BlogGuide
What a launch page needs before the day, and what it does not
The eight things a launch page has to carry, in the order a visitor meets them. Everything else is what you do after the first hundred visitors.
· updated Sep 2, 2026 · 3 min read · 3 products
The short answer
Short answer: a launch page needs eight things. One sentence saying what it is, one image proving it, one button, the price, who it is for, what it is not, some proof, and a way to reach a human. Everything else is optional and most of it hurts. A visitor decides in about eight seconds, and every extra section spends some of them.
A launch page is not a website. It is one screen doing one job, and the job is to get a visitor from confused to decided before they close the tab.
This is the list, in the order a visitor meets it. It comes out of watching hunts land on the board and seeing which pages the club actually clicks through.
The eight things
1. One sentence. What it is, for whom, in plain words. Not the tagline you are proud of. The sentence you would say to a friend in a bar. If it needs a second sentence to make sense, it is not the sentence yet.
2. One image that proves it. A screenshot of the real thing, or a thirty second recording. Not an illustration of an abstract concept. People believe screenshots and skip illustrations.
3. One button. Sign up, or try it, or buy it. One. A page with four calls to action has none, because choosing is work and work is where people leave.
4. The price, on the page. Not behind a contact form. A visitor who cannot find the price assumes it is expensive and leaves, and you never see that in your analytics.
5. Who it is for, in their words. One line. Naming your audience out loud costs you the people who were never going to buy and wins the ones who were.
6. What it is not. The bravest section and the highest converting one. Say what it does not do and every remaining claim becomes believable.
7. Proof, of whatever kind you actually have. A real number, a named user, a screenshot of a message. On day one you may have none. Then say something true instead: how long you worked on it, why you built it. An invented testimonial is worse than an empty page.
8. A way to reach a human. An email address is enough. On launch day it is the difference between a bug report and a bad comment.
What to leave out
An animated hero that delays the content. A logo wall of companies who have not used it. A four step how it works when the product is a text box. A newsletter popup on first paint. A comparison table against a competitor nobody asked about. Each one is defensible and all of them together are why the page is now four screens tall.
The rule for the day before
Open the page on a phone, on cellular, and count the seconds until you understand what it is. If it is over eight, cut something. Do not add. The four weeks before that day are in how to launch when nobody knows you, and the week itself runs on the rally.
The assets you still have to make
The page is written. These three are what stands between the page and a launch that looks finished.
The cover shot and the social crops, free and in the browser
You need one image at 1200 by 630 and two crops for the places you will post. This makes all three from a screenshot in about five minutes.
Pros
- Free
- Presets already sized for the platforms
- No install, no account to start
Cons
- Fewer scenes than the paid renderers
- You set the brand up again each time
The thirty second recording, with cursor zoom so people can see the click
A recording outperforms a screenshot on a launch page and takes less time to make than three good screenshots do. Cursor zoom is the part that makes it readable on a phone.
Pros
- Cursor zoom and captions built in
- Native app, so the frame rate holds
- One time price
Cons
- Mac only
- Not an editor, complex cuts need something else
For the logo wall you are allowed to have: the tools you integrate with
Not for fake customer logos. For the honest version, the services your product connects to, pulled through an API so they stay current and correctly sized.
Pros
- Consistent sizing and background handling
- One request per logo, no asset hunting
- Free tier covers a landing page
Cons
- Third party dependency on a page you want fast
- Paid above modest volume
Questions
How long should a launch page be?
One screen for the decision, and as much as you like below it for the people who scrolled. The eight items above fit in about one and a half screens on a phone. Length is not the problem, order is: everything that decides has to be above everything that explains.
Do I need testimonials on launch day?
No, and inventing them is the fastest way to lose the room. If you have no users yet, say something true instead: what you built, how long it took, who it is for. Honest beats polished on a first launch every time.
Should the price be on the launch page?
Yes. A visitor who cannot find a price assumes the worst and leaves without telling you. If pricing is genuinely not settled, say what it will be and when, in a sentence. Silence reads as expensive.
What image works best on a launch page?
A screenshot of the real product, or a short recording of it doing the thing. Illustrations of an abstract idea test worse than a plain screenshot because they prove nothing. If the interface is not photogenic yet, that is a product signal worth reading.
