers, and so on.
A few tips to be kept in mind
Ask for support, not upvotes: Although, we have already mentioned it before. But, this is an important reminder for everyone launching on product hunt. Asking for upvotes can lead to more spamming that can trigger your algorithm. As a result, it can drop your product rank or remove it from the homepage entirely.
Ask for feedback, comments, and opinions, and help to spread the word. PH believes people should upvote and comment because they authentically like a product, not because they’re peer pressured into doing so.
New users shouldn’t sign in on launch day: New relevant users in your network should avoid signing in on the same day and upvote only on one product. Ensure that they are already active and engaging with other creators and communities.
Don’t spam on social media: Ensure that you are not spamming on your social media pages as well. This can come across as spammy or manipulation and hurt your product’s credibility.
Get everything planned: Don’t keep everything for the last moment. Jot down important tasks before launch. Also, even if you want to experiment, plan it before d-day.
Avoid bots for upvotes: Never use bots for upvotes. The product hunt platform will automatically remove them which can lower your upvotes.
Create an FAQ section to answer common questions: You can include common questions in the FAQ section. It includes features, pricing, availability, and many more. This will save the time of both makers and users.
What if you don’t become the ‘Product of the day’?
If you didn’t become a product of the day, it doesn’t mean your product will not succeed.
Sharing the tips mentioned above may not guarantee you become #1 on the product hunt. It’s about how well you understand your product, audience, and insights.
Also, keep in mind that in the long run, your aim is to reach the target audience.
You can still share your product on social media channels and engage with the community.
All the best for your launch!
Note that what worked out for us may not work for you. So, be flexible about the tips mentioned above and see what is right for you.
It may take a lot of time and effort, but it will be all worth it.
All the best 🙂
