A quick intro about Oppflow
Oppflow simplifies content marketing for teams by uniting AI, Analytics and collaboration all at one place.
Hilal launched Oppflow on May 2 2023 on Product Hunt and here is how their launch performed:
- Upvotes: 763
- Comments: 262
- Rank of the Day: 1
- Rank of the Week: 5
Maker Interview
Hi Hilal, Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey building Oppflow?
I have a versatile background working in DevOps consulting, data science and AI. When I met my Co-Founder, Odin, he was operating a successful content marketing agency but was looking to build a scalable product.
After spending almost four years with him in the content marketing field, we knew that automating the process was possible. Oppflow started as an automated task management tool for content marketing but we decided to take it further and make it the ultimate content creation hub for brands. We united AI, analytics, automations, and collaboration during our journey of building Oppflow in light of feedback we received in our beta tests.
We wanted to ensure that brands can create quality content with ease and in a timely manner. When we felt we had achieved this goal, we decided to launch Oppflow on Product Hunt to introduce it to a wider audience.
What were your goals for your Product Hunt launch? Is it brand awareness, getting new signups or any other metric?
Our primary goals for the Product Hunt launch were brand awareness and acquiring new signups.
However, above all else, our main focus was on validating the product and gaining insights into how people perceive Oppflow. The Product Hunt community is known for being incredibly engaged and providing valuable feedback, so launching on the platform was an excellent opportunity to learn from our audience and improve our product.
At what phase did you decide to launch on PH?
After completing the MVP, we felt that we needed to validate Oppflow’s idea and acquire more users. Launching on Product Hunt seemed like the ideal way to achieve these goals, and we started planning for the launch around 6 months ago.
How long did you take to plan for the launch – Can you share your step-by-step action plan?
We began planning for Oppflow’s launch on Product Hunt almost 6 months back. In the first few months, we focused on joining product hunt discussions, following active users, examining products launching in our industry, and communicating with Product Hunt users on external platforms.
In the final 3 months before our planned launch date, we implemented the following:
- Start to plan & create launch content
- Make sure the features we wanted to highlight are ready, and we made sure that we explain these features clearly on our landing page
- Be an active member of PH community (discussions, comments, contacting on external platforms, etc)
- Join the community groups and reach out to more people
- Analyze successful launches & learn from them
We were very programmatic about our outreach strategy, and we periodically updated our list of people to contact from Product Hunt.
The last week before the launch involved making final changes to the content, preparing the demo video, testing the product, and outreaching to more people primarily through LinkedIn.
We noticed that you created a coming soon page for your product hunt launch – How did you generate buzz for your coming soon page?
Yes, I and most of my team were active on Product Hunt discussions before the launch. We created new discussions related to some features of Oppflow, joined discussions that interested us, and asked questions to get to know the Product Hunt community better. I even created a discussion asking for writing prompts to help AI generate content, just to see if the Product Hunt community could relate to the pain points Oppflow solves.
How did you connect with other makers to ask for support for the launch? How did you make the list of people to reach out to?
We began preparing a list of makers to reach out to around 3 months before our launch. We updated the list regularly and connected with other makers to share ideas and experiences. We arranged several online meetings with different makers to learn about their strategies and the challenges they faced. These meetings were eye-opening and helped us to refine our approach for the launch.
Did you have existing users before launching on Product Hunt? If yes, did you email them asking for support for your launch?
Yes, we did have existing users before launching on Product Hunt, and we sent an email to inform them about our upcoming launch. While we did ask for their support, we guessed that most of our users were not members of the Product Hunt community, so the primary purpose of the email was to inform them about our launch and invite them to check it out if they were interested.
Can you share your action plan on launch day?
During our launch day on Product Hunt, we focused on the first 4 hours, which are crucial because Product Hunt does not rank the products during this period.
During the first 4 hours of the launch, we focused on reaching out to our existing connections and asking for their support and feedback. We monitored the platform closely, responded to comments, and updated our community list.
After that, we continued to engage with the Product Hunt community, answer comments, and analyze our competitors.
What are your main traffic sources for a Product Hunt launch?
Our Marketing Manager, Janset and I primarily focused on LinkedIn, while Odin (co-founder) focused on Twitter to build a Product Hunt community.
We found that our main traffic sources were LinkedIn and Twitter. We were also part of some community groups, and we shared our Product Hunt launch there, but those groups were not as effective as LinkedIn and Twitter.
Can you share the tool stack you use for the Product Hunt launch?
- Canva – Graphic Design
- Apex Screen Recorder – Demo Video
- Hubspot – Live Chart
- CharGPT – Copy
Could you share how much sales, revenue & traffic you made from ProductHunt launches?
- Website Visitors – 5,000
- Signups – 20
What are 3 advices you would give to makers who’s launching on product hunt?
- Start engaging with the community as soon as possible. And learn what they want to hear and see, and how to present your product to them effectively.
- Analyze successful launches! It’s a great way to learn from others’ experiences. Contact successful makers and ask them about their experience – one of the perks of being in a great community is that makers are often open to sharing their experiences. Use it wisely!
- Plan everything at least 2 months before your launch. Plan your content strategy, whom to connect with, and even which day of the week to launch. The more you plan in detail, the better your launch will be.
What were the biggest challenges you faced while launching on the product hunt?
The biggest challenge we faced during our Product Hunt launch was keeping our outreach strategy organized and effective.
We didn’t have an established community until 3 months before the launch, so we had to connect with all the people who supported us. We separated our existing contacts from new connections, but keeping track of who supported us, who wasn’t interested, and who might be interested proved to be a challenge.
Thanks a lot, Hilal for sharing your Product Hunt strategies and secrets with us.
Checkout Oppflow for more details.
