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If you have heard of Product Hunt before and are planning to launch on Product Hunt anytime soon, this post is for you. This talks about how we launched MicroSaaSHQ on Product Hunt and landed #2 Product Hunt of the Day.
Points to note:
- If you are considering Product Hunt as a marketing channel, think again. It can be a marketing channel but may not give you a repeat audience. You can still use this for your credibility and improve your wait list.
- One-time payment info products may have higher conversions.
- Typical SaaS conversion may take time after the PH launch but helps you build your wait list.
There are already hundreds of guides around improving the PH launch experience. So, I will make it straight.
I wanted to launch MicroSaaSHQ on Product Hunt for sometime, but the goal is to be in top #5 so that Product Hunt will include the product in their email newsletter. (Recently, Product Hunt started mentioning the top 10 products too in the email newsletter). But launching anything over the end of the year is usually a bad idea, as people don’t like to spend in Q4 on products/content. (That’s the usual trend if you are in the founder ecosystem). But I still went ahead instead of waiting for another 3 months for January.
So, what is Micro SaaS HQ all about?
Micro SaaS HQ is the biggest and fastest growing ecosystem for Micro SaaS builders.
You can join 500+ Makers for research backed ideas and build profitable products in a supportive community. You will also get access to 800+ profitable Micro SaaS Ideas, in 80+ niches, with detailed analysis, technical chops, marketing chops & cost analysis. Deep-dive reports with data and insights about profitable micro SaaS companies in a niche, exclusive founder insights and access to a closed community are all part of Micro SaaS HQ ecosystem.
Micro SaaS HQ has some advantages when it comes to launch:
- My Twitter has some 2K followers
- The newsletter has 20,000 subs
- A loving community of Micro SaaS builders and Pro subscribers
Prep work for the launch:
- In Product Hunt, you can schedule the launch and create the whole launch page with logo, images, description, first comment etc. I think they allow it 1 week in advance.
- The best time to launch is 12:01 AM PST so you get more time. But I guess anytime in the first 30 minutes is fine.
- I have got in touch with 8 people on Twitter who could support me as soon as the product goes live at 12:01 AM. Remember, Product Hunt doesn’t allow you to ask for upvotes/comment. You can still ask for reviews/support. So, be careful. There is a separate review page if you want to capture reviews as soon as it goes live.
More pointers:
- Your votes/comments in the first 30 minutes keep you in the league and keep you ahead in the game. Once you stay in the top#5, you get more views and thus more votes.
- If you see something is not right - if your product not coming up on the homepage in spite of a good number of upvotes, DM PH support (from the chat window). They are helpful.
- Your reviews carry a certain weightage too, apart from upvotes/comments. And you can ask explicitly for reviews (grab your reviews link and ask your supporters to review too).
- Have a good logo. A good logo attracts more eyes.
On the launch day (the series of events in the order of occurrence)
- Sent a warm up message to a few folks ready to support and messaged them as soon as the page was live.
- Sent an email to my 20,000 subs mentioning Product Hunt launch (and mentioned the Product Hunt launch page has a discount coupon)
- Got around 10-20 upvotes/comments in the first 10 minutes.
- Product still not shown on home page after 20 minutes. DMed Product Hunt support.
- Product Hunt support replied after 10 minutes and mentioned it was bug and fixed it.
- Product is on the home page at 12:45 but still not in the top #5. Kind of in the top #10 though.
- As more votes started to pour in, it improved and by 13:00 (1 hour from launch), it went to #2 and was hanging between #1 and #2 whole day for 24 hours.
- Meanwhile, DMed the founders on Twitter (that’s the only channel I have) to check out the page.
- Added 1 line in my weekly digest that goes to my Pro subscribers about the launch
- After 12 hours, still hanging between #1 and #2
- After 18 hours, still hanging between #1 and #2
- After 22 hours, was at #1 for 45 minutes
- After 23 hours, hanging between #1 and #2
- After 28 hours, Micro SaaS HQ is mentioned by Product Hunt in their email newsletter.
- Added decent number of Pro subscribers and free subscribers (who could eventually convert to Pro)
What next if you are planning to Product Hunt launch in 2023?
This is not my first time launching on Product Hunt, but it seems like things have changed a lot in the last 2 years. If you are used to the Product Hunt ecosystem, Wednesdays are usually the busiest days, and big players prefer Wednesday, while medium players pick Tuesday or Thursday, and the small players pick rest of the days. In Micro SaaS HQ case, I picked a Thursday to launch.
But what surprised me is the number of votes it took on a Thursday to land as #2 Product of the Day. Back in 2020, around 500+ votes on Wednesday might have landed on #1 Product Hunt of the day. But today, even with 800 votes on a Thursday, we landed at #2 Product of the day.
So, it’s clearly evident that marketing is going to tougher in the coming days with fierce competition, and if you are betting on Product Hunt, you would seriously need some good support from the audience. You can’t just post a product on Product Hunt and assume it gets picked up. No way in 2023!!
I frequently post about building products, insights from profitable founders, and a lot about Micro SaaS Ideas. Follow me here on Twitter and LinkedIn. But yes, if you are launching your product on Product Hunt, count on me in for your support and send me a DM on my Twitter.
