Project Comet, a tool that bills itself and looks like the all-in-one solution that UX practitioner has been clamoring about, was announced at this year Adobe Max. For UX practitioners, the potential of the tool is exciting. It’s given us hope that the days of chasing the latest experience design tool is coming to an end.
However as hopeful as we’ve been, it’s clear that the there have been some early and clear mistakes in how the Comet team is handling the pre-release. Rather than just complain, here are 3 principles I’ve learn startups should follow when communicating about an upcoming service or product.
Upon arrival, I explored the contents and loved the promise. With that task accomplished i quickly looked for a beta tester link, or button or hamburger menu. But nothing. Out of despair i signed up to stay informed. I even when back to the original Twitter thread to get clarification.
After all of that, I never received a newsletter confirmation or a welcome to the community. Almost a month later there has been dead silence.
But with the idea of helping craft a solution to this communication issue, here are some principles I’ve found useful when designing a launch campaign.
DO #1 : THE DUH PRINCIPLE
While it’s great to get team-members Tweeting, Instagraming and Facebooking about the new product and service, it should be clearly communicated to them what they can offer up. ie we’re just in the lets record interested parties to we’re recruiting beta testers. The landing page or pages should reflect which pre-launch phase the program is in.
DO #2 : THE YES WE CAN HEAR YOU NOW PRINCIPLE
Opting in to an as-of-yet unreleased service or product is a big deal. You have a fan and potential evangelist often with little marketing dollars having been needed to “acquire” them. They are worth their weight in Gold. So welcome them, let them know they are special. At the very least let them know you got their email.
DO #3 : THE WHAZUP PRINCIPLE
Affirm, affirm, affirm. If a user has opted in early on to receiving news about the new service or product, keep them interested by providing updates or new sneak peaks. Don’t let them wonder. While exciting there could be tons of other products/events competing for their attention. PUSH information to them.
THE TAKEAWAY:
With all that is entailed in launching a product it's easy to lose sight of the importance of communication especially at the pre-launch phase. But with some early planning and continued coordination, these mistakes can be avoided. It’s not too late for the Comet team to correct these issues and mistakes. If they do, they will be able to leverage the hope of many UX practitioners / designers alike early on and build them into an army of evangelist. At the very least into an army of beta testers.
Reprinted from https://medium.com/@kalisurfer/project-comet-or-how-not-to-launch-a-product-5bf7264cfbbd