The new golden rule on Product Hunt that no one talks about

There is a new golden rule on Product Hunt that no one talks about. It changes drastically how you should launch. Without knowing it, no chance of becoming product of the day. Most launches on Product Hunt don't reach the podium. Not because the products aren't great. Or because their visuals aren't exciting. But because of new rules the community isn't aware of. To become product of the day you need two things: 1. Get featured 2. Get the best average of upvotes per hour across the day 1. A staff member from Product Hunt needs to pick up your product You can't be on the podium if you don’t get picked up. Every morning the Product Hunt staff checks the new products launched. They will manually pick the products that will be featured on the home page. If your product launches later during the day, it will go through the same curation. How products get pick up is a little obscure, but here is what I know. You need to launch a product, or an important feature. Product Hunt does not feature "collection" or "guides" anymore. Avoid these keywords in the description of the product you launch. A product that doesn't get featured won't show on the search either. This is why some products have hundreds of upvotes but won’t show on Product Hunt home and search. Make sure your landing page looks and feels like an actual product. 2. Get the best average of upvotes per hour across the day This is the new golden rule on Product Hunt that no ones talk about. A few years ago the number of upvotes and comments were the key to success. Also the number of points of the people who upvote. These are still important but secondary. To become product of the day now you need the best average of upvotes per hour across the day. Ex: Let's say your product has 40 upvotes per hour across the day, and 500 upvotes total. You could win against a product with 600 upvotes total but that had an average of 30 upvotes per hour. This happens all the time. This rule explains why, every day, you see winning products with less upvotes total. Have you also noticed these rules applying in your recent launches? =)

Replies

Nicolas GreniΓ©
Nice one @enzo_avigo! That was a gut feeling I had too. Was this confirmed officially? How do you think comments impact ranking?
Enzo Avigo (πŸ“Š june.so)
@picsoung it isn't and will never be. And it will change again in the next 12 months. I don't think comments impact much anymore. I think we once launched a product that was #2 and had 4x more genuine comments than the #1 that day (I think our launch had "only" 100 upvotes less)
Mustafa S.
Thundra Sidekick
Thundra Sidekick
Thank you Enzo for posting this. Openness is key to any platform's credibility. I feel that people need to share more about their launch experiences since it is not that easy to reach this kind of information. Regarding launches, most of the time, the #1 product is not that interesting, and I can easily find solid gems between #10 and #25. I am not sure whether focusing too much to be #1 is a worthwhile investment anymore. I would instead focus on the product and the problem which might have greater returns on investment in the long run.
Enzo Avigo (πŸ“Š june.so)
@milkers agreed, I wish every one was like you though. I'd say most people stay on the home page :)
Nelli  Orlova
I'm curious to ask: how to ensure a high average per hour? if your project is based in a certain region / time zone, your marketing efforts will lead to upvotes during a certain time frame, not balanced within 24 hrs
Enzo Avigo (πŸ“Š june.so)
@nelly_orlova you need to sequence your communication. For instance instead of sending a newsletter once, you can break your audience in 10 and send 10 newsletter =)
Arnob Mukherjee
Pretty well articulated man πŸ™Œ
Karthik Tatikonda
The Upvote rate is what I'm listening to these days more often. Well written article Enzo, Thanks for sharing.
Vishal Godhwani from Brew Money
Brew Money | Take control of your crypto
Hey Enzo, thank you for sharing such a detailed analysis. This will surely help a lot of makers planning to launch :)
This will be taken into consideration. Thanks for sharing!
Enzo Avigo (πŸ“Š june.so)
@qudsia_ali happy it helps! let me know how your launch goes :)
Micky Nguyen
Thank you so much for such valuable information!
Micky Nguyen
Could you share more about your experience in launching a product on PH? As I know you have launched 12 products so far. Our team plan to launch our product in Feb 2023. We have dug into PH community for months but still get confused by a lot of chaotic information. Thanks a lot!
Jacopo Lai
Wow! That's great research. You answered on of my biggest queries. Thanks a lot. The per hour module looks exactly what's happening.
Enzo Avigo (πŸ“Š june.so)
@jacopo_lai something I haven't mentioned is the important to communicate all day with your community to get engagement all day :)
Jacopo Lai
@enzo_avigo I totally agree! :)
Richard Gao
Thank you for the tips! I read product hunt's beginner's guide and they mentioned a lot of similar stuff, but this goes in greater detail and provides actionable insights.
Enzo Avigo (πŸ“Š june.so)
@richard_gao2 yes, I couldn't find this tips in the traditional guides tbh :)
Mike Kennedy
I plan to launch here soon and this information is very helpful! Much appreciated!
David Tse
Thanks for the tips! How long can people vote on your product? Is it only the one day (24 hrs) or can your product be on Product Hunt for upvotes throughout the week or even month?
Atle Myhrer Knudtzon
Thanks for sharing @enzo_avigo! Love the June.so product btw
Konrad S.
Sorry, I don't understand: 40 upvotes per hour across the day average = 960 upvotes per day, not 500
Riya Toppo
Thank you for providing this insight; we will take into consideration the rate of upvotes per hour.
JoannaNIU
Thanks for sharing! So valuable for our launching!