How to nail your next product launch

Hey everyone, 

Welcome back for another bite to chew on.

Today we’re tackling a topic that should be familiar to everyone in DTC. 

Product launches. 

They’re fun! They’re exciting! They’re…

Hugely complicated.  

Expanding your catalog is important if you’re trying to grow market share. But launches can consume a lot of time, capital, and attention across your organization. 

So messing them up is not just disappointing. It can be costly too.

That’s why we want to share our simple but powerful launch process.

We promise it will help up your confidence and lower your anxiety whenever you decide to add another tentpole SKU.  

On the Menu

• First - Do Your Research 🧐

• Second - Prep Your Assets 🍽️

• Third - Build The Hype 🤩

Do Your Research

Good, thorough research is how you get off on the right foot. 

Easier said than done. 

But without this step, your new product is doomed from the start. 

So let’s go over the elements of quality product research:

1. Market Research

2. Customer Input 

3. Internal “Alpha” Tests

Market research

Before you do anything else, you want to know how to position your new product in the market. 

• What are your customers asking for?

• Who are the key competitors?

• Is there a market leader? 

• What do users like about it? 

• Is there a gap you’re trying to fill? 

• How can you improve or differentiate?

This is where you confirm that there is a true opportunity. 

You need to determine if your product aligns with your brand and if you can bring something unique that will get people excited.

Customer input

Think you have something? 

It’s time to take it to your customers. 

If you’re lucky, your customer requests helped kick off your research phase. 

Assuming you were able to validate the opportunity, now you can go back to them for feedback. 

1. Use surveys and polls to go over potential features, benefits, and options.

2. Create a “pre-launch” landing page and send out emails to your best customers to gauge their interest.

3. Leverage social media to tease potential new products and collect reactions.

4. If you have a community, strike up an active dialogue around your idea, and see if it creates interest and excitement.

5. Arrange phone calls with established influencers or advocates. Ask for their opinions and interest level.

Don’t get married to your new product idea just yet. 

Avoid confirmation bias by asking your users questions about what they may not like about your new idea. 

If you want to launch a killer product, you want to make something people NEED. Not something they are mildly curious (or indifferent) about. 

Internal Tests

It’s time to eat your own dog food, so to speak.

Get an alpha version of your new product together and test it out internally. 

Be frank and merciless. How does it look? Does it work? How easy is it to break, ignore, dismiss?   

At Obvi, We get everyone in the office to try new flavors before we launch them. But we do it one at a time.

We found that people’s answers would influence each other in a group setting - and you want blunt honesty, so your alpha test is as clean as possible. 

It’s always better for a new product idea to fail at this point. You can still go back to the drawing board. 

You haven’t spent money on an initial stocking PO and you don’t have mediocre reviews polluting your social proof. 

Does everyone (genuinely) love it? Are your customers excited? 

It’s time to prep.

Tool of the Week - Saral

Alright, let’s switch gears a bit for a second. 

We want to share a breakthrough we had on TikTok Shops…

Because we know trying to scale TTS by reaching out to hundreds of creators is like herding cats. 

We spun our wheels for a while but found a new unlock with Saral, our influencer management platform. 

Here’s how we did it:

1. Used Saral to source relevant influencers (they make this super easy) 

2. Mentioned we are offering a commission through TTS in our introduction

3. Directed them to request a sample from us on TikTok to kick things off

Yup, that’s it. 

So if you’re doing this manually through TikTok, well…you’re doing it wrong. 

We use Saral for influencer outreach across all social platforms (TT included), and it even lets us create automated drip campaigns, so following up and nurturing creators is a breeze. 

We know, we know…

We’ve talked about Saral a hundred times already, but it’s one of those tools that can add huge value with a minimum amount of effort. 

It’s dummy-proof, comes with a free trial, and it should help improve your influencer game instantly. 

Sure it might not work for you - but it has been great for Obvi and you won’t know until you try. 

Book a demo to find out.

Back to crushing your next product launch 🚀

Prep Your Assets

The French have a term for prepping professional kitchens - Mise en place. 

It refers to the organized set-up of ingredients, tools, and equipment to ensure a quality service. 

This goes for product launches as well. 

What are we talking about here?

Assets! 

Images, videos, messaging, copy, packaging, landing pages, PDP’s…

Once you have chosen your next product, that’s when the REAL work begins.

Because before you can launch with excellence, you need to nail the look and feel of your next offering…

Then gather together all the supporting stuff you need to get it on your site, on the shelves (if you’re in retail), and to create ad campaigns.  

This is a step that tripped us up in the past.

We made the mistake of waiting for the first run of product so we can get it in our hands for product shots and asset creation. 

Of course, that put us behind the 8-ball timewise. We had to rush everything as a result. 

These days, we develop the packaging, get some mock bottles done up, and then use those for our initial asset creation. 

Other processes that help at this step - 

• Create a standard operating procedure (SOP) and a modular template to accelerate graphic design 

• Batch your naming, SKU, and pricing decisions together once the product direction has been set

• Line up “beta testers” from your list of advocates, influencers, and advocates. Offer to send them the new product before launch in return for UGC and reviews 

Take enough time to get your assets in order. 

Then you’ll have a rich and varied library to draw from when you go live. 

Build The Hype

🤓 You’ve got a product verified by market and customer research. 

📸 You’ve taken the time to develop quality images, videos, UGC, and social proof. 

📢 Now you just need everyone to know about it. 

Scratch that - you want them to be waiting on the edge of their seat, eager to buy. 

You need some hype. 

That’s what separates an instant sell-out from a “soft launch”.

We’ve listed this as a distinct step in the process, but in reality you should be working to build hype from start to finish. 

Here’s how we did it recently →

1. Customer survey to narrow down options - in this case, different coffee flavors 

2. Create a fun way to determine the favorites - a March Madness-style battle between he flavors

3. We went live on our Facebook community page and encouraged people to vote for each flavor “round”, in a head-to-head battle

4. Thousands of people voted during the flavor battle to help us determine the winner

Boom 💥 

Including our community in this product’s development built in natural hype for the launch. It sold out almost immediately. 

Other hype tactics to consider:

• Founder “reason why” or “our vision” email campaigns

• Contests, sweepstakes, or giveaways to drive lead capture

• A limited “first edition” product drop or bundle

• Behind-the-scenes content of the product dev process on social media

It’s all about creating a sense of anticipation and excitement leading up to the launch date. 

If you’ve put the time into creating a great product, a strong brand, and engaged customers, then you’re really only limited by your imagination.

Sum it up

Product launches are stressful, no question. 

It takes a lot of effort to get something new into market, and there’s always the fear that it might flop anyways. 

Nothing guarantees success, but this process has helped Obvi crush our last few product launches. 

It’s become our playbook ➡

✅ Do your homework

✅ Prep your assets 

✅ Listen to your customers, and 

✅ Build hype by bringing them along for the ride

Simple, right?

It’s not easy, but if you map this game plan to your own brand, we think you’ll see success. 

All the best,

Ron and Ash