BTS: How We secured Product of the Day on ProductHunt?
Author :
Claire Cho
Feb 23, 2024
On 2/5, we finally unveiled our wholesome Syncly product on ProductHunt — a new way to surface real customer pains with AI feedback analysis, becoming your customer expert! It was an successful launch on Product Hunt and and here are the proven records we achieved.
We ranked #4 product of the day with 938 upvotes,
356% increase in Landing page views,
431% increase in "Book a demo" clicks,
234% increase in Interactive demo clicks, and
1.7 times increase in potential client demo sign-ups.
Product Hunt is an amazing platform where you can announce your product and company! The community, comprising individuals and groups from around the globe, is incredibly supportive and embraces your product launch with open arms
I've witnessed the true spirit of "Paying it Forward" in this community and would love to pay you back. We'd be delighted to share our journey to securing the #4 Product of the Day title and discuss a few insights for refining our strategy in the next launch.
If you start to launch your product on PH, set the goal of being in the top 5 Products of the Day!
What are the benefits of achieving #5 Product of the Day?
Obviously, securing the #5 Product of the Day title brings a lot of advantages. You not only witness a surge in views, traction, and qualified leads but also tap into an ncreased opportunity for your product to garner exposure, thanks to the unwavering support on Product Hunt!
Becoming one of the Top 5 Products of the Day is a cause for celebration! Your company gets the spotlight on Product Hunt's LinkedIn post and email newsletter.
Your achievements don't just stop there. On the Product Hunt website, you'll proudly stand as the featured yesterday’s Top 5 products!
Attaining the esteemed titles of Product of the Week or Product of the Month unlocks even more perks. Brace yourself for increased exposure through additional posts and content. However, a friendly tip: a strategic approach to setting the date can significantly boost your chances of securing these prestigious titles.
Surprisingly, our journey led to unexpected benefits. Achieving these titles not only puts you on the radar but opens doors to discovery by diverse people and channels. We were pleasantly surprised when various newsletters voluntarily promoted us, ensuring a sustained flow of traffic even beyond the product launch week.
[linkedin post]
Tips for Product launch Planning
Tip 1: Marketing Messaging
Crafting a simple but catchy Slogan: The key to success lies in a straightforward and concise slogan. Do not use technical jargons and instead focus on communicating the benefits and value proposition of your product. In my experience, opting for user-friendly marketing slogans proved to be effective.
Strategic feature presentation: Before the big day on ProductHunt, you will be submitting 5-6 content pieces to ProductHunt hunters. This is where your features can truly shine. Prioritize showcasing features that resonate the most with your customers and differentiate us from competitors.
Highlighting your audience: If you've already identified your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) or a specific target segment, make sure to highlight them. This information can come in handy when crafting your maker comment or even a LinkedIn post.
Taking the extra steps accordingly: In addition, there are a few actions worth taking. We revamped our websites and created animated feature content to enhance our audience's understanding of the product. Success in this context could be measured through increased engagement time. We were pleased to observe a 71.4% surge in landing page website engagement time: from 14 to 24 seconds, marking a substantial increase of 71.4%
Tip 2: Content
Preparing a video introduction: When sharing content on Product Hunt, kick things off with a video. I've observed numerous companies effectively capture attention using videos, and it usually does the trick. It doesn't need to be flawless. Fortunately, we already had a compelling feature video. Alternatively, if needed, a quick PowerPoint presentation could be recorded, outlining our company's vision and feature description. Feel free to browse through a few examples for inspiration.
Emphasizing eye-catching feature cards: Don't underestimate the power of visually appealing product feature cards. Once again, simplicity is key, and ensure the overall messaging aligns seamlessly with our primary marketing message. I made sure that the maker's comment, LinkedIn post draft, and email post were all harmonized with our marketing messaging for a cohesive presentation!
(PH card)
Tip 3: Distribution & Marketing
Just as a successful product launch is crucial, efficient planning plays an equally vital role. Hence, we meticulously outlined and established distribution channels and timelines to ensure a well-executed launch.
Engaging earlier with coming soon page: To proactively notify our audience, we initiated our "coming soon" messaging two weeks in advance, aligning with insights from various Product Hunt launch blogs. Personally, I came to the realization that relying solely on the "notify me" feature might not be paramount unless the audience is deeply devoted to our product.
Strategic approach to audience engagement: Recognizing the significance of upvotes for the "Product of the Day" status, seeking direct support through requests proved to be more effective. Sending individual messages, particularly to LinkedIn Product Hunt groups and Product Hunt Top 100 hunters, as well as personalized emails to our customers, startup communities, Y Combinator friends, and family connections, demonstrated a more impactful approach in garnering upvotes.
Check this out for the detailed action items:
✅https://tallyso.notion.site/Product-Hunt-Launch-Checklist-166a46fbe162412e9545b39ec18353e4
Tip 4: Engaging in the Community
It's relatively simple to join a community, but the real challenge lies in staying engaged and active within it. Responding to comments on launch day is particularly crucial, as it contributes to your ranking for Product of the Day. In our scenario, we actively participated in both the US and Korean markets.
Exploring Collaboration Opportunities: It's worthwhile to explore what other companies have planned for the same launch week. Additionally, consider attending sessions dedicated to ProductHunt launches in SF for valuable insights and networking opportunities. Please see the links below.
✅https://www.producthunt.com/coming-soon?ref=header_nav
Tip 5: Ads
To expand our reach during the product launch phase, we implemented a LinkedIn message inbox marketing strategy. The message started with a friendly introduction and featured our inaugural Product Hunt link. For startups like ours, experimenting with various ads and optimizing them is crucial, considering our limited marketing budget. This was an insightful experiment aimed at validating the impact of the ads, and the results were quite fascinating. It successfully reached 1,632 people, with an impressive 53.11% click rate as 832 individuals opened the messages.
If we were to launch a product again, what game-changing moves would we make?
Adding a free trial version: Like everyone else, we were itching to see how our Product Hunt launch would pan out. As mentioned earlier, there are several advantages to executing a product launch on ProductHunt. One of our objectives was to increase traffic, while the other was to enhance the chances of generating qualified leads. Throughout the campaign, our campaign definitely got the clicks rolling in, we saw higher traffics. However, the conversion to sales leads was lower than expected. Turns out, not having a free trial option was a bit of a hiccup, according to the Product Hunt rulebook. Although we provided an interactive demo on the landing page, it may not be enough to explore our product.
Next time around, we will try launching one once we've got a free trial ready to roll!
Choose the right day
We found that Monday is pretty competitive, anticipating that 700-800 upvotes would easily secure the top spot. Surprisingly, on our product launch day, that wasn't the case. However, our exploration led us to discover some tips – there are specific days like Wednesday and Thursday when achieving Product of the Day is not only relatively easier but only more likely with a lower number of upvotes. If you are gunning to be product of the week or month, a strategic approach to setting the date can significantly boost your chances of securing these prestigious titles!
Launching a product is a challenging undertaking, but witnessing people's reactions to a product you've invested considerable effort and dedication into is always rewarding. If you're seeking advice or insights on your product launch plan, I'm more than happy to have a discussion with you. On that note, Syncly enables users to unlock actionable insights in seconds, tracking negative sentiments and using their customers' actual quotes. If you're interested in learning more, feel free to schedule a demo!