How We Made $1.4M With a New Client’s First Launch

How We Made $1.4M With a New Client’s First Launch

by | May 24, 2023 | Case Studies, How To, Launching

We’re big proponents of FB ads over here. (Duh.)

But here’s why: because they WORK. They really, really work. And today we’re diving into a new case study with one of our clients to show you a super successful launch that’s basically, well, a MIRROR into what can happen with a killer ad strategy.

You ready? Let’s go!

Who: System Envy client who has a successful personal brand and was prepping for a new course launch (at a $997 value). This new client had onboarded riiiight before their launch, so we didn’t have a ton of time to build audiences and lists — and the course was brand new, too.

How: We immediately launched engagement videos right away to start building awareness and engagement audience via ads — and then we had to move quickly to complete the ads onboarding for iOS, to get her domains verified, to install her pixel, and to prioritize events. Once it was time for launch, we followed this strategy:

  • Free training invite ads
  • Free training reminder ads
  • Cart open ads
  • Cart close ads
  • Final day/urgency ads

The numbers:

  • Estimated return on ad spend: between 725% and 825% (a whopping $1.4M)
  • Purchases attributed to ads: 1,200+
  • Cost per lead: 137K+ leads for $0.81/lead — an insanely good CPL
    • Note: typical launches are around $4-8 CPL
  • Cart close ad tripled cart open in purchases

The takeaways:

To say that this ad campaign was successful is an understatement — it was a big goal crusher for our client, and here are a few things we’ve been able to take away from that:

  • Engagement ads WORK — and they work well. In this launch, warm and lookalike audiences performed best.
  • Pushing urgency can be a huge winner when it’s done right
  • — and for us, this showed up big-time in the cart close phase (which tripled the sales of cart open).
  • Boosted posts are fun to play with! In this campaign, we utilized Instagram and Facebook lives of the client inviting people to her free training and to take part in her course.
  • The backend setup matters, and it matters big time. Taking the time to get this client onboarded quickly and efficiently — yet successfully — was a big win for us all.
  • A killer launch makes for a yearly repeat — and our client is now making this course a yearly drop!

So, there you have it — proof that an engaged, warm audience can make ALL of the difference (and then some!) with a launch. This launch showed that being intentional about warm audiences — regardless of how long you’ve been launching — is a big marker for success.

Also, 725-825% return on ad spend?! Yes, please! 

We can’t wait to see you scoop these strategies for your next launch.

Stay tuned — we’ll be back with a new case study so soon!

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How We Made 1,741% ROAS Launching a New Product

How We Made 1,741% ROAS Launching a New Product

by | May 17, 2023 | Case Studies, How To, Launching

Did somebody say CASE STUDY?!

Yes. We did. 🙂 We’re back for another installment of our new case study series, and today we’re putting the spotlight on another one of our clients: a photographer client who runs courses, has a monthly membership, and also creates tons of other content. I thought this would be a fun study to highlight as the budget for this launch was tiny but the return was huge. I think a lot of times people hear launch and they think it has to be 10’s of thousands of dollars. It doesn’t! Especially if you’ve been consistently and strategically building your audience and engagement as part of your overall marketing strategy. 

 

Let’s dive in!

 

Who: System Envy client who’s a photographer with courses, a new guide for photographers ($297 value — but on sale for $147 for this launch), a membership, and photography resources, plus has an established warm audience.

 

What: This client has a lot of offers, and we’ve run ads for a lot of those offers — particularly, though, we’ve spent a lot of time running engagement campaigns and launches for her photographer courses. This launch was specifically for a sale inside of her shop and to launch a guide for photographers. 

 

How: We approached this ad campaign with a huge focus on engagement and connection, especially: 

  • Repurposed video content from her YouTube channel for engagement ads
  • Evergreen engagement ads
  • New videos, launched weekly
  • Carousel testimonials 

 

The numbers: 

  • The launch revenue from our ad strategy was +$34,000
  • Return on ad spend: over 1,741%
  • Around $5/purchase return (on a $297 offer)
  • 33% of sales came from testimonial ads (they were queen!)
    • Note: these are wonderful to be used as a selling point — they’re so powerful!
  • The “last day!” ad we ran was responsible for almost 50% of sales

 

The takeaways:

This ad campaign taught us a lot, but also really cemented some strategies we focus on big-time over here:

  • Last-day ads are always worth a try (and they were a huge win in this case and in most cases)
  • Testing creative is super effective — by testing carousels, longer-form videos, *and* our regular, static image ads, we had a great opportunity to both educate the audience and gather sales (and data!) from all types of creative and content
  • You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel! We repurposed an older YouTube video for this campaign and it went insanely well
  • Testimonial ads are very often the best way to launch products like this — people want to hear from other people!

 

My friends, there you go — a new case study for ya! This one is really such proof that engagement and social proof matter massively and you don’t have to run a huge budget to see big wins! Put these strategies to the test for your next launch!

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How Our Pre-Launch Strategy Supported A +$560K Launch

How Our Pre-Launch Strategy Supported A +$560K Launch

by | May 11, 2023 | Case Studies, Launching, Strategy

As you know, launches are the name of the game over here — and helping EVERY single client we have, every single blog reader we have, and every single email list subscriber we know is paramount to what we do.

 

No gatekeeping over here. Ever. 😉 So to make sure you always know how to rock your next launch with Facebook ads, we’re kicking off a new case study series where we share a success story from one our six-and seven-figure entrepreneur clients over here at System Envy.

 

Introducing… How our pre-launch strategy supported a $560K launch!

 

Who: System Envy client with a course (at a $297 value), an established warm audience, and a long break from live launching — she hadn’t run this course live in 2 years (!)

 

What: Though we’d been running evergreen course content for years, this particular launch was a live webinar-style launch. In the months leading up to the launch, we focused on engagement and on long-term planning. We strategically ran freebie ads and relevant engagement ads — so her audience was warm and ready to go.

 

How: We approached this live webinar-style launch with the following ads in strategy:

  • live webinar
  • webinar reminder
  • webinar replay
  • cart open
  • cart close 
  • last-day ads

 

The numbers: 

  • The estimated launch revenue from our ad strategy was +$560,000 (which was more than 50% of the total revenue generated)
    • Note: this is just what we could track inside Ads Manager. The overall launch actually resulted in around $1M of revenue
  • Estimated return on ad spend: over 300%
  • Around $5/purchase return (on a $297 offer)
  • Doubled the number of purchases since the last launch, even with a 33% increase in the price of the course

 

The takeaways:

This was a hugely successful launch, and — as all launches do — it taught us a lot! Here are our two biggest takeaways from this launch. These are what we felt moved the needle by and large:

  • Warm audiences are SO, so important (they are almost always our top performer by far). How do we get massive pools of warm audiences? People tend to think of ads only for launches but the truth is, pre-launch is just as important for launch strategy as the actual launch. Don’t skip it. Run engagement ads, boost your pre-launch reels (be strategic, don’t boost your cat…boost the reels with content that is aligned with your live launch subject), host a live on Facebook or Instagram, ask questions in your posts and ads. These are great ways to build large, warm audiences quickly ahead of a live launch. 
  • Video content was a huge hit! We really focused on ads talking to the camera, specifically with our client holding the phone in front of themselves and speaking directly to their audience! This is usually a huge hit during the launch, and we saw that confirmed during this one
    • Fun fact: We provide ‘video wishlists’ to clients and these types of videos are always on there for a launch. We’ve shared that list on the blog!
    • Pro tip: Utilize live launches as a way to regularly freshen up your evergreen campaigns for your course. When you’re filming your live launch ads, film an extra version or 3 taking care to not speak dates or words to identify it as a live launch. Then, once your live launch is over, you already have video ads ready for your evergreen campaigns. 

 

And, there you have it — a dive into one of our client launches. While you obviously want to be highly strategic, there’s a LOT to be said for a warm audience and engaging content. 

Stay tuned — we love to share client success stories!

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My Top 8 Tips as an Agency Owner: Launch Edition

My Top 8 Tips as an Agency Owner: Launch Edition

by | Apr 12, 2023 | Launching, Strategy

Over here, launches are the name of the game. From memberships to courses to digital products, our clients are always launching the latest and greatest to their audiences — and there’s nothing we love more than to see it (and to support them through it, too).

And, over a long period of time doing this kind of work, our team has compiled a ton of best practices, tips, and tricks for helping our clients and our audience have kick-butt-level launches every single time.

As a thank you to you for being here and showing up with me, I wanted to share my top 8 tips as an agency owner: course launch edition!

 

1. Set goals based on real data.

Course launches involve real numbers — and running ads costs real money, so why not set goals based on real data? Dive deep into your audience, set measurable goals, and make sure that you’re considering data from past launches, past offerings, and past goings-on in your business so that you’re able to help those goals come true.

And, at the same time, make sure that any goals you have — whether they’re for your own launch or that of your client — are realistic, too. While dreaming big is always, always recommended (duh!), you want to make sure that you don’t end up disappointed because you didn’t create the right goals. Data plays into this!

 

2. Plan FARRRR in advance.

Building an effective course strategy takes time, and sometimes it takes quite a lot of it. Make sure you give yourself a runway (we typically recommend up to 6 weeks), and utilize tools like Asana to build out a timeline that makes sense for your launch.

When planning, remember the different stages of a launch — from warming up the audience allllll the way to cart close — and take the time to intentionally plan out the copy, creative, and strategy for each of these steps. It truly makes all the difference.

 

3. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose.

You do not have to reinvent the wheel every time you launch a course or an ads strategy — and, in fact, you shouldn’t. Work to always repurpose templates and resources you’ve built in the past (we consistently reuse launch trackers, budget layouts, ad grids, URL worksheets, and more), and remember to repurpose content, too.

You can usually create killer copy from an existing sales page, you can utilize existing brand imagery for ad creative, and you can take everything from Story posts to Reels for engagement content. Make it easier on yourself, friend!

 

4. Communication is key.

When you’re bringing a launch to life, there’s almost nothing more important than communicating often, early, and well. Get ahead of any questions in advance by planning and organizing well, and then continually have conversations to get up to date on details, approvals, and everything in between.

 

5. Triple-check (and set up in advance).

Running effective ad campaigns usually means that you’re dealing with a lot of moving parts, so focus heavily on quality assurance. Over at System Envy, we’re big on checklists to QA every ad that’s prepping to launch — and we also, yet again, give ourselves a big runway to try and manage kinks in advance.

 

6. Wait for the learning period.

When you push ads live, it’s super important to resist making any edits unless there’s something majorly business-critical that needs to be changed. When you do this, you risk resetting the learning phase of the ad, which can seriously impact the performance — and it’s hard to tell what’s working, what’s not, and why.

 

7. Test during the pre-launch period for the best results.

While testing can be done during a launch (with limitations), focus more on doing so before, during the pre-launch period. By testing graphics, copy, creative, strategy, targeting, and more, you can start to know what phrases, lingo, headlines, and graphics spark action in your prospects.

 

8: Deep dive.

After your launch has concluded, deep dive into your data (it pays off)! Compare your current launch performance with past launches and the current ad landscape, and then compile all of your learnings (from audience to engagement to the creative that worked the best), and track it for next time. By doing this deep dive, you can make your next course launch run even better — and, ideally, you can save yourself some time.
(Psst… if you’re running launches for your clients, make sure you communicate results and communicate your deep dive. We usually use a post-launch report for this, and also love using Looms to make it even easier.)
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While these 8 tips certainly don’t encompass every single learning we have, I can promise you that these tips are a LOT of it — and if you can implement these steps into your next launch, you’re in a great spot. I’m so proud of you already!

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Why Mid-Cart Bonuses Can Help Boost Sales

Why Mid-Cart Bonuses Can Help Boost Sales

by | Mar 30, 2022 | Launching

When it comes to an ad strategy during the sales portion of a launch, there’s usually two sections that people really, really focus on: cart open and cart close.

But, what if I told you that you’re missing out on a huuuuuuge opportunity if you don’t also focus on mid-cart?!

Because you are. 🙂

See, cart open and close are super important. Obviously. But, at the same time, what you do during that mid-cart phase arguably matters just as much (if not more). It’s why I liiiiiiive for a good mid-cart bonus during a launch.

Let’s chat.

Why is mid-cart so important?

When mapping out a launch, it really looks like this: there’s a ton of excitement (and sales!) at cart open (people are usually riding the momentum of a webinar or challenge), then there’s a lull in sales, and then the momentum increases again right before the cart close.

And, I’d bet you know exactly where that lull is taking place, huh? The mid-cart.

When you can optimize that mid-cart phase with tons of value (and bonuses!), you can boost the heck out of your sales. In fact, we’ve seen an increase as big as 30% in sales during the 48-hour mid-cart bonus period. (!!!)

That’s a big boost, huh?! 

Now, you’re probably thinking “why on earth haven’t I been paying attention to that mid-cart period?!” but, as always, I’ve got you.

Enter: my fave tool, AKA mid-cart bonuses

We recommend mid-cart bonuses to all of our clients, especially to anyone with a longer cart open period. See, when you can add a lil’ bonus round situation to your mid-cart period, you’ll encourage those people who, A) were going to wait until the last minute, or B) were going to forget, to go ahead and lock in their purchase.

And that’s the best thing you can ask for, huh?!

There are tons of mid-cart bonuses you can implement into your launch, but here are some of the ones we’ve seen be super, super successful:

  • Checklists: People LOVE a good checklist, ok?! Like, really love a good checklist.
  • Video trainings or exclusive podcast episodes: Giving people a chance to digest new content or info via a video or podcast can be a really good way to encourage a purchase.
  • Extra course material: If you’re launching a course, it’s neeeeever a bad idea to offer additional material for your early purchasers.
  • Live components via calls or strategy sessions: If you’re launching a high-ticket program or course, tacking on an add’l call or strategy sesh can be a humongous value add.
  • An additional course you offer (a la buy one, get one).

Now, those aren’t your only bonus options, either! With a mid-cart you can really implement anything (even a flash sale discount), and you can keep it as limited-time as you’d like.

Just don’t forget about that mid-cart piece, k?!

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We’re obviously #obsessed (and then some) with helping our clients rock their launches over here at System Envy. If you’re a 7 or 8-figure creative entrepreneur looking to rock your next launch, let’s chat.

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