Are you going to relaunch a product after a long time? What should you do? Tactical steps
Last night I opened LinkedIn for a moment, and at that moment, someone wrote to me who is going to relaunch a product after a year and a half. (Yes, I do not have anything to work on Friday night, don't blame me, I do not have a social life) :D
Needless to say, a lot has changed on this platform in a year.
He asked how he could repeat his success, because then he effortlessly gained over 200 upvotes.
First of all, you need to understand that the rules have changed, e.g.:
Featured vs. launched products
There is no longer a Notify me page
The way of self-presentation has also changed
So what should you do? (Or how I would proceed):
I would publish a significant post in the relevant forum of my product, stating that a lot has changed in a year and a big relaunch is coming soon (reveal only some of the changes, the rest will have to wait for the launch)
I would actively participate in the discussion on the platform at least 1 month before the launch.
I would connect with the most regular users of this platform on social networks and ask them to follow our launch page (mention the date of the launch too)
I would also increase activity/communication on social networks.
I would contact people from the previous launch and update them that the new changes are coming
To increase the chances of being featured, I would make sure that a similar product has not been launched before (novelty) – this can be done, e.g. by browsing through the search bar or looking at product categories, or launch history.
Last but not least, I would also focus on polishing the materials needed for the launch (logo, graphics, videos, first comment, description, correct product category placement and timing).
This is just a fraction of the things that can be done. I would also like to hear your perspective and experiences with how you relaunched your products after a long period of time (and successfully)! 🙂
Replies
Documentation.AI
Regarding the featured versus non-featured products, the best and simplest explanation I have found is of Rohan Chaubey @rohanrecommends.
Anyone curious can read it here:
Product Hunt is like being on a reality TV show.
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@rohanrecommends @roopreddy Thank you for reminding this one! I totally forgot about it. Product Hunt certainly should have a save button! :D
Documentation.AI
@rohanrecommends @busmark_w_nika PH definitely needs a better bookmarking system. :D
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@rohanrecommends @roopreddy Maybe we should create a poll/wishlist with the featurs we, as users, want :D
Hey, Nika!
You described things really well.
I’d say that launching on Product Hunt has two key aspects:
- Impressing the jury
-Capturing the audience
First, you need to impress the jury. That’s the Product Hunt team, who personally/manually decide which products get featured. I’d say that’s the most important part. Because the difference between being featured and non-featured is about 10–20x. It’s huge. If I were a startup that had worked on a product for 5–10 months and spent X amount of money building it, I wouldn’t want all that effort to go to waste by not getting visibility.
So how do you impress the jury?
Your launch materials are the first half of the equation (your tagline, description, images, and product video). The second half is your landing page. This is where most products fail. Their materials are fine, but their landing pages aren’t up to Product Hunt standards and that’s what often costs them the featured badge. Having a hunter really helps here, since good feedback on your landing page is invaluable.
Once you’ve nailed that first part, the second is to capture the audience. Тhe Product Hunt users themselves. I’d focus especially on users whose votes carry more weight. Keep in mind: not every upvote counts as “1.” Some votes are worth zero, while others count as five. So, the goal is to connect with as many of the valuable users as possible.
The easiest way is through the discussion section or by commenting on recently launched products. After that, you can reach out to these founders/makers/users on LinkedIn or X (Twitter). Personally, I prefer X, but I’ve noticed that more people reach out to me on LinkedIn so it might actually be more practical to start there. My advice: act like a normal human being and build genuine relationships. There’s no need to act fake or make big promises. But it’s also not great if the only time you message someone is on launch day with a “please support me.” Тhere are plenty of cool people in this community. You might end up becoming friends and even meeting in real life someday when you visit their city or country. So I’d avoid being overly salesy or transactional.
Also, if you stay active for 30 days before launch, spending around 40 minutes a day (20 on X and 20 on LinkedIn), you’ll naturally start receiving many DMs from other founders who are also preparing launches. If you support them, they’ll usually return the favo. Reciprocity works extremely well when it comes to votes on launch day.
Having a hunter also helps you get more upvotes. If your product is featured, the hunter’s audience receives a notification. Sometimes directly on the Product Hunt website, sometimes by email, depending on each user’s settings that X is the hunter of this product. This way their followers find out about your launch. So depending on who your hunter is, that notification might reach 10, 1,000, 10,000, or even 50,000 users.
Of course, you can also bring your own audience (from social media or newsletters). I’d say those upvotes have almost no weight on Product Hunt’s ranking algorithm. They still matter a bit, but since those people aren’t active Product Hunt users, they don’t influence your leaderboard position much. However, they do help increase traffic to your website, since some of them will visit your Product Hunt page and your own site.
One thing Nika mentioned which unfortunately isn’t really possible is reaching out to people who’ve previously upvoted you. Sadly, Product Hunt doesn’t show a full list of all the people (say, 200) who supported your product. If you had that list, yes, you could contact them. But in reality, it’s not an option.
To keep track of everything, a good approach is to use a CRM where you log who you’ve contacted, whether they’ve upvoted, whether they ghosted you, and so on. It helps you stay organized and build relationships systematically.
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@byalexai I read every single word you write, and there is nothing left for me to agree with. Especially as you outlined, that you need 1. impress the jury, 2. impress the audience (in this exact order).
Many things are coming into the game, and I need to revisit these points, too. Because it is worth keeping a track of what happens on this platform.
MultiDrive
@byalexai @busmark_w_nika Totally agree with every point Nika and you described.
People who voted a year ago can:
- forget your product (and you), if you didn't keep up the relationship and stay active on PH
- no longer be using PH
We would probably make a second launch, but much later. We want to relaunch around a major feature update or the release of a paid version. :)
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@byalexai @tetiana_hryshmanovska In my opinion, it is always a good idea to launch, because it also generates some timely content on social media :)
MultiDrive
@byalexai @busmark_w_nika true! :)
we have a new release soon. :D
But it's too early :D
Swytchcode
Nicely written, Nika! Your points are excellent.
Also, based on my launch experience, I'd recommend talking to people on Reddit who are looking for launch support. They're very active and supportive.
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@chilarai Do you have any specific groups in mind? :)
Swytchcode
@busmark_w_nikar/ProductHunters, moderated by Chris Messina, is a good place to start. Every day, 4–5 people ask for support, and you can genuinely connect with them.
There’s also a smaller group, r/ProductHuntLaunches. I usually see a couple of support posts there daily. While most are cross-posted, there are still a few unique requests.
You can try LinkedIn groups as well.
However, the most important thing is to send a DM immediately after supporting someone’s launch and to keep a list of people you’ve supported. Sending a DM serves two purposes:
It acts as a natural conversation starter.
It helps the other person remember that you supported their launch.
Documentation.AI
@busmark_w_nika @chilarai Some other relevant subreddits:
r/SaaS
r/GrowthHacking
r/SideProject
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@chilarai @roopreddy thank you, guys. The question is... aren't these forums oversaturated with upvote requests too much?
Thanks for sharing this, Nika!
Your tactical steps make a lot of sense - especially building anticipation in the forums and reconnecting with previous users. I’ve found that relaunching after a long time works best when you combine community engagement with a clear narrative about what’s new or improved.
Curious to hear from others: what strategies have worked best for you when relaunching a product after a long break?
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@monda do you have any your own experience you would like to share? :)
Hi Nika, this is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.
I really believe that organic social networking and supporting each other’s products is one of the best things about Product Hunt.
By the way, what do first-time makers usually miss before launch?
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@suvinlee_trav The most common mistakes are:
First-time makers have no audience, proclaim that their product is the very first in the market (and one and only, although I have seen many other similar products to this one.
They expect Product Hunt to be their whole marketing strategy.
@busmark_w_nika That’s really helpful, thank you.
As first-time makers, we’re still figuring this out — what marketing channels or efforts worked best for you beyond Product Hunt?
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@suvinlee_trav Definitely LinkedIn, where people DM me about launches. :) Another one: Twitter.
This is sound advice. I believe I did everything except the community engagement leading up to my launch. I pretty much was glued to my IDE until launch time. I just launched xelora.app. What would you suggest to make up for the lack of pre engagement launch?
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@wfo808 Do you already have any existing users? Or any test users?
@busmark_w_nikaNot yet, onboarding first beta testers this week! Just pushed some major improvements: - Unified onboarding flow (value props first) - Visual analytics dashboard - Re-accessible product tour 20 years in IT, bootstrapped this solo. Would love your perspective on early testing priorities - what would you look for in a viral prediction platform?
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@wfo808 In your case, I would try to onboard those beta testers and ask them to register on PH and upvote for you on the day D. + Start creating awareness about the things you build :)
I will because why not if you can get extra push on it.
Btw, I'm gonna launch another solution for outbound people on Dec22 and for that I need someone who can hunt my product here.
Are you open to that @busmark_w_nika
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@twinkal_shah1 Hey Twinkal, atm, I do not hunt. But soon probably be open spots for people who want a marketing strategy + hunting at the top (but probably will be paid)
Thanks for sharing this roadmap, Nika!
As a newcomer who just started my daily streak (Day 2!), this is super helpful. The distinction between 'Launched' and 'Featured' is a real eye-opener. I'll definitely focus on step #6 (novelty) as I prepare for my first launch!
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@joversea Hey Jack, when is the launch date for you? :)