What makes you click into a Product Hunt launch?
There are so many launches on Product Hunt every day. How do you decide which ones are worth clicking into?
What’s your #1 filter or shortcut?
Is it:
• the name or tagline
• the thumbnail
• whether it’s relevant to your work
• or just whether it feels instantly clear?
ps1: Not sure? Open this week’s PH leaderboard and see which launch makes you stop and click first, and why
ps2: This thread just got featured in today’s Product Hunt newsletter under "Click logic, revealed."!! 👀
ps3: Update as of Mar 15 (thanks for the 121 upvotes and 73 replies!)
A quick summary of the click logic shared in the thread:
Instant clarity (name + tagline) — 52%
Recognizable / relevant problem — 26%
Visual hook (thumbnail / screenshot) — 13%
Social proof (upvotes / engagement) — 9%
Interesting twist:
Several people said they actually skip launches starting with “AI…” unless the use case is extremely clear.Takeaway:
Most clicks happen in 2 sec when the product is instantly clear and obviously relevant.
Replies
The thumbnail is a big factor for me. If the tagline gets me interested, the thumbnail decides if I click. I've skipped products with great taglines because the preview image looked like a generic dashboard or stock mockup. And I've clicked into products with mid taglines because the screenshot showed something I could immediately picture myself using, or made me laugh if I'm being honest.
The other thing is the maker's first comment. If it reads like marketing copy, I bounce. If it sounds like a person
explaining why they built this, I'll read the whole page.
if something has "ai" in name, my caveman brain says it is low quality. and most of the time it is true
I’ve noticed I click when the page promises a specific before-and-after, not just a category label. ‘AI for X’ is rarely enough anymore.
The launches that pull me in usually make the user problem feel concrete right away.
To me, it is only when it is relevant to my work - which is marketing. So a combination of relevancy, yes the thumbnail plays a big rol as it attracts the eye instantly, and of course, the name+ tagline (so relevancy).
Interesting statistics - this just proves that the general copywriting rules work everywhere :-)