What To Do When Your Course Launch Goes Wrong

Launching your online course can be an exciting and nerve-wracking experience.

You've put in a lot of effort to create a course that you're proud of and you're eager to share it with the world.

However, what happens when your course launch doesn't go as planned?

This can be a demoralising experience, but it doesn't have to be the end of the road.

In fact, a failed course launch can be an opportunity to learn and improve, and to make your next launch even better.

"If you've never failed, you've never tried anything new" (Albert Einstein)

In this article we'll look at whether your course launch actually did fail, how to analyse what went wrong and extract every ounce of learning from your "failed" promotion, and then what to do in future to maximise the chances of having a successful launch next time.

Did You Actually 'Launch' Your Course?

The first thing to consider when evaluating a failed launch is whether you actually properly 'launched' your course in the first place!

Many course creators make the mistake of simply 'putting it out there'; announcing to the world that their course is available with a few social media posts or an email or two, thinking they have launched their course, when in fact they haven't.

Hey, if that's you there is no judgement here, we’ve all done it!

While you might get lucky and sell a few copies of your course that way, it's definitely not the most effective approach.

A launch, on the other hand, turns your marketing into a special event or an occasion that is time-bound and invites people to make a decision about whether or not they want to buy from you, within that specific time frame.

A launch creates a sense of urgency and momentum that can help to overcome the natural resistance that many people have to making purchasing decisions.

By creating a window for people to make a decision, you're also creating a deadline that helps people to prioritise your course over other demands on their time and money.

This can make a huge difference in terms of the success of your launch.

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Did You Set Realistic Launch goals?

Even if you have properly launched your course, there are still many things that can go wrong. But before we dive into some of the more common issues that can arise, the first question you need to ask yourself is, "did my launch actually go wrong, or was it just that I had unreasonable expectations?".

For example, if I've set a goal of bringing in £100,000 with my launch, with an email list of 100 people and zero advertising budget, if I "only" generate £5,000, is that a failure of my launch, or is it unrealistic planning on my part?

Hopefully you will have answered that the reason the launch did not live up to expectations was not that there was likely anything "wrong" with my launch per say, it's just that I didn't have a large enough audience that I could reliably get in front of, in order to reach my income target.

Your launch goals should be assessed in relation to the size of your audience. An average conversion rate for email marketing might be between 1-3% (depending on your industry, value of product/service etc), so if you have 100 people on your email list, you might reasonably expect to sell between one and three places to that audience.

If your course was priced at £500, you would have sold ten units to get your £5,000 revenue, which would be considered quite a good conversion rate with that size of list. The problem then is not the launch, but the size of your email list!

If this wasn't your first launch, it's much easier to set realistic goals as you will have previous conversion data to predict the likely results of your launch.

So assuming you did set a reasonable financial goal for your launch, what's next?

The Three Components of a Launch

Well, there are three main areas you need to assess in order to figure out what went wrong. These are:

1. The Planning
2. The Marketing
3. The Offer

Before we explore each of these in a bit more detail one of the most important things to keep in mind when evaluating a failed launch is to avoid beating yourself up or telling yourself that you're not good enough. Setbacks are a normal part of the learning process and everyone experiences them at some point.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn"

Instead, take a curious and objective approach to the situation. Think of yourself as a scientist conducting an experiment. Look at all the evidence and try to identify what went wrong. This will help you to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

When a scientist does an experiment he/she does it to test a hypothesis. A scientist doesn’t beat themselves up when the result of an experiment doesn’t turn out as they thought it would.

The Planning

You might not have given yourself sufficient time to plan and execute your launch. Launches require a lot of preparation and it's important to give yourself plenty of lead time to create marketing materials, build buzz, and get everything set up.

If you're selling your course online, it's important to make sure that your website and payment systems are working properly. You don't want potential customers to get frustrated and abandon the purchasing process because of glitches or errors.

Back in 2021, during the launch of our first Creating with Confidence Bootcamp, we decided to use new sales page software. Although the software was excellent, the learning process and the teething problems meant that we only had a week to promote the Bootcamp.

We managed to pull it off and it was a successful first launch, but it was very stressful and the launch would have undoubtedly performed much better, had we not had this experience with using unfamiliar software.

The Marketing

Sometimes, the reason behind your failed launch may not be so obvious, so it's important to look at the data rather than making decisions based on speculation and emotion!

Important metrics to evaluate include sales figures, sales page traffic and email open rates.

Perhaps you got a lot of traffic to your sales page, but very few people actually made a purchase. Or maybe you got a lot of interest and engagement on social media, but it didn't translate into sales. In cases like these, it's important to take a step back and evaluate what went wrong.

Maybe you just didn't put yourself out there enough, in the lead-up to the launch!

What pre-launch content were you posting on social media or sending out to your email list in the lead up to the launch?

The Offer

As part of the evaluation process it is important to reach out to people who were involved in your launch but didn't buy your course. After your launch is over, thank them for their support and ask them for feedback on their experience.

Asking open ended questions will help you surface important objections (or misunderstandings) about your offer, such as the price you were charging or how suitable/attractive participants were perceiving your course as.

Not only will asking for feedback provide you with absolute gold for your next launch, it can also help you to foster stronger relationships with your audience.

Be open to constructive criticism and take notes on what you can do differently in the future. This feedback can be extremely valuable and can help you to identify blind spots or areas where you can improve.

Lessons Learned From a Failed Launch

Once you've identified what went wrong with your launch, by critically evaluating the planning, marketing and offer, it's important to document the lessons learned and what you would do differently in the future. In the military, this process is called an "After Acton Report"!

Use this as a learning opportunity that will help you to avoid making the same mistakes again and will give you a clear plan for improving your launch next time around.

Remember, this is not about beating yourself up! Chances are that your ego will feel a bit bruised if your launch failed to live up to expectations, so you may naturally find yourself avoiding this activity.

But this one activity could be the very thing that makes all the difference to your next launch, so don't give into the temptation to put this off.

Online Course Launch Strategy: The Right Way To Launch

Planning your course launch properly will take a lot of the stress out of the process of launching, so it's vitally important to invest the time and effort up-front to plan your course launch before actually launching. 

Make sure to set clear goals, create a timeline, identify your target audience, and develop a comprehensive marketing plan.

In addition to planning out your launch in advance, there are a few other specific things you can do to prepare for your course launch that will improve your chances of success:

1. Build a strong pre-launch audience: Before you launch your course, it’s important to build a strong audience of people who are interested in your topic. This can help create anticipation and excitement around your launch, and increase your chances of success. Extra Brownie Points are available if you've introduced a Wait-List for your course.
   
2. Build anticipation: If you were Head of Marketing at a Hollywood movie studio, you wouldn't just announce that your latest movie was now available would you? Well, the best launches build anticipation ahead of time too.
3. Offer a special incentive to drive sales: One way to give your launch a boost is by offering incentives to your audience. Consider offering a discount code for early bird purchases, a limited-time offer or a bundle deal. This can help create a sense of urgency and motivate people to make a decision.
   
4. Do some up-front research: Before you start your launch, survey your audience, or interview some of your ideal clients to figure out their biggest challenges and then incorporate these into to your launch content.
5. Use social proof: Social proof is a powerful tool that can help build trust and credibility with your audience. Consider using testimonials, case studies, or other forms of social proof to demonstrate the value of your course.
   
6. Create a sense of urgency: When you launch your course, create a sense of urgency by giving people a specific time frame to make a decision. This creates a window for people to make a decision, which is important because without that container, there is not the same need for people to make a decision to buy your course. A launch also builds anticipation, awareness, and momentum, which can help generate more interest in your course.

Want to know if you are ready to launch your online course? Take our quiz and find out!

Conclusion

It's important to remember that a failed launch doesn't mean that your course is a failure or that you should give up. Many successful entrepreneurs and businesses have experienced setbacks, and it's how you respond to them that counts.

Remember, setbacks are just part of the learning process, and it's how you respond to them that counts!

Use the experience as a learning opportunity, make adjustments and try again. Keep building your audience and refining your course content and marketing strategy, and you'll be more likely to succeed with your next launch.

By staying positive, persistent, and open to feedback, you can turn a failed launch into a successful one and achieve your goals as an online course creator.

Need help with your launch?

If you'd like me to help you plan your next (or first) launch, the first step is to book a FREE Sell Your Course Strategy Session with me.

During the session, I will help you figure out the most appropriate launch strategy for your business and we'll look at the common pitfalls that course creators often fall into during their launches and how to avoid them.

To book a Sell Your Course Strategy Session with me, CLICK HERE to access my online calendar.