4 Important Things to Do After Your Product Launch

There is seemingly a LOT of information out on the Internet about what to do before and during a product launch, which is pretty helpful when you are embarking on selling your first product. One area that doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention, however, is what happens immediately after the launch.

No, I’m not talking just about how to drum up sales after that initial excitement has burned out, although I will cover that towards the end.

What I wanted to share was a bit of the post launch experience, and things that you will need to watch out and make time for once your product goes live.

My Product Launch in a Nutshell

First, I will give you a quick summary of what the launch of my first eBook, Blog Post Promotion: The Ultimate Guide, actually entailed. i wouldn’t call this a full proof product launch plan by any means, but for someone with a little less time on their hands, it certainly got the job done.

• Finished the eBook, a six month labor of love!
• Created an initial sales page plus mailing list opt-in placeholder.
• Sponsored a blogging contest which caters directly towards an audience that would benefit greatly from the strategies in my eBook.
• Sent out six review copies and received an equal number of testimonials.
• Created an affiliates page with specific instructions on how to join the affiliate program and some standard size graphics.
• Wrote a post to build some hype and sent out an announcement on my mailing list twenty four hours before the launch.
• Wrote a launch day post that mirrored the updated sales page and sent out an official announcement on my mailing list with a subscribers-only discount code.
• Began full on promotion of the launch day post using instant messenger contacts, social media, social bookmarking, blog commenting, and guest blogging.
• Wrote a awesome reviews post two days after the launch with a compilation of the initial responses for the eBook from other bloggers and via Twitter.

Like I said, not the textbook launch plan, but all in all it still had some great results! Now, let’s take a look at some important things to consider after the product launch.

After the Product Launch

Do you know what is the first thing you should after you launch a product? Actually, it’s something I should have thought to do right before, but I instead did it the following day.

Monitor Your Product Across Social Channels

If you launch a product, you will want to make sure you know what people are saying about it. The best way to monitor this kind of information is via two free tools. The first is Google Alerts which you can setup to send you an email anytime your product is mention practically anywhere online.

It works particularly well for finding new review posts about your product.

The second tool is Social Mention, which will find similar information and email you about it as frequently as you choose.

Between the two of them, you shouldn’t miss out on very many mentions of your product in blog posts, video text, social bookmarking sites, or social media in general.

Commenting, Commenting, and Commenting

Once the reviews of my eBook started rolling in, I took the time to do some commenting. Not just the standard “thanks for writing this awesome review,” but going beyond that to actually providing a little customer service (or pre-sales) within the comments of those posts by replying when needed.

I would also suggest subscribing to comments when you add yours if the option is available. That way you can keep any eye on any future comments so you can go back to respond to those as well.

Depending on the number of reviews you get, this may not always be an option, but I think it goes to show people how important their needs are and might go a long way to building trust while increasing sales.

Replies, Replies, and Replies

Hand in hand with commenting on review posts is replying to mentions of your product on social media. I try to thank people who tweet that they’ve bought the book, or retweet their commentary to their followers (which includes sharing their affiliate links). I also found that customer service issues can arise off of your own social properties.

For example, one buyer had some trouble with the E-Junkie system, but instead of commenting on my Facebook fan page or personal profile, she commented on someone else’s wall post about my book. Fortunately, because I had thanked that person for sharing the news about my eBook, I was alerted to new comments on that post and found her issue. I emailed her privately, and within an hour we had sorted things out and she was able to successfully purchase my eBook.

Support Your Affiliates

You know you have to provide customer service to your buyers to make sure they are happy with their purchase. But you also have to support your affiliates as well. The faster you can address their needs and concerns, the sooner they can start promoting your product. Within a few minutes of helping one affiliate with the E-Junkie system, he sent a newsletter out to his subscribers and me his first referral sale.

Sales After the Launch

For the most part, sales are going to be strongest after the initial product launch, assuming you’ve done a good job of building the hype for your product. It probably gets a little depressing when you see your numbers start dipping. But there is no reason to fear if you have a good plan to keep upping the exposure of your product after the intial burst has ended. So far, my post-launch plan for keeping the exposure about my eBook on a steady path includes:

• Creating a nice sales area at the bottom of all my blog posts. A lot of sites, my own included, usually have a pitch for an affiliate product at the end of every post. I have replaced a less profitable affiliate program with my own eBook. Just scroll down to see what I mean.
• Continuing to reach out for reviews. Sure I will continue getting the ones from the people who have bought my eBook, but if I see a promising affiliate who has the potential to bring some serious referral sales, it doesn’t hurt to offer them a review copy to keep the talk going.
• Providing interviews. A lot of people normally do this earlier so that their interviews happen during the launch week of the product. I’m going to see what happens when these interviews start popping up after the initial hype burst has decreased a bit to see if it builds it up again.
• Continuing to promote my eBook via guest blogging. Similar to one of the strategies I discuss in my eBook, I am going to write guest posts that will attract the kind of audience who would naturally want to read my eBook upon consuming the information shared in the guest post.
• Offering new discounts. The end of the introductory price doesn’t necessarily have to mean the end of discounts. I am offering new mailing list subscribers a discount code for 20% off as a way to encourage new purchases with each new subscriber I gain. It’s an incentive to subscribe and an incentive to buy all rolled into one.

Your Post-Product Launch Plan

So there you have it – everything that I find important to consider about the post-launch process. What other things am I missing, and what advice would you give to someone who is about to find themselves in the after product launch aftermath? Please share your tips in the comments!

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This post brought to you by Kristi Hines Kristi is a blogger, freelance writer, online marketing consultant, and social media enthusiast. Connect with me on Twitter and Google+. Kristi has written 470 awesome article(s) for Kikolani.

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