Launch by Jeff Walker: Book Summary, Review & Notes
An in-depth summary of Launch by Jeff Walker, with the Product Launch Formula, the Sideways Sales Letter, real quotes and how it compares to similar books.
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This is an in-depth book summary, notes and highlights of Launch by Jeff Walker. First published in 2014 and reissued in an updated and expanded edition by Hay House in 2021, it became a number 1 New York Times bestseller and explains his Product Launch Formula.
Launch in 3 sentences
- Launch argues that how you release a product matters as much as the product, and that a launch should feel like an event people look forward to.
- Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula builds that event from sequences, stories and mental triggers, with free prelaunch content before the offer opens.
- It covers launches for every stage, from a seed launch with no list to large launches run with partners.
Key takeaways
- Build your list first. An email list of people who asked to hear from you is the base of every launch.
- Launch in sequences: the pre-prelaunch, the prelaunch, the launch and the post-launch.
- Open with a shot across the bow, an early message that starts a dialogue with your audience about what you are making.
- Use a Sideways Sales Letter. Spread your sales message across 3 pieces of prelaunch content over several days instead of one long letter.
- Structure those pieces around the opportunity, the transformation and the ownership experience.
- Use mental triggers, the mental shortcuts that move people to act, such as scarcity, authority, social proof and community.
- Create real urgency at the close by raising the price, removing a bonus or ending the offer.
- No list or product yet? Run a seed launch: sell the idea to a small group and create the product as you deliver it.
- Grow from an internal launch to your own list to a joint venture launch with partners who mail their lists.
Who should read Launch
- Course creators, coaches and consultants who sell digital products.
- Anyone with an email list who wants to sell to it without being pushy.
- People who have no product or list yet and want a low-risk way to start.
- Marketers planning launches with affiliates or joint venture partners.
- Business owners who launch new offers a few times a year.
- Readers who learn from examples. Walker walks through his own launches in detail.
Who might not enjoy it
- Businesses that sell at a steady pace all year. The formula is built around periodic events.
- Readers wary of urgency tactics. Deadlines and closing carts are central to the method.
Popular quotes from Launch
At its heart, Product Launch Formula is made up of sequences, stories, and triggers.
The formula in one line.
If you want to make your business and your marketing memorable, then your marketing needs to tell a story.
Why every launch has a story.
Opening a dialogue with your potential clients is an example of what I call "the shot across the bow," and it's a great way to start your prelaunch campaign.
How a launch begins before the launch.
Your most scarce resource is focus.
What to protect as your business grows.
It's not hard to impress your clients. Give them what you promised, give them great customer support, and then give them an extra surprise or two along the way.
Delivery is part of the marketing.
The world has changed, and the only true security is your ability to create value and get paid for that value.
The case for building your own business.
I was the proverbial square peg in a round hole. I just didn't fit in the corporate world.
Where his story starts.
How Launch compares to similar books
Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
Build a following around your message and sell with presentations and funnels. Published in 2017. It centers on presentations like webinars and on funnels, while Launch centers on timed launch events.
DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson
Sales funnels and the value ladder for selling online. Published in 2015. It is about funnel structure, while Launch is about the sequence and story around an offer.
Ask by Ryan Levesque
Use surveys to learn what your market wants to buy and segment it. Published in 2015. It helps you decide what to launch, and Launch helps you release it.
Influence by Robert Cialdini
The psychology of persuasion, from scarcity and authority to social proof. Published in 1984 and based on research. It explains why the mental triggers Walker uses work.
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
A 7-part framework for clear marketing messages that cast the customer as the hero. Published in 2017. It helps with the story, while Launch shows how to tell it over a launch sequence.
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
Stories of people who built small businesses with little money. Published in 2012. It covers starting a business, while Launch covers selling each new product within one.
About Jeff Walker
Jeff Walker has written that he never fit in the corporate world, and he started his first online business in 1996 with an email newsletter sent to 19 people. He built his launch process on that business and in 2005 began teaching it as Product Launch Formula, a coaching program he says more than 10,000 people have taken.
Launch was first published in 2014 and became a number 1 New York Times bestseller. Hay House released an updated and expanded edition in 2021.
FAQs about Launch
The questions people most often ask about Launch by Jeff Walker.
Launch is a 2014 book by Jeff Walker about selling a product online through a planned launch. It teaches his Product Launch Formula, which uses free prelaunch content, stories and mental triggers before an offer opens.
Jeff Walker is an online marketer who started his first internet business in 1996 with a newsletter to 19 people. He created Product Launch Formula and began teaching it as a coaching program in 2005.
Walker's method for launching a product. In his words, it is made up of sequences, stories and triggers, and it builds anticipation with free content before the offer goes on sale.
A sales message spread across several days of free prelaunch content instead of one long sales letter. Each piece gives real value while building toward the offer.
The first shows the opportunity and what is possible. The second teaches and shows the transformation. The third covers the ownership experience, answering objections and shifting toward the offer.
The pre-prelaunch, the prelaunch, the launch and the post-launch. Each has its own job, from starting a conversation to closing the sale and following up.
Walker's name for opening a dialogue with potential customers at the very start of a prelaunch campaign. It tells people something is coming and invites their input.
A launch for when you are starting from scratch. You sell the idea to a small group, then create the product as you deliver it, which also builds your first small list.
A launch to your own email list, using the full sequence of prelaunch content, the open cart and the close.
A joint venture launch, where partners promote your launch to their own lists using the same prelaunch content. The book's chapter on it is called How I Made a Million Dollars in a Single Hour.
Mental shortcuts that influence how people decide, such as scarcity, authority, social proof and community. Walker builds them into each part of a launch.
No. The seed launch is designed for people with a small list or none at all, and Walker's own business began with a newsletter sent to 19 people.
Hay House Business published it in 2021 with a new subtitle: How to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams. The hardcover runs 312 pages.
Course creators, coaches, consultants and anyone selling digital products online, especially people who release new offers a few times a year.
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