Launch Checklist
The below checklist has been used by 100+ startups to rank in the top spots on Product Hunt
Follow our step by step checklist to drive 1000s of user signups, get more brand awareness, and get in front of new investors.
Getting Started:
Get you (and your team) to set up one personal Product Hunt account each
Only personal accounts can be used for your launch, no company handles and the earlier you set up your account, the better.
Familiarize yourself with Product Hunt
See how others display their product, the gallery images, videos etc. Feel free to also engage, provide feedback or support other makers on the platform by checking out their products.
Seeing other products on the platform can provide ideas and inspiration as to how you would like to present yours and you can also see what kind of questions are being asked by the community.
Select which day of the week you will launch
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically the busiest days on Product Hunt and therefore also have the fiercest competition making it harder to get into the top spots.
Monday and Fridays still have great engagement metrics while having less competition.
It is also best to avoid US holidays (if US-based, but this can also apply internationally as most users are from the US.)
You can use this nifty feature to see what products have launched on the Product Hunt platform and how they performed. This can give you insights into the competition on certain days
Select which day of the week you will launch
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically the busiest days on Product Hunt and therefore also have the fiercest competition making it harder to get into the top spots.
Monday and Fridays still have great engagement metrics while having less competition.
It is also best to avoid US holidays (if US-based, but this can also apply internationally as most users are from the US.)
Select a specific deadline so you can hold yourself accountable and avoid pushing your launch date. Ideally, you will have a self-serve onboarding flow by the time you launch.
Add analytics to your website
We recommend Google Analytics, Splitbee, Mixpanel, Product Wars and Hotjar to track visitor behaviour and to identify drop off points.
Add relevant contact details and content to your Social Media platforms
You can link these channels to your page:
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Github, AngelList, Medium
Build in public
This may be one of the most time consuming yet rewarding things you can do.
Sharing your roadmap, tasks, small wins, failures, thoughts and general growth on a daily/weekly basis will help your audience feel like they know you and your brand. You want to try and provide value and enable your audience and potential users to ‘grow’ with you, generate excitement and to be able to leverage your knowledge as well.
This will produce a loyal and engaged following.
Twitter is a great place to get started and probably the most recommended, but this can
also occur on other mediums such as LinkedIn, GitHub and Facebook
Build an audience
Share your intentions to launch on social media
If you have settled on leveraging on one platform to build in public, then make sure to use others to still talk about your intentions to launch, such as email blasts or LinkedIn.
It is also wise to get users who are new to Product Hunt to sign up as soon as possible. Ideally, they will be interested in the tech space and curious to see what other products are launching before you go live and may even find some other tools that can be useful for them.
Then when you do launch, they will have a warmed up account to support you on your launch day. As you start building in public, you will naturally find which platform works best for your product.
If using Twitter, a good tip is to create a Twitter thread about your Product Hunt launch and pin it to your profile and make sure to post regularly.
You can share your product in online communities like Reddit, Facebook/LinkedIngroups, IndieHackers, Slack channels, HackerNews etc.
Provide a short description of your product but try to demonstrate the value of what you are offering.
Pain points are always a good way of catching people’s attention.
You want to make sure to ask for feedback on your product and those that are interested will stick around to follow your journey.
Make sure to capture emails throughout thisprocess. Click here for an overview of groups and communities where you can share details on your product and launch.
Be active on Product Hunt
You can also create a post/discussion on Product Hunt itself and ask other makers for tips and tricks in your specific category.
https://www.producthunt.com/discussions
The more you engage with the PH community, the higher your chances are of garnering more momentum and support on your launch day amongst more senior users.
As you get closer to your launch date and once you have an audience, divide them into time zones and make sure you engage them throughout the day
A launch on Product Hunt is usually a 24-hour cycle endeavour (starts at 12:01 amPacific Time) and the first few hours are critical towards catapulting you towards the featured section on Product Hunt.
Some may even say the first 20-30 minutes are the most important so you want to tryand get a good amount of support during this time, but also make sure your support will last throughout the day
Preparing and/or refining Asset
LESS THAN 1 MONTH
Product Name (40 characters)
Tagline (60 characters)
Product description (260 characters)
Thumbnail (240x240px). Can also be a gif
Gallery Images, at least 3. (1270x760px)
If available, a video explaining how your product works
Youtube links are accepted here and shouldn’t be longer than 3 minutes.
You don’t need to have a flashy video, a product walk through often works very well and can come across as more relatable and personal.
Maker comment
You can follow this structure:
1. Introduce yourself
2. Outline your past pain points that inspired you to create this solution
3. Outline how the product works
4. Outline a special offer for PH users (if you have one – this step is not mandatory)
5. End with a CTA and let people know exactly how they can get started
6.Invite people to share their feedback, thoughts and any questions they have
Pick 3 topics (the more relevant the better)
Collect testimonials if you can
Make sure your site works well and that you won’t be facing onboarding, payment, or similar issues
Ensure you have the right analytics set up and that they work to track incoming traffic from the launch
Analytics platforms: Google Analytics, Splitbee, Mixpanel, Product Wars, Hotjar
Keep track of your KPIs
Warm up your current users
Explain what Product Hunt is and let them know when you will be launching. Make sure to provide value and if you are offering a discount or promo on your launch day, this could also be a good time to inform them.
Sequences also work well as these keep them engaged more frequently up until your
launch.
Remember to never ask for upvotes directly, but for feedback instead.
Schedule your social media posts and announcements
You can also inform this audience about what Product Hunt is and what and when you will be launching. Most likely you will already have gained quite an audience by building in public.
What you definitely want to avoid is having people sign up on the day of your launch and vote/support your product only. Rumour has it that this kind of support can actually be penalized by Product Hunt, discounting that vote.
Add social share buttons and make it easy for your fan base to help spread the word
Schedule your launch page
You can schedule your page 6 days prior to your launch date unless you are using the
Ship feature, then you can schedule earlier.
Make sure you schedule your launch page for 12:01am Pacific Time to make use of the full 24 hours. Remember, the first minutes and hours are the most important.
Double check your launch page looks good and has all the correct and up-to-date assets and is scheduled for the right date and time
Make sure you have a list of close friends, supporters who can help you out during the first few hours of your launch who already have an account set up
Upvotes, comments and reviews can be very helpful at the start of your launch
Make sure all your links and your linked social media buttons are working if you added them
Prepare a Thank you list
You will likely be typing that a lot, so a variation can be helpful such as:
“Thank you for your support”
Thanks! Let me know what your thought are!
Thank you. What feature do you like best?
Etc.
Make sure your scheduled announcements, email blasts etc. are set for the right times, right time zones and that you have enough to last throughout the day
Avoid meetings/calls on your launch day / Clear up your day
You’ll want to make sure you can engage with the community as questions and comments are coming in. Showing engagement and responding can help boost your ranking.
Sleep well before your launch day and make sure you have all you’ll need for the next day.
Launch Day
Make sure you have gone live at 12:01am PT
If you are not on the featured page an hour into the launch and already have decent engagement, reach out to the Product Hunt team and ask them why. They should be able to reply daily quickly with a reason or they will help you get featured.
Embed the Product Hunt badge on your website
Engage with comments as soon as you can
This kind of engagement is rewarded, predominantly when those who comment are
more seasoned Product Hunt users with higher points
If you receive any negative feedback, take it as constructive criticism. These kinds of
comments can help you see what might be broken, or provide new insights into what can
be changed. Thank them all the same for their insights and comments.
Share that you have gone live with your users and audience
You can share the link to your page directly
Post in Slack, Facebook, Reddit etc. channels particularly in those where you have beenactive in the lead-up to your launch
Share your progress on social media and email throughout the day
If you notice retweets or shares, make sure to engage with them.
All of this serves as additional exposure for your launch
Space out your updates and announcements so that it doesn’t come across as spammy
Most importantly, enjoy, breathe, laugh and eat well
Once your launch day is over, best practices are to thank your supporters via email and on your socials. You can also shout out your competitors on that day.
Product Hunt is also a great place to relaunch when you have new features or significant updates so make sure you remain active on Product Hunt and support others as well.
Make sure to make use of any valuable comments and insight you gained from your launch.