Product or Feature launch: some actions to succeed
A good, bad or nonexistent launch planning can be key in the success or failure of the product.
As I usually do, I am going to illustrate these actions with real use cases based in my own experience. I think that is the best way to explain these kind of procedures.
And I insist, these actions are based on my personal experience. If you have any other actions I've missed, I'd be happy if you share them!
The use case that I am going to show you is again from Chekin, and it is about Upselling.
Upselling is one of our most promising features and we can define it as the skill or the art to persuade a customer to purchase something extra, something additional or something more expensive.
In the hospitality sector, we can see Upselling when a vacation rental or hotel prompts additional services to guests, such as an earlier check-in or late check-out, a session at the spa, a breakfast buffet, taxi to airports or train stations... etc. Vacation rentals or, more commonly, hotels, can also upsell rooms (otherwise known as room upgrade) to guests with the same intention as with Upselling.
Actions
I am going to expose a battery of actions that are easily exportable to your company. The concept goes through generating interest and intrigue thanks to an attractive communication design and arousing the feeling of exclusivity.
So, to include an early access to anything always catches the attention of any user, regardless of the sector.
With the following actions, we not only intended to generate interest, but also measure it (that is really important).
First, we have to differentiate between current clients and potential clients, with personalised actions for each of them.
Current customers
-Dashboard
When the hosts enter his dashboard (the reservations management platform they visit on a daily basis), we showed them the following modal in which we urge to get an invitation to participate:
Also, we created a landing page within the dashboard that explains the Upselling feature more deeply, including links to video, ebook and post. Also the main CTA directs you to get an invite.
-Chatbot
Within the dashboard, we configured the chatbox with the following message:
Hi there! I have a secret…
We have Upselling ready for early access! Would you like to get an invite to try?
-Mailing
It is difficult for people to open promotional emails from brands (even when it comes to big ones like Amazon, Google, Apple...). For this reason, we must generate interest from the 'Subject' to try, first, to get the highest number of openings of the email possible, and then, the highest number of clicks on the proposed CTA.
The email must be personal, signed by someone real with name and surname.
Subject:
'Generate more money from each reservation. Upselling is here 🎉 !’
-Marketing campaigns
It is important to offer a series of incentives which will help us a lot in this first stage. All accompanied by a reward of course.
For example:
Do you want 6 free months of Chekin? Show us the most original deal we've ever seen!
We give 6 months free for all your properties to those who sell 20 deals in a month.
Potential customers
-Web
To measure and generate interest among potential customers, gain more registrations and we added a popup to everyone who enters the web for a period of one month.
Also, in the Upselling section, we included an alert message 'We have the early access ready' the CTA will be 'Get an invitation':
-Blog
I did write and signed 10 original and useful posts. They went published from 8 weeks before the launch (1 per week).
This not only increased the obtention of new clients interested in the feature, but it helped (and keep helping) to the current clients on their Upselling activities.
These are the titles we published:
What is Upselling for hotels and vacation rentals?
Upselling Tips and Tricks: Tricks to create a winning offer
Upselling Tips and Tricks: How to select the perfect image for your offer?
Upselling Tips and Tricks: Why a Smart Availability Strategy Means Success
Upselling Tips and Tricks: What channels to use to Upsell in the different stages of a reservation?
How to improve your KPIs thanks to Upselling?
Upselling: Product launch
Upselling Tips and Tricks: Some Creative Deal Ideas
How does Upselling work on Chekin?
How does Upselling increase my direct bookings?
You can take a look to the posts by clicking here.
-eBook
I also created the content and style of an ebook very useful for the current and potential customers. The ebooks are really appreciated by the users.
You can see or download the eBook by clicking here.
-Social media
Following the Social Media Marketing Plan, we released actions in LinkedIn basically, that is the main social network where our clients are.
-Adwords
Nowadays it is important to configure an Google Adwords campaign. Specially when you are launching a product or feature.
-Webminar
We organised some webminars with clients to explain them what is Upselling and the best practices.
-Press
Depending on the budget, it would be great to get mentions from influencers, early adopters, specialised media…
And that’s all. To guarantee an optimal product launch, the operation must start at least a month before and then measure the actions and act accordingly.
Thanks for reading!