How to Bounce Back After a Failed Online Course Launch
Your worst nightmare happened. You launched your online course (or digital product) into the world and you didn’t hit your goal.
You did all the things you were supposed to – you created an epic sales page, you hosted a webinar, you posted all over Instagram, you sent so. many. emails.
… and it didn’t work. And you’re devastated.
Whether this just happened to you, or it happened in the past and you are feeling some PTSD, let me just tell you – YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
In a growing online course industry with more and more people than ever starting a side hustle or becoming a coach, there are a whole lot products on the interwebs for people to see, and a whole lot of EXPECTATIONS around what can happen in a launch.
Especially with Big Name “experts” telling everyone and their mother that as long as they have an idea and a dream, then they can have a successful online business from year 1.
I’m writing this article today to act as a guide for those who just experienced a flopped launch, or who has in the past and are still hurting from it.
Believe me. It has happened to ALL OF US who have been in this online space for more than a couple years.
The beauty is that no matter what your numbers are – you can learn some seriously epic lessons from a failed launch.
And you can use those lessons to prevent it from happening again.
Don’t let a “failed” launch fuck with your future growth.
You in??
Let’s go.
Why Did Your Online Course Launch Fail?
First of all, we gotta understand why your online course launch failed.
And figure out if it even “failed” at all!
The first place to look is your actual numbers.
If you’ve ever worked with me or taken one of our courses, then you’ve probably heard me say, “I love when you look at your numbers because numbers are neutral.”
You have alllllll sorts of stories running through our heads during the very high sensation weeks of an online launch. You worry if people will buy. You worry if it’ll pay off. You wonder why more people aren’t buying and question your worth, your expertise, your entire fucking business. There are SO MANY emotional highs and lows (that are normal) during a launch. And they can really flavor your experience of a launch.
So when someone tells me “My launch was a total fail!!!”
I ask them for their numbers.
What was your goal?
How many people signed up?
How much money came in immediately? And how many will come in the future due to payment plans?
How many people signed up for your Launch Event (webinar, challenge, summit…)?
How many people showed up live?
How many people are on your email list?
What were your email open rates and click rates for each email?
How many emails did you send?
How many posts did you post on social media?
How many people hit your sales page?
If you’re selling a higher priced program, did you do sales calls? How many people booked calls?
If you didn’t hit your goal, what % of your goal did you hit? (e.g., 30 people bought but my goal was 50 = 60%)
How many new people joined your email list before your launch? How many new people joined your email list during your launch?
Did you have affiliates? Did any sales come from affiliates?
What other opportunities came in during your launch?
Nine times out of ten, when we look at the numbers, it’s very clear that the launch actually did really well and/or brought in an influx of email subscribers, followers, or other surprising opportunities.
And if it's still feeling wonky, roll up your sleeves.
Epic Lessons from your “Failed” Online Course Launch
Even if your online launch “failed” by your standards, it is so important to glean the lessons that you can from it and to change your perspective of it so you can see how this launch helped you, served you, and is contributing to your long-term success. Without this intentional practice you can really fuck up your future launches because your unconscious mind will be whispering things like:
“You shouldn’t try so hard because it won’t pay off.”
“Remember how you failed last time? No one wants to work with you.”
“You should hide and be embarrassed. Everyone thinks you’re a fuck up.”
To be clear – these are total lies!! So we want to look at them, address them, transmute them – so they don’t secretly run the show in your next launch.
My favorite prompts for this are:
What are my biggest lessons I now get to take forward to my next launch?
How has this launch bettered my life? Why are these launch results actually an indicator that I’m exactly where I need to be to achieve my long term business goals?
Oh come on, stop rolling your eyes at me 😜
Of course, if you’re coming directly off of results you’re disappointed by, take the time to fully feel your grief, disappointed – go ahead and have a tantrum.
But then come back here and clean up your mind so that you can go into your next promotion with your heart open and ready to be very loud on the internet.
On that note…
What might have gone wrong – 7 Common Mistakes When Launching an Online Course
If you didn’t hit your online course launch goal, then I would look first at these 8 areas.
These are very common mistakes I see when people are launching, or when people come to me asking WTF went wrong. I’ll highlight the biggest ones with this symbol ***.
Launch Mistake #1: You didn’t grow your audience between launches ***
I see this all the time with people who LOVE what they do and just want to spend all of their time doing what they love (teaching, healing, coaching, doing their craft…) and spend no time marketing their business.
This is all well and good if you either hire people to market and sell your offers for you, or create automated systems in your business that market and sell for you (like ads + funnels), but most of the time, that’s not the case.
What happens then is you are epic at what you do so you have amazing testimonials and the people who buy from you once buy from you again and again and again… which requires you to create more and more offers and to sell new stuff all the time. You can’t relaunch something because you don’t have fresh blood in the mix who would be interested.
If you don’t intentionally grow your email list (or social media following or podcast following, but I really do rec email list building over all) between launches, then you aren’t going to have the results you want.
Launch Mistake #2: You didn’t talk about your offer enough ***
If you look at the stats, only small percentage of your people see anything you do.
Only 25% of your email list (or higher if you have great open rates) see any given email, and only about 10-20% of your followers see your Instagram posts organically. That means 75-90% (the VAST MAJORITY) of people who have indicated they are interested in hearing from you actually hear from you.
This is where quantity actually does matter.
You posting and writing and being seen and available and visible a whole lot before and during your open enrollment period matters.
Most people hate hearing this, but during a launch you want to talk about your offer to the point that you are actually annoyed by it.
You’re seeing 100% of the posts you do, while your people are only seeing 10-25% of them.
So you probably want to show up 10X more than you feel natural doing.
A truth you want to sink into here is: Repetition is of service.
You repeating yourself + saying the same thing in different ways helps your people transform for the better, faster.
Launch Mistake #3: You didn’t hit the points your people needed to hear
When most of us “write copy” or talk about our offers online, we communicate the way we naturally communicate and communicate the way we want to be communicated to.
But guess what?
Business is relationship. And good relationship is not just about you 🙊
If you have a lover and they like different things than you in bed… you would do some stuff that may not be what you’re into in communion with you lover.
Some people that you’re here to serve need to hear from you in different ways than you naturally communicate or in ways you wouldn’t need to hear it.
(Need help with the different ways to communicate your offer? Check out our free 30 emails + social media prompts resource.)
Launch Mistake #4: You didn’t employ magic/mindset
If you’re reading this then this may not apply to you. But I gotta say it.
You as a spiritual, magical person have a leg up from the “muggles.” Did you employ all of your most effective, wild magical practices that you know of during your launch??
Did you do the spells and rituals? Did you do the hypnotic tracks? The sex magick? The daily mindset work and journaling?
This is an easy self-sabotage area, where you feeling busy and like there’s a lot to do = you not doing the shit that you know works.
Launch Mistake #5: You didn’t go all the way to the end
It is very common for 50%+ of people waiting until the last day to join your program. Because many people haaaaate making decisions.
This can fuck you up in that - you have 3 days to go and you aren’t even close to your goal so you give up. You don’t take it all the way to the end.
If you do that, you could be missing out on 50% of your sales. (I’m not joking with this, I remember one massive client launch I supported where 60% of her only course sales came in on the final day)
I love Biz Witchery Rachael Maddox’s post on this:
Take it all the way home, babe.
Launch Mistake #6: You’re selling something that your people don’t consciously want ***
This is so fucking hard to hear, but be honest:
Do your people consciously WANT what you’re selling?
Is it drool worthy?
Are they googling for what you're selling?
Does your title and subtitle capture what they’re googling, or are you using cutesy, catchy naming?
So many conscious, creative experts and course creators sell what they know their people NEED, versus what they consciously, desperately want. And want now.
Guess what will immediately make everything in your business easier…
Selling what your people want.
Launch Mistake #7: You didn’t Have a runway
What you do outside of a launch is just as, if not more, important than what you do within a launch.
Think of the runway for an airplane. It is long and it is required for a successful take-off to get the plane launched and into the air.
Your online course launch “runway” is the weeks or months before a launch that you are getting your people ready and salivating for your offer.
It also gives your people the spaciousness to make a decision ahead of time. It allows that hurts-so-good tension to build.
What did you do before your launch? Was it intentional? Did it build the tension and desire?
Next week we’ll be digging into 7 key practices to AVOID a flopped launch going forward – I can’t wait to share all those juicy nuggets with you!
Next Steps: Grab your free Online Launch Assessment Workbook
If you want to go even deeper with this, I invite you to grab my free Online Launch Assessment Workbook. I know, I know, “assessing” what went wrong isn’t the sexiest task on your to do list. But it is the key to you gleaning the most insight from any launch you have done + those you plan to do going forward.
Don’t skip this!!
Grab the free workbook here:
