Entrepreneurship: What could cause a Failed Launch?

You've planned an entire social media campaign and several email blasts about the excitement you have for introducing your new product or service. You've put hours of time and energy into this launch.

...and then Crickets. One person bought your offer. And it turned out to be your mom.

Not only is your ego crushed, but so is your business bank account.

Okay, maybe that example was a bit exaggerated, but obviously a failed launch was not your intended outcome. 

But why did it fail? 

Why was the launch of this product/service not successful? 

A Failed Launch Happens for one of Three Reasons...

#1 It could be the offer

• Problem: It's possible you created an offer that nobody wants (not worth paying for).
• Solution: Find out post- launch by sending a “why didn’t you buy” survey. Their answers may surprise you.

• Problem: The offer could have been irrelevant to your audience, meaning they don’t want it, they’re not ready for it, or they’re too advanced for it.
• Solution: Revisit your target market to understand their needs better. Is there are gap between where they are now to where they need to be in order to gain from your offering? Did you design an offer they want or did you design an offer you think they need (but don't know they need)?

• Problem: The value of the offer may not have been well communicated. 
• Solution: Revisit your sales copy in social media, email sequences, and sales page. Are you using the exact words your customer is using to describe their problem? Have you begun your sales page by introducing the problem then showing how your offer is the solution - or did you skip all that and jump straight into introducing your offer? 

#2 It could be the sales mechanism

• Problem: It's possible you did not choose the best method to sell your product. 
• Solution: Did you use email marketing, a live webinar, video series, or other sales mechanism? It's possible this was not the most effective way to sell the offer. Promoting a $997 online course is going to take more than just a sales page and a handful of emails.

• Problem: Technical issues could have resulted in a poor user experience and low sales.
• Solution: Consider reaching out to a tech mentor to improve the customer journey.

#3 It could be a numbers game.

Problem: If you calculated a good earnings per launch, but launch revenue was low, it’s likely just a numbers game. 

Solution: For the next launch, you'll increase relevant numbers. You didn’t have enough traffic, leads, webinar attendees, video views, etc. but are going to take steps to improve this for next time.

In conclusion

Failed launches are not uncommon. 

We're entrepreneurs. We're used to failing. Right? Well, maybe we are, but our egos may not be.

You've probably heard it a million times. Failure is a learning lesson.

By identifying what went wrong, you are increasing your chance of success for next time. You just have to check your ego at the door.

While a failed launch is disappointing, it is not necessarily the time to scrap everything and start over.

As Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." 

Have you had a failed launch recently? 

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