It’s every business owner’s worst nightmare: starting your online knowledge business, working hard, and finally launching a digital product ... only to make no sales. Where do you go from there? 

While we love to celebrate success at Kajabi, it’s important to acknowledge that sometimes, a launch does not go according to plan. But that doesn’t mean all is lost!

One awesome aspect about knowledge commerce is that many products can be created once and sold later. Plus, it’s much easier to make tweaks and changes to digital products compared to physical products. This means that if a launch doesn’t take off at first, it’s absolutely possible to find success later.

In this guide, we’ll cover what you can do in response to a slower than expected product launch.

Analyze your launch objectively 

The first step in recovering or course correcting your launch is to take a close look at all of the interconnected parts of the launch. Spend some time analyzing so that you can understand which changes you could make to help you hit your goals. 

This is a helpful step regardless of whether or not a launch was successful. Understanding performance is critical to continued success as a business owner. Be sure to hone your analysis skills and build them into your workflow. 

If you need, ask a trusted person in your network to share their feedback. A different perspective could help you unlock new insights that help you make meaningful changes. 

When analyzing a product launch, start with three main areas: the product, sales mechanisms, and marketing. 

Evaluate the product

First, look at the elements surrounding whatever knowledge product you’re selling. 

Identify how it appears to others. Then, consider how that differs from how you intended for your customers to see it. This can show you the opportunities for improvement.

It’s tough, but be critical and as objective as possible. Here are three things to look over:

The title

The first thing people will read when evaluating your knowledge product is its title. Consider if the title is memorable, compelling, and clearly encompasses the course topic. 

Here are some courses with interesting titles hosted by Kajabi Heroes:

• Camp Millionaire from The Smart Money Academy
  
  
• Re-aligning Your Consciousness With Every Cell Of Your Body from meditation group The Stargate Experience
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• Dimensional Bronde from Luxury Hairstylist
  
  
• Flourishing: The Art of the Oval from Learn Calligraphy

Need to make some tweaks? Use a tool like the Coschedule Headline Analyzer for specific tips to craft more engaging titles. 

The offer

Then, take a look at what you’re selling. Remember to approach it like you’re in your target audience, and try to forget the course material during this exercise.

Self reflect on these questions

• Is the offer compelling to an outsider?
• What is unique about the course, membership, or coaching program? 
• Does this product solve a problem? 
• Does this product share how it will benefit the student? 
  

Filling in these gaps could help communicate more effectively to your potential clients.

The price

Price can impact the success of any product launch. As soon as you attribute a cost to a good or service, you draw a line in which some people will not be willing to hand over that amount of money in exchange for it. 

Consider these things when analyzing the course price:

• Is the price in line with the market rate?
• Does your target market value this information at this price point?
• Does the price align with what your target market can afford? 
• Is it clear the value the customer would get from this course?

Each knowledge product is different, so there is no clear way to know exactly how to price your knowledge product. But, check out our blog posts on how to price your online course or membership site to get more actionable tips. 

Evaluate sales mechanisms

After looking at the product, move on to looking at your sales mechanisms. These are the processes by which someone takes action to give you their money. 

In general, business owners should facilitate sales by making it as smooth as possible for customers to confidently move forward with the purchase.

Let’s cover some specifics. 

The sales page

The first sales mechanism to consider is your sales page. This is the website page where a potential customer will hear directly from you as to why they should purchase the product. 

Kajabi launch strategist Sneha Hiremath says, “A good sales page talks about [the potential customer’s] problem then builds trust, and then positions the course as the solution to that problem. Make sure your button colors stand out, add a testimonial, and end the page with the pricing block.”

Kajabi Hero Azizi Birkeland of The Tiny Green Chef has a great example of a compelling sales page. It outlines the potential client’s problem, discusses what is at stake if the client does not make a change, shares the solution, and showcases testimonials from past clients. 

Make sure your sales page is easy to navigate, has compelling copy, and clearly communicates the benefits of the course. Include a section for Frequently Asked Questions or preemptively answer common questions in the text on the page. The goal is to keep the visitor on that page and have them convert, so use your sales page to build excitement and instill confidence in the potential customer. 

Payment options

Customers are used to smooth transactions both online and in-person. Consider if there is any friction surrounding your payment process.

Is it easy and convenient for customers to check out? Do you accept their currency? With Kajabi’s Paypal and Stripe integration, you can accept payment with a trusted gateway to make it easy for your customers and give them peace of mind about the security of the transaction.

Also, you may want to consider accepting payment in installments. If someone values your course but can’t swing the full cost at this time, they may leave and never come back to finish the transaction. Fortunately, it’s easy to create and offer a payment plan in Kajabi.

Evaluate marketing methods

The third area to analyze is the marketing of your course. Marketing is a multifaceted process, with many options and opportunities to connect with new potential customers.

Here are some recommendations for what to look at when trying to pinpoint marketing improvements.

Copywriting

Copywriting is an important and fundamental part of marketing. It defines your brand, communicates to your customers, and can compel readers to convert.

The copy is one possible reason that your website visitors aren’t converting. So, spend some time editing and reworking your course descriptions and body copy to encourage users to read it, stay on the page, and proceed with the purchase.

Kajabi Hero The Posey Box uses effective descriptions on their course page to quickly give potential customers information they need about their many different options. Then, on the checkout page, they have a comprehensive description. It clearly imparts what the student will learn, what materials they get in the course, and includes a compelling call to action.

Outbound advertising

Any business owner needs to get the word out about their new product. If you’ve noticed that you didn’t get much traffic to your product launch page - or not as much as you expected - that may indicate you should amp up the advertising.

To diagnose the problem, look at any qualitative metrics you can find, such as:

• The number of impressions your posts 
• Engagement with those posts - clicks, likes, comments, shares
• The click through rate
• The paid advertising spend
• The number of marketing channels used
  

Once you have an overview of the reach and performance of your advertising efforts, you can begin to draw conclusions. Ask yourself: 

• Did you put forth sufficient resources to promote?
• What marketing channels did use, and which have you not tried?
• Which channels worked best and may be worth more resources?
• Which posts resonated best with viewers, and how can you replicate that success?
  

There may be an opportunity to try new channels or invest some money into paid methods to increase your reach. 

If you’re looking for more ideas, consider trying these free marketing channels. 

Buyer’s journey

Marketing plays into your potential customers’ buyer’s journey because it involves the timing of when you share your messages with them. Many sales experts say the next step after understanding if the product is right is understanding if it’s the right product for the customer at the right time.

A website visitor that did not convert could be too early in their buyer’s journey to purchase. Perhaps they are considering purchasing a knowledge product in general when they come across your website. But, maybe they haven’t even moved into the phase of choosing which topic, course, or coach is right for them. 

The right timing will be different for every customer and potential customer. That’s often out of your control. 

What you can do is consider if your marketing messages and timing align with different stages of the buyer’s journey. Do you have a good mix of marketing messages that inform and persuade? Are you being too salesy too early, or not salesy enough? 

Keep reading for specific tips on what you can do next.

Take action to move forward

Once you’ve evaluated your launch, you’ve likely identified some gaps or opportunities to try something new. Now, it’s time to implement those ideas.

Here are four steps you can take when re-launching or re-promoting your knowledge product. 
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1. Implement changes based on analysis.

First, take care of any of those clear action items you’ve learned from your analysis. These could be making adjustments to the title, website copy, advertising copy, pricing, or payment options. You may find some simple tweaks are enough to resonate with your website visitors and convert existing traffic. 

2. Build demand. Success as a knowledge entrepreneur requires having a reasonable amount of demand for not only content about your topic, but also content from you. So, take action to build more demand. 

Launch strategist Jess O’Connell says, “What did you do before the sales page to create desire and demand for your offer? A webinar, challenge? You need a sales mechanism to sell your offer.” 

Build demand by trying new marketing methods or increasing your advertising budget. Have a small audience? Check out our blog post on how to sell courses if you have a small audience.

3. Start smaller

One possible course of action is to rethink the scale of the launch. Kajabi Hero Zac Hansen says, “I personally love to start with selling lower ticket workshops priced between $27-$37 so someone can ‘taste’ what it’s like to work with you, then upsell them to your premium course or offer.”

You may want to start with a mini-course. You could start with a new topic for that course, or have some overlap with the existing full course. You could even offer a coupon to those who finish the mini course and want to take the full course after.

4. Provide content at all stages of the buyer’s journey

As mentioned earlier, some lost sales may have been from potential customers reaching your page too early in their buyer’s journey. You can use content to better support your website visitors or email subscribers by nurturing them with the information they need at every step of the decision making process. This will increase the chances of them moving through the buyer’s journey and completing the purchase.

Here’s a framework of content you can use. 

• Top of funnel: content about your niche or industry. For example, blog posts with quick, general tips. 
• Middle of funnel: content that is persuasive and speaks to your potential clients’ needs. For example, hosting a webinar about something your target audience needs that showcases your expertise. 
• Bottom of funnel: content that sells your courses. For example, a case study from a client who took your course and had direct, measurable results. 
  

Making these resources accessible means you can serve up the information that a visitor in any stage of the buyer’s journey might need. 

Launching products on Kajabi

In addition to preparation and great content, a successful framework and the right technology can facilitate a successful launch. 

Kajabi provides an all-in-one platform for knowledge entrepreneurs to manage and grow their businesses with our website builder, CRM, and email marketing tool. We also provide specially-designed website, course, and landing page templates to help you streamline your work. 

If you’re ready to launch (or re-launch) an online course, membership community, or coaching program, start your free 14-day trial of Kajabi.