You have a startup idea. You built your solution. Now what?
You may have a revolutionary and disruptive product, but no one would buy it if people do not know about its existence. In fact, 14% of startups fail because of poor marketing efforts. Hence, getting your product out there to reach its target market is one of the most important yet trickiest parts of growing your user base.
Launching on Product Hunt may just help you with getting your first users and your name out there to more people. It is a low-hanging fruit with a high yield, and winning on Product Hunt boosts your company’s visibility, brand awareness, and social proof that will unlock a short-term growth opportunity that leads to more doors in the market.
Some successful startups like Notion, Zoom, and Figma launched their product on the site and they have since then grown exponentially since their launch day.
CoffeeSpace has also launched on Product Hunt recently and out of 100+ companies launching on the same day, we landed on the top 5 spot for Product of The Day and 11th for Product of the Week! Our user base also grew by 15% from the Product Hunt launch itself, which is a testament to the platform's effectiveness in driving visibility and engagement for new products.
What is Product Hunt?
Product Hunt is a social media and product launchpad combined, this platform is for discovering and sharing new tech products and building a tight-knitted community of early adopters, especially helpful for founders wanting to get the word out about their startups.
Consider launching on Product Hunt if you are seeking to:
- Get poignant feedback from early users to improve on your product(s).
- Reach a diverse, global community of tech enthusiasts and industry professionals.
- Grow your user base and look for potential investors.
Not only is the launch day important but Product Hunt is another space for others to discover your product page and convert! Now, we are going to share our experience and some tips on launching and to land on the top Product of The Day spots!
How to Launch on Product Hunt?
Here’s a checklist to guide you through the submission process for launching your product on Product Hunt:
About Your Product
- Makers: List the creators of the product.
- Name of the Product: Clearly state the name of your product.
- Thumbnail: Prepare a thumbnail image.
- Tagline Description: Write a concise tagline (up to 260 characters).
- URL: Provide the product’s URL.
- Social Media Handles: Include Twitter and other relevant handles.
- App Store / Play Store Links: Add links if your product is available on these platforms.
- Website: Provide your product’s official website.
- Topics & Categories: Select relevant topics and categories for your product.
Gallery
- Images: Upload a minimum of 2 images (1270x760 pixels). Use app screenshots.
- Video: Showcase your YouTube video through a link here.
Pricing & Promo
- First Comment by the Maker: Prepare a welcoming and informative first comment to engage users.
This checklist is also available on the Product Hunt Launch Guideline Page to help you prepare for your launch.
How to win Product of the Day?
Now you are all set on launching your product. How do you win?
Winning Product of the Day essentially gives you more visibility and higher traffic to your page, which essentially means the probability of user conversion in the very least, is higher.
Products refresh every 24 hours according to Pacific Standard Time (PT) and the rules are simple: get as many upvotes as you can during the day of your launch, and products with the most votes land on the top spots. Quality and organic upvotes are crucial, as Product Hunt detects bots and spam - those votes get removed eventually. On top of upvotes, authentic user reviews are also another way to gain traction to your products.
Strategies to Maximize Your Win
Tip #1: It’s launch time!
As Product Hunt resets their daily list, it is strongly recommended that you launch at 12:01am PT to maximize the time you get the full 24-hour to get upvotes.
Tip #2: Engage, engage & engage!
This is the critical 24-hour period, and you want to garner all the upvotes and attention, and be engaged in the comments section and interact with users who show interest or have commented. This helps you to get valuable feedback for your product, but also to foster a sense of community, increasing user engagement and loyalty!
Tip #3: Blast the news out everywhere!
Social media platforms are your best friends to get upvotes. Post everywhere that you can - LinkedIn, Twitter (or X), your own newsletter etc. to make sure you are not missing out on any spaces that should know about your launch! Just a gentle nudge to your followers for their support through direct messages can also go a long way!
Strategy for new makers!
For CoffeeSpace, we have launched our app several weeks prior to Product Hunt, hence we are already launching with a pool of early users who have tested and tried the app. For founders who are launching their products on Product Hunt as their official launch, we definitely have some alternative tips that may work in your favor better.
Tip #1: Planning strategically and scheduling your launch instead of launching immediately
On Product Hunt, there is an option to “launch now” or “launch later” and a scheduled launch can go up to 30 days in advance. Upon scheduling your launch, your product will be featured on the “Coming Soon” page, which essentially shows all the upcoming launches.
This is helpful as you can start building your presence and community on Product Hunt before launching! This gives you ample time for people to check out and discover your product beforehand, and get notified and excited when you launch!
Tip #2: Engage in other launches beforehand
Remember, this is a social space to uplift makers! Show your love to other launches too - comment, upvote, share about them! This is a tight-knit community and being supportive helps you to network, connect, and meet other amazing makers and users!
Tip #3: Update your profile pages
Launching as a maker is no easy job, but we highly recommend launching yourself instead of finding a hunter (someone to do it for you) on Product Hunt. This helps with being connected closer with your users and garnering the feeling of inclusivity and exclusivity with the maker. As such, it is important to also keep your page updated so it looks professional. Be it your own Product Hunt page or your maker profile, keep them updated with relevant information - utilize the bio section to also further demonstrate your experiences, skills etc.
Launching on Product Hunt is a scary but thrilling milestone, and the adrenaline rush in that 24 hours is just intense, but rewarding! All in all, the purpose of launching your product is to reach new targeted audiences and get feedback for your later development of your product, winning Product of the Day of course, is the icing on the cake!
.png)