How to Automate a Product Hunt Launch - Lessons from Helicone's Success

Important: Do not share a direct link to your product page. Product Hunt will flag your launch and you may lose upvotes. Instead, share a link to producthunt.com and instruct users to upvote your product.

Introduction

Product Hunt launches can be a game-changer for startups, but they can also be hectic and overwhelming. At Helicone (YC W23), we recently experienced this firsthand when we became Product of the Day and were on track for Product of the Week. While we did everything manually during our launch, we learned valuable lessons about how to streamline and automate the process. In this blog post, we’ll share our insights on how to automate your Product Hunt launch to increase your chances of becoming Product of the Day.

By following this guide on how to become Product of the Day on Product Hunt through automation, you’ll learn strategies to:

1. Reach a wider audience more efficiently
2. Maintain consistent engagement across global time zones
3. Free up time to focus on real-time interaction and strategy
4. Drive targeted actions through automated messaging
5. Reduce stress and improve the overall launch experience

Overview of Key Automation Strategies

In this blog post, we’ll cover four main areas of automation for your Product Hunt launch:

1. Automating Early Morning User Emails: Your users will be the most impactful part of your launch. We’ll discuss how to prepare and schedule emails to your existing user base to maximize upvotes.

2. Scheduling Social Media Content: You’ll learn how to create a content calendar and use scheduling tools to maintain a consistent social media presence throughout your launch.

3. Implementing a Drip DM Campaign: We’ll explore how to automate personalized direct messaging at scale to drive engagement and upvotes.

4. The Final 10%: Manual Efforts: While automation is powerful, we’ll also cover the crucial manual efforts that can set your launch apart.

Let’s dive into each of these strategies in detail.

1. Automate Early Morning User Emails

One of the most critical aspects of a successful Product Hunt launch is getting upvotes from your existing user base. Here’s how to automate this process:

• Prepare your email content in advance: Craft a compelling email that explains your Product Hunt launch and why users should upvote your product.

• Set up an automated email campaign: Use an email marketing tool like Loops or SendGrid to schedule your emails for early morning delivery on launch day.

• Segment your audience: Segment your users based on time zones to optimize email delivery:

  • Use your analytics data to identify major user clusters by region.
  • Create segments for key time zones (e.g., US East/West, Europe, India/Asia-Pacific).
  • Schedule emails to arrive shortly after the launch starts, aiming for early morning in each time zone when possible.
  • For example:
    • Send to India/Asia-Pacific at 12:01 AM PT (2:31 PM IST / 3:01 PM SGT the same day)
    • Send to Europe at 1:00 AM PT (10:00 AM CET the same day)
    • Send to US East Coast at 5:00 AM PT (8:00 AM ET)
    • Send to US West Coast at 8:00 AM PT

  This approach ensures your message reaches users as soon as possible after the launch starts, while still targeting peak engagement hours for most regions.

Pro Tip: Most people don’t check their inbox immediately, so sending emails early gives your message time to be seen and acted upon throughout the day.

2. Schedule Social Media Content

Preparation

Social media plays a crucial role in generating buzz for your Product Hunt launch. Here’s how to automate your social media strategy:

• Create a content calendar: Plan out your social media posts for launch day and the days leading up to it.
• Use scheduling tools: Leverage platforms like Typefully to schedule your posts in advance.
• Prepare varied content: Create a mix of text posts, images, and short videos to keep your audience engaged throughout the day.
• Prepare day-of content: Prepare content ideas for the day of the launch.

Pro Tip: There is no harm in posting a lot of content. The worst thing that can happen is that it gets buried in the feed.

Helicone’s High-Performing Content

Here are examples of our most successful content types:

• Memes: Humorous, relatable content (Bernie Sanders) (Leg Day) (DNC)
• Founder Content: Personal updates (Launch Countdown) (Personal Growth Story)
  • Pro Tip: Humble bragging often performs better than direct product promotion
• Challenges: Engaging, interactive content (Push-up challenge)
• Behind-the-Scenes: Team moments (Grinding in hotel lobby)
• Progress Updates: Real-time excitement (Hitting 1st place) (Hitting 1st place LinkedIn)

3. Implement a Drip DM Campaign

DMing individuals led to significantly more action than making general social media posts.

Insight: The majority of leads came from DMing our LinkedIn network, not Product Hunt. Ensure you have a system in place to capture and respond to all leads, including those from LinkedIn.

Here’s how to effectively automate your DM strategy:

Preparation

• Build your LinkedIn network: Well before your launch, start growing your LinkedIn connections with relevant individuals in your industry. This process should begin weeks or even months in advance.
• Get LinkedIn Premium: This will give you more messaging capabilities and better search filters for building your network.
• Warm up your account: Gradually increase your LinkedIn activity to avoid being flagged for sudden high-volume messaging.

Crafting Your Campaign

• Create DM template: Contrary to popular belief, we found that personalization didn’t significantly impact effectiveness. Here’s the simple, clear message that worked well for us:

  Hi!
  
  We just launched on Product Hunt and are so close to 1st place!
  Can you please show us some love by upvoting our launch?
  Please upvote Helicone here: producthunt.com
  
  Thank you so much!
  

• Use a DM automation tool: Platforms like Dripify or Expandi can help you send messages at scale.

  Warning: These tools are against LinkedIn’s terms of service. We achieved our results by manually sending messages to our network, but seasoned launchers use these tools.

• Time your campaigns strategically: Product Hunt calculates leaderboard positions between 12:01 AM and 4:00 AM PT. Use this to your advantage by targeting connections in different time zones. For example, reaching out to your Indian network during their midday (early morning PT) can boost your initial engagement and positioning.

Execution

• Stagger your outreach: Set up your DM campaign to send messages throughout the day and night to maintain a steady stream of engagement. Here’s a sample schedule:

  • 12:01 AM PT: Start India/Asia-Pacific/Europe campaign (12:31 PM IST / 3:01 PM SGT / 9:01 AM CET)
  • 5:00 AM PT: Start US East Coast campaign (8:00 AM ET)
  • 8:00 AM PT: Start US West Coast campaign
  • 8:00 AM PT: Pause Asia-Pacific campaign (11:00 PM SGT)
  • 10:30 AM PT: Pause India campaign (11:00 PM IST)
  • 2:00 PM PT: Pause Europe campaign (11:00 PM CET)
  • 5:00 PM PT: Resume Asia-Pacific campaign (8:00 AM next day SGT)
  • 7:30 PM PT: Resume India Campaign (8:00 AM next day IST)
  • 8:00 PM PT: Pause US East Coast campaign (11:00 PM ET)
  • 11:00 PM PT: Resume Europe campaign (8:00 AM next day CET)
  • 11:00 PM PT: Pause US West Coast campaign
  • 12:00 AM PT: Stop all campaigns and send thank you messages

4. The Final 10%: Manual Efforts That Make a Difference

While automation can handle 90% of your launch day tasks, there’s still room for manual efforts that can set you apart:

• Create day-of content: Respond to trends and conversations in real-time with fresh content.
• Engage in comments: Actively participate in discussions on your Product Hunt page and social media posts.
• Leverage personal networks: Reach out to friends with large audiences to share your launch.
• Go the extra mile: Consider unique tactics like handing out cookies in the office or hosting a virtual launch party. 100 person office can easily mean 100 upvotes, just give them cookies.

Conclusion: Balancing Automation and Authenticity

Automating your Product Hunt launch can significantly reduce stress and improve your chances of success. However, it’s crucial to maintain a balance between automation and authentic engagement. Use these automated strategies as a foundation, but be prepared to adapt and respond in real-time to make your launch ultimately successful.

At Helicone, we learned these lessons the hard way by doing everything manually. But now, armed with these insights, you can create a more streamlined and effective Product Hunt launch strategy.

Optional Tip: Consider Professional Help

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, consider working with an experienced Product Hunt launcher. We collaborated with Knarik, who provided crucial guidance. A seasoned expert can help you:

• Understand Product Hunt’s platform and rules (no direct links, etc.)
• Improve social media and email strategies (when and what to post/email)
• Plan pre-launch activities (launch countdown, personal stories, etc.)
• Connect with relevant communities (open-source for us)

If you have limited capacity but want to do a launch, a seasoned launcher can be a great investment.