How do you know what to expect when you launch a course, service, or program into the world? Sometimes it helps to hear from other people who have launched something and get the real numbers.
In this episode, I want to give you a behind the scenes look into my launch for my mini-course, Podcast in a Weekend. I’ll share the background of how the course came to be, what I did before the launch, and what I’ve done since then.
In addition, I’ll share the real numbers for my course launch so that you can get a clear picture of what truly happened. But first, let’s talk about what I mean by the term launch, and then we’ll dive into the breakdown.
What do I mean by a “launch”?
A launch is anytime you put anything new out into the world. Primarily, I’m going to talk about it in terms of launching a group program, course, or membership.
Podcast in a Weekend Launch Breakdown
Background:
The type of product I created & the funnel type I used
The product I launched, Podcast in a Weekend, is an evergreen course, meaning there was no open/closed cart period. Someone can purchase this course at any time.
Because it’s not a program that requires me to provide ongoing assistance, and because people often want to launch a podcast when they are ready, I didn’t want to make a huge course that had an open/closed cart.
For the funnel type, I used what is often referred to as a “self-liquidating offer” or SLO. It’s something that is a low priced offer that I can run ads to, and the idea is that when you run ads, you “liquidate” your ad spend by the purchases you get in the total funnel. It’s not really intended to be a huge money maker in a business, but rather a way for people to enter your world.
An SLO, when done well, is a great way to introduce people to you, your teaching style, and the value you provide to your clients or students.
The order of my funnel is: Podcast in a Weekend Mini-Course → Order bump for Podcast Artwork Templates → Podcasting Simplified Course (at a discount from the normal price point).
What came before this launch?
I didn’t create this product before I had a process down pat. Here is what led up to the creation of Podcast in a Weekend:
- Worked with clients for 2+ years helping them launch podcasts
- Created my own system and process that included both strategy and ways to streamline the process for clients and for my team
- Ran a group coaching program 2x to help others go through the process
- Launched 2 of my own podcasts as well
So clearly, when creating this course, I had a baseline of experience and processes, systems, and frameworks already created. This is very helpful when it comes to launching a course or even a program!
Podcast in a Weekend Launch strategy:
Even though this was an evergreen product launch and it is available anytime, I did do an actual “launch” on Black Friday weekend of 2020.
I was participating in a program called Launch Gorgeous which is an intensive group program for people who want to launch something. So I used that framework to build out my program and my launch.
Here are a few basics of what I did:
- Content:
- I created several podcast episodes related to launching a podcast prior to the launch (Episodes 19-24 of the Christian Woman Business Podcast)
- Episode 24 was the “launch” episode when the product was finally available
- In this content, I hinted at the fact that I had something coming
- I also posted on social media quite a bit leading up to the launch
- Curiosity
- I asked questions to my email list and inside of my FB group ahead of time
- I got them responding to posts about podcasting
- I created a wait list for the mini-course so that people who were most interested could get on it
- Logistics:
- I did my initial launch and open cart primarily to my warm audience (email list and social following). This generated the initial sales for the course.
- I ran a contest which gave extra urgency over the Black Friday weekend
- I also got a bump because the program I had participated in, Launch Gorgeous, had a contest for the top 5 funnels that were created during the program and mine was chosen. That meant that my sales page was sent out to a large email list and I received some extra sales due to this.
- After the initial launch to my warm audience, I started running FB ads to the course and testing how it would do to a cold audience.
Launch Results:
Black Friday Weekend
In total, over Black Friday weekend, I had 165 page views on my sales page and 34 purchases. This led to $1,258.00 in sales of the course. That was a 20% conversion rate on my sales page.
If you listened to my episode about evaluating your results, you might recognize that this is quite high for a sales page. (Typically, 1-10% is considered normal, so I was quite thrilled with this.)
Out of that 34, I had 10 people take the order bump which added another $170 in revenue. And from the 34 purchases, 6 people upgraded to get Podcasting Simplified as well, which meant an additional $582.
This was a total revenue of $2010.
Total results since the initial launch
Since Black Friday weekend, I have done some other things after this including ads, getting featured in the email, as well as collaborating with a few people who are affiliates. In addition, I have done a total rebrand on my website and created a place on my site where it’s easy to find all my courses.
- Page views: 1356
- Purchases: 148 (10.91% conversion rate) = $5476
- Order bump: 37 = $629
- Upsell: 24 = $2328
- Total Revenue = $8,433
- Ad spend = $2047.79
- Net profit: $6385.21
So as you can see, overall this product has been quite profitable for me. However, I would still like to run ads on an ongoing basis, and it’s possible that the profitability would be lower with that since I’d be selling to a cold audience.
Either way, I know that Podcast in a Weekend has made a huge difference for my students and that is one of the best parts!
Faith Focus:
“And David became greater and greater, for the LORD of hosts was with him.” – 1 Chronicles 11:9
When I read this recently it really hit me… more than anything, I want people to know that God is with me. Isn’t this what you’d love for people to say about you when you are gone? That the LORD was with you?
It’s also a reminder that having God with us allows us to make a much bigger impact than if we try to do this thing on our own.
Shine a Light Segment:
Kelsy Schmidt is a KPI Strategist and runs her business, Innowik.
Professionally, she has been in operations & data roles for over 15 years, gaining experiences in project management, system implementations, business process automation, accounting and reporting, and supervising teams.
She is also a Certified Director of Operations, specializing in overall data strategy, business process improvement (data systems and automations), and building KPIs + metrics dashboards.
Connect with Kelsy: https://www.innowik.com/
Hear Kelsy’s Spotlight Interview in the Faith & Business Series
