Congrats! If you've landed here, my guess is that you have completed launching your online offer, and regardless of whether you hit your revenue goals, that's something to celebrate! Now that you have a valid offer, it's time to scale your revenue.

First things first, repeat after me: “I will embrace an experimenter's mindset when it comes to launching campaign efforts.”

Because......

🧑🏾‍🔬Business is a science.

🧪 Each launch is an experiment.

🚅Silver bullets don’t exist, at least not when it comes to building a sustainable business.

To be completely honest, most of the clients I work with don’t see the MEGA launch success that you read about on the internet to their 4th or 5th launch. This is because the key to scaling is to nail the basics & then begin to layer in all the fancy strategies.

At the end of the day, the success or failure of your launch relies on this simple formula:

(Engaged Email List Size ) x (Conversion %) x (Offer Cost) = Launch Revenue

But you know what the best news is? You have the power to affect every one of these numbers with intentional focus and strategy.

Let’s dig in:

3 Ways to Build Your Email List to Increase Your Launch Revenue

Leveling up your launches can be as simple as getting MORE people into your community and building a STRONGER relationship with them BEFORE you launch. This is why it is key to develop a strategic email list strategy that attracts & nurtures the leads that you need to support even bigger and better launch goals. 

The formula I shared above has proven a direct correlation between list size & revenue. In addition, the industry average states that 1-3% of your audience that opens your emails will buy your offer, so determining the revenue you will generate from your next launch can be as easy as plugging your current metrics into the formula.

Your goals in between launches should be to attract your aligned client onto your email list & build connection with them by sending them valuable content and resources. These two actions will increase both email open rates & list size and subsequently increase the # of offers purchased and your launch revenue. 

Keep reading for some of my go-to strategies for email list building:

Option #1 - Optimize your opt-in or Lead Magnet to attract your ideal customers

Chances are, if you’ve made it this far, you already have a lead magnet or opt-in. But when was the last time you checked in to determine how effective it is? What does your opt-in conversion rate look like? If it’s less than 50%, honey, you’ve got some work to do.

Gone are the days, where a simple, “simple sign up for my newsletter to receive updates will do.” Your opt-in needs to be something so valuable to your website visitors that they say, OMG, I can’t believe how much value is in here. If this is free, imagine what the paid stuff looks like.”

My favorite type of lead magnets are value-packed PDFs like guides, checklists, and cheat sheets because they are easy to create and can add a ton of value for your audience. Remember, lead magnets should be short, sweet, and straightforward. You don’t want your potential customers to spend weeks going through your lead magnet, but you also want to make sure to deliver enough value so that you leave your audience wanting to learn more from you.

A few of my other favorite lead magnets:

• Audio Training
s
• Action-packed Challenges

• Video Series or Mini-Courses

•  Free Ebook
s
• Demos or Free Trial 
s
•  Free  Samples

• Live Events or Webinar
s

Remember, the goal of your lead magnet is to give your audience a quick win. This instant satisfaction will help you build your know, like, and trust factor.

 Here are some questions for you to ponder if you’ve decided your lead magnet needs a makeover...

• What frustration is your ideal subscriber currently experiencing?

• What can you teach them that will help them get over that first roadblock?

• What is the best way to deliver this information so that the ideal client actually uses and implements it & finds success?

• Most importantly, after you’ve created your new lead magnet, what is your plan to promote it so that people can sign up for it?

Option #2 Bring on JV & Affiliate Partners to support your next online course launch

Joint venture & affiliate partners are great options to explore when it comes to scaling your next launch. You can automatically access a much larger email list when you bring on the right partner or affiliates.

In the past, I’ve successfully used the JV & Affiliate partner strategy to help my clients reach a larger audience & increase their revenue. And chances are, you already have some great potential partners in your industry.

Here are some things to keep in mind regarding partnerships & affiliates:

1. First, you want to have a validated product with conversion metrics to back it up. The last thing you want is for your partners to waste their time promoting a product that is not doing well on its own.

2. Quality is better than quantity when it comes to partnerships. Therefore, it's important to build a strong relationship with your JV and affiliate partners, so they are excited to sell your product and genuinely want you to succeed. 

3. Entice your affiliates to promote your product by being generous with your affiliate commission %. The standard commission rate across the board is a 50-50 split. Using software such as Kajabi or Samcart, you can easily track sales from your affiliates and pay them out accordingly.

4. Launching an affiliate program is a big project & many moving pieces need to come together, but it is definitely worth the ROI once you have the right systems in place.

Option # 3: Use paid advertising to grow your email list

The last strategy is quite simple: pay for your leads. If you have the budget, paid advertising is a great way to build an email list rapidly. Paid advertising is not in my zone of genius, but my clients have outsourced this in the past with success. I recommend you do the same if you know little about using paid advertising to grow your list. Also, remember ads only help accelerate what you already have, so you want to make sure the rest of your funnel is optimized before turning them on so that you don't waste $$.

Increase your average customer value to boost your launch revenue

First, what exactly is ACV? ACV represents the average amount each customer will spend with you during a launch. So, for example, If I made $1,000 in a launch with ten customers, I have an ACV of $100 ($1,000/10)  or Total Sales / Total # of Customers.

Increasing your average customer value would mean that you can increase the total sales or total revenue that you've generated without having any additional or new customers. I know it sounds magical, right?!? 

So how the heck is that even possible? 

By offering additional offers or offer upgrades so that your students can receive even more value from you.

And the great news is that increasing your average customer value or the amount that each customer spends with you during the launch can be one of the easiest ways to boost your total launch revenue because the hard work has already been done. The customer has already decided that they dig you enough to invest their hard-earned cash money into what you're offering. So it's not a far reach to ask them to invest a little more to gain even more value from you.

There are two tried and true ways you can go about this:

#1 Create an Upsell or an Order bump for your next launch

The one-click upsell is an offer you make to your customer when they click the submit button on your checkout page. Usually, 25 to 35% of your customers will take you this. And if you're using a powerful piece of checkout software such as Kajabi, you cannot only make one-click upsells very easily, but you can create upsell and down-sell funnels to increase your average customer value even more.

To create a great upsell offer, you're going to think of ways in which you can provide the results promised in your original offer either faster or quicker. This is an opportunity for templates, coaching, software, done for your services, etc.

Action Item for the Week: Brainstorm potential upsells offers that you can create to help your students elevate their results & help them find success faster.

#2 Create a VIP option to add to your online course

Want to know a little secret?

You, students, are kinda obsessed with you.

Yes, you.

You and what you are offering was so enticing that they momentarily were able to escape the strong grasp of the social media to sign up for opt-in and invite you into their sacred email inbox. And on top of that, they decided to invest money that they've traded their valuable time for into you and your offer.

So yes, I'd say it's safe to say that they are pretty obsessed with you. ( I mean and who wouldn't be )

Most of my clients sell digital courses or memberships. And although they work in a variety of niches, one of the common themes I see is that their students always want MORE. They're seeking more support, coaching, handholding, and accountability. In short, they want  VIP access to you.

So, give it to them.

A VIP option is an opportunity to add a second tier of membership or course to your original offer on the sales page. Obviously, the VIP option would be priced considerably more.  But my clients have seen anywhere from 10% to 30% of their students take them up on the VIP option. It's also great practice to limit the number of VIP spots you have available to make it more exclusive and special.

By having this VIP option and charging more for it than the standard enrollment option, you have the immediate opportunity to increase the average customer value for your next launch. Easy Peasy, right?!?

So here's your challenge if you choose to accept it: Brainstorm what a VIP option would look like for you.  How would you provide more value, support, and a better experience for these VIPs?

The secret to increasing your launch conversions

This one requires a little detective work, so grab a cute fedora, your trusty magnifying glass & your most recent launch metrics. A critical component of completing every launch is to perform a launch debrief to analyze metrics to determine what can be rinsed and repeated for the next launch & want needs to be tweaked. When analyzing your metrics, there are two key areas to focus on if you see low conversion rates in your funnel.

Refine your offer messaging to boost your launch conversions:

90% of the success of your promotion will come down to the offer you are presenting to your audience. If your launch isn't doing well (i.e., You have a low EPL or low conversions at any point in your funnel), then one of two things has happened: either you have a lousy offer (you are selling something no one wants), or you did not do a great job communicating the value of your offer.

My guess is that your problem lies in scenario #2. Most of the time, I find when launches have less than stellar results, it has nothing to do with the product and everything to do with how the product was presented. Often, the problem is that the offer messaging fails to clearly communicate what problem the offer is resolving and to whom it is best suited for. 

So how do you know if messaging was the culprit in your last launch? 

Go to the source. The easiest way to gain insights about your messaging is to survey both the people who didn't buy and those who did buy during your last launch. 

✨Action item: Collects insight regarding your offer messaging using 1 of or all three of the following tactics✨

1.  Send an exit survey to your community who didn’t purchase to discover why. 
2. Put a post-purchase survey on your purchase confirmation page to uncover why your student decided to invest in your program and what outcome they are hoping to achieve.
3. Send a testimonial and feedback request survey after a student completes your course.

Refine your launch mechanism to boost your launch conversions:

The next area I want to examine to increase your conversion is the launch sales event strategy. This is the medium through which you will be executing your launch or promotion. Determining the right launch strategy is a highly unique choice for each offer.  Often clients come to me with a particular strategy in mind that they have learned from a course or seen an online guru tout. The problem is not all sales events strategies are correct for you & your unique offer. For example, a webinar might not be the best choice if you consider yourself an introvert & hate showing up on camera. A challenge might not be right for you if you don't have the bandwidth in your schedule to show up for your community multiple times in a week. And I can almost guarantee you will burn yourself out if you try to follow a complex multi-sales event strategy without of strong team behind you. Every launch model has its pros and cons. The key is to weigh those pros and cons, unique to your offer & what stage you are at in your business.

 Here are some things to consider when deciding if a launch sales strategy is right for your offer:

• How do you enjoy showing up for your community?
• What does your schedule and launch timeline look like?
• What are your current energy levels like?
• Do you have the capacity to show up for multiple sales events?
• Which model is most aligned with your topic?

Remember, the right strategy for you is the one that allows you to show up stress-free & as the best version of yourself for your students and gives you the space and time to connect and build relationships with your community. 

The Secret Weapon to Increasing Launch Revenue

I kick off every launch with my 1:1 clients with a comprehensive launch planning session. During our time together, we'll map out all of the nitty-gritty details of the launch, from creating an irresistible offer to sales page planning to magic content strategy to designing an amazing onboarding experience then after I use a project management tool like Asana to assign tasks and due dates for each critical component of the launch.

It's no secret that launches can be intense; there are many moving pieces that all must come together to deliver a stellar experience for your community that will get them ready to invest in you. And after managing multiple launches, 5 & 6 figure launches, I've learned that taking the time to plan out your entire launch strategy from the start is the key to taking your launch results from average to amazing. A solid plan will allow you to move forward with confidence & clarity & which means BETTER results.

So there you have it, four ways to Level Up Your Launches in 2022 and produce big results. I’ll keep you updated as we begin a new year. And if you’re looking for some extra guidance in this area or just don’t know where to start, I would love to invite you to join my email newsletter: The Weekly Download. Every week I deliver intentional business resources and strategies to help you build a sustainable online digital product business around a flexible lifestyle. If you're interested sign up below.