How to Crush Your Next Product Launch In Three Simple Steps ($232K Case Study)

Nothing gets brand owners more pumped than a good old fashioned product launch. Aside from site wide sales, launches are usually a great way to make a lot of dollar bucks appear in your bank account.

However, I've noticed that while most eCommerce brands put a lot of effort into creating a new product, their launch strategy for email marketing is predictably underwhelming.

The Typical (Terrible) Launch Strategy:

• Decide on the date for the new product launch

• Spend tens of hours designing and nitpicking edits on a "poster" style email campaign that gets finished at the last minute

• Send email on launch date and maybe one reminder email

Does this basic formula work? Yup. I've done the exact same thing with dozens of agency clients and achieved some great results.

But I've noticed two problems with this approach:

1. They're unnecessarily stressful because we're putting all our hopes and dreams into one email campaign. This ALWAYS leads to last minute edits and second guessing design elements that won't make a huge impact on sales.

2. They leave a ton of money on the table by ignoring pre-launch and post-launch emails.

Let’s look at a product launch I ran a while back that helped an outdoor gear brand generate $232,028 in sales from a product launch that followed a simple, yet wildly successful framework.

Step 1: Pre-Launch Emails - Warm Up Your List With Some Pre-Gaming

Instead of abruptly smashing into email inboxes like the Kool-Aid Man shouting "we've got a new product!" You want to warm up your list with a few pre-launch emails.

Our Pre-Launch Sequence:

• Email #1: Sent one week in advance. Kept the copy short, teased the drop, gave them a date to look forward to circle in their calendar.

• Email #2: Sent 24 hours before the new chair went live and followed the same structure

The average person receives 50-100 emails a day, so rather than put all our eggs in one basket we want to maximize our reach and make sure everyone knows a launch is coming. This builds hype and puts the launch on everyone's radar.

Step 2: Launch and Post Launch Emails - Keep Your Foot On The Gas

So did this pre-launch strategy work? Our launch day email says, yes.

BTW, this wasn't even a true launch. It was a pre-order for their new chair which wouldn't ship for another 30 days.

Now this is where most eCommerce brands pop champagne and consider their mission accomplished. Maybe they do a re-send, but by and large the launch is done.

But I wasn't satisfied. I knew we could scoop up more sales after our initial surge if we sent multiple post-launch email campaigns.

Step 3: The Post-Launch Follow-Up:

• Day 2: Resend to anyone who hadn't opened the initial campaign

• Week 2: Plain text email from the CEO that looked like something you'd get from a friend. This email CRUSHED IT, bringing in another $48K (21% of total launch revenue)

• Week 3: Reviews from early testers. Social proof is fantastic for knocking people off the fence

The ugly, humble plain text email is a game changer. (Read more about them here.)

The Final Numbers

When the dust settled we generated $232,028 and 788 orders for the new product.

This was the final revenue breakdown by emails:

• Launch email: 50% of total revenue

• Three post-launch emails: 50% of total revenue ($86K that would have been left on the table if we only sent one email).

When it comes to using email marketing for product launches most brands won't implement a strategy like this.

They're too scared about annoying their list, unsubscribes, and sending perfectly designed emails.

That's fine. They’re playing not to lose.

Meanwhile… you can play to conquer.

If you're planning to launch a new product soon, let's talk.

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