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I just wrapped up a launch with a 12% conversion rate, and I want to tell you about it! The reason being that I don’t typically take you behind the scenes of my business quite like this, because so much of what I teach comes from my brand photography business.

That’s the part I built first, and it’s the part I know how to talk about. But now that I’m selling education alongside brand photography, that side of my business looks completely different.

It’s honestly where I spend most of my time and energy these days. So today I’m pulling back the curtain on what actually went into my best launch conversion rate ever, and what I’m changing because of it.

The Two Programs Behind My Business

I currently have two main programs to help brand photographers! Rebrand is my signature offer, the marketing program that builds the visibility that gets brand photographers booked out. It’s what you hear me talk about most, and it’s where a lot of my time and effort has historically gone.

Behind the Shot is different! It’s a go-at-your-own-pace course, essentially the brand session blueprint that teaches you how to shoot portfolio-building brand photography so your work starts booking sessions for you. Once you’ve scaled as far as you can from referrals, that’s when I love graduating people into Rebrand.

That’s where we build out your marketing and brand reputation together.

Test One: Launching Without Ads

Going into this launch of Behind the Shot, I wanted to test two things. The first was ditching my usual launch model.

Normally I run ads into a masterclass, teach for free, pitch at the end, then spend about ten days emailing and creating content to get people into the program. This time, I wanted to test running the whole thing organically, no ads into the masterclass at all.

I had a hunch, backed by some data, that people who came in through an ad weren’t converting, or at least not converting quickly. I don’t have a great funnel into Rebrand.

People usually enter through an ad for my shot list, move into Behind the Shot, and then ideally into Rebrand, but that’s a long path.

I started wondering if the real issue wasn’t my freebie, because my freebie converts incredibly well! Maybe the real issue was the path itself.

My goal for this test was 300 people on the masterclass wait list and a 10% launch conversion rate into Behind the Shot.

Test Two: Treating Behind the Shot as Its Own Launch

The second test was treating Behind the Shot as a standalone launch instead of something I mentioned on the way to Rebrand. I’d only done this once before, during a Black Friday promotion.

I’d noticed that my best-fit Rebrand students were always the ones who came through Behind the Shot first. They already had the skills, so their growth inside Rebrand was explosive.

I also was noticing that the old model, where Rebrand was my constant public launch, had started to feel strained. It wasn’t that it wasn’t working, but it took a lot of energy to pull people toward a bigger investment.

I also had messy ad attribution. My ads were getting people into masterclasses, but I wasn’t convinced they were converting in a way that actually paid off.

Meanwhile, my shot list ads were consistently converting well, and those same people were also converting well into Behind the Shot – so that contrast told me something!

The Results: My Best Launch Conversion Rate Yet

So, does an organic-only audience convert better when the offer and the freebie are actually aligned? Here’s what I found.

I had a little over 300 people on the wait list and enrolled 36 people, which comes out to a 12% conversion rate. I’ve never hit that number before.

Industry-wide, 10% is already considered strong for online education. My past masterclass wait lists had reached 500 to 1,000 people, converting at only 2 to 5%.

This launch, with a smaller list, converted far better, which tells me the funnel into Behind the Shot is working. I also heard from multiple people during this launch who found me through a Facebook or Instagram ad for the shot list.

That backs up exactly what the numbers were already telling me!

What It Actually Takes to Have a Best Launch Ever

One of the biggest pieces for having a really successful launch was my content.

The amount of content I created for this launch wasn’t accidental. Over roughly 35 to 40 days of pre-launch and launch, here’s what went out:

• I recorded and published nine podcast episodes
• I sent 21 emails during the seven-day launch period, plus another 25 to 30 during pre-launch
• I created 23 pieces of Instagram content along with a couple of trial reels

(One side note: During launches I give people a way to opt out of launch emails specifically while staying on my list)

This launch content plan is exactly why when a Rebrand student tells me they haven’t booked any mini sessions, I ask how many times they’ve talked about it. Most likely you haven’t talked about it enough! People need repetition.

This launch is evident of that too because even with all of this content I created and published, I still had people join after the deadline or miss it entirely!

What’s Changing in My Education Business Because of This

Based on this data, I’m looking to slightly shift my business model. I’m planning to launch Behind the Shot more frequently (rather than Rebrand, as I was previously doing).

That likely means moving Rebrand more toward a back-end funnel, where students get an offer (usually $500 off) about a month or two after finishing Behind the Shot.

I’m also actively building a better freebie and funnel specifically for Rebrand, which I’m hoping to launch soon.

On the ad side, this test wasn’t proof that ads don’t work. It showed me exactly where they do work best in my business right now: my shot list ads.

Going forward, I want to keep running those, test ads to my new Rebrand freebie, and start experimenting with retargeting ads and lower-ticket offer ads. The goal is for the people who click to actually convert into dollars, not just email subscribers.

This was my best launch ever by number of people and by launch conversion rate, even if it wasn’t my highest revenue launch. Getting data this clear is a gift, and it’s already shaping how I plan to run my business for the rest of the year!

Curious to Learn More About Brand Photography or Business?

This kind of behind-the-scenes isn’t something I typically chat about on my podcast, Take It Personally, or the blog here, but it’s such a huge part of my job. This is the kind of stuff that I find myself obsessing over and trying to perfect.

If you thought this conversation was interesting and you want more BTS peeks into a business, I would love to share. Be sure to subscribe to Take It Personally to stay in the know, or connect over on Instagram!