This is a transcript of episode 44
I’m Lanie Lamarre and I know launching can be one of the most stressful activities in your online business. It’s emotionally taxing, decisions can feel harder to make – especially when you’re IN it! – and if it’s your first launch or maybe you haven’t been collecting data from past launches because you aren’t really sure what to focus on… that’s totally legit and we all have to start somewhere.
I happen to think that when it comes to launching, one of the best places you CAN start is with Shaundra Howard and that’s what we’re doing on today’s episode.
Lanie Lamarre:
Shaundra Howard! You are one of these people who goes against the grain of what everybody else says everyone’s like, launches, they’re so stressful. Oh, I hate launching, there’s a lot going on with launching that makes me feel overwhelmed. And you’re like, I enjoyed launches.
Shaundra Howard 1:21
Yeah, it’s actually super fun. For me. I’m like the type person that likes the end result. And that’s what I want to give to you. Whether you know, you think it’s a good result or a bad result, it gives you a result.
Lanie Lamarre 1:32
Oh, I love that. Because I always say, regardless of whether you did well or you didn’t, that information is what you’re supposed to use to improve on. That’s how you have a better launch. Yes, by taking the information you already have. And building on that. So what do you see, as a first mistake, the biggest mistake that people make when it’s their first launch,
Shaundra Howard 1:54
The biggest thing I see people do is start looking at what other people are doing that is automatically going to set you up for failure. Because all you see from other people is in result, you don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes. So I would strongly encourage everybody to, yes, learn from others, but look at things from a very concrete perspective, like what do you actually know, and focus on that instead? That is probably the greatest downfall. Because when you have whatever results you get, you’re gonna like, you’re gonna wonder why didn’t that work? For me? It worked so perfectly for that other person. But you’re gonna wonder why it didn’t work for you.
Lanie Lamarre 2:35
And so what pieces would you suggest starting at, to be able to look at?
Shaundra Howard 2:40
Yeah, so I think the best thing to focus on our conversions, and I know like, this is your realm. This is like where you shine the most but conversions are is what is really going to tell you what is going on, like how many people got to your page versus how many people opted in, how many people got to your sales page versus how many people purchase, how many people opened your emails versus how many sales came from those emails, look at the actual conversions, not just the number on the end, like the number of people that purchased. Because if you look at that number, and it’s not like the 100 people that you wanted, but you don’t really understand why you’re not, you’re not gonna be able to fix the problem. So your problem could simply be like messaging on your sales page or on your webinar page, it could be as simple as the title of your webinar and not resonating. But you’re not going to know that if you don’t focus on the conversion rates. And instead, you’re just focusing on whatever the end result number is. And, of course, like, if you’re doing a first time launch, like I don’t want people to get lost in the weeds, it’s so easy to get lost in the weeds of like setting up all of these fancy links and tracking and whatnot. But you know, do the best you can. And at the very least, you should be tracking the number of people that landed on your page, whether that’s your webinar, or free challenge or event page versus the number of people that signed up. And the number of people that landed on your sales page versus the number of people that signed up. So if you had 100 people land on your sales page, and 10 signed up, then even though that 10 You might have maybe you wanted 30 people to sign up for your program. But if 10 people signed up, like that’s a 10% conversion, that is incredible. So really focus one the conversion rates and not just the end result.
Lanie Lamarre 4:22
Right, because when you know that 10% conversion rate, then you can focus on Okay, next time, I need to get more people at this area Exactly. Because then you can improve those numbers up there. And then try to keep those other conversion rates converting at the rate that it converted to before. So I love that it’s just a matter of improving that. And I also love by the way that you have not mentioned social media and all the other things that you could be doing and getting traffic from. It’s great to be able to build towards that but using what you have and seeing what that’s actually producing so that you can build on those things as well.
Shaundra Howard 4:58
Exactly for me like social Media is like a nice to have in, you know, there are definitely marketing strategies that you can use for social media. Like let’s say you’re, you’re showing up all the time, all the time on social media, and you might be getting people to your page. But if your page isn’t converting, why would you focus on social media, like your focus should really be on the messaging and making sure that that page converts, because that’s what’s ultimately going to make the sale?
Lanie Lamarre 5:24
And what’s interesting about what you’re saying, Here, too, you’re not talking about launches, where it’s directly to a sales page. Clearly you are of the camp that you have, like a challenge, or a workshop or a webinar or something beforehand, what kind of difference do you see in the results that you get from having that sort of, hey, get to know what I have to offer in my expertise versus just directing people directly to a sales page?
Shaundra Howard 5:50
Yeah, I think it truly depends on like, the type of launch you have, whether you do a webinar, or a challenge, or event, or whatever the case is, depends on your audience. And I always like, I don’t like saying everybody should do this, or everybody should do like one thing. I really think it’s important for people to watch in a way that’s most aligned with, with them, like what they want out of their business, and like, what is their audience want? Like, I’m always telling people, why are you doing a webinar, if you if your audience hates webinars, if your webinars aren’t the way you want them to convert, but you keep doing them, like, why? Because people feel like they have to write, or they they feel like, well, I saw this big, fancy big name guru doing a million webinars. So that’s what I’m gonna do. You know, aside from that, as far as, like, how you launch, I think you, you need that pre launch period, like, you can’t just pop up out of the blue one day and be like, Hey, I’m selling this thing. Like, you have to warm people up, you have to get people used to listening to what you have to say, you and especially if you’re trying to convert new people that know nothing about you, you know, you have to like talk to him, you have to build a relationship. Like, that’s really what it’s all about, even though we’re on social media. And you know, everything has gotten more connected and less connected at the same time people they want to be sold to, in a way that doesn’t feel like they’re necessarily being sold to, you know, and they need to get to know you. And I think that’s true, no matter the price point, yeah, they’re gonna need to get to know you first. And if they know nothing about you, and they just see an ad on their social media feed. And if it doesn’t, like directly speak to their problem, they’re gonna be like, I don’t know who this is like, why would I trust them. So I think it’s really important to just spend that time showing up in whatever way that makes sense for you and your audience. And, like, give them something to go off of like, give them a quick win. And I don’t mean, like webinars or challenges that are all fluff. Like, I’m not about that life, I hate that. You’re actually teaching people how to do something. And they actually take away you know, knowledge that they can implement right away in their business, as opposed to just fluffy challenges that don’t really teach anything. But
Lanie Lamarre 8:00
I do love the idea of knowing your audience well enough that you can see what type of challenge or webinar or maybe it’s just a few emails, demonstrating your expertise. Maybe it’s flashing a few videos. Maybe it’s putting a couple podcasts, though, but I love being able to meet people where they are, I think there’s such an emphasis right now on you’re going to have to learn how to market like a human being if you have not been doing it yet, now is the time now. I love the idea also of trying different things, you can just launch directly, then you can launch with, you know, a pre challenge or pre workshops, and see what the difference is in your conversion rates in that instance, as well. So that you can see, maybe you are wasting everyone’s time with hosting an event before your launch period, I guess because that would be the promotional period.
Shaundra Howard 8:51
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I love that you mentioned like, maybe just sending a few emails, because for some people, that’s, you know, what it takes, like, depending on your audience, they might not have time to go through a five day challenge, or in some cases, like a 10 or 30 day challenge, you know, just tell them what it is, you know, and don’t try to drag them along, bring them along. And ultimately, it comes down to knowing your audience, like what do they want? What did they respond to, and that’s going to take trial and error, you’re not going to get it out of the gate. For me, that’s the point of launching Pestana. Just, you know, just try it, what worked, what did great, take what worked, move that into the next launch, take what didn’t work, adjust it, or just leave it behind, but really just focusing on the result and not necessarily like the emotion behind it all because, you know, like, when we’re launching something we’re so attached to and like, I love this thing, this thing is perfect. And everybody’s gonna love it. Well, maybe not, you know, maybe it’s perfect for you, but is that perfect for the person you’re trying to sell to? So it’s not personal. It’s literally just results. It’s just that it just numbers. Easier said than done, obviously. But just after you go through, like the emotions of it all as long as you just come back too, it’s just numbers. And when I use what I learned here to feel what comes in the future.
Lanie Lamarre 10:07
So you’ve worked with a lot of people with launching a lot of different types of personalities, what would you say? Is the best sorting sort of coping mechanism, if you will, for those emotions that you’re feeling? How do you best address the feelings that come with launching whether it’s a good one or a bad one,
Shaundra Howard 10:25
it’s so simple, but just like, keep moving forward. Like Don’t say stuff, it’s okay to, you know, be upset about whatever the result is, when you expect it and more. It’s okay to you know, feel some type of way about that, but always come back to Okay, well, what worked and what didn’t? Okay, this type of paid event doesn’t work for my audience. learn that lesson. You know, it seemed like it might work because it’s worked for others. And based on data, blah, blah, blah, is something we haven’t tried before. But that doesn’t work. So we’ll move on. Another thing that’s so simple is don’t get stuck in the past. Like, for example, social media has changed drastically over the past decade. And people that were advertising on social media years ago, were having much better results of paid ads, then people that are advertising Now in some cases. So it’s really easy to get stuck in one hole four or five years ago, this worked perfectly. And we had this this return on the ads, okay, that was four or five years ago, you know what, in what works then might not necessarily work now. So those are the two things I would say don’t get stuck in the past. And just keep moving forward, which is pretty much the two different ways of saying the same thing. Don’t let it become a personal thing. Because it’s never a personal thing. It’s always just, we might have missed the mark on the messaging a little bit.
Lanie Lamarre 11:50
I love that. That’s perfect. So when people are looking at improving their messaging, if they think messaging is the issue, what would your recommendation be on how to address that?
Shaundra Howard 12:02
Oh, goodness, um, I’m not a copywriter by any means. But I would say, pay attention to what your audience is saying. I feel like that is the best way to get your copy. Like that’s the best place to get it. Like, what are they actually saying that use those words? That’s it, what can because when people are reading your messaging, and they’re saying, Oh, that sounds just like me, or how did she know that? Or that’s something I would say like that’s, that’s gold right there. And one of my clients calls it copy stalking. And that’s what she does. It’s like she listens to her clients. And she, we have like this huge doc of exact words that the clients have said, and we use that or she uses that in, in the messaging. And it’s, it’s an actual Goldmine, because a
Lanie Lamarre 12:52
reason to be collecting feedback from the people who are actually purchasing from you. Yeah, exactly.
Shaundra Howard 12:56
Exactly. And for people that aren’t purchasing, so if you go through a launch, and in whatever results you have, if he like, blew it out of the water and have great results, or if maybe the results weren’t quite what you wanted. Either way, you should always be asking, Why did you lie to the people that decided not to join you?
It’s a hard question to ask, because you might not want to know, but you need to know because it whether, you know, they felt like it was a timing issue or a financial issue. Or maybe they didn’t feel like whatever it was resonated with them. Like that’s gonna be valuable information. And that doesn’t mean I also want to point out whether it’s a timing or a financial problem for them. That doesn’t mean you have to change that. Like, don’t get me wrong. Like, I don’t want people to think that if somebody says, Oh, it was too expensive that they have to change your price. No, that just means okay, I wasn’t talking to the right audience, or that person wasn’t my ideal client. And that’s fine. And it doesn’t have to be like this big, huge survey, and just ask, why didn’t you buy and invite people to reply to the email and give their honest feedback?
Lanie Lamarre 13:57
I love that so much, because it’s not something I do. So well, I collect feedback, but not from the people who don’t buy from me. So this is great where I can. This is something I’m definitely going to implement. I love talking to you because I learned something new. That is probably something very obvious. And yet it’s not obvious to you when you’re not doing it right. This is the conversations are all about. Thank you so much. Andhra. Where can people find you?
Shaundra Howard 14:24
Oh, after I talk on the trash about social media, I’m on Instagram. That is pretty much the only social media I kind of show up one @shaundrahow and get my launch guide at Shaundrahoward.com/launchguide
You can find links to connect with Shaundra in the shownotes but can we give a little once-over to some key take-aways here? Because I love how simple kept knowing your launch numbers: start by focusing on the number of people who visit your the sign-up page and compare that to the people who actually signed up for your free offer leading up to the paid product you’re launching, and then look at the number of people who went to your sales page versus the people who actually purchased your offer.
Those 2 conversion rates make up about 80% of anything you could or would ever want to know about your launch, and they can really help inform where you can improve.
The other thing that was said over and over again was to pay attention to what your audience is showing and telling you that they want. You may be the boss, apple sauce, but you feel a lot better about your profitability when you listen and respond to what your people connect with most from you.
We’re actually going to talk a little more about that in next week’s episode so if you aren’t subscribed, what are you waiting for? Let’s make this official and if you’re picking up what I’m throwing down, a glowing 5-star review is the best “thank you” note in the podcast biz so let’s pick this conversation up to take it a little further next week.
Talk soon, baiiiee!!