What to do when your launch fails…

You’ve worked so hard investing your time, energy, and money to create a coaching program or an offer for your coaching services.

On launch day, you nervously wait and watch your inbox for engagement and sales, but nothing happens.

No one buys. Or you only get one sign-up.

Zero results can feel very demoralizing.

Your mind is swamped with negative thoughts and you begin to doubt your abilities as a coach, course creator and business owner. You might feel shame as you imagine what you’re going to say when friends/peers ask you how it went.

You instantly forget about being an expert in your field and succumb to believing that you are an imposter – you feel like quitting.

This is too hard!

Everyone has failed…

TRUTH… Every successful business owner has experienced failure. It’s completely normal and natural when growing a business.

I know it’s disappointing. You may feel vulnerable and exposed because it feels so personal, because it’s YOUR business.

If you’ve recently launched a coaching program, course or a coaching package and you’ve gotten zero/low results, here are ways to get you moving again…

Give yourself time to process your emotions – It’s normal to have these feelings. Create space to process them, instead of perpetually beating yourself up!

Feelings are just energy and they are meant to be felt. Be with the sadness, shame, anger or frustration, don’t ignore or push them down.

A great way to shift negative energy is to talk it through with someone you trust, a good friend, or your coach. Notice any negative thoughts and stories you are telling yourself. These aren’t real. Let them go…

Instead of wallowing here indefinitely, focus your attention on what went wrong.

The following will help you identify any mistakes that you could have avoided during your launch. Use it to help you get back on your feet again.

Review your launch

Take time to carefully review every stage and step. This will help you to identify anything you have skipped over quickly, not given enough time to, or missed completely.

Make a list of what could be improved, problem-solve solutions and then develop a plan of action for your next launch (NOTE: Doing this NOW while it’s still fresh in your mind will save time and increase your chances of future success!).

Common mistakes people make when launching:

You didn’t have an audience (or the right audience)

You don’t need a huge list to have a successful launch.

You will struggle to get sales if your list is cold or they’ve not heard from you in a long time, or they don’t know anything about your launch, or they aren’t your ideal client for what you are offering.

It’s always a good idea to warm up your audience and grow a list of people who are interested in your services.

Building a list takes time and consistency, but remember it doesn’t have to be huge in order for you to start selling your coaching services…

Your audience just has to be engaged.

Are you clear on who your ideal client is and how you can help them? If not – start here!

Clarity is important. If you’re not clear, then your potential clients will be confused, and they won’t buy.

Where is your list?

Do you have a social media presence? If so, are you on the right platform for your clients? Are you consistently posting (this doesn’t mean daily!!)? Do you have a following or community you can tap into? Social means ‘social’ – are you interacting with others and creating engagement?

Do you have an email list of people interested in your services? Again, are you staying in touch with them and giving value, or do you only contact them when you are launching a service or program?

How do you reach your audience? Where can you connect with them?

If you don’t have any of these in place, focus on your list-building before you launch again.

Are they interested in what you are offering?

Did you validate your idea before launching it?

In others words… how do you know your audience is interested in your services and are willing to buy them?

Especially if you’re creating a course or program, it’s important to validate your idea before offering it. Otherwise you’ll waste a lot of time and energy building something that no one wants to buy, except YOU!

Talk to your potential clients and collect feedback on the problems they want to solve and the outcomes they want to achieve. What investment would they be prepared to make?

Collect feedback from your potential clients – ask them what stopped them buying. Validate your idea through feedback.

You could create a targeted question survey or phone a few trusted people on your list. (You might offer a BETA opportunity to join the program at a special price to get experience and testimonials).

If you don’t know, then take this action step before launching again. This will help you to better understand and engage with your ideal clients especially when you write any marketing copy.

Did you communicate the value?

Writing the marketing copy is the hardest part for many of us, as we’re experts at coaching, not copywriting!

It’s always important to make the marketing about THEM – their problems and their results they can expect from working with you. How will it change their life?

Sometimes we throw things out there rather than taking the time to focus on our messaging.

If your audience doesn’t connect or engage with your message or the outcomes aren’t clear, they won’t buy.

Metrics can be very helpful here to see how engaged your audience was with your copy:

1. Open rates for email marketing shows us the number of email recipients who opened the email. Did your headlines encourage your audience to open the email? A good email open rate should be between 17-28%, depending on the industry you’re in. Knowing these numbers is a great starting point. (Compare your metrics with those in your specific industry.)
2. Click through – shows us how many people clicked on the links within the email content. Did you engage your audience to take an action? Was the email message/content compelling enough? Did the audience understand what you wanted them to do? Don’t add links that take them away to your blog posts – keep them focused on what you are selling.
3. Engagement on social media – check your specific platform. Are you getting likes, comments or impressions? Check your analytics here too!

Does your offer have a clear title?

Naming is important. Is it relevant to them? Were you trying to be clever or witty (this can be a turn off)? Does your program title communicate the result? Can they immediately identify with it?

Potential clients aren’t looking to buy transformation – they are looking for solutions to their problems and the results you are offering. Your copy needs to talk to this…

Does your sales page suck?

Writing a sales page or even a landing page takes time and it’s hard for most of us. Do you sound authentic or have you changed into a strange sales person, because you copied text from someone else?!

Did someone else do the copywriting for you? If so, do they get you? Can they speak like you? Are your headline and sub-headlines strong throughout?

Create swipe file – It’s a collection of writing examples from other people you love and are compelling – email subject lines, landing pages, sales pages, social media, even great launch emails. Learn from the masters.

It’s NOT about copying paragraphs of text, it’s about getting ideas on how you can learn to write your copy more effectively. Always remember to be authentic… don’t try to be someone else – you’ll confuse your audience and they’ll turn off!

Review your copy: Can it be easier to understand? Shorter? More personable? Does your language connect with your audience?

Review your design: Do you have a clear next step for your reader? Are your emails visually appealing and inviting?

Call-to-Action: How clear is it? Do you have more than one?

Was the price too high or too low?

Many of us get scared with pricing and price too low. This can make people question the value of your offer, even if your marketing shares incredible value! To them, something seems off!

Other times, we drastically increase our prices or we price way too high. You feel splattered and scared and disbelieve your own value. This affects your energy in your marketing.

You have to consider your target audience, are you overpricing or underpricing? Can they afford it? Do they see the value? Get some coaching support with your pricing from someone who is experienced in pricing.

Do some market research? What are your potential clients willing to pay? What is the ideal price for them?

If after exploring the above, you feel that you did everything else right but nobody bought your program or services when you launched, it might be a pricing issue.

FINALLY…Congratulate yourself for doing this!

You put your services out there!

Some people procrastinate with their programs and NEVER launch! Remember, we all have failed launches from time to time. It’s okay!

Understanding and analysing what went wrong is an important step towards having a successful launch next time!

You did it!

Now with these valuable lessons it’s time to build on your last experience. Start planning your next launch in 2-3 months!

DM me with any questions you might have or write them in the comments below: