7 Types of Digital Product Launches. Understand the Entire Launch Formula

A product launch consists of one or several marketing strategies to boost sales and earnings in a short period of time. 

There are several ways to launch, such as the Launch Formula, created by Jeff Walker.

Beyond this classic strategy, many others have adapted and tested the Launch Formula to create their own methodologies. The interesting thing is that each one of them is adapted to a certain type of digital product and the context of your business.

If you are interested in learning how to launch your digital product, make sure you check out this complete post with tips you can apply to your digital product launch!

Product launch

Launching a product means advertising it in a way that makes it stand out so much that people buy it quickly and without hesitation.

Every product launch, digital or otherwise, is an event, just like when a book is launched or when a wedding is announced. You’ll need invitations, guests, gifts, a hall or room for the event (social media, landing pages, etc.), and food (content to educate and nurture potential customers is required).

Anyone who already has digital products knows how difficult it is to sell and grow the business, and when we talk about digital products, we mostly mean online courses and ebooks. However, understanding how to launch your product and integrating different strategies can bring more results than you think.

In the digital world, where there is wide access to proposals and offers, you need to understand what steps you can take to make your product attractive to your audience. 

After many years of experience, Jeff Walker has refined the step-by-step instructions and has created a methodology for selling online courses, which has revolutionized online marketing.

This strategy can be applied to a wide range of products from different niches and works equally well for people with little or a lot of experience in digital products. Here, the adage is true: those who haven’t sold yet, want to sell; and those who have sold, want to sell more.

Launch Formula

The Product Launch Formula isn’t a recipe, but by following the steps and methodology, the chances of selling and making lots of money with your digital product are very high.

A widely used expression in online marketing is making 1 in 7, a year’s salary in just seven days. But, of course, this requires effort and determination.

Here, I’ll show you the steps and a few tips from my experience as a copywriter. But the idea is for you to dig deeper into the topic. 

Within the Product Launch Formula, there are several proposals that depend on whether you have an audience or not, whether you already have a product or not, whether you are available to invest in traffic or not. 

1- Seed Launch

A Seed Launch is best suited for producers who don’t have a product yet and haven’t launched products before. But it can also be used by producers who want to test whether a product can be sold or not.

The seed launch is, first and foremost, proof of the offer. It serves to find out whether or not you have a product in hand. Whether what you have can be sold or not.

This is very important when you are just starting out in digital business and don’t have a lot of money to waste. Imagine you record an online course, invest in equipment, editing, and staff, and when you launch, you don’t sell anything.

That’s why it’s very important to validate the offer, and seed launches serve this purpose. This is why it isn’t recommended that you invest in paid traffic but start with organic efforts.

Fundamentally, it works to validate the offer and collect testimonials, which is the key in convincing future buyers.

2- Internal Launch

This is the most commonly used product launch, especially after you have already validated the offer and have the testimonials or social proof. 

Internal launches are most often used when producers already have a list of leads they’ve already worked with. It’s called internal because the strategy applies only to those leads that are already part of the producer’s audience.

Basically, it consists of three pre-recorded lessons set up in a launch blog that allows the browsing of all three lessons or PLCs (Pre-Launch Content).

1. PLC 1: Work on the problem and OPPORTUNITY that your buyer persona has in their hands.
2. PLC 2: Must show the persona that it IS POSSIBLE to overcome the problem that others have already succeeded with your method.
3. PLC 3: This is a sample of the product, where you essentially work on a specific transformative delivery, which solves a problem of your persona, and allows you to understand that if just one idea solves a problem, imagine what it will do with all the others that your program already offers either course or training.
4. The sales video is the fourth audiovisual piece and should be understood as the hit of your product launch. If the previous classes or PLCs work as preparation, this is the moment for the big move to convince your audience.

In the sales video, it’s important that you work on the hero’s journey to explain how you, in your concrete story, with real facts and anecdotes from your own life, arrived at the solution you propose, and how this solution is able to help those who are thinking about buying it.

Next, comes an impact on the leads. Through a sequence of emails blasted within about five days, you’ll work out all the product’s benefits by using mental triggers, such as the story, social proof, regret, warranty, payment methods, and urgency.

Some people divide the release into four or three parts, such as:

This launch is a quick repeat of an internal launch. Therefore, the same work is done as in the internal launch, but faster and reduced to a few days.3- R2X Launch

With this type of launch, you get back the people who, for some reason, didn’t buy during the previous launch. But, these people already know and recognize you as an authority, so it’s an audience that’s close to deciding to buy.

One of the best-known and widely studied re-launches in history was that of dog trainer, Susan Garrett. She noticed a specific point that could have a greater impact on the same audience that she had worked with during her internal launch.

Susan used a list of 600 names of everyone she knew, and all the customers she had worked with in her face-to-face courses, or who had bought her physical products, such as DVDs. She offered them an ebook that taught a specific topic and solved a concrete problem.

In her best year of DVD sales, Susan never made more than $10,000. Not to mention all the work to produce, sell and distribute this material. However, when she launched her digital product, in just 7 days, she reached US$27,000, almost three times her best year, and with an initial investment of only 10%.

This launch is about a sales strategy to the same audience list that you worked with during a previous launch, but with certain differences.

4- Meteoric Launch

This is a methodology that was born in Brazil and has spread around the world, involving communication through messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp or Telegram.

In addition to the email sequences and the pieces we talked about earlier, you work on a closer and instantaneous communication with your audience.

The idea of the Meteoric Launch enhances the urgency within instant communication, but it must be well-orchestrated on a special date for you or the product.

It’s carried out quickly, usually within 10 hours in one day. Of course, with a previous warm up that anticipates a special condition and offer that will be received only by those who are in the IM group. 

You can use paid traffic to capture leads and send them to a Landing Page with a WhatsApp or Telegram link to a group. The groups are used strictly for information about the product.

You can divide the sending of messages with a structure, such as:

Day 1: What’s the purpose of the Group?

You tell them about the group’s rules and how it will work. You talk about the rules, and the group is managed so that people can talk at scheduled times so that everything doesn’t get out of hand.

It’s also good to send videos or materials about the course, explaining what it’s about. Generating value.

Day 2: How will it work tomorrow?

One or two videos are sent during the day talking about the special conditions of the offer, which can be a cheaper price, a more affordable installment plan, a downsell of the main product. They are informed that on the next day, registration will be open and they can buy at a prescheduled time.

Day 3: Today only!

You send the notice that the special offer conditions are already open, explain the benefits, and send the link to the checkout for the purchase. During the day, the limited shopping times are reminded, and people’s questions are answered.

Usually, you need to have a team to help you manage the groups, and it works best when people already recognize the producer’s authority or the digital product.

It’s also important to say that the Meteoric Launch idea can be used and combined with other digital product launches.

5- Flash Launch

This launch is based on an irresistible offer, i.e. a combination of payment conditions, warranty, and a unique bonus.

To be successful, your communication must take into account the use of various mental triggers within a true story that connects you intimately with your audience.

You can use a real experience from your context that generates empathy through gratitude, surprise, anger, or indignation.

Several emails are sent the week before the launch to prepare your audience and to create or strengthen the bond. During the launch, typically 4 emails are sent, one per day. They will emphasize the unique offer for a short period of time.

6– Spartan Launch

This launch is used to sell to your buyer list, i.e. your customer list, a product with a much more expensive price tag.

It was created by Andrei Parabellum, a Russian marketing expert. In this type of launch, the efforts are always organic, because it’s offered to your students, of whom you already have the contacts, and most importantly, your engagement.

The idea is to offer exclusive training, more like coaching. 

It usually consists of two emails where a course is offered at a price up to 4 times more expensive. Besides emails, you can also provide a webinar or Master Class for the students on your list.

The emails, as well as the webinar, should be very thorough and contain as much information as possible.

1- Webinar or live class

2- First email:

It’s used to create authority and generate scarcity.

• You announce that you have an idea and you will present it to a limited number of people.
• You follow the story creating real empathy.
• Later, in order to create authority, you present what you have achieved with your career. But without mentioning that you’re a coach or consultant.
• Then, you can propose the program, explain exactly what it’s about and its price.
• Focus on the benefits that the person will receive from your company.
• Show scarcity, the warranty, and a bonus, and close the email.

3 – Second email:

This is a short email for those who haven’t opened or read the previous email. In it, you can take the opportunity to generate more scarcity and present social proof.

Always remember that the hook here is your story, always generating empathy so that you can show the product’s value versus its cost.

7- Challenge Launch

This, like any launch, is an event, but with one particularity, it has to be a practical event, with activities where you have to use your hands, so to speak.

It usually takes 7, 21, or 30 days. But the time should be defined according to the transformation you want to offer, and always remembering that this content works as an appetizer for the course or product you want to sell.

The product launch works like a free sample or an appetizer. It must be tasty enough to make you hungrier and want to order more food. But, the hunger cannot be satisfied, because you would skip ordering the main course. 

This type of launch works quite well in the fitness niche, where people organize exercise challenges over a period of several days, and also in the gardening niche, being careful about the length of the days because plants take time to grow. Also, in the personal development niche, where people must write letters or messages, or practice certain rituals or meditation.

What I want to make clear is that it always works, especially when the proposal is a pragmatic and useful experience.

How does it work?

You ask people to sign up for the challenge through a landing page where they leave their email addresses so you can send them the materials and guides you will use during the challenge. It works best with live meetings.

Every day, you send an email or instant messaging communication (this is very important because it feeds the sense of community) letting them know you’re going to start, and at the end of each live session, you’ll send them the material.

You take advantage of the last live sessions to make your sales pitch, answer questions about your course, overcome objections, and sell!

To infinity and beyond!

The difference between the Launch Formula and other formulas is that it isn’t as exact as mathematics, but with practice, you can perfect it and adapt it to your audience.

Even with a good study of the buyer’s persona, you’ll be refining how you convey your digital product, its benefits, its transformation, the bonuses, the warranty, etc.

The idea is that you truly understand how to use mental triggers in your favor, and especially those that make more sense in your niche and product so that the launch is a success. So, be sure to download our e-book below with 23 mental triggers to increase your sales.

Before I finish, here’s a quote from photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson: “Your first 10,000 photos will be your worst photos.” So, you might not have a million-dollar success on the first launch of your product, but over time you will perfect the Launch Formula.