Breakdown of how to replicate a $120,000+ launch

This is a breakdown of Usermaven’s amazing growth and the post that they were able to generate more than $120,260 in revenue in just three weeks of public launch without external investment, paid ads, and Appsumo. So all credit to them for such amazing work. Here is their blog, which I will be breaking down: https://usermaven.com/blog/our-ltd-story

This is just a breakdown of how they did it & more importantly, how we can replicate the results or even do better.

So today, I will cover these points:

1. Pre-requisites for a successful launch
2. How to get key people to promote your launch
3. Key elements for the landing page
4. How to apply the same principles to get consistent new users

Pre-Requisites for a successful launch

First of all, you must deeply understand who you are targeting and have a product that solves the issues of your target customers. Then, you need to validate that your product can solve real issues for the target customers. Which is usually done with a group of bata useres.

Also, you will need to collect testimonials from your beta users for your launch. Video testimonials are the best.

Next, you need to make an irresistible offer for your launch. Then, when your target customers get on your landing page, there must be a great reason why they should buy the product you are offering. The more valuable your customers perceive to have, the more likely they are to buy it.

The big idea behind this is to make the value of your product so much higher than the asking price that it will be dumb for your customers to say no.

While there are many ways to increase your product's perceived value, it depends on what resources you have access to. However, here are the easiest ways to increase your product's perceived value without additional costs.

1. Have a lifetime deal. This is a common way to increase the value of your offer for a SaaS product. A LTD is especially valuable if the customer has seen your product and knows you charge X$ per month.

2. Create a crazy money-back guarantee. 30 days of “no questions ask guarantee” is standard, but the crazier you go, the better results you will get. EX: 110% money-back guarantee, where you give a total return with a 10% bonus.

3. Premium software features if you have different tiers of your SaaS. Consider giving the customer some select premium features from the higher tier of your product to your special offer.

4. Increase your trial period from your regular trial period. EX: if you have a 7 day trial period displayed on your main website, then offer 14 or 30 day trial.

5. Byproducts of creating your software that would be helpful to your customers. This can be anything from research that you did for the product to a feature that you decided to not include in your product. The possibilities for this are endless, but they MUST help the customer attain their desired results.

There are plenty more other ways to add value to your offer, but most of them require additional costs or time away from the launch. But here is a spitball of other things that other SaaS companies have implemented:

A course, a book, tickets to a training challenge, a different SaaS product, a T-shirt, extra templates, and more.

While Usermaven’s offer that made them $120,000 had success with only a 30 day guarantee and a life-time deal, the most valuable thing that they had in their arsenal was a product that was proven to solve customers’ problems.

How to get key people to promote your launch

Notice how I did not say how to do cold outreach to people to get signed up or start a blog. Those strategies take too long for a product launch.
Instead, you should reach out to the places where your target customers spend their time.

The big idea behind this is that you save time by connecting with people that have collected a group of your target customers, whether that collection of people comes in the form of a blog, YouTube channel, podcast, newsletter, Facebook group, or Slack Channel.

The most important questions to remember when searching for these groups are “Does my product solve existing problems for these people” & “Would the offer be attractive for these people?”

Let’s put in practical terms how Usermaven did it. They have a product that helps marketers and SaaS owners get analytical data on their products, similar to Google analytics. They also had a special LTD offer that would. So they targeted Facebook groups that fit either of these two criteria.

They had the most success with MarTech which is the best of both worlds.

Check out the group description:

Whether you're a Digital Marketer, Agency Owner, Entrepreneur or SaaS Founder, this is the place to be. This group is an open community for discussions on Marketing Technology (MarTech) software, tools, resources and deals. Our members frequently discuss all the latest and greatest deals.

The big idea behind this is not to waste time or money looking for individuals that fit your target customer profile but instead find the places where your target customers hang out at. As an additional benefit, you are building relationships with key influencers that can help with your product down the line.

How can you replicate this?

1. Step 1: Find out where your target customers like to spend their time. The easiest & fastest way to do this is to use Sparktoro. It's a tool that finds websites, podcasts, YouTube channels, and influencers that people listen to according to their interests. For example, a “Hidden Gem” feature finds influencers with a high engagement rate but a smaller following, which would be easier to collaborate with.

2. Step 2: Make a list of influencers & start reaching out to them to collaborate with them and build relationships to promote your launch. EX: ask them to be interviewed on their podcast or create a special offer for their group.

3. Bonus Step 3: Give the influencers a commission cut for all the sales you make through them. This will incentivize them to get you on the show (if they reject you) or promote your product.

Key Elements of a Landing Page

Congratulations, now you have created an irresistible offer that your target customers love and got key influencers to promote you. Now you need to create a landing page where the traffic will be sent to. Below I listed the elements that you will need for a successful landing page. Most of them are similar to what Usermaven did, but there are a few crucial differences that are mentioned below.

Here are the elements that you need in the order from the top of the page:

1. A countdown timer for when the offer will end. This creates urgency & encourages a lot of sales.

2. Video demo of your software that focuses on the benefits & end results of using your software. That also mentions the special offer & when it will run out.

3. Clear call to action. EX: Access the special offer. NOT Purchase

4. A sales letter describing the problems of the target customers and how your software solves their problems.

5. A section per feature of your software with a focus on how the customers will benefit from each feature.

6. Money-back guarantee section.

7. Offer summary. AKA, what are all the things the customer will get.

8. Customer Testimonials. Preferably video testimonials if available.

9. FAQ Section

Notice how the call to action is not to purchase. The purpose of the landing page is not to sell. Instead, it is to collect an email from the potential customer and then redirect them to a purchase page where they can order.

The idea behind this is that we are asking for a much smaller commitment from the customer by asking for their email rather than asking for a more considerable commitment to purchase. And the order form will be on a different page. Also, if a person inputs the email but does not buy the product, we can easily retarget them with email, which helps drive more sales and even double it with the right email copy.

Bonus Step:

You can get more out of every customer by transforming this landing page into a sales funnel, where you take your customer through a tailored buying experience. What this does is allow you to provide the option to give more value to your customers with additional tools or aids in exchange for more revenue per customer.

Let's look at a real-life example of Doodly:

Doodly is software that allows you to create animated videos as if they were hand drawn. They charge $39 per month for their basic subscription, but they have a special Life Time Deal for $67.

Their first page is a landing page that offers $67 for the deal. And it has an exit pop-up for a 10% discount that collects emails.

The second page is where the customer puts in the order information.

The third page is where the money is made. They upsell 4,000+ extra images for $97.

The fourth page is where more money is made. They upsell a sister software that helps write copy for the videos made using Doodly. Then, they charge another $97.

So, in the end, they got a customer worth up to $291 vs. just $67 if they did not have any upsells.

The big idea behind this is to create a frictionless buying experience for your customers where they can choose whether they need additional tools or help to solve their problems.

How to apply the same principles to get consistent new users

While I wrote this process, breaking down a successful life-time deal launch of Usermaven, this can apply to more than just launch. You can apply this to your overall marketing strategy.

Let’s see. You have created an irresistible offer for your target customers. You have generated traffic from the influencers & other places where your target customers hang out for FREE. You have created a high-converting funnel that brings you more money for each customer you acquire.

The only thing you now need to do is to rework your offer from a life-time deal to something else and plug in more traffic sources. And there you go, now you have an efficient & consistent user-generating machine.

Before wrapping up, I got one last thing to mention.

I am looking for a partner to apply these principles to their product and help them launch or scale their product. I believe in fairness, and because of that, you won’t need to worry about big flat fees or give up your equity. You only pay me a commission of the check that I bring you.

Why am I doing this? Well, it’s because I realized that creating an amazing product and marketing require completely opposite skill sets. After years of going through Computer Science education and following the dream of being a one-man company where I would pull all the weight myself, I realized that is not possible. So instead, I decided to ditch the developer route and learn marketing (which I really love).

So if you believe that the strategy that I showed you today will help your company grow and you are looking for a partner with a skillset to implement it for you without giving up your equity, then let’s talk! Click the link below!

https://calendly.com/dvemedia/quick-chat