We all make mistakes at work. Some mistakes are small, like missing a report deadline. Some mistakes are larger like launching a product line that bombs. We will all fail sometimes, and this is the story of the worst product I ever launched. Not the most stressful, or even the most complicated, but the one I watched fail from the start.
The worst product I ever launched was… a line of published quotes, beautifully designed, thoughtfully produced, and a huge investment for me at the time. I loved them. I thought they were fun, meaningful, and such a natural extension of my content.
Turns out, my audience did not agree on how much love to give this product. It was a very expensive and emotional mistake. Here’s what happened.
What I Did When It Bombed
I didn’t just sell a few less than expected. I sold almost none of these. I ended up having boxes and boxes of these quotes sitting in the warehouse, quietly reminding me that liking something is not the same as being ready to buy it. I was confused because my audience always liked it when I posted a quote on my social media account. But what a customer is willing to thumbs up for and what they are willing to get their wallets out for are often not the same.
At some point, I stopped trying to make it work and did the painful thing, threw them out. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was humbling. Honestly, it was one of the most useful lessons I’ve ever learned about product launches. What went wrong wasn’t the product’s quality. It was the assumption I had made about my customer’s willingness to purchase it.
Engagement can be a signal, but it’s not the same as buying intent.
I built something based on what I thought was fun and aligned with me, rather than on what my audience was actively looking to buy. I think this is a mistake many new product based entraprenuers make. We, as the sellers, get excited about a product and bring it to market without really testing or knowing if it is one our audience even wants to buy.
Lessons Learned From This Fail
1. Start with one
One of the biggest issues with this launch was that I got so excited about the product, I didn’t just start quick and easy with one quote to see if it would sell. I had the entire line designed and launched before I even sold one. This is a great way to lose a lot of money quickly in e-commerce.
2. Test the market!
I learned that I always need to test my market before investing significant time and resources in a new product launch. I could have tested my audience’s interest through affiliate links, the Amazon Influencer Program, or by tracking the keywords people were actively searching for online. This data would have told me far more than a like on a social media post ever could, and I imagine it would have told me to proceed with caution.
3. Trust the intent
This launch didn’t work, but it changed how I think about every product that came after it. Now, I care less about what sounds fun in theory and more about what my audience is ready to buy today. When I am planning new product launches, I look for clear signals of buying intent. This shift has made all the difference in our future product launches. Even though a failure is never fun, the lessons learned can lead to even greater successes down the line.
If you want to see what your audience might be willing to buy, download my 6-Strategies for market fit guide here.