Fancy a peek into the behind-the-scenes of my most recent launch? 👀
In this episode, I’m reviewing the launch of my latest program, Blissful Biz Launchpad. I’m going to pull back the curtain and share all the details with you – what I did, what worked, and what didn’t work.
The Blissful Biz Launchpad
The Blissful Biz Launchpad is a new program I’ve created where I teach you how to create and sell your first small online course.
The idea behind it was to offer a clear roadmap for people who are not necessarily ready to do a full-blown launch with free challenges/webinars, etc, but still want to launch an online course. These people most likely don’t have an email list or much of an existing audience, and they just want to get started and get their feet wet.
The course does exactly that, it’s a self-study course that’s incredibly easy to follow, with templates, copy swipe files, Canva layouts, and a really clear step-by-step approach telling you what to do each week.
I also wanted this to be a downsell for my premium program, the Blissful Biz Incubator, for people who aren’t ready for the Incubator yet. So it has a very strategic place in my product suite, but it’s not meant to be my signature program.
Let’s look at what my launch process was, the results, what went well, and what didn’t.
The Launch
Content Push
The first step is always the pre-launch content push. I created more content around online courses and talked about it in some podcast episodes and on Instagram.
I’ve launched a lot so far in 2023, with new products, existing products, and hosting a range of webinars/masterclasses, which meant I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the time of the launch for Blissful Biz Launchpad. However, I really wanted to get this course out there, and my focus wasn’t on having the biggest launch ever, it was on adding it to my product suite and setting up smart funnels so that I can sell it on evergreen.
The Masterclass
I wanted to keep things simple and I did. I decided just to do a single masterclass for this launch: “Your 6-Week Roadmap to Create and Launch Your First Online Course the Quick + Easy Way!“
I set up a registration page on my website and a confirmation email and got busy promoting it. I also created a waitlist for the program and started talking about it to create product awareness which can take some time to build up.
In my pre-launch content, (2-3 weeks before the masterclass) I talked about online courses and I always added a call-to-action to sign up for the masterclass, and in a few posts and one email newsletter, I also asked people to sign up for the waitlist for the course.
Not a lot of people signed up for the waitlist and that’s okay, I just wanted people to hear about my new program and realize that this is coming. My focus was on filling up my masterclass and this I did.
I haven’t done ads in my last launches but I knew I wanted more people in with this launch, so I started with a small budget, saw that my cost per conversion was very reasonable, and increased it. In total, I spent $2,500 on ads, and in total 900 people signed up for my masterclass, including people from my email list and from social media. I sent 2 extra emails to my mailing list about the masterclass and also mentioned it in my weekly newsletter so a few people came from that as well.
Around 90 people showed up live for the masterclass, which is a pretty low attendance rate, but I think this was due to it being a lot of cold traffic (people who have only just met you and don’t know you yet). But the masterclass went great, people were engaged and a bunch stayed until the end, and I was happy with it. I got great feedback as well on how helpful it was, how inspirational it was, and how casual and friendly the masterclass was, which I was so happy to hear because this is exactly the feeling I wanted people to have – that we’re all just sitting down with a coffee for a chat about online courses.
Post-Masterclass
After the masterclass, I sent out a bunch of emails, like with every launch, posted a bit about it on social media and that’s about it! I prepared and scheduled in advance as much as possible so this launch really wasn’t taking up a lot of my time or energy.
Now comes the time when the cart is open and you’re waiting for people to buy – this is always a bit nerve-wracking and for me, this time it really was. I was hoping to make at least 10K and the minimum would be to recover the cost of what I invested in Facebook ads.
For the longest time, it didn’t feel like I would do that and so fears started creeping in. Besides one sale, ALL sales came on the very last day, some in the last hour before I closed the doors.
Those fears were short-lived thankfully, as I was able to not get sucked in and start panicking. This is really something that gets easier with experience, after you’ve gone through it a few times and you have a toolkit of ways to keep you calm like yoga, meditation, journaling, being in nature, etc.
In the end, it all worked out! I reached my minimum goal, it was a five-figure launch, and I’ve already dripped the first 2 modules, people are working on their courses and my next goal is to help people get results so I get some new success stories that I can share!
What Didn’t Work
The Messaging
I didn’t reach my wine goal – I always set 3 different goals, a beer goal, a wine goal, and a champagne goal. It’s the minimum, the maximum, and my real goal is in the middle (I’m a wine drinker, obviously).
Looking back, I think the messaging was part of the issue. I positioned this as a course to start, to create your first small online course, but even though I didn’t say beginner – it was clearly for people just getting started. The one thing I forgot here is that nobody likes to sit at the kiddie table. Even when you are a beginner, you don’t want to sit at the kiddie table.
Telling people that this is a great start to building an online business, and creating and selling a small online course, it’s maybe not the sexiest result, right?
So I’ll see how I adapt that messaging, I’m also going to check in with my students inside the course and see what they create, what they actually need to hear.
Pre-Launch Phase
The pre-launch phase was too short and it was too soon after my last promotion.
The pre-launch phase being too short meant that a lot of the people who attended the masterclass were cold traffic because I hadn’t taken the time to talk about my offer, mistakes people make, and how what I teach can help them avoid those mistakes, share case studies, etc. This would have allowed my audience to warm up to me a little, and be more engaged for a longer period of time.
I’m actually okay with this because I prefer to have a bunch of easy launches over the year with smaller results instead of just one or two super big ones. Because of this, looking back, I wouldn’t have changed this about the launch.
What Worked
Facebook Ads
I got lots of new subscribers, (some of which bought the course) as a result of running Facebook ads. Even the people who didn’t buy the course are still now on my email list and will hopefully invest in working together in the future.
I think this is why launches are great for your business, you really increase your visibility and establish yourself as an expert on a certain topic, and you can increase your audience – I also got a bunch of new followers on Instagram and Facebook because of the ads.
Adding Upsells and Downsells + Repurposing
I added an upsell for my course Blissful Sales Accelerator on the thank you page after people signed up and a couple of people purchased that. I also sent out a couple of emails with a downsell offer, a chance to buy my course Niche Bliss for a discounted price and a few people bought that, so it all added up to the revenue.
I also repurposed things from my former launches, preparing and scheduling posts and emails as much as possible.
Discovery Calls
The final thing that I recommend you definitely add when you launch an online program is offering free discovery calls – I had a few people sign up for them and nearly all of them converted. I think it really helps you and your customer. I learned more about my students and their struggles, and I really love the connection, and they got to meet me as a real person behind the screen who really cares about them and their results.
So there you have it – a really honest behind-the-scenes glimpse at my most recent easy launch. I don’t have any mind-blowing results to share and I want you to realize that this is more than okay.
That’s truly how I hope you approach this post. No comparison games, no getting down on yourself if you’re just starting out and have a smaller launch than you expected. Just keep moving forward in your business.
For me, it’s more important that this launch worked with my schedule, it didn’t burn me out, it was easy, just a masterclass, a bunch of ads and social media posts and emails, a handful of discovery calls, and still 5-figures in my business account.
If you’re ready to make passive income and learn all about creating, selling, and launching digital offers, I’d love to invite you into my program Blissful Biz Incubator.
Inside the Blissful Biz Incubator, I teach you how to design your brand, grow your audience and create and launch digital offers like an online course.
What really sets it apart is that you get a ton of video trainings to help you implement things and take action, but you also get 1:1 coaching, group coaching, and personal feedback and critique for work you submit.
Go to www.susannerieker.com/application and get all the details.
