Book SummaryLaunch, by Jeff Walker

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Launch

In Launch, entrepreneur and digital marketing expert Jeff Walker says that you should prioritize giving value and building customer engagement rather than focusing on sales to launch a product online quickly and successfully. By following Walker’s product launch strategy, you’ll be able to market and sell a product with little to no start-up costs and build a business that grants you flexibility, autonomy, and immediate profits. Walker’s process hinges on creating a powerful tool: the email list.

Jeff Walker is a leading digital marketing specialist and...

Launch Summary The Product Launch in the Online Business World

When starting a business, people often invest great effort into creating a product, put it on the market, and simply hope that others will buy it. Walker’s strategy, however, takes a reverse approach. He insists that cultivating interested buyers before releasing the product is the key to a successful launch.

At its simplest, a product launch is the process of introducing and selling a new product to potential customers. This product might be something physical, like handcrafted pottery, or something informational, like online baking courses.

According to Walker, the Internet has both advantages and challenges when it comes to launching a product. On one hand, it...

Launch Summary Three Keys to a Successful Launch

To stand out in this digital marketing arena, Walker suggests you take advantage of mental triggers—brain shortcuts that influence people to do certain things—in your product launch. These triggers support three key factors of a successful launch: value, relationships, and desire. By integrating all three, you can ensure that your launch will gain traction and responsiveness.

Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts Can Help Market Your Product

What Walker refers to as “mental triggers,” psychologists call heuristics. Heuristics are mental shortcuts that help us navigate the world and make decisions quickly and efficiently. While consumer demands and marketing techniques are constantly changing, these mental habits remain effective because they are grounded in human psychology. Here are some to keep in mind when following Walker’s launch approach:

Availability—We tend to make decisions based on the first information or visuals that come to mind when we think of something. By planting a good image of your product in your...

Launch Summary Stage 1: Create an Email List

Whether you’re starting with a vague business idea or a fully-developed product, Walker says that creating and growing an email list is the first step to a successful launch. The Internet enables you to access a wider pool of potential customers, and encouraging people to subscribe to your content helps you stay connected and form lasting business relations.

(Shortform note: Research corroborates Walker’s recommendation to use email as a primary way to contact your customers. According to a 2023 study, email remains the main form of business communication, reporting that over 333 billion emails are sent every day. While newer online platforms, such as Tiktok or Discord are attracting the attention of marketers, experts predict that email usage will continue to grow in the coming years.)

Start Your List

Before you even mention your product, attract followers who are interested in receiving regular emails from you. To start building an email list, Walker suggests you:

1) Develop your promise. In...

Launch Summary Stage 2: Gauge Interest

Once you’ve accumulated an email list, start bringing your product to the attention of your email subscribers. In this step, gauge whether you’ve got a successful product worth launching by soliciting engagement from your followers. For instance, if you’re planning to sell a 30-day yoga challenge, it’s time to start alerting your list about it.

Send a simple email to your followers telling them about the product you’re planning to launch. Walker suggests directly asking for feedback and questions through a survey with questions like: “What is the biggest thing you want to get out of a yoga challenge?” Take note of their receptivity to your offer, as well as any objections. By asking your prospective customers what they’re looking for, you can modify your product to meet their needs and increase their interest in buying. You’re re-engaging your...

Launch Summary Stage 3: Build Anticipation

After you’ve introduced your followers to your offer, send three pieces of marketing content to your email list to build anticipation for your product and convince them to buy.

Walker explains that this approach is more effective than emailing a traditional sales letter to your list (which is usually a single piece of persuasive content) because people are drawn to sequences and stories. By releasing a series of content, you’re communicating with your target audience more than with a single letter, generating excitement and a narrative that keeps your audience engaged.

Walker suggests you space these marketing pieces over the course of five to twelve days. The content format doesn’t matter—it could be an email, podcast, video, or even livestream broadcasts—so long as it’s high-quality.

(Shortform note: There’s ample psychological reasoning behind Walker’s claim that a series of messages work better than a single one. According to experts, sequences help us determine what to pay attention to. People are flooded with so much information daily that it’s hard to figure...

Launch Summary Stage 4: Open to Sales

In this third stage of the launch process, you can open your product to the market. By this point, Walker notes that most of the work is already done. All that’s left to do before you start taking orders is to create a sales page on your website with a video or letter summarizing your offer, while emphasizing how buyers will benefit from it.

Then, send a short email with a link to your sales page announcing that your product is available for purchase. For better results, communicate regularly with your...

Launch Summary Stage 5: Follow Up

After your launch, continue nurturing your relationship with buyers (and non-buyers) to grow your business long-term. Walker notes that people often feel underwhelmed after purchasing a product. To address this, continue to communicate and deliver more than what they had expected. Strengthen connections by writing an email expressing your thanks, summarizing your launch results, and asking for feedback.

(Shortform note: Other experts agree with Walker’s emphasis on maintaining quality relationships after the launch, adding that [when customers are disappointed in a product, they’re experiencing post-purchase...

Launch Summary Variations of the Product Launch

Now that you’ve learned the basic framework of Walker’s launch strategy, we can explore two variations you can consider: launching without a product and launching with a partner company.

Launching Without a Product

What if you don’t have a product to launch? Walker says you can create a business from scratch with his product launch strategy. With nothing more than an idea, you can gauge interest, build anticipation, and make sales by asking for continual feedback at every step. With this approach, you develop your product as you’re delivering it—it works especially well when you’re offering information or training to others.

For example, if you want to start teaching people how to train their cat to do tricks, you can follow the basic formula for a product launch:

Gather a list of prospects. Walker reassures that small lists work fine—in fact, they’re often more responsive. In your three content pieces, present your offer as though you had the full product developed, emphasizing the benefits your buyers will gain. Once you’ve opened your initial product to the market and made some sales, you can send surveys asking what your buyers are looking for. For instance, ask...

Shortform Exercise: Build Anticipation With Three Content Pieces

According to Walker, building anticipation is a crucial part of launching a product. We’ve learned how three pieces of marketing content can be more powerful than one. For this exercise, think about a product or a service you might be interested in selling and practice planning out your three content pieces.

Describe a product or service you’re interested in offering. Is it a physical product or are you offering a service?