What Does it Take to Have a Million Dollar Launch?

The holy grail of internet marketing...

The "Million Dollar Launch".

What's it take to have a million dollar launch though?

I've been fascinated being behind the scenes of a number of launches now and getting to personally crunch all of the numbers.

How does it REALLY work on the front lines versus what some dude in an ad told me?

I like to calculate something called "Total Launch Conversion Rate" (TLC for short) which is a measure of how many opt ins became buyers?

Typically, I see TLC hover slightly below 1% for products above $2,000, and 4%+ on the high end.

Lots of people talk about "my webinar converted at x!", but leave out how much traffic they had in TOTAL.

TLC tells us the REAL value of our marketing campaign from end to end.

Here's a picture of the little calculator I designed and the numbers pictured are of a calculation done for a recent prospect we will call "Johann" because it's quirky and easy to remember.

(Johann's offer is converting particularly well because it coincides with a government loan opportunity.)

Johann’s launch numbers - A STELLAR 8.4% conversion.

Johann’s launch numbers - A STELLAR 8.4% conversion.

Barring all of the other things that need to be in place first (having a proven product that delivers on what it says it can)...

>>> Want help with your next launch? Click here to book a time. :-)


These are the numbers you need to know:

  • Cost per lead

  • Opt in rate (not on this sheet)

  • Total Launch Conversion Rate

  • Product price


This sheet does the rest of the work.

And I want to take a second to point something CRUCIAL out here...

See the numbers highlighted ingreen?

There will always be a point in your campaigns where thereward will outweigh the risk!

Yes, you heard that correctly.

Spending MORE MONEY IS SAFER.

Look closely...

If I spend $3,000 and my product is $500... I only need to make 6 sales to break even on my ad spend.

But so long as my conversion rate holds, my potential sales are 18... Which is a potential revenue of $6,200+.

However, if I only spent $500 on ads, it actually becomes a much more risky proposition because the potential sales are basically within a margin of error...

SO...

What's it take to have a million dollar launch?

Well with Johann's numbers...

$500,000 in would theoretically yield $1,046,391.75.

Total sales at 3,092 units.

Margin of error on sales is ~1,500 units.

Let's walk through another example with a more expensive product, but a much lower conversion rate.

Theoretical numbers for a higher priced product. Classic Keysian economics.

Theoretical numbers for a higher priced product. Classic Keysian economics.

But the truth is, you don't need to spend $500,000 on ads or even $100,000...

You just need traffic sources besides paid ads.

Selena Soo who had a million dollar launch just in February 2019 or so majorly relies on affiliate partners.

Same with James Wedmore who did a million dollar launch in July/August 2018 or so.

The best people to add to your list aren't people from paid ads.

The best people to add... Are actually those who come off of the referral of someone else. 

(Of course, that throws a slight wrench in your math with affiliate payments, but you get the idea.)

Other red herrings to consider:

  • With a launch of this scale, how much will sheer social momentum contribute to sales? Especially if you leverage a Facebook group...

  • What is the "market cap" for this niche? Sure the theory says I can have 3,000 customers... But are there actually 3,000 customers out there for this product?

  • What is the Average Order Value? What upsells do you have? What plans do you have to increase customer value AFTER the first sale?

  • Do I have advertising audiences that will scale to the outrageous number of registrants I need?

  • Do most people buy on the first launch? Or do they buy on the 2nd or 3rd time they go through the sales process?

  • Is my product one of "seasonal" buying?

  • Is my product one with a long sales cycle such as a professional education product where customers are frequently enrolled and paying for other programs while shopping for the next?



Some considerations:

  • Validate your ad audiences before launching, otherwise you can end up in a very high pressure situation where limited capital produces limited leads. Even if you have a GREAT funnel, running too few people through it makes things more risky.

  • Validate your funnel before going big. If you start doing major spending on audiences that are producing you an otherwise good result, but your webinar or backend sales process aren't converting at a reasonable rate relative to your product price, you end up in the same situation as above.



Ultra Bonus $$$$ Pro Tip:

I was on the phone with a friend recently who worked with a MAJOR influencer in the mindset space who had a $250k launch.

BUT...

My friend's sales team's job was to call the leads up and offer them another product.

$75,000 sales came from this.

And it was only possible because they collected phone numbers on the initial opt in.

So... It may cost more, but definitely start adding phone to your opt ins. Especially on webinars.




Iterate and be patient!

RUTHLESSLY follow the process.

And never give up.

>>> Want help with your next launch? Click here to book a time. :-)




Talk soon
-Matt Wright

Matt Wright