How to Get Upvotes on a Product Launch Without Cheating
The honest way to get upvotes on a product launch is to ask the people who would use your product, one by one, with a short personal message. Then make voting easy for them. Give strangers a reason to vote too: a clear tagline and a product they can try in a minute. Buying votes or creating extra accounts is against the rules on many platforms, and a platform that filters votes won’t count them.
We run LaunchGP, a launch directory with votes, so keep in mind that we have a stake in this topic. The first half of this guide applies to any platform. The second half explains exactly how votes are counted on our grid.
Where do real votes come from?
Votes on a launch tend to come from two groups.
People who already know you or the product. Beta testers, early users, people who replied to a post about it, colleagues who have the problem you solve. This group is small, and it’s the one you can reach directly.
Strangers browsing the platform. They vote when the product looks useful to them. You can’t message them, but you can make the listing worth a click: a tagline that says what it does (how to write a tagline for your product), a screenshot of the real product and a description that’s honest about what works today.
You can reach the first group directly. The second you can only reach through the listing itself.
How should you ask for votes?
Make a list before launch day
Write down everyone who has shown real interest. For each one, note how you know them and why the product might matter to them. It doesn’t take long, and it’s the part of launch prep we’d least want to skip.
Write to each person directly
A personal message is easier to answer than a broadcast. Keep it short:
- What you launched, in one line.
- Why you thought of them.
- The link to your product page.
- How voting works on that platform.
- A way to give feedback if they’d rather do that.
Ask for an honest look, not a guaranteed vote. People who try the product and like it are the votes you want.
Explain the mechanics
Every platform has its own rules, and a supporter who doesn’t know them may cast a vote that doesn’t count. On LaunchGP:
- Voting needs an account. Signing up is signing in: we email a link, no password.
- A vote from an account younger than a day is held back, then starts counting once the account is a day old, as long as that happens before the chequered flag. The hold is there to slow down accounts made only to vote. It also means a supporter who creates an account in the last day of the round may not be counted, so tell people early in the week.
- Each person votes once per car per round.
Remind once, midweek
On a weekly race you have seven days. Share on Monday, then send one reminder midweek to the people who said “later.” We’d stop at one reminder. More than that starts to feel like spam to the people receiving it.
What doesn’t work, and why?
Many platforms have rules against manipulated votes, so read each one’s. On LaunchGP, every vote is stored, but only counted votes move the timing tower. Here is what stops counting:
| What people try | What happens on LaunchGP |
|---|---|
| Creating fresh accounts to vote | Votes from accounts under a day old are held back until the account is a day old, and don’t count if the round ends first |
| Many votes from one office or one home network | One network counts once per car |
| Trading votes with another maker on the same grid | If two makers racing the same round vote for each other’s cars, both votes stop counting |
| Voting for your own product | Not allowed |
| Paying for a front slot to get more votes | A front slot buys a starting place. It never adds votes or points, and the grid slot never breaks a tie |
Moderators can see held-back votes per car and can hide products or disqualify entries. The moderation tools have no way to edit votes or points.
Beyond the rules, gamed votes muddy your own numbers: the people behind them weren’t interested in the product, so they make it harder to tell what the launch did.
What are the votes worth?
Votes set the running order. At the chequered flag the top 10 score points (25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1) toward the season’s drivers’ and constructors’ championships, shown on the standings. Ties go to whoever reached that vote count first.
The top three keep a permanent dofollow link from their product page. Every free car has a dofollow link during its race week, and every finisher moves on to LaunchGP Endurance, where votes keep adding to the car’s pace.
A simple vote plan for race week
- The week before: your list of people, a message drafted for each, an account reminder for anyone new to the platform.
- Monday: send the messages, post your launch post, reply to every comment.
- Wednesday: one reminder, with something new to say (a fix, an answer to a common question).
- Before the flag: a short thank-you to everyone who tried it, whether they voted or not.
If you haven’t entered yet, the SaaS launch checklist covers the rest of the prep, and how to launch a SaaS without an audience puts it in order.
FAQ
Is it OK to ask friends to upvote my launch?
Some platforms discourage asking for upvotes directly, so check the rules first. Asking people you know to look at the product and tell you what they think is generally fine. If they like it and want to vote, tell them how voting works.
Can I buy upvotes for a product launch?
You shouldn’t. It breaks the rules of most launch platforms, and votes from people who don’t care about the product tell you nothing. On LaunchGP, money buys a starting slot and never votes or points.
Why didn’t my friend’s vote count?
On LaunchGP, a vote doesn’t count (or doesn’t count yet) when it comes from a brand-new account (it counts once the account is a day old, if that’s before the flag), when it’s a second vote from the same network for the same car, or when it’s part of a vote swap between two makers on the same grid.
Do upvotes matter after launch week?
The final order decides points and the podium, and the top three keep a permanent dofollow link. After that, votes and real visits keep adding pace in LaunchGP Endurance.
How many upvotes do I need to win?
There’s no fixed number. It depends on the other cars in that round. The timing tower shows each car’s gap to the leader in votes during the week.