I painstakingly analyzed a year's worth of data from 2023 so we can settle this once and for all.
52 weeks.
365 days.
Which day is best for launching?
Definition of "best"
Before we even attempt to answer the question, we need to agree on what "best" means.
Do we mean:
- The day most likely day to garner a lot of votes?
- Or to become Product of the Week?
- Or even Product of the Month?
None of these perfectly describe "best". I'm afraid we'll have to look at them all.
Wait up.
Product of the Week? Product of the Month?
What are these?
Every day, Product Hunt announces the top five products for the day, based on votes (mostly). The very best product sitting atop this list is crowned Product of the Day.
Product of the Week and Product of the Month work the same way.
Data-driven approach to determine the best Product Hunt launch day
I took weekly data from Product Hunt's 2023 leaderboard, capturing only the top five launches every week.
Product Hunt resets their daily "race" at 00:00 PST, so I set my script to work with this timezone.
Data oddities
I had to exclude two launches from this analysis because they kept crashing my script.
Also, take a look at this:
Arc for iOS did not to secure Product of the Day but managed to nail Product of the Week.
How does that work?
I found at least one other instance like this just by quickly scanning 60-odd rows of data.
I'm not sure why this happens.
If you do, please let me know.
Let's now dive into the results.
Weekly best
There is a widely held belief that launching on a Tuesday is best.
Is this true?
Let's see.
The Top Five Weekly products had more Tuesday launches than any other day.
Specifically, there were 13% more Tuesdays than the next best day, Thursday. Wednesday was next, with 14% fewer.
So yes, Tuesday is a good choice if you want to be among the best for the week.
But!
Wednesday was the prime day for securing the #1 Product of the Week title.
These are the numbers: 9, 14, 16, 7, 1, 2, 2 (Monday to Sunday).
Did you see that number 1?
That lone Friday launch intrigues me.
Think about it: In the entire year of 2023, out of hundreds of thousands of launches, only one Friday launch topped its week.
It was Remote Talent. Its launch managed to achieve what no other launches were able to.
How cool is that?
Monthly best
It turns out that both Tuesday and Wednesday came up on top again for Product of the Month, with Wednesday being better by a hair's width.
As you can see, people's claim about Tuesday being "best" is not completely true.
But I do wonder if we've all got it completely backwards.
If Tuesday and Wednesday launches go on to become Products of the Week and Month, doesn't it mean that those days are competitive?
Therefore, to be avoided?
Votes
In the table below, you can see that Wednesday launches accumulate more votes than any other day.
There are two ways to look at it:
Wednesday attract the highest calibre competitors, therefore to be avoided.
Or, more people visit Product Hunt on Wednesdays, therefore it's good for exposure and spreading awareness.
I'm not sure which one is right. What do you think?
Closing words
While this analysis has been fun, please don't take it too seriously.
Firstly, past performance does not guarantee future results.
Secondly, there have been reports of founders unnaturally gathering votes, either through spamming or even buying them.
(To be clear, I'm not accusing the products mentioned in this article. They were likely above board.)
Large communities always attract opportunistic individuals who take things too far. Product Hunt is no exception.
The best thing you can do is to keep building genuine followers organically and consistently.
Good luck with your launch!
