Part of me has been dreading sending you this email.
​(so why are you doing it then Patrice?)​
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​Because this is the email I wish I saw more from people who launch digital products & programs.
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This is Part 1.​
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When I said I’d give you a peek under my hood that means showing you actual figures and numbers. And I’m a touch “nervous about it.”
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Why?
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For starters, THIS launch was NOT my most successful one.
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It’s much easier to send a “this is my most successful launch email and let me show you how” than it is to offer up this intel.
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But I believe the lessons are in the mess.
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And what would I be if I couldn’t send this email when I talk so much about the importance of showing up as REAL.
As human.
To not be ashamed.
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​So here we go.​
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This was a brand new product for me.
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Meaning, I was creating a brand new class and introducing a framework that I always used but never “named” and I was going to launch my first “DIY Storytelling bundle course”.
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​We were aiming for AT least $50,000 in revenue.
We made $33,994.​
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And for those of you who are new to my world here, I HAVE had “really successful” $100,000 launches (one as recent as November) in the past so this is not my first launch rodeo.
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But a constant lesson in humility is the life of putting yourself out there and launching products that have your actual blood, sweat and tears.
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You won’t always “hit it.”
Different situations require different considerations.
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Also for added content, 2024 is the FIRST year I am not focusing on my video client production services which was the cornerstone of my revenue in NYC for the past 6 years.
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So this year I have to make up a lot of “new revenue”.
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Enter my era of experimentation and figuring out my method and business plan in this saturated online world.
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Buckle up!
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​1. Wait, you launched something? HUH?​
Yes. Last month I promoted a Personal Brand Storytelling workshop for $47.
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Do you remember? NO? It’s OK I will not hold it against you.
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Here’s a snippet from the sales page:

The $47 class was two-fold.
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I hoped to drive as many people as possible to this class because this was going to be my “launch event” to then introduce the attendees to my BIGGER product, which was going to be a storytelling DIY class in the $500 range.
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It was a natural flow from what I would be teaching in this class.
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​This was exciting to me because:
​*I am trying to move away from always live launching so I was introducing a “DIY” product which I have never really focused my attention towards and would be turning this entire flow into an automated funnel.
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(I LOVE live launching because I’m an insane Gemini who lives for the adrenaline rush… BUT it’s exhausting and it’s not good for cash flow as you have MASSIVE cash spikes and then crickets if you don’t have other product offerings and now that I DO NOT have a safety net of video client services humming in the background I need to create a robust online product suite.)​
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*The DIY storytelling class I was going to offer in that $500 range was from a highly successful one-off workshop I ran live early last year so I KNEW it had product-market fit and I planned on giving it an AI update and a bit of a facelift.
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*The price ranges of $47 and even $500 is something I don’t normally offer. I was excited to reach people who might be wanting to work with me but not able to afford my higher touch services.
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***Initially I was going to offer a much less robust version of the $47 class as a FREE Masterclass but my team convinced me to NOT go that route and charge the $47.
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​WHY?
​I overdeliver always. (take me to therapy STAT but now’s not the time to dissect my neurosis)
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​And I swear I’m not trying to be that annoying “tell me about a weakness” and I say “I’m just SO hard working” person…BUT really my team was telling me I should NOT run this as a FREE class because:
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​A) I have a hard time setting boundaries on myself so I would be doing a LOT of work for this class and if it’s free, you tend to attract people who just want FREE stuff.
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Not necessarily people who are ready to invest $ into their business or purchase from you and assuming I did get NEW people who didn’t know me that well coming to this FREE event, $500 is still a price point that is not “knee jerk”.
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​Buyer psychology shows that even if someone has to pay you a SMALL amount, it conditions them to “pay you for services”.
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​B) Since this is the first year I am walking away from a SOLID 6 figures plus of video client services that basically ran itself in the background, cash flow is a real thing and my team felt that as long as I would be doing all of this work for a class, I should charge SOMETHING for confidence momentum. (cost of living in Lisbon is SO Much cheaper than NYC so my earnings go MUCH further here.)
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​C) I do not have a large list. (during this launch my list was just shy of 1400 emails & I get that this is relative)
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So these FREE classes CAN work great for conversions if you have a TON of people coming or you buy ads (which I don’t.)
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But it’s a bit of a crap shoot and even ads don’t guarantee you’re pulling in your most ideal customer.
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​TIP ALERT:
​Oh and one more thing, always know that anytime someone says they have a “FREE class” it’s because they are using that to sell you something. (that’s not a bad thing BUT…….)
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Some are better at delivering an ACTUAL value class before they sell you something but others suck.
And you end up going to a “Free class” of one long sales pitch.
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I didn’t want that energy for this so I set a nominal price and figured I’d take a hit in LESS people coming but a more engaged and “likely to buy” audience.
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​GOAL for the $47 workshop:
​100 attendees
​Actual numbers:
​120
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​Total revenue from workshop:
​$6,163 (we had a checkout “bump” where a lot of people bought a $27 lifetime recording access which is why the figure is this amount)
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***screenshots are of Day 1 and Day 2
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Total amount of emails sent in a pre-launch and sales strategy for this class:
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22 emails were sent for this workshop that was run on 2 days (live)
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Some of these were “resends” with a different subject line and almost half were nurture and “pre-launch” emails so no direct selling.
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The 16 you see below were the emails where the workshop was available for purchase.

INSIGHTS TO KNOW​
This is the first time I ever launched a product where I sent a survey AHEAD of making the product and literally asked you all what you needed. (HIGHLY recommend this move)
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​I wrote the entire sales page using all of the data I received from your survey results and using my AI process (more on that below and the sales page had high conversion rates as well)

The results were incredibly insightful and formed the basis of my ENTIRE marketing and messaging campaign.
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And my messaging WORKED for this product.
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I created my own audience AI chart (I teach you how to do this in my Ignite your Narrative with AI class BTW) and had this chart open daily as I would pulse check my own messaging in my emails and my socials.
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Here is a glimpse into my chart that I created from the survey data I got from you.

And also this….
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I then took these two charts and went even deeper. I asked it to create a specific type of content, messaging (I tell you this in the AI course I linked above) and asked for analysis on WHY this would be more likely to convert given the workshop I was running.
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​***I have never done this in a launch before. And I will never NOT be doing this in a launch again. And I DID NOT do this for the next part of this launch (I know I know I know I know…).
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​The AI audience market research prompts that I use above can be seen here in the course I taught on getting to know your audience deeper through AI.

OK I AM LOST WHERE ARE WE IN IN THIS NOVEL?
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Are you still here with me?!?!?!
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OK. So all in all, the workshop did really great and from a launch strategy perspective, I felt really great about it.
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The emails felt seamless.
Fun to write.
And I had daily sales.
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​ANY OTHER INSIGHTS?​
So many more… but we noticed that most sales came at the beginning of the launch from fast action takers.
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I had a “fast action AI storytelling prompt bonus” available for people who bought the workshop in the first 48 hours.
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That urgency drove a lot of sales. I then had more sales at the end of the week when I accounted I had a “live show up bonus” that also had a time urgency attached to it.
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Big takeaway is my audience responds to urgency marketing so I will be using that tactic again.
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Email was the biggest sales driver, especially when we featured social proof in an email and success stories.
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Instagram brought in some traffic but generated fewer direct sales compared to email.
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Linked in was my third-ranking sales line to this workshop.
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I literally cannot tell you how useful the AI audience and survey research was.
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It was a TREMENDOUS amount of work and if you’re following me….you know that actually this class was the Stepping stone to launch “the big product.” (read: LOTS more work to be done here.)
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​BUT THEN…..one week before the live class…a MAJOR roadblock presented itself and I had to blow the original plan up into smoke…….
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​I hope you will join me for part 2 where I dive into the “other” half of this launch that in hindsight was not at all methodical or strategic compared to how I just laid out this portion.