The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 325: How to Analyze Your Launch

Today, I am diving into everything you need to know about launching in your business. We are going to break down everything from launch mindset to what you should be focusing on in your launches. I’ll also be chatting about what metrics you should be following in your business and what they can tell you.

How to Analyze Your Launch

BY: MELISSA LIN

Welcome back! Today I'm going to be sharing about the behind-the-scenes of launches. We are going to chat about things that I like to look at when we're launching, mindset shifts during launches, and so much more. We are also going to go into specific launch metrics to track. Something that we are continuously improving upon is the back end of our business, our systems. It's one of my favorite things because it tells us so much about what's going on in the business. It also supports me with making business decisions. One way that we do this is through our dashboard that we created. Something I recommend doing after we talk through some of the metrics today is taking a few of those and creating your own dashboard for your business. This will allow you to compare how your previous launches have gone compared to your current launch, and we're going to dive into all of that today.

My Launching Experience

Our dashboard gives us a great pulse on how the business is doing and allows me to make decisions in my business based on numbers and facts, not my emotions. If you've been in my audience for a while, you've heard me say that numbers tell you a story. Today you're going to see how your numbers can help show how your launch is actually doing versus how it feels like it's doing. This is what your metrics can actually tell you. 

We are currently preparing for another big launch in our business. There have been so many times in past launches where I felt like things weren’t working, but once I took a look at the back end I saw that things were working. Things were moving forward. My numbers gave me an idea of what needed to be tweaked to make improvements. Just because I rinse and repeat a launch doesn't mean the outcome is always going to be the same. We always want to see what we can improve. Social media is constantly changing, so you're always needing to make little tweaks. 

For the last few years I have done my own launches and have supported so many of my clients through their launches. I would definitely say I am an expert in launching. When I first started my online business in 2014, it was not always this way. My first launch was a total flop. My second launch wasn't much better. As I continued to do more launches and improve, I continued to learn what worked and what didn't work. I started to learn what was important in a launch and what wasn't. I learned that numbers were important and started to figure out which numbers could help me improve my launches. If I hadn't started looking behind the scenes at what was actually happening to my launch, then I probably would have quit a long time ago. There is so much happening behind the scenes that you may not even be aware of. 

What Do Metrics Tell Us?

What I see so many entrepreneurs do as they launch their first product or service is think it’s a failure if people don't buy right away, and it isn't. There is a lot that goes into preparing for a launch. If you don't get a purchase within the first few hours of your launch, we can look to see what might be happening behind the scenes by taking a look at some of those metrics. Then you can make decisions based on those numbers and what they're telling you. If you haven't talked about your offer before your launch, then that makes sense. We can see that you didn't talk about your offer at all on social media and that's a huge reason you may not have gotten a buy in your first 30 minutes. The goal is to have your audience ready the day you open doors. Even if you do that, you may not get purchases within the first 30 minutes. It all depends on some of the behind-the-scenes work that you're doing. 

Let's say you launched your first online course today and you didn't see any sales come through. What we can do is take a look behind the scenes to try and figure out what's actually going on. People may have gone to your sales page, but your check out link could have been broken. Maybe people made it to the checkout page, but didn't take that next step and purchase because there wasn't any urgency. They felt they could wait a few days. If either of these examples are the case, that's telling me that people are interested. Things are working, however, there's something stopping them. That information is so useful for you as a business owner. 

So, why are metrics so important to look at? We look at our numbers on a weekly basis at a minimum. We are always reviewing these in our weekly team meetings. Without looking at these metrics, we don't know what's actually happening. We may feel like we know what's happening, but we don't actually know. I want you to be able to make decisions based on data. If we look at your metrics and we see that not enough people are actually clicking on your website or your sales page, that tells us quite a few things. It tells us that your audience may need a bit more value from you. They may need more touch points from you to take that next step. There's a lot going on that we can figure out based on some of the numbers. 

My Favorite Metrics to Track

Now that we’ve talked about how metrics can help your business, I want to share some of the actual metrics I like to track during my launches. As I mentioned, we track quite a bit. You do not need to track as much as we do, especially if this is your first launch. Pick four or five numbers that you feel are going to be the thing to help move the needle forward for you and your launch. We track a lot more because I have team members to support me. I always want a pulse on how the business is doing in all areas. I'm not going to go into every single metric that we track, but I will go into some of the top metrics that we track, especially during launches.

The first metric we like to track is total sales page views. This tells us how many people are actually coming to our sales page if we have one. If we don’t have a sales page we may look at our application page views or our application submissions. We also take a look at our social media metrics. What content is performing best? What are people actually clicking? Are they clicking from my Instagram stories? What is driving them to take the next step? It is so important to know some of that stuff because if our audience isn't doing what we want them to, we can start to train them on how to interact on your page. Another big thing that we take a look at is email open rates and email click rates. I highly recommend you incorporate your email list into your launches as well because not everyone on social media is going to see everything. Your email list is going to be people who are watching and waiting for the next program that you're launching. We also look at different checkout page rates and conversion rates. Again, these are just a few of the things we look at. Metrics are so important and I’m going to give you a real example of how they helped my business.

How Metrics Changed My Launches

A few years ago during one of our launches we weren't getting as many applications as we normally did. We started testing a few things and watching the numbers to see what happened. We decided to add in a few more mini trainings during the week on my Instagram stories and showed up even more than I had the week before. We saw a huge uptake in our sales page views and incoming applications. That next week when I started to really lean into my launch every single day we tripled incoming applications compared to the week where I wasn't showing up as much. Now every time that we launch we take a look at what happens every single day during our launch. We know that if numbers aren't where we want them to be it means that I need to show up a little bit more or there's something else going on. Your numbers tell you a story. 

You can also review some of your numbers from your last launch to help you prep for your next launch. Let’s say that during your last launch you had 200 people register for your three-day training series. Of those 200 people, 75 attended live for most of the three days. They typically trickle off a bit durings days two and three. Maybe by day three there were only about 50 people attending the live training. Out of those 50 people, 10 convert into your group coaching program. I'm totally pulling these numbers out of thin air as an example for you. You had 10 sales out of the 200 people that originally opted-in for your three-day training, which gives you a 5% conversion rate. This is a great conversion rate and it can help us with supporting your next launch. If you want to double your sales, you can make some tweaks to increase your conversion rate. This may be your sales page, your messaging, your sales conversations, etc. We already know what works, so we can double down and bring in twice as many people into your live training series. 

Tips For Launching

When you are launching, one of the most important things you can do is self care every single day during your launch. This could be taking a bubble bath, a nail appointment, a hair appointment, your daily walk, whatever you choose. It is important to incorporate self-care every single day during your launch.

It’s also important to lean into your launch. Show up every single day. Have a support system. This could be a mentor, a coach, your business besties, or a group coaching program to lean into for support. Most of all, have fun. Your audience is going to be able to feel how much fun you're having. They can only be excited if you're excited for your launch. 

Shifting Your Launch Mindset

Now I want to shift gears into how to reframe when your launch isn't going as planned. It's normal to have sales come in the first few days of launching. It is also normal to not have any sales during the first day of your launch. Whatever happens on the first day, second day, third day, whatever day, doesn't mean anything about your launch. We've had some launches where only one person on the waitlist purchased and everybody else purchased while doors were open to the public; we still ended up with a six-figure launch. Continue on with your launch. Keep going, keep leaning in, and keep showing up for your audience. 

Those that do let it mean something typically will throw in the towel. They don’t lean into their launches as much. They don't follow up with leads. They'll start to create stories that aren't serving them. That's not going to support you at all. Let's say that something came up as you were launching. It does not mean your launch is going to flop. We can reframe all stories into new ones that are actually serving you. If your launch was slower in the beginning, a good reframe is, “the launch starting slow gave me space I needed to enjoy family time and now it's time to really lean in.” It says nothing about how your launch will end, I promise you. So much can shift. 

Let's say that you opened a presale and it didn't get any bites right away. Instead of giving up completely, reframe. Instead of telling yourself the story of, “if they didn't want to buy when it was cheaper during my early bird, there's no way they're going to buy at full price,” shift your story. It's not serving you. Your audience is so excited to pay you in full, that's why they didn't buy during the early bird sale. There is not only one way for a launch to go well. Trust the process and keep going. I know that as entrepreneurs we often look for instant gratification, quick wins. If your launch doesn't fill after doors are open for 30 minutes, know that it is okay. It is normal. 

I want to share a few of my favorite mantras to support you in some of those moments. One of my favorites is, “I know that I always get what I want.” Another is, “it's all working out perfectly for me.” I also love the mantra, “people love to pay me.” Instead of asking yourself, will my launch fill? What if my launch doesn't fill? What are people going to think? What are people going to say? I like to shift my energy into, what do I do when it does fill? I start thinking about that next step, because it will fill. Your launch is not going to burn down if it does not go as planned. You are the person that can shift how your launch feels and performs. 

When Should You Scrap Your Launch?

I have decided to scrap launches before. I've decided to move timelines. I’ve decided to extend. I've decided to close early. That's one of the amazing things about being a business owner, you are the one calling the shots. You can decide what the timeline is. This can add pressure to some because some people are attached to the outcome of their launches. If you feel attached to the outcome of your launch, I recommend finding other things that serve you and make you happy outside of your business. It can be extremely dangerous when you attach yourself to the outcome of your business. It becomes an up and down roller coaster that keeps going on and on. It is such a dangerous cycle. Decide right now that it's all going to work out. Decide that no matter the outcome, you have already won. 

Now, anytime I've scrapped a launch or shifted a launch timeline, it's usually because of aligned action. If you're about to launch something or near the middle and thinking about closing it, before you make a decision I want you to ask yourself something. Is the desire you have for scrapping your launch coming from truth or is it coming from fear? Those are two very different things. There's a difference between giving up on a launch because of fear and scrapping a launch because it no longer feels aligned to you and you're ready to pivot. 

Focusing on Yourself

One of the biggest things that I have my clients focus on during their launches is taking care of themselves. It's so easy for us to stay in high energy and feel good about our businesses when things are going well. The same goes for the opposite. I see entrepreneurs want to completely give up and throw in the towel if all of their spots aren't filled by the second day of their launch. They stop taking care of themselves. They stop checking in with how they're feeling. They lean away from their launches and stop showing up on social media. They basically self-sabotage when things get tough. 

So, how do we shift this? Interrupt whatever is happening at that moment. If you're feeling red during your launch, go do something fun. Fill your cup. Do something that you enjoy, like cooking or a kickboxing class, to take aligned action instead of coming from a place of lack and scarcity. Sometimes we need to shift our physical state. As you fill your cup, you'll start to see that aligned action. What happens when we are putting out low vibes? We attract low vibes. In order to attract higher vibes, we get to shift. One of my favorite shifts that I’ve ever made in my mindset around sales is shifting from being in lack or scarcity to being energetically excited. For example, when it comes to your launch and sales, the difference between excited versus pushy is energetically excited. This is saying, “join if you want to, this is going to be so great with or without you.” Pushy is, “join or I'm going to freak out and I'll be scared I won't hit my sales numbers and I'm feeling desperate.” That's not what we want. When we are truly excited and feel good, that is where the magic happens in launches. 

I know we have chatted about so much today. I hope you have enjoyed this and had some takeaways. We touched on the importance of metrics during launches, my top launch metrics that I track and review during my launches, some of things that these metrics can tell you during your launch, mindset shifts as you are launching, and so much more. We're already getting ready for next week and I cannot wait to share it with you. Thanks for hanging out with me today. I will see you next week!