What are the secret techniques for a successful Product Hunt launch?
Well, after this post, they probably won’t be that secret anymore. 😀
But there are still a few things not everyone knows about:
1. Get hunted by someone with a strong audience.
Even if you already have a lot of followers yourself, getting hunted by someone who also has a strong audience can help you reach more people on launch day.
If your launch gets featured, your followers can receive notifications, as well as the followers of the hunter. So you will reach a broader audience.
2. Grow your Product Hunt page followers before launch.
Not many people use this.
Before launching, ask people to follow your Product Hunt page. When they do, they can receive a notification when you launch.
It’s a simple thing, but I rarely see makers actively doing it.
Ideally, try to do it consistently over time, especially if you plan to relaunch in the future.
3. Live-stream your launch.
This is still pretty rare, but I’ve seen makers do it, usually on X (e.g. Sandra did it @sandradjajic and Max @_maxblade)
It can turn your launch into an event.
What other “secret” Product Hunt launch techniques do you know? 😀
Replies
Pushary
The forum-compounding point is the one I’d add. We opened a product question before launch and learned more from the replies than from asking for follows. The launch notification then lands with context because people have already seen the problem evolve. That feels more durable than a one-day distribution spike.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@aadilghani But first, you need to launch and then you can contribute a discussion question under the thread. Or did you relaunch?
Pushary
Yes, a relaunch 🙂 Pushary already has a product page; I meant the discussion ahead of our next launch for the Mac notch app. I should've made that clearer. We asked where people wanted an agent's approval request to appear, and the replies pushed us toward keeping it local while they're at their Mac.
@aadilghani The part that made it work for me was posting the problem, not the product. When I posted something Arteza already solved, people answered and moved on. When I posted the thing that was still broken, the same names came back a week later and remembered it. Slower than a distribution spike, and it was the only reason strangers turned up on 25 Aug.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@aadilghani @asadmalik901 We should promote problem + solution. Not the product only.
Adding a less flattering one: on a young account, threads can get auto rejected on submission even with zero links and full guideline compliance, while comments on other people's threads post fine. I had two rejected the same day, one link free in general, one with three links in self promotion, so content was not the variable. What has actually moved things since is comments, not another rewrite of the thread. So Asad's three weeks of commenting point is not just a slow warm up, for some accounts it may be the only lever that works until PH decides you have earned a thread.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@oshylabs Commenting is actually a good thing :) Some comments have bigger engagement than the post itself :)
@busmark_w_nika Good to hear. Explains why I have kept commenting even while my own threads are not landing yet. If a comment can outperform the post, the gate matters a lot less than I first thought.