Your white label system is set up and ready to go! Now what? Launching a new product can be daunting, especially if you don’t feel hugely familiar with it yet. It may be that you just want to get it out there into the world – you know your market best and how it’ll be received. Nevertheless, there are a few things we recommend doing prior to launch to boost your momentum and streamline the initial sales process.
If you’ve already got your launch campaign all planned out, then feel free to ignore this article. Alternatively, if you’ve got some ideas but could do with some tips on the best ways to prepare, read on! We’ve put together an 8-part checklist of all the things you can do to make your launch as successful and seamless as possible, based on our experience of launching CoSend.
Your two key customer groups
When preparing for the launch of a new product, it’s often helpful to segment your audience into two key groups: the existing customer and the prospective customer. Your motivations for targeting these two groups will be very different, and therefore how you approach them will need to be taken into consideration.
Your key aims for your existing customers are to retain them (and perhaps upgrade them), to reduce the attractiveness of competitors by offering more, and to dislodge any competition that might be tempting them. In comparison, your marketing efforts towards prospective customers are intended to develop brand awareness and ultimately boost revenue through new sales. Throughout your preparation for launch, bear these two different groups in mind so that you factor them into your marketing choices.
Why it’s important to prepare beforehand
Good planning in all areas of business is essential, and the launch of a new product is considered the most important moment in its lifecycle. If you get this step right, you’ll set yourself up for a much easier journey. Plus, you’ll enter the market faster, meaning you’ll get a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) much earlier.
A successful launch will enable you to onboard customers effectively and efficiently and with a greater impact. And if you don’t prepare, it will show!
Not only does good planning result in a more positive experience for your customers, but it will also take the pressure off you and your team, since you won’t have to rush around trying to solve issues last minute or prepare How-to guides on the spot.
This pre-launch checklist includes tips on speeding up the onboarding process, preparing marketing materials and, most importantly, getting everything you need to support your customers.
As a bonus, because we’ve already been through all these steps ourselves in order to launch CoSend, we’ll be cutting your tasklist in half by providing you with the majority of the resources and materials you’ll need. Here’s everything we recommend for a successful launch of your white label system…
Your pre-launch checklist
Set a date for launch
First things first, set your launch date! This will ensure that your whole team knows when everything must be ready and will give you something to aim for.
If you want to include teaser materials as part of your pre-launch, dropping an exact date will be great way to excite your audience and let them know when they’ll be able to access your new product.
Perhaps consider launching on a company anniversary or another noteworthy date, to add deeper meaning and extra emphasis to your campaign.
Name your price
Next, you’ll need to decide on your pricing structure and subscriptions. Are you going to add this new service in to an already existing package? Are you going to create a new package at a higher price? Or are you going to offer it as an add-on for an extra fee? The choice is yours.
If you’re using our billing & invoices feature as part of your system, take a look at our guide to help you get set up.
Create a captivating landing page
Start generating leads before you’ve even launched with a gripping and informative landing page for your new product. This is one of the first things we did when we were preparing to launch CoSend, and we made sure to spend time getting it perfect so that we’d get off to a momentous start by making a great first impression!
By creating this page early on, you’ll figure out exactly how you want to pitch your messaging throughout the rest of your campaign.
You could even include a call to action (CTA) on your landing page that encourages early adopters to provide their email address in exchange for first access when you launch. This will get prospective customers excited for your product, whilst also serving as a way of building up your mailing list for future email marketing campaigns.
Prepare a Getting Started programme
Lessening the resistance customers face when they begin using your system is the best way to reduce churn. A well written, helpful set of guides to support a user to get started will make their experience far more positive, leading to much higher customer retention. It will also help them get the most out of your tool, so everyone’s a winner!
Unlock the power of email campaigns
Email onboarding sequences are a must-have for b2b companies. Often SaaS leads require a much more detailed decision-making process, and due to being overly busy or having strict budgets, they can dry out at many stages of the purchase journey.
Campaigns that nurture leads through to conversion are the perfect, convenient way to go. In fact, you’ll have received some of our onboarding emails throughout your journey as a CoSend white label customer.
We recommend using email automaton software like Mailchimp (our tool of choice). This enables you to create journeys that will automatically send out emails at certain stages of the onboarding process. You can use Mailchimp campaigns alongside your Getting Started guides as an intro series to your system.
Prepare an array of marketing materials
Content marketing is fast becoming one of the most effective strategies out there. This success stems from the value these resources bring to their reader. Blog posts surrounding industry insights or expert best practice tips demonstrate that you’re not all about the sell – your focus is on delivering first-class customer experiences.
We recommend starting a blog as part of your product launch if you don’t already have one. It’ll really impress prospective customers and drive more traffic to your website.
Social media is another great place to generate excitement pre-launch. Post company teasers on the days leading up to it, and create imagery surrounding your campaign to drive engagement. Use your own social media scheduling tool to manage your networks! Follow all the advice you’ll be giving to your customers and you’ll have a bulletproof social presence ready for launch.
Set up an extensive knowledge base
A well-stocked knowledge base is ideal for offloading customer issues and saving time. Plus, it can be a great training resource for your team. However, there’s no getting around it, building a knowledge base from scratch will take hours of work.
That’s why we offer all our white label customers the ability to embed our end-user Help Centre into their own website, so that all our ready-made FAQs and How-tos are instantly available to their customers too.
Provide full support to all your customers quickly and conveniently – read our simple guide to find out how to embed our Help Centre into your own site.
Make sure your team know your new tool inside-out
Before you launch, make sure your support team are fully trained on all the features of your system – they’ll need to know it through-and-through in order to properly support your clients.
Use the best practice guides and knowledge base you’re making available to your clients as training tutorials and have them practice using the system prior to launch.
If you need any extra support with this, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at support@cosend.com. We’re here to help you support your customers!
When you’re happy that you’ve got everything you need for a powerful product launch, it’s time to get promoting, onboard prospective customers and generate all new revenue. Good luck!
