Product Hunt Launch Guide for Maximum Visibility
Are you planning to launch your SaaS product on Product Hunt?
Product Hunt is the ultimate place to launch your product for maximum visibility, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced entrepreneur.
But just launching on Product Hunt is not enough. You need to stand out and make a lasting impression.
This guide provides clear, easy-to-follow steps to ensure your product shines on Product Hunt.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- What is Product Hunt?
- Why should you launch your product on Product Hunt?
- Strategies for successful Product Hunt Launch.
Let’s get started.
Pro tip:
If you want a detailed action plan to launch on Product Hunt, check out our Product Hunt launch template.
What is Product Hunt?
Founded by Ryan Hoover in 2013, Product Hunt is a popular online community for makers, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts to discover and showcase new products.
The platform features a daily feed of new products that compete to be “Product of the day, week, or month,” users can upvote and comment on them.
Why Should You Launch Your Product on Product Hunt?
Product Hunt is free and has a large, active community of tech enthusiasts and early adopters, which is great for startups.
Here are some benefits of launching on Product Hunt:
- Increase visibility and exposure to a diverse audience.
- Feedback and validation of your product.
- Early traction for product growth.
- Community building and collaborations.
- Increase website traffic.
- Get a Do-following backlink from a domain with 91 DR
September 2024 update:
Since January 2024 Product Hunt has featured only a few products on its home page. In September 2024 only 10% of submitted products are being featured. That can considerably lower the exposure of your launch.
As a result, we recommend planning no-frill Product Hunt launch.
Product Hunt Launch: Checklist You Should Follow
You need active engagement and upvotes to launch your product successfully on Product Hunt.
Follow these strategies for a successful launch:
Grow your Audience
For a successful launch, you need to know a lot of people. You can do this by actively using Product Hunt to gain followers.
Interact with posts to connect with your industry’s potential supporters, influencers, and early adopters.
We also recommend reaching out to product hunt users before your launch. Check out our detailed article about how to build a LinkedIn audience with Phantombuster for your Product Hunt launch
It is one of the top 3 growth hacks to boost your product hunt launch:
- You can use PHlead to get a list of people active on the product hunt. Alternatively, we can build a database for you.
- Use Phantombuster to connect with those people on LinkedIn and Twitter before your launch.
You can also engage with your community through social media, forums, and online groups to build anticipation for your launch.
Find a Hunter for your Product
You can post your product yourself or get a hunter to post your product on Product Hunt and use their influence and expertise to get your product more attention.
These hunters are active and influential members of the Product Hunt community and have a track record of promoting interesting products. They also typically have a big follower base on Linkedin and Twitter to amplify your launch.
Look for hunters with a strong following and a history of posting successful products. This way, your product can gain credibility, making you more likely to get comments and upvotes.
UpvoteBell, is a great tool to find hunt for your product. You can check the leaderboard for relevant topics.
Pro tip:
If you decide to launch on Product Hunt with Tetriz, we will provide a hunter to increase your chances of finishing in the top 5.
Create a Compelling Product Post
You can start by creating clear, concise, engaging content for your product post.
Craft a captivating product description, high-quality images, screenshots, and videos that effectively showcase your product’s features and benefits.
Before submitting your product, make sure your post has the following:
- Working URL - a direct link to your landing page.
- A title (product name).
- Catchy Thumbnail.
- Tagline, which is a 60-character short description.
- Description of the product: up to 260 characters.
- Topics - choose three that best relate to your product.
- Gallery images - 2 required.
- Videos- YouTube links with full URL only.
You can look into Product Hunt requirements for a complete list.
Pro Tip:
You can use our free Product Hunt launch generator to generate descriptions and taglines quickly based on your website content.
Optimize Your Landing Page
Consider creating a landing page on your website for your product.
It should include key values your product provides with a single CTA encouraging people to use it.
It’s best to do this one month in advance to grow your audience and gather their emails.
You can use the landing page to offer special discounts, vouchers, or promo codes for those who give you feedback.
These special launch day offers are a good way to capture people’s attention and encourage them to try your product (e.g., 20% discount for three months or use promo code to get 30% discount).
Make sure you have proper analytics setup on your website before the launch. Heatmap tools like Smartlook and Clarity can provide valuable qualitative data to analyze the result of your launch.
Pro Tip: Add Microsoft Clarity and LinkedIn insight pixel to your website. This will provide you with valuable data to analyze after your launch.
Choose the Best Day to Launch Your Product
You should schedule your post to preview and polish it before going live.
Take advantage of Product Hunt’s coming soon feed to tease your launch up to 30 days in advance.
Ideally, you should target a weekday, such as Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, as these are the most competitive days and may result in higher traffic and engagement.
If your product is in the early stage, consider launching on a Friday for low competition.
Weekends have even less competition, but it is hard to gather support if your target is B2B.
Last but not least, avoid launching on the first week of the month if you don’t have at least 1k users to support you.
The first week of the month is more competitive as it is the best launch week if you target to be the product of the month.
Pro tip:
- Launch on a Friday and aim for the top 10, as there is low competition.
- This way, you can feature in Product Hunt’s newsletter, where more than half a million users learn about new products.
Develop a Successful Launch Day Strategy
A successful Product Hunt launch requires going all out on launch day, as you can only launch the product once.
After launching, you can update your product and relaunch after six months.
Follow these tips to Boost your Product Hunt Launch to succeed on the launch day and get your product the traction it deserves:
- Time your launch in the morning (12:01 am - 12:10 am PST) to get global exposure.
- Message your email list subscribers about the launch and ask for their support and feedback.
- Refrain from spamming for upvotes, as it leaves a bad impression.
- First, comment about your product and include key features, pricing, or special offers.
- Respond to comments and answer questions.
- Promote your launch across social media, email newsletters, and Slack channels.
After launching the product, request access to your Product Hub page.
This page contains important information such as contacts, links, launch history, and a summary of your product.
You can claim your Product Hub page and turn your upvoters into followers.
Show your Product Hunt Badge
Product Hunt offers badges after a product is launched.
Find your badge by clicking on the embed link at the top right of your dashboard and add it somewhere on your website.
By adding a badge, you can drive more traffic to your Launch page and show off the success of your launch.
Update your Followers
Continue to engage with the Product Hunt community in the days following your launch.
- Respond to feedback
- Address any questions or concerns.
- Provide updates on your product’s progress.
- Express gratitude to your supporters.
Create a Blog Post
Write a blog post or article about your product and share your experience with your readers.
Explain how you launched and how your product performs with insights on what to do and avoid.
Final Words
Keep going even if you fail to feature as the #1 Product of the Day.
There are 365 days in a year. You will get more chances to reach your audience.
Keep the momentum going after your Product Hunt launch. Promote your product across various channels and seek growth opportunities.
Tip: Further, you can read our essential SaaS Launch Checklist.
FAQs
How do you plan a Product Hunt launch?
Prepare compelling content, build suspense through teasers, engage with potential supporters, time your launch strategically, and follow up actively post-launch to plan a successful launch.
How to do a successful Product Hunt launch?
To prepare for a successful launch, familiarize yourself with the platform, engage with the community, and understand the best practices for launching products on Product Hunt. Build an audience before the launch.
When should you launch on Product Hunt?
Launch on Product Hunt on a weekday, preferably Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, at 12:01 am - 12:10 am PST for maximum visibility. If you are early stage, consider launching on a day with lower competition.
How much does it cost to launch on Product Hunt?
It doesn’t cost anything to launch on Product Hunt. Submitting your product and participating in the platform’s community is free.
Should I launch on product hunt?
It is free and you will get some exposure and a do-follow high-quality backlink. So definitely go for it.
Can I relaunch on Product Hunt?
Product Hunt allows you to relaunch every 6 months if you have major product updates to share.
What are the best alternatives to Product Hunt?
We wrote a detailed article about the top 4 alternatives to Product Hunt. Unfortunately at the moment most of Product Hunt alternatives have quite small audiences.