Have you heard people saying that the live launch is dead? That evergreen is the only model you should be using right now?

This is not the case at all!! Both live launching and evergreen have their place and depending on who you are and what your business does, one or the other may be the right option for you.

So for this blog I wanted to explain why live launching is definitely not dead …  and why it may be the right option for you.

And in one of my next blogs I will explain all about evergreen and why that may be right for you and your business.

What is live launching?

A live launch is a way of selling products or services that are available for a limited amount of time. Live launching is a popular strategy used by online businesses to sell programs, courses or memberships. A live launch usually involves the cart being open for a limited amount of time and a marketing campaign leading up to the cart opening.

Live launching is very much still a viable strategy to promote your offers – just look at some of the online giants in this space such as Lisa Johnson, Amy Porterfield or Stu McLaren. They are still using this method to launch their programs and are continuing to see consistent results.

Why should you consider a live launch?

The benefits of doing a challenge or a masterclass (or both) as a live launch are:

They provide value

When you host a challenge or a masterclass, you are effectively teaching people part of what they need to know, i.e. you are taking people halfway to where they want to be. This means that regardless of whether people intend to work with you or not – they are going away having learnt something from you. This feels like a very ethical way to launch as you are giving something before you receive anything.

Some people will want more

There will naturally be people who will get all they need from the free challenge or masterclass, but for some the next logical step is to buy your course / program / package. You will have taken them part of the way to where they need be and they know that if they want to get the remainder of the way there they must work with you. You will always get more people who register for your live event than who actually attend. And fewer who attend will buy. This is perfectly normal and this is how you will work out your conversion rate for future launches.

Say for example you get 250 people who register for your event. 150 of them attend your masterclass or the final day of your challenge. And 10 people purchase your offer. That gives you a conversion rate of 6%. So if you want 25 people to buy your program the next time you launch you know that you need 375 on your next webinar, which means that you need 600 to register for your event.

Shows potential clients how you teach

One of the biggest benefits of live launching is that potential clients will get an idea of what you are like to work with or learn from. We are not all everyone’s cup of tea and some people may love your style while others find your voice grates on them. When people spend time listening to you and learning from you at your event they will know whether or not you are someone they want to continue to learn from.

Why a live launch may not go well

If you have had your fingers burnt during a previous launch, don’t feel like you can’t try again! There are a couple of reasons why your launch may not have gone as expected. Here are a few pointers based on mistakes that I’ve experienced:

Don’t make it too complicated

Your challenge or masterclass should give people enough knowledge that they can take away and implement something that gives them a ‘quick win’. If you give them too much complicated information in a short space of time you risk overwhelming them and scaring them away. Or worse still – if you give away too much they will not need actually to purchase your offer!

Don’t make it too long

You should keep your challenges to 3 or 5 days max. You will always have more people on day one of the challenge than you will on the final day as numbers naturally drop off day after day. Don’t feel like you have to be online presenting for an hour every day. Keep your sessions short, valuable and succinct and give them a short 5-10 minute exercise to do before the next session… any longer and they are unlikely to complete the exercise.

Not being transparent

I have been on challenges or masterclasses where the presenter doesn’t make it clear that they are going to be selling something at the end… and although some people will always be expecting the offer, some won’t and may be annoyed if this comes as a surprise at the end. Tell people at the start of the challenge that you will be making an offer for them to work with you. And talk about your new programme / course throughout where it is relevant to do so. That way there will be no shocks at the end when you open your offer.

Related Post: Lessons I Learned from my first Launch

I hope that you have found this useful. If you would like to know how we can support you through your live launch please book a discovery call today and let’s chat!