Do you participate in pre-order campaigns? What incentives do you like to see with pre-order campaigns?
Over the years, a lot of people have participated in many pre-order campaigns. Some included special gifts, bonus discounts, exclusive offers and so much more.
How much does it cost to run a successful pre order campaign? How should you go about setting pricing for items you wish to sell? Is there a formula that you follow while creating successful pre order campaigns for a product?
If you are also having these questions, then you are at the right place.
In this article, we have covered pre order marketing strategy, why it is important, how to plan a pre order campaign for a product launch, etc.
What is a Pre Order Campaign?
A pre-order campaign is one of the marketing strategies where a company creates hype and excitement among customers and focuses on taking orders from them for a new product before the official product release.
Pre-order campaigns allow customers to pre-purchase products before they reach their final destination in the store.
They’ll have access to them at discounted prices before anyone else does.
When creating a pre order campaign, you need to take into consideration the following factors:
- Have enough inventory to fulfill the demand and reach the expected shipping date.
- Price the item appropriately.
- Make sure to provide incentives and rewards to buyers.
What is the Purpose of Pre-ordering?
Have you ever considered pre-ordering items through Amazon or other websites? If yes, then this post will definitely answer some questions regarding the benefits of doing so.
Pre-order refers to placing an order for an item before it is officially released.
The main purpose of offering pre-order features is to know the level of demand for the new product among their target audience.
Pre-orders are beneficial to both consumers and businesses.
First, they allow consumers to get ahead of the game and save a little cash. Second, they also encourage retailers to stock up on inventory, since those goods would sit idle otherwise.
Pre-orders are popular at times, especially during the holiday season. Some companies offer discounts to customers who place their orders early, and these discounts can be substantial.
For Magento store owners, there is a Magento 2 Pre Order Extension that allows customers to pre-order or backorder the products in advance that are not available or out of stock.
Why Do eCommerce Business Offer Pre-Orders?
Have you ever thought about why are pre-orders important and why these business owners offer pre-order features to their online stores? Let’s check what are the reasons and benefits behind this:
- Pre-orders generate revenue before any product is shipped. When customers pre-order, they know exactly what they’re getting and are less likely to cancel their order at the last minute.
- You get early access to high-demand products. There’s no guarantee that these items will sell out in time to ship them to your store, but if you do have stock, you may sell them first and make profits.
- People don't want to wait until the item ships to get it. They'll buy it now, even if they're not sure how long it'll take to get to them. If you're running low on inventory, you might lose sales waiting to ship an item.
- Your product gets higher visibility. Customers see your product pop up on the website and other channels, which increases its potential to sell well.
- You give yourself a chance to get more sales. If your product sells pre-orders, you get paid immediately after the customer places her or his order.
- You get feedback about the size and demand of your audience. By offering pre-orders, you can learn whether people are interested in your product.
- You increase your brand's social proof. Once your product hits pre-order status, it shows that people actually want it.
- Customers will get discounts. Many retailers offer special pre-order prices to incentivize customers to buy now.
- You attract fans and followers. Fans and followers are much more likely to share and talk about your product.
- You build anticipation. If you offer pre-orders, you create interest in your product over time.
- You get to know the feedback, comments, or excitement among customers about your product. If customers were waiting for such kind of product for so long, then customers leave their comments to let you know.
- You can use pre-orders to test market your product. If your product sells well, you won't need to worry about getting enough inventory to meet demand.
How Do You Increase Pre-Order Sales?
How do you get more customers to pre-order your new product?
There are simple ways to encourage people to place their orders early.
Pre-orders give you a head start selling your product, allowing you to generate revenue before your product even launches.
They also enable you to build momentum around your launch date and promote your launch day events.
- Create hype among customers
- Try to reach out to more audience
- Keep on trends like social media and other digital channels
- Keep your website updated about all new launches
- Offer excellent customer service during the product launch campaign
When pre-orders are successful, they boost sales, improve customer loyalty, and increase brand awareness.
This is why you should always offer customers a chance to pre-order.
Steps for Successfully Launch a Pre-Order Campaign to Build Product
How to run a pre-order campaign? Pre-order campaigns are an effective way to drive traffic and increase brand awareness in anticipation of upcoming product launches. These campaigns are often run alongside social media posts or email blasts that make people aware of the launch date.
However, building successful pre order campaigns for a product requires careful planning, strategy, and execution.
We've put together some steps to help you get started!
- Understand Your Market & Product
- Define Your Target Customer Base
- Develop a Message that Connects with Consumers
- Build a Social Media Presence
- Set Up Your Website & Develop An Online Shop
- Start Building Relationships
- Prepare Marketing Materials
- Plan A Budget
- Identify Influencers
- Produce Content That Captivates the Interest of Users
Before launching your pre-order campaign, you need to understand what your market wants. What do they want? How much do they want? Why do they want this specific item? How will they use this product once it arrives at their doorstep? Once you have answered these questions, you can start defining your customer base, and how best to approach them.
Having an understanding of your product and market will help you make informed decisions regarding pricing, promotion, and positioning.
You need to understand everything about your business and what makes it unique before you can sell it. Once you have a clear understanding of what makes your company special, you can determine how you should price your products and distribute them.
This is the second step towards success because without knowing who your target audience is, you cannot effectively advertise the product. Who are you marketing to? What do they care about? How can you connect with them?
Knowing these questions helps you create your ecommerce pre order strategy so that you can reach your intended audience and convert them into customers.
Once you have defined your target audience, you can begin narrowing down who exactly your ideal customers are. If you’re selling flowers, then you may only want to sell to people that are looking to buy flowers.
On the other hand, if you’re selling concentrates, you might only focus on high-end consumers who enjoy high-quality products.
Your message should be powerful enough to drive consumers to want to purchase your product. Whether it’s a video, blog post, social media content, ad, etc., the point is to get people interested in your offer.
Once you know your target audience, you can use data analytics tools to segment your demographics and analyse consumer behaviour. You may even find that there is a particular interest group that you could cater to.
Once you know who your target audience is and what they care about, your next step is to build a strong online following. Most companies overlook their social media platforms because they feel that having a presence on those sites will only take away from sales. However, the opposite is actually true.
Having a strong digital footprint gives your brand recognition and credibility.
In addition, you can interact directly with your customer base and promote your products, making your website less of a static resource.
Also read:- Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies For eCommerce Websites
To make sure you know what your potential buyers want (and expect) from you, you should set up a website first to showcase your wares.
You should aim to build trust and credibility among your buyers before asking them for money. Make sure your site is aesthetically pleasing, informative, and functional.
You should definitely use a platform that is designed specifically for your industry, such as Magento for eCommerce & CMS or WooCommerce for blogs.
You should also choose a payment solution that works well for you. If you’ve already planned out your pre-order strategy, you should be able to get everything set up without much hassle.
Once you have built a solid foundation of trust with your clients, you should seek out opportunities to build relationships.
Don’t just ask for money though - try and connect with your customers and learn about what they are looking for.
After establishing a good relationship with your potential buyers, you should prepare marketing materials. You’ll want to create a flyer, a landing page on your website, and possibly a few social media posts.
All of these materials should highlight your product and the fantastic experience that comes along with purchasing it. In addition, you should explain any concerns or questions your potential buyer might have.
Once you have created your marketing material, you should plan a budget. Do not exceed your budget and over-promise yourself.
Focus on the success of the campaign and let your product speak for itself.
Influencer campaigns are a great way to increase engagement and trustworthiness on various social channels. When you use influencers, you will be able to generate more buzz and awareness around your brand.
These influencers can provide valuable insights into the target audience, and can even endorse your brand if they believe in it.
When you produce content that is interesting and engaging, users will follow your page and share your posts.
If you choose to use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social channels, you will be able to write compelling copy for each post.
Make sure that your content provides value to your audience rather than just selling your product.
Recommended read:- How To Create A Successful ECommerce Product Launch Strategy?
Wrap Up
Pre-order campaigns are a great way to get people interested in your product before it reaches store shelves. However, a successful pre order campaign requires forethought, planning, and execution.
Here we have tried to cover everything that makes sure your pre order campaign succeeds!
You can go through this complete guide and decide whether you should offer pre-ordering or not. No doubt that pre-ordering is considered one of the most popular eCommerce marketing strategies nowadays.
