Offering pre-orders for ecommerce is a sound strategy successful ecommerce store owners use.
It helps skyrocket your sales, prepares your team and capacity to take, and process orders efficiently before your product goes live. Pretty awesome, huh?
However, strong pre-order strategies aren’t easy to implement — tremendous amounts of research, planning, and fine-tuning go into successful pre-order campaigns.
Read this guide to learn how to make pre-orders work for your ecommerce business.
A pre-order is a purchase transaction made for an unreleased or out-of-stock product.
Merchants put up a pre-order price and deliverability information, while customers pay cash in advance to “reserve” stock once it becomes available.
Some of the benefits of pre-orders for businesses are:
Pre-ordering is the practice of buying an unreleased product as a way of reserving stock. Pre-order offers may also come with freebies and exclusive perks, like discounts and free memberships.
Take pre-orders at least four months before your product’s release. This will give you ample time to reflect on the product’s pre-order performance to gauge demand and manage inventory.
Pre-orders can be a powerful marketing and risk management tool rolled into one. It also lowers financial risks by guaranteeing product sales.
Successful pre-order campaigns are tied to effective ecommerce management.
To ensure your team’s up for the task, here are four proven tips to maximize pre-order sales:
Use high-resolution images that put the product in the best light. You can hire professional product photography and editing services for your hero shot.
3D product animations and explainer videos can also be used to capture customers’ attention.
The medium you choose will depend on your budget and the availability of creatives, including product renders and videos of your manufacturing line.
If you have the budget, incentivize pre-orders with exclusive benefits. Some benefits you can offer are:
You may also mention that stock is limited and leverage your customers’ fear of missing out to maximize sales. That should be enough to incentivize pre-ordering if you have an established customer base.
Email marketing is an affordable and effective way to promote pre-orders.
Since subscribers opted into your mailing list, your pre-order promotion is guaranteed to reach high-quality leads. A pre-launch email marketing campaign should highlight the benefits of pre-ordering.
It can also stir buzz by promoting contests, shareable coupon codes, and email “drip” campaigns that count the days leading to release.
Mix up your ecommerce marketing with social media ads, press releases, and other proven digital marketing tactics.
When creating marketing copy, don’t just focus on the product itself. Emphasize the pre-ordering experience along with its perks as selling points.
It’s also important to target content channels that your customer personas use—from social media to online forums.
Run a survey within your pre-launch email marketing campaign to learn where ideal customers spend their time online. This will benefit your pre-order campaign and other marketing strategies you’ll use in the future.
Pre-orders can maximize sales, lower risks, and yield valuable insights about your market. In return, customers can receive bonuses and guaranteed stock.
Done right, a pre-order campaign is a win-win for you and your customers.
To help you succeed with your pre-order strategy, enlist ecommerce experts to assist with tasks like product copywriting, email marketing, and social media advertising.
