Shocking Statistic

During a webinar the other day, I asked the following question. Have a guess what the result turned out to be. I wonder if you will be as shocked as I was …

Have you ever had a successful launch?

There were only two possible answers, yes or no. We had a discussion about “success” being however they define it (profit, more customers, growth list, awareness, etc). The question was about how many people who were on the call had achieved their goals with their launches.

What kind of result do you expect? I know I was way off with my prediction.

89% of people who responded had NEVER achieved their product launch goals. Only 11% had ever had a launch that they considered a success.

Now, let us not get hung up on math I know it is far from scientific, but that surprised me.

Melani and I work with people in our own businesses all the time who need help with launches. Most of them come to us after buying an ebook or DVD box set about product launch strategies, sometimes having spent thousands of dollars. We get that people struggle with this stuff. That said, I didn’t think so few had managed a successful launch.

Have you ever had a successful launch? Would love to know in the socials.

So, as I said above, how you define success plays into this, so let us look at the next result. I did another poll asking how the attendees defined success. What is their primary goal for doing a launch? There are obviously going to be many beneficial aspects of launches, there is a kind of “halo effect” from doing a launch, but if you had to pick just one benefit, what would it be?

Boost your profits – A launch is a great way to get a cash injection, because you need the money or because of a new capital expenditure. When I decided to go to SXSW off my own back, I knew I didn’t need to worry about the unbudgeted trip because my little $10 guest posting guide launch had brought in way more than enough to cover everything from flights, hotel, and pass through to all my expenses. Certainly makes getting stuff past the purchasing committee (wife) much easier!
Grow your list – Every time I do a launch my overall audience grows, but also you can use a focused launch to build a specific, targeted, segmented email list.
More customers – If you do not have paying customers then you are not in business. Growing your customer base is key to long-term business success. You can launch services, events, or small products, show your value, then nurture that customer into a long-term relationship.
Raise awareness – Launches bring a great deal of buzz and publicity, and each one is a good excuse for some publicity and hoopla if that is what you want to achieve. If you are releasing a book or other information product in order to achieve expert status and authority, then the awareness-building aspects will be key.
Other – There are many other reasons, too many to list. For example, many times I will do a joint venture launch just because I think it would be cool to work with a particular person. Melani is a good example, another is Darren, who has such a hypnotic hold over me and could probably persuade me to wrestle crocodiles.

What do you guess the results were from this one?

The top two results were “Profit Boost” (38%) and “More Customers” (33%), which I guess are the classic reasons for doing a launch. What I find interesting is, though these are excellent goals, we tend to overlook “Grow List” and “Raise Awareness” (14% apiece), but these goals are very good reasons for choosing to launch rather than just make an offer …

Could your business benefit from a good launch? What kind of profit boost could you use? Do you want to grow your audience or need more people on your list? Could you use more people knowing who you are and what you can offer?

What do you think?

So there you have it, the results of these polls might surprise you or might be exactly what you expected.

If all the unread ebooks and big honkin’ boxes of folders on your shelf haven’t helped your launches, then it is time to take some actual action.