How much does having an audience matter for launches?
Published about 17 hours agoย โขย 3 min read
Hi Reader,
Have you ever seen that movie, He's Just Not That Into You?
If not (or if it's been a while), the whole idea of the movie is going back and forth between whether or not there's merit in being the "exception" for someone romantically.
My best friend's cousin's hairdresser's daughter once went on a date with a guy who proposed to her after months of not calling back. Maybe that can happen to you too!
That's the whole movie in a nutshell.
Anyway, it got me thinking about people like me who tend to get these glamorous ideas to create something new, play out the vision in my head, spend lots of time building it, and daydream about how everyone is going to fall in love with this shiny new thing with me when they see it for the first time.
Because why?
I knew someone who's brother's best friend's father-in-law made $100K from selling nose-trimming tutorials online!
So I launch it and inevitably, there are crickets. ๐ฆ๐ฆ
Each time I get that new idea, I'm absolutely convinced that this is the next best thing. This is the one people are really gonna fall in love with! Not that old, crusty flop of an idea from before.
Most product creators reach their first $100 within 60-90 days
The median time to reach $500 is 6-12 months, assuming there's no existing audience
It takes about 1-2 years of product iteration and audience-building to hit that level
Unfortunately, time dedicated to your audience-building efforts for your launch matters. ๐ข
Now what's crazy that no one ever seems to talk about are stats like Gumroad's (an e-commerce platform) where 44% of products listed generated exactly $0.
"Nearly half of everything ever listed never earned a single dollar -- mostly because they launched without an existing audience or product validation."
Boom. There it is, folks.
I am the voice of reason telling you -- as a victim of Shinysparklyidea Syndrome -- that things won't sell if you don't have people to sell them to.
I mean, when you put it like that, WHO KNEW, right?? ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ
But the good news is, it's possible. There are ways to build a cluster of people who like, know, and trust you without feeling like you're selling your soul. I've seen folks do this through collaborations, newsletters, posts, videos, shorts, ads, you name it.
But if we were to look ahead at what actually works when you have that audience, this is what you would find:
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That same Gumroad website shared the channels that had the highest-to-lowest buying rates:
Email marketing: Drove 42% of all platform sales; is probably as close to "passive distribution" as you can get.
Social media: Drove 23%, with Twitter/X accounting for about two-thirds of those sales
Direct traffic: 18% percent; these are people who go directly to the source through a website/link. Strong indicator of repeat buyers and/or brand recognition
Organic search: 12%; this is the "spray and pray" mentality I was talking about, where you expect people to just stumble upon your gem of a product (caution: Shinysparklyidea Syndrome ahead)
Affiliate programs: Only 5%, BUT. It has the highest conversion rate of nearly 7%, which is pretty darn high. Best ROI per dollar of traffic acquisition costs out of all options.
The practical takeaway here is this:
"...The asset that generates passive income is not the product โ it is the audience. Email lists, social followings, and affiliate networks are what make a product generate revenue without constant effort. Without those, even a well-made product earns nothing." (Insight Raider)
So.
How do you build something truly worth buying without an audience or a huge social media following?
I may or may not have a solution for this, and I'm calling it The Proof Kit.
It's a 30-day plan to help you narrow down your ideas, put one concept in front of a few select people to test, and document early market interest. Essentially...
Got an idea? Here's how to use it.
Got lots of ideas? Here's how to pick one and then use it.
Don't have an audience? Here's hwo to use what you have.
Now here's the catch: I'm taking my own advice and gathering early interest so I know what exactly to include inside so it feels 100% worth the investment when it launches.
If you click the little button at the top that says "I want to be a test user" (AKA, my product guinea pig), you'll automatically get 30% off in exchange for real, honest feedback on how it's developing.
So if you're interested, I'll just leave you and this button alone to spend some time together...๐
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