The story of our company began on Product Hunt. WeLoveNoCode became the “Product of the Day” - this way we managed to find our first customers, and still, we often add PH launches into our go-to-market strategy. And you know what - you don’t need a huge community of 1000+ loyal people or popular hunters to achieve that (but that would help, of course).
Today I will share a few of my personal tips and a step-by-step guide on what to do on the launch day to get to the top. I know there is a ton of such content on Google, but I’ll share some secret tricks that nobody has told you before.
Always Remember
Your main goal is to get into the “Featured by PH” section in the first two hours. This way your product is shown on the main page of Product Hunt. If you achieved that - congrats, you just did 70% of the job. This is how you get organic traffic, upvotes, and comments during the next 22 hours. If you didn’t make it into “Featured” in two hours after the launch, just forget about it and relaunch in a few weeks/months. Nothing works better than organic PH traffic and this is exactly why you should launch. Read further on how to get there.
Define Your Goal and Choose a Launch Day
Launch day is important. Here you must be 100% honest with yourself and decide whether your product is good enough to compete with the best. Define your final goal and choose a launch day according to this table.
There are two types of goals:
- Getting leads and sales - this one is straightforward
- “Product of the Day” batch - this is more of a “vanity metric”, which I wouldn’t recommend aiming at. This is more useful for aspiring startups, who need some brand and credibility.
Of course, hitting both targets is awesome. However, bear in mind that Monday is the hardest day to get into “Featured”. Historically, the most traffic comes to PH on Monday, and the best products are usually launched on this day. If you’re sure that your product is an absolute banger, then go for Monday. If you want to reach both goals with a mediocre product, I’d recommend choosing Wednesday.
1. The First 30 Minutes
I didn’t lie when I said that you don’t need a big audience. But you still need a small group of people (around 30), who will give you that initial boost among competitors. At least 50% of them should have active PH profiles.
Prepare a list of 30 questions/comments about your product and ask them to write these questions in the comments section. It SHOULD NOT be something like “Wow, great product”, but “genuine” ones, which they’d ask out of curiosity. You can even add some negative comments or mention competitors - that would add some trustworthiness. Why? See #3.
2. Don't Send a Direct Link to Your PH Page
Send everyone to the https://www.producthunt.com/newest page and ask your people to find your product manually. This way PH sees that these visitors are organic.
3. Try to Contact PH Support
Here we come to the next secret. There isn’t much of an AI which chooses products that would be added to “Featured”. Most products are added manually by PH staff. So here is a thing you can do. If you don’t see your product in the “Featured” section in the first 30 minutes, here is a hack. Try to contact PH support (“Intercom” logo in the bottom-right corner).
Be honest, tell your story and how much effort you’ve put into that product. Explain why you need it so badly to be on the front page. If you did #2 and #3, tell them that you already have some organic views and comments - show them that people are getting interested in your product. For us, it worked 2 out of 3 times and after such a message, PH added us to the “Featured” section. I suggest that you prepare this message in advance.
4. The First Hour
Here are some minimal benchmarks that you need to achieve after the first hour:
- 25-50 upvotes
- 10-15 comments (and 10-15 replies from you respectively)
From our experience, having these kinds of numbers is usually enough to be featured by PH.
5. You Got Featured! Congrats!
6. Work with the Community
Now, you’re getting more and more people to your PH page. It’s time to answer questions. Help your visitors understand more about your product. Sometimes the number of comments has more weight than the number of upvotes.
Keep in mind, that your product should look like software, and not a service. PH doesn’t like services. Add buzzwords like “feature”, “software”, “program”, “algorithm”, etc.
Eventually, Product Hunt launch is mostly a game of luck. It always depends on who is launching on the same day as you. But using our tips will increase your chances of getting featured, receiving more organic traffic, upvotes, and getting to the top.
Hope it was helpful. WeLoveNoCode wishes you a great launch!
