Following on from the last “Inside Quotify” post about the build process, I’m now sharing how the first 30(ish) days have been since launching (well relaunching) Quotify to the open market.
Like most website and app launches, I think it’s important - if you can - to start with a soft launch.
What is a soft launch?
It’s when you go live with your product but don’t announce it publicly. Why? Because no matter how much testing you do, real users always find edge cases. A soft launch gives you time to fix bugs quietly, without the pressure of a full audience.
So that’s what I did…
The soft launch: 6 test accounts, 0 actual users
After PLENTY of internal testing, the time had come to deploy Quotify.
The process was extremely smooth thanks to Vercel’s managed hosting and the CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) integration it has with GitHub.
I soft launched with six test accounts, all internal or friends.
Zero real users.
But it wasn’t discouraging, it was expected. I was still ironing things out and no marketing had been done yet.
Once I was confident everything was stable, it was time for the big launch…
The “big launch”: Product Hunt
Quotify’s Product Hunt landing page.
I went live on Product Hunt on the 11th July.
I braced myself for a flood of users…
Which never came.
I got a few upvotes and a few comments.
But when the dust settled?
Still just six test accounts. No actual users.
Product Hunt can be a great awareness tool, but it’s not a magic growth button. Or at least not in my case.
So, what did I do?
Sharing on LinkedIn: 2 actual users
Next, I started talking about Quotify on LinkedIn. Even created Quotify’s very own LinkedIn page.
I wasn’t hard selling. Just showing behind the scenes stuff: why I built it, who it’s for, and the problems it solves.
Over the course of a week or so the actual user count jumped from 0 to 2!
Not huge numbers, but it was real validation.
Email marketing: still 2 actual users
I also started sending product updates via Mailerlite (great service btw) and built out a basic onboarding email sequence which was fun.
The list has got a whopping 22 subscribers. It could do with a few more (cough, hint, cough):
But I feel it’s nice to have this avenue to at least share the changelog articles and keep new users up to date.
Hindsight is 20:20
What I wish I did want actually start socially posting and emailing before the launch to build up a following.
Now-a-days that’s called ‘Build in public’ and I’ll know for next time!
As they say, hindsight is 20:20.
Next steps
I’m planning to share Quotify on a few more launch pads (some lesser known alternatives to Product Hunt) to increase awareness, as well as continue with the LinkedIn and email marketing.
I tried creating an account on X.com, but was severely put off by their onboarding process.
I’ll also probably look to niche down and throw some budget behind my marketing efforts. See if I can find a few quid down the back of a sofa.
It’s still early days, but the wheels are turning.