In this text we’ll describe our personal Product Hunt launch expertise. The expertise of three launches, to be exact! Our workforce launched on three totally different events with our Nitro skilled translation service, and every launch resulted in a profitable victory, with placement among the many high merchandise of the day. Now we’re able to share our expertise and the discoveries we’ve made on this journey.
This text will profit anybody who’s contemplating a launch on Product Hunt and in search of a technique that may get outcomes.
We’ll talk about:
- How we launched our B2B product thrice on Product Hunt and earned the title “Product of the Day” each time
- What fundamental steps it’s essential to take if you wish to have a profitable launch
- Who high hunters are and why you want them to have a profitable product launch in 2023
- How eye-catching illustrations could make your product stand out throughout launch
- What it’s essential to know if you happen to’re launching on Product Hunt with a small workforce and find out how to maximize your obtainable assets on launch day
- What adjustments have been made to the platform just lately and what updates you’re prone to encounter if you wish to launch proper now. On this part we discuss in regards to the “Coming quickly” web page, the growth of ChatGPT and AI-generated feedback on Product Hunt, the platform’s new anti-spam coverage, and the Randomized Homepage.
- Product Hunt launch technique: pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch, all in a transparent and logical timeline.
Buckle up!
Every time we have been selling our product Nitro. Nitro is an expert translation platform from Alconost, overlaying 70+ languages. Nitro is ideally suited to when a top quality translation is required rapidly (96% of orders are executed inside 24 hours, with 63% accomplished in two hours or much less). All translations on Nitro are executed by skilled native-speaking linguists.
We’re assured of our product, however right here’s the rub: Nitro is meant for corporations, and B2B merchandise are notoriously laborious to advertise on Product Hunt. We have been confronted with a problem: to struggle for our place within the solar towards graphic editors, no-code apps, and private productiveness enhancement instruments.
Our launches have been titled accordingly: the primary was merely Nitro, the second was Nitro 2.0, and the third — you guessed it — was Nitro 3.0. Earlier than every new launch we improved our product.
- Once we first began we merely introduced the platform and described its capabilities. We highlighted its benefits — human translation, skilled linguists, quick turnaround, its personal API.
- The second time round we had added assist for Google Docs: as an alternative of copying texts and pasting them into the Nitro translation window, now customers might add a doc and get the finished translation with out dropping any of the formatting.
- We did the identical with different file codecs: immediately Nitro helps Google Docs, Google Sheets, HTML, and .strings (for iOS). We additionally added one thing new: assist for the JSON format, which was what mainly motivated us to place in an look on Product Hunt the third time.
Outcomes:
- Nitro (November 2021): 4th place, 337 upvotes by finish of launch day, 500+ as of April 2023
- Nitro 2.0 (July 2022): fifth place, 136 upvotes by finish of launch day, 200+ as of April 2023
- Nitro 3.0 (March 2023): fifth place, 230 upvotes by finish of launch day, 300+ as of April 2023
The launches enabled us to attract consideration to our product whereas buying new registered customers and shoppers, and in addition served as a superb alternative to speak about Nitro on social networks and within the media. As well as, we acquired a consumer for Alconost’s adjoining service: localization. Nitro is appropriate for small quantities of textual content and for translating updates to video games, web sites, and apps. Whereas constructive options of localization companies embrace work group by a undertaking supervisor, choice of an appropriate platform and translators for the consumer’s explicit wants, and course of design. Not like Nitro’s impersonal interface, a supervisor communicates with shoppers immediately and works in tandem with them, which is how we optimize the localization of huge initiatives.
By no means as soon as have we enlisted assistance from hunters. The conclusion? A profitable launch is ABSOLUTELY potential with out their help! Within the part under entitled “The position of the hunter in 2023, or Why we determined to launch on our personal” we describe in additional element what hunters can contribute to a launch.
Moreover, we all know first-hand what it means to arrange for a launch with out an intensive workforce. The first driving drive behind our launches consisted of 1 or two key individuals who understood the nuances of the platform and would ask their colleagues for help with preparations each time the necessity arose. On X-Day itself, some others from Alconost’s inner assist workforce additionally lent a hand. However if you happen to’re solely capable of contain a few individuals in making ready on your launch, as an alternative of an intensive workforce, we all know find out how to successfully make use of your obtainable time and vitality.
In almost each article on launching on Product Hunt you’ll see these suggestions:
- Put together for the launch upfront.
That method you’ll have time to community on the platform and enlist the assist of the group — you’re going to want it on X-Day. Turn into an energetic platform participant previous to launch. Participate in discussions (and actually share your viewpoint on the questions mentioned — it’s best to solely promote your product the place acceptable), gather karma factors, assist the merchandise of others, and work together with different Product Hunt members.
2. Put together eye-catching launch web page content material.
You’ll want:
- the identify of your product;
- brief descriptions of it, 60 and 260 characters in size;
- an icon (a GIF or concise brand) 240 x 240 or 600 x 600 pixels;
- a video — presumably a product demo; ideally an uncommon, authentic video that each showcases the product and acts as a hook;
- hanging, wealthy graphics with simply readable textual content for the gallery — 1270 x 760 pixels;
- a GIF (non-obligatory), ideally not bigger than 3MB;
- a remark from the first maker and, if desired, from different makers;
- matters — from 1 to three; see standard matters.
3. Type a assist workforce amongst Product Hunt communities, on LinkedIn, Telegram, WhatsApp, Fb, Slack, and Twitter.
The lists of those communities are consistently being up to date; previous teams lose their relevance, and new ones seem. Create a listing of communities within the early days of the preparation course of. Begin actively collaborating in these communities: assist different hunters, go away significant feedback, and relaxation assured — they’ll do the identical for you.
The problem encountered by these making ready for his or her first launch on Product Hunt is that it’s no simple factor to determine how the platform itself truly works. Whereas the web is stuffed with directions and articles on launch prep, all of them turn into outdated pretty rapidly: Product Hunt makes frequent updates that you simply’ll nonetheless have to determine by yourself.
What we encountered on the preparation stage this time, in March of 2023, that wasn’t there earlier than:
“Coming quickly” web page
The “Coming quickly” web page or teaser is proven within the Coming quickly feed, and was launched on Product Hunt pretty just lately — at any fee, it wasn’t round when Nitro and Nitro 2.0 have been launched. At present, creating this web page is a requisite a part of launch preparation.
The “Coming quickly” web page shows the identify of the product, a brief description of 255 characters or fewer, and a banner. For the banner, a measurement of 1:2 (w:h) is advisable for the desktop model, and 1:1 for cell. If this isn’t your first launch, use a 1:1 banner for each variations.
When an individual subscribes to the “Coming quickly” web page, they are going to obtain a notification once we launch. This refers to notifications immediately on the platform, with a bell icon within the higher proper nook. Within the best-case situation, Product Hunt notifications are additionally delivered through electronic mail.
As we see it, the “Coming quickly” web page made making a Ship pointless, and it’s freed from cost. We advocate making a teaser per week previous to launch.
An important technical consideration is which you can solely create a “Coming quickly” web page (or teaser) after you’ve scheduled your launch: you publish it on Product Hunt, then await the product to launch routinely.
A scheduled launch helps you to:
- Create a “Coming quickly” web page
- Get a “Launching quickly” badge by your profile identify
- Put together and add all supplies for the launch and see how they are going to be displayed on the web page (from this second on the product web page is accessible through the hyperlink)
- If crucial, make adjustments to the ready supplies proper up till the launch itself (the date will also be moved)
- Not fear about launching the product on the platform on X-Day — will probably be launched routinely.
We advocate making a scheduled launch as early as potential. The longer you’ve got your badge, the extra Product Hunt members will need to be the primary to attach with you. Completely something within the scheduled launch will be modified — even the hyperlink to the product, though the hyperlink is step one in including the product to the web site.
As soon as the scheduled launch has been created, it’s very simple so as to add a teaser utilizing the directions from Product Hunt. When you’ve supplied the data for the “Coming quickly” web page, the banner goes via moderation, which may take as much as 24 hours. Our teaser was printed 3–4 hours after submitting the data.
The ChatGPT growth
There’s numerous discuss ChatGPT on Product Hunt — only for curiosity’s sake, head over to the discussions and do a search there for ChatGPT. The variety of merchandise that use it’s also rising, as even a few days of watching the product rankings will present.
Though the group might concur that ChatGPT is a useful gizmo, the issue is that many individuals are beginning to participate in discussions and go away feedback below merchandise to not share their opinion, however to be engaged merely for the sake of engagement. To avoid wasting time, some are utilizing ChatGPT to generate responses and publish them on Product Hunt. Product Hunt is beginning to fight AI-generated feedback and content material — for instance, the “Report” button now has the choice to flag AI contributions.
Plenty of merchandise invariably fall behind within the rankings when the Product Hunt algorithm flags suspected illicit exercise beneath a publish. Even if you happen to go about gaining upvotes the correct method, regulate what’s occurring within the launch feedback.
In our opinion, ChatGPT could be a nice assist when making ready for launch, particularly for these for whom English isn’t their native language. ChatGPT will be helpful for rapidly and accurately placing collectively an insightful reply or eye-catching remark, offering concepts for creating your individual discussions, or serving to you compile texts, letters, and posts about your launch — there are going to be numerous them! The vital factor is to not abuse it and to be sincere with your self and the group. Then you definately gained’t have any points.
You’ll be able to be taught extra about Product Hunt’s coverage relating to AI-generated content material within the dialogue “Let’s Speak About Spam” dated March 23, 2023.
The randomized homepage
The truth that Product Hunt is consistently and quickly altering is born out by their randomized product web page, which was actually launched the very day (!) earlier than we launched.
Primarily, in the course of the first two hours of the launch day (00:01–02:00 PST) the leaderboard adjustments at random, and product upvotes throughout this era are hidden. At this similar time (00:01–02:00 PST) the variety of upvotes a product has been seen on the launch web page itself, however its total rating on the leaderboard stays unknown. As earlier than, the ultimate ranking is decided by the group on the finish of the day.
The representatives of Product Hunt consider that if you happen to observe the group guidelines and obtain genuine votes, these adjustments will have an effect on you positively. The random adjustments on the leaderboard are meant to assist degree the sector for all merchandise firstly of the day and scale back the strain to acquire the best variety of votes within the first jiffy/hours of the launch.
However, we advocate that you simply attempt to attain a high place firstly of the day. Any given individual goes to note the primary 5 or 10 merchandise topping the rankings — no extra. In our case, the interval for randomizing the highest merchandise was a bit longer than promised — round 2.5–3 hours.
The glossary put out by Product Hunt says {that a} hunter is any individual with a free Product Hunt account who publishes merchandise with a purpose to share them with the group. In different phrases, if you happen to’ve printed even one launch, you’re already a hunter.
Right here we’re speaking about high hunters. These are long-time veterans of the platform who’ve a large viewers and repeatedly publish the merchandise of others. As an alternative of looking for high hunters on the platform by yourself, you’ll be able to examine their rankings on the Upvote Bell web site.
Using a hunter on your launch could also be a great way to succeed in a bigger viewers that admittedly enjoys larger belief among the many group. However to launch with a hunter they’ll have to truly like your product. And contemplating that high hunters obtain quite a few presents daily, you’ll want a powerful gross sales pitch and extra time for communication. Your launch date will even be depending on the hunter, because you’ll have to agree on a day after they’re not serving to to launch different merchandise.
Up to now it made sense to pursue high hunters: in spite of everything, every time they printed a brand new product, all their tens of 1000’s of subscribers would obtain an electronic mail, guaranteeing the product a large attain and, in the end, an considerable improve in upvotes. At present, a hunter’s subscribers solely obtain notifications on the platform itself.
We determined to not spend time speaking with a high hunter, and as an alternative to community independently and organize with individuals from the group for assist. Right here it is sensible to construct a subscriber base on Product Hunt itself. If you hunt a product independently, subscribers will obtain a notification — the identical type of notification that these of high hunters obtain. The benefit of hunters lies within the variety of their subscribers. Our benefit lies in private contact with individuals who will come to assist the launch on the very least as a result of we’ve been involved with them and turn into pals.
When you determine to hunt out a hunter in spite of everything, we advocate that you simply write to 4 or so, 4–6 weeks previous to launch. You’ll have to have all of your supplies prepared once you do — illustrations, movies, textual descriptions. Oh, and talking of illustrations…
In most guides on making ready for a Product Hunt launch you’ll learn in regards to the significance of high quality graphic supplies. We are able to affirm that sure, that’s true. From our first launch with Nitro we selected the idea of a cat mascot describing our Nitro platform. We caught to it all through all three launches.
Folks appreciated the illustrations a lot that they even wrote to us about them particularly — who got here up with that superior cat? The method additionally gave us a playful solution to show the capabilities of our platform: totally different photos described our native-speaking translators, the codecs we assist, our turnaround time, or our API.
Our closing launch was actually a race — our ranking modified from sixth place to ninth on the product board, and once we ended up within the high 5 we needed to preserve that place for one more 12 hours.
It’s vital to unfold out your efforts all through the launch day, because the Product Hunt algorithm reacts positively to this. The launch day lasts a full 24 hours, and it’s not sufficient to succeed in your goal place at a given second — you must get there and keep there.
When X-Day ended we had gained the title of “Product of the Day”. Beneath we share our most up-to-date conclusions:
- Be prepared for product randomization in the course of the first hours of the launch, however don’t let this considerably affect your actions throughout this time. In any case, attempt to make it to the highest as early as potential.
- Subsequent, discover a solution to keep on the high. All through the day, interact your assist workforce. Make sure that your efforts and upvotes are dispersed all through the hours of the day.
- Assume forward of time about what to do in the course of the night time, particularly if you happen to’re launching with no hunter and with a small workforce. It may be dangerous to lose management over the leaderboard for a number of hours working.
- Hold issues energetic on the launch web page: reply to feedback, reply questions totally, and spotlight your favourite feedback (by the way, in January of 2023 remark awards have been launched — you’ll be able to examine them right here).
There aren’t any absolute common options right here, and the to-do record and the way it’s damaged down over time will range from one workforce to the subsequent. However, under we’ve created a launch prep guidelines: these are the factors that we ourselves prioritize, and we advocate that you simply do the identical.
Preparation:
Launch day:
- Share messages in regards to the launch with Product Hunt contacts on LinkedIn and Twitter
- Ask group members for assist on launch day; create discussions surrounding the launch
- Ship an digital mailing saying the product launch
- Get hold of the assist of the workforce/”buddy community”
- Put up an announcement on social networks in regards to the launch
Afterward:
By following these steps and making ready for the massive day upfront, your efforts are certain to logically finish in your successful the title of “Product of the Day”. Right here’s wishing you success along with your launch on Product Hunt!
