How Sariska launched a chrome extension on Product Hunt & generated users for their B2B product

What is Collaborate by Sariska

Sariska is a B2B company that offers video-audio conferencing, messaging, live-streaming & co-browsing SDKs for enterprises. But it’s difficult to promote a B2B product on Product Hunt.

So Sariksa team came up with an innovative solution. They decided to build Collaborate, a chrome extension, as a lead magnet for Sariska which will appeal to the Product Hunt audience. 

A quick intro about Collaborate Chrome Extension

Collaborate is a co-browsing extension that lets you collaborate on any website. You can browse together with friends or family, enjoy high-quality video & audio calls, and control the page with your own mouse cursor.

Balkrishna and Dipak launched Collaborate on 10th of April on Product Hunt and here is their launch performance:

1. Upvotes: 813
2. Comments: 462
3. Day rank: 1
4. Week rank: 4

Let’s unlock all their launch strategies and secrets

Maker Interview

What were your goals for the Product Hunt launch? where you looking for signups, awareness or badge?

To be honest, it was the combination of all of this. We are a B2B product company, and this was our first B2C product. We were also launching on Product Hunt for the first time. So, our goals were a combination of all these.

We wanted to rank in top 3 because it was like a validation from the community that we are working on a good project. And the second goal was to get users and signups.

Why did you choose to launch on monday? Any reason behind it?

Launching on weekends was ruled out because:

1. The traffic is less and
2. We wanted to be featured in the PH newsletter which is difficult on weekends.

Getting traffic was more important for us than the badge, so that’s why we decided to launch on a monday.

This was your team’s first launch. how did you prepare the strategy for the launch?

We were brand new to product hunt, since this was our first launch.

This is how we prepared for PH launch

1. We tried to understand how Product Hunt algorithm works and found out that authenticity and credibility are needed for Product Hunt launch. 
2. We started participating genuinely in Product Hunt discussions. if you can see in my history, you will see, almost every day – I was creating two to three discussions. And at least one discussion used to be in top five.
3. The third most important thing is support part. We supported other makers first and then asked for support on our launch day.
   
   

How long did you take to plan the launch? And how did you plan the launch?

We started preparing for the launch 2 months before. But the core part of launch started 15-20 days before.

1. We created the coming soon page 2 months before the launch. This helped us to generate buzz among Product Hunt users.
2. We decided that we will not be getting a hunter. So, our next option was to become a genuine active member of the Product Hunt community.
3. We posted 3-4 discussions on Product hunt everyday. And we engaged with other makers in Product Hunt community.
4. Because of our PH activity, we started earning points and badges on product Hunt. And also, many makers started becoming aware about us and what we are building.
5. Then we reached out to those makers on Twitter and LinkedIn
6. We became a part of Product Hunt Whatsapp groups and tried to be active in the groups.
7. We believed in reciprocity, we upvoted, commented and supported other makers on Product Hunt. And on our launch day all those makers and founders supported out launch.
8. We asked of family and friends to create a Product Hunt account and be active on Product Hunt, so that they can help us on the launch day.
   
   

Can you share your action plan on launch day?

We tried to get the maximum upvotes in the first 2 hours. Because of which we were ranking on Number

1. So after that, whoever came to product hunt has saw collaborate and upvoted our product. 
2. Our team started posting on Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and other social media platforms
3. Then, we started sharing on Whatsapp groups, communities and our personal connections like family and friends.
   
   

What are the things you did in the first 2 hours?

Our strategy was not to use all our traffic sources in the first 2 hours. These are the things we did:

1. I shared about the launch in Whatsapp groups
2. I connected with other makers a few days before the launch and notified them about our launch date. In the first 2 hours, I reached out to all of them with a personalised message asking for support
3. We also changed the tagline in the middle of the launch that made it more clickable (laughs)
   
   

You had existing users before the Product Hunt launch. Did you send any email blast to your subscribers notifying about your launch?

No, we haven’t sent any email blast to our subscribers.Because we weren’t sure whether they were active on Product Hunt , and upvotes from new/inactive members won’t matter to Product Hunt algorithm.

What were the top traffic sources that got you the most upvotes on PH?

50% of upvotes are from our sources – Whatsapp groups, Linkedin, Twitter, and PH community. 50% of upvotes are organic. We got support from our networks in the initial hours, but later on we got a lot of upvotes from organic visitors on Product Hunt.

Could you share some numbers from the Product Hunt launch?

1. Website visits – 1,500+
2. Signups – 100+
3. Extension downloads – 200+

Also, we are getting 10-15 visits from Product Hunt even after the launch week. In addition to these amazing numbers, we got some feedback on our extensions. And we are working based on the feedback.

What are the biggest challenges you faced while launching on the product hunt?

Our competitor launched on the same day we did. They had a big hunter and bigger team than us. So, we kept pushing ourselves to outrank them.

What are 3 advices you would give to creators who’s launching on Product Hunt?

1. Be sincere in communities.
2. Be active on product hunt. Take part in discussion, give feedback about others products and connect with other makers.
3. If you a first time makers or if you have some doubts, you can book a 15 min consultation call with Product Hunt team and clear your doubts.

Thanks a lot, Balkrishna and Dipak for sharing your Product Hunt strategies and secrets with us.

Checkout Collaborate for more details.