As entrepreneurs, we all know how important setting our launch goals are. We have to have metric to set to know what we’re working toward!

But in today’s “six-figure launch” and overnight success culture, more and more entrepreneurs are ending up feeling defeated when they don’t hit these one-in-a-million metrics. and when it comes to launches, that’s especially important. But not only is it important what goals you’re choosing to set, but also the plan you’re making to make sure that you get there.

So today I’m going to share 5 ways to ensure that you meet your fall launch goals!

#1 – Set realistic launch goals from the start

Let me lay a little bit of harsh truth on you with some conversion metrics…

The common industry standard across the board for all online launches is 1% of buyers.

And that doesn’t mean 1% of your email lists. That’s how a lot of people calculate it. And it doesn’t mean 1% of your Facebook mans.

It means 1% of people you can actually get to come look at your sales page.

Now this can vary a little bit with price differences. Under $100 maybe you can see above 5%, with $100 to $500 you’re kind of in that 3 to 5% range. But when we’re talking about online courses and premium courses of $500, $1,000, $2,000, your conversion is gonna be around that industry standard of 1%.

So when it comes to setting your launch goals, I always work with my clients to set good, better, and best goals.

Good means you’d feel great about it. It’s worth your time and effort. Maybe that’s your break even point.

Better would be you’re a little bit profitable. And best would be biggest dreams to shoot for in the whole wide world.

The reason I like to have three sets of goals is that you can aspire to different levels. What I mean by that is that we tend to fall to the lowest denominator. So if you’ve even told yourself, “Hey! I’m gonna work out 3 times this week.” You probably made it once. Versus if you said, “I’m gonna work out every day this week.” You probably made it three to four times.

By having these good, better and best goals, and you’re always shooting for the best, you put yourself in a really strong position to actually make your launch goals possible.

The other piece of your goals I’d encourage you to think about when setting these good, better, best goals is to make them student focused, over income focused.

So how many students do you actually wanna get?

Obviously there’s a dollar metric behind that, but, think about the onboarding process.

If it’s your first launch, you might not want actually more than 20 or 50 people coming in at one time if you’re a solo show, or you just have a VA, handling that onboard load is going to be crazy. Versus if it’s your second, third, fourth, fifth launch and that onboarding is seamless, it wouldn’t matter if you had 100 students come in or 200 students come in.

#2 – Use all communication channels available

Putting your message out there in a BIG way can sometimes be the part of selling or launching that people sometimes feel sleazy about, but I know if you think about it when your favorite entrepreneurs are launching, you don’t see it everywhere even though that’s where they’re posting it.

With Facebook’s algorithms, Instagram’s algorithms, the fact that I’m only on Twitter once a week. I don’t see everyone’s messages even though they’re posting it daily, three times a day, four times a day. The same is true of your audience.

So hammer this message home anywhere that you can.

Make a plan to share your “Cart is open!” message with an email to your list, going live on Facebook, posting on Instagram, posting on LinkedIn, sending a FB messenger bot, and even posting in your free Facebook group if you have one.

Have all of your available communication channels that you can get your hands on to share your launch messages!

#3 – Invest in Retargeting Ads

Even if you’re a first time launcher, or you’ve got a super small launch budget, set aside $20 to $100 to use simply for sales page re-targeting. Once your cart is open, set up some ads that run on Instagram and Facebook that tell people, “Hey, cart’s open! Come join!”, or that their chance to grab some bonuses or early bird discount is expiring.

If nothing else, just run these ads for the very last 48 hours of your cart being open to drive some additional traffic there.

For these audiences I want you to be using an upload of your email list as a custom audience, and you can also be re-targeting people who like your Facebook page and follow you on Instagram. (Here’s more about how to set that all up!)

#4 – Follow Up With “Clickers”

For this I mean, anyone who clicks the link in your emails to view your sales page. If you use ConvertKit, Active Campaign, Ontraport or Infusionsoft, go ahead and set all of your sales links up with a tag.

But even in MailChimp you can still use this strategy, just a little more manual work involved!

But it’s super important that if someone shows interest in your page that you follow up with them.

These “clickers” are the people who already showed interest, who are your most engaged fans clicking on your emails, opening them. So it’s super important to follow up with them! You have the best chance (almost 50/50) of getting those leads into your online course or program.

#5 – Have a Last-Minute Bonus In Your Back Pocket

Go ahead and look at all the bonuses you’re already offering and ee if there’s any other juicy mini courses or PDF’s that you could add in.

Or, if there’s a way that you could add in an additional payment plan.

You won’t necessarily have to use this last-minute incentive, but I recommend that everyone has one in their back pocket. So if you are 10 people short of hitting your launch goals, that you can change the last 48 hours and 24 emails to say, “Hey! I’ve added an extended payment plan. Or this additional bonus.”

By pre-planning, you don’t have to wait until the very last minute and be like, “Oh, I haven’t hit my goals yet. What do I do?”

Have this already decided ahead of time and emails drafted but not scheduled so that you can have something in your back pocket to push you over that last little hump right before your launch closes.

If you’d like a handy workbook to walk you through all 5 of these steps for meeting your launch goals, I’ve put together a handy PDF!

Inside is everything you’ll need to set your goals, plan your marketing channels and calendar, and also a sample email to send to those “clickers”!

Your Turn

Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck on your fall launch, and if you have any questions about how to ensure you make your goals happen, leave a comment below. And I will see you next week.