You made it — finally!
You worked your tail off to bring your idea to life.
Take a moment to give yourself credit for surviving your digital launch! 🚀
Go ahead and feel all the feels — exhilarated, exhausted, frustrated, fabulous, or just totally over it. Write down these feelings while they’re still fresh — because it will be valuable data to review when you’re going to launch again.
Your launch may have been amazing — or a total flop — but the important thing is you launched. Now you can learn from your launch to improve things next round, but only if you do a launch debrief.
I promise it will be easier than launching.
Why Should I Do A Launch Debrief?
In an emotionally driven state like post-launch, it’s easy to make assumptions and look for quick answers.
You’ve been so busy doing all the things and can easily lose sight of the big picture.
A launch debrief gives you an objective way to measure your efforts and outcomes rather than relying on your feelings.
The numbers don’t lie. Knowing your numbers allows you to compare your launches over time. A debrief is an excellent way to systematically review your launches so you know how to work smarter — not harder.
With every launch comes an opportunity to LEARN. Don't skip this crucial step — especially if your launch didn't turn out quite as you dreamed. Debriefing allows you to assess what may have gone wrong… or what made it go SO right!
The numbers lead to solutions. When you know your numbers, you can plug the holes, streamline, and improve your launch moving forward.
How Do I Do a Launch Debrief… or Audit… or Review?
Debrief, audit, review, lookback… call it whatever you want, but don’t overcomplicate it.
You’re a clinician — you already know how to assess progress and outcomes and compare numbers. Looking back at your launch isn’t much different.
A launch debrief also doesn’t have to take up your whole weekend and involve 25 spreadsheets — I promise.
Here are some quick examples of launch data to track:
Overall Launch Revenue
Launch Revenue by Sales Channel (affiliate vs direct sales)
Launch Revenue by Offer (if you had upsells/downsells)
Sales Conversion
Sales Page Views
Email Open/Click Rates
Webinar or Challenge Registration/Show Up & Conversion
Social Media Stats
Launch Expenses
If you happen to have a big team and complex business, then by all means, do a more comprehensive launch — otherwise, keep it simple.
Put Your Numbers Into a Launch Scorecard (aka Spreadsheet)
🤷🏻♀️ I love spreadsheets… but I know not everyone does.
I’ve also snooped around online enough to realize there are a LOT of very complicated launch scorecards available. But as far as I can tell, there’s no reason to make your launch scorecard complicated — especially for your first few launches.
Let’s keep things simple, shall we?
Here’s a simple scorecard download so you can track your data and calculate the numbers you need to know. (You can always expand it if you want. Be my guest!)
This scorecard will help you record information about your launch without becoming completely overwhelmed in the process.
Questions To Answer During a Launch Debrief
After you’ve recorded your data, look at what the numbers are showing you.
Treat your launch debrief like an investigation and learning experience. Ask the questions with curiosity and openness rather than any shame or blame around anything that didn’t go great.
I’ve provided some questions you can ask yourself. Skip anything that you don’t feel is necessary to review after your own launch.
Was your offer name clear and effective?
Were there any emails or posts that didn’t perform well and should be revised for the next launch?
Overall, do you feel good about this launch?
Was the cart open too long or short?
Were you able to schedule ahead of your launch or did you spend all day, every day launching?
What worked surprisingly well?
What didn't work / what will you do differently next time?
What's the biggest takeaway from your launch?
Do you think your goals and expectations were realistic?
The best launches happen when you can show up as your best self and play to your strengths. Dig into what you need to change or outsource for the next launch if it drained you. Note the aspects of the launch that were fun and felt easy to accomplish as well.
Keep Investigating Your Launch Numbers
Still with me? Great — let’s dig a little deeper into your numbers and what they may mean.
Look at your daily sales compared to your marketing efforts each day. Do you see correlations between your emails/social posts and sales on each of the days your cart was open?
Did you notice a long dip in sales during the cart open phase, and do you think the end results would have been the same if you shortened the cart open phase?
Compare all your numbers to your expectations and against industry standards to see how your launch did. This gives you a starting point to change things as you move forward.
Here are some insights about your results and what it may mean:
Questions | Potential Solutions |
|---|---|
Did you have traffic on social media but it didn’t convert to sales page traffic? | Change your posts to have a stronger hook, more connection, or a stronger CTA. |
Did you have lots of traffic on your sales page but nobody bought? | You may need to revise the copy and CTAs on your sales page. |
Were your emails opened but not clicked… or were they left unopened? | Change your subject lines, copy or CTAs in your emails that underperformed. |
Did most of your sales originate from your waitlist, your main list, or via social media? | This helps you know where to focus your efforts more to generate traffic and sales. |
Are your conversion rates great, but you didn’t meet your sales goals? | You need more traffic! Between now and your next launch you should build your email list and your social media connections/followers.
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These questions will help guide you to tweak things and improve your numbers for the next launch.
Gather Feedback From Your Audience
The people who followed along during your launch are a goldmine of information waiting to be tapped. Your customers and the waitlist members who didn’t purchase can provide valuable insight — if you can get them to answer a few questions.
Send a “Why didn’t you buy” email survey to your waitlist that didn’t convert. Make sure it’s short, light-hearted, and you let them know you’re still planning to provide valuable content for them moving forward.
Questions you may want to ask your non-converting customers:
Can you share with us why you didn’t decide to join/buy/purchase?
Is there anything that could be added to this offer that would have made it irresistible?
I’d love to improve this offer in the future, what do you think should be changed?
You won’t get answers from everyone, and I wouldn’t ask twice. But the answers you get will provide insight as to why waitlist customers didn’t convert.
Remember you also may have “funnel hackers” on your list — people who joined the list just to get ideas for their own launch. It’s ok, that’s just part of doing business online.
Ask the customers who did buy during your launch what made your offer irresistible or what sealed the deal for them.
It’s possible to look at the people who purchased your course and check what emails they opened & clicked to find out more about their customer journey… but in all reality, this will take a lot of time for the information you’ll uncover. Don’t get sucked into trying to figure out every single customer’s conversion point!
What Happens Next? Launch Again!
Running a business is a marathon — not a sprint. Apply this concept to your digital launch. You’re going to learn each time you launch and constantly refine and improve it.
If you just completed your first launch, remember to give yourself credit for accomplishing it! Many people get stuck at the idea phase and never move into action to bring their idea to reality.
Now that the first launch is under your belt, it’s a matter of debriefing, tweaking strategically (not redoing everything), and relaunching. Repeat this cycle until your numbers meet your expectations — and industry standards. Then you can move on and create another offer to launch.
Do you want more help and guidance for your launch debrief?
Do you want someone with experience to review your launch and customer journey, and show you exactly where to optimize?
Click below to book a Funnel Assessment & Tx Plan Project.
Let's build a stronger launch together!
Krista Frahm Agency