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Published by: Marion Jones - Guest Post

You might have heard of, or come across, the term pre-order while shopping for digital gadgets, luxury products, or essentials.

The expression must have grabbed your eyeballs, or you might even have ordered it!

Isn't it exciting and valuable for you as a customer?

But as a business person, you probably have a lot of questions about pre-order marketing:

  • How do you benefit from pre-orders?
  • Will it increase sales?
  • Can pre-orders bring more customers to your store?
  • Can create a definite positive impact on your sales and traffic?
  • But how is that possible?
  • What is the hype around pre-order products anyway?
  • How can you use pre-orders to boost the sales and traffic to your eCommerce store?

So many questions!

And I'm sure you are dying to know the answers!

Well! Let us get into the details.

What is a Pre-order Sale?

Social Selling

A pre-order sale allows customers to order a product not currently available in stock or not yet released.

It is a valuable tool to increase sales for store owners.

eCommerce store owners could understand the current demand for the items and can stock the products accordingly. On the other hand, customers get to reserve the items even before they are officially available.

Pre-orders are an effective tool to gain sales traction!

Customers have two options when it comes to pre-ordering a product:

  1. Pay a small down payment to reserve the item
  2. Pay in full upfront

How Do Pre-Orders Work?

If you are an eCommerce store owner, there are many apps you can install with the appropriate features for pre-order sales.

The app should have the right components to run an effective campaign for communicating with your customers efficiently.

It should save the details of each pre-order sale in a pre-order dashboard or order management and, once the product is available, the customer will receive the required notifications via the app.

The products are then shipped as per the terms and conditions.

Benefits of Pre-ordering

The business and customers both benefit from pre-orders. The pre-order strategy can create excitement about the product in the client's mind.

Increase Sales

Increase Sales PreOrder Marketing

Pre-ordering is an effective way to increase eCommerce sales.

With pre-orders, you generate curiosity among your customers, maximizing revenue and brand awareness. It is an easy way to draw more traffic to your store.

With an effective app, you can send direct customer mails for promotional purposes.

Understand Product Demand

Pre-order is a better way to invoke customer interest in a particular product.

It will give store owners an idea about product requirements well in advance and store only the needed number, eliminating dead stock. Customers tend to display considerable interest in products with a pre-order facility.

Another way to use pre-ordering to your advantage is to gauge customer interest in a particular product instead of eventually ordering a large number of products.

Improve SEO

Pre-order pages increase search engine traffic by ranking for keywords related to the product even before release.

With product pages, you will find a better position than your competitors.

However, this will become a reality only if you use appropriate eCommerce SEO techniques and content strategy. You should keep track of the best SEO practices and marketing strategies to sell out super-quick.

Pre-order Marketing Tips to Introduce New Products

Eco Friendly Products

1. Plan Your Marketing Campaign Well in Advance

It would be best if you did not plan the pre-order marketing campaigns around the launch.

The planning should happen well in advance.

Marketers should invoke curiosity about the product and educate and inform the customers about the item. The deciding period for any product starts months before pre-launch, and what brands do during this period plays a significant role in post-launch success.

Pre-launch checkpoints for eCommerce store owners:

  • Plan awareness campaigns for different social media platforms
  • Keep customers up-to-date about product progress
  • Make use of email marketing campaigns
  • Create a product page
  • Conduct surveys and polls
  • Press release and related communications
  • Avoid improvisations or inconsistencies during the campaign

2. Create a Sense of Urgency During Pre-launch

Even if you wish to meet all customer requirements, it is an impossible feat.

So you can use the pre-launch campaign as an opportunity to build urgency among customers.

  • E.g., announce the number of items you have in stock and offer special discounts for the first ten orders.

You can also play with uncertainty by notifying them that they might not get a chance to buy your product for a long time if they don't pre-order right now or use social media for advertising your product launch and letting your customers know about the pre-order options.

3. Make Use of Influencer Marketing to Create Hype

Influencer marketing is gaining popularity among marketing trends and is the future of marketing.

Using influencer marketing can create brand awareness and hype about your product. This strategy will result in increased traffic and sales. However, when collaborating with influencers, you need to ensure that it does not look like another paid partnership.

If customers feel that it's a paid collaboration, they might stop buying altogether.

So it is vital to make the customers feel that the product is genuinely helpful, and the influencer is not focused on getting business. With transparency and audience respect, influencers can market the product efficiently.

Here are some savvy tips to try:

  • Redirect to the product page via the influencer's page
  • Let the influencer create a review video
  • Create a success story on how the influencer has benefitted from the product
  • Provide unique codes for the influencers to attract more customers

4. Regular Social Media Content

Content is a crucial element for any eCommerce business.

Posting content on social media at regular intervals will ensure that the campaign is live and is attracting customers.

There are different ways to market your content on various social media platforms:

  • Use email marketing software
  • Press releases on different websites
  • Guest blogs on relevant publications
  • Podcasts, webinars, and conferences
  • User manuals and guides
  • Provide community support

5. Be Ready for Pre-Order Success

We always hear that it is essential to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

But in case of pre-launch orders, expect the best and be prepared for success!

Ensure that your website is up and fully functional, without any downtime.

It would be best to manage the campaign on a different website that will not interrupt your business.

Choose a strong enough platform to handle high traffic and multiple orders. Schedule a pre-order limit as well.

6. Referral Programs

Social Proof Marketing

Word-of-mouth is an effective marketing strategy that is the most thriving of the lot.

You can implement referral programs to attract more customers and increase order volume. Since there are accompanying rewards and discounts, customers will be interested in spreading the news.

Referral programs for pre-order launches are an effective way to multiply your product presence:

  • Give a discount code or a credit for your customer who refers a person
  • Unique gifts or coupons when a customer refers a group of people
  • Social media contests with enticing prices
  • Use tools like referral candy to automate referral programs

Conclusion

Pre-order marketing is an effective strategy to lure customers, new and old!

To get the most from these tips and techniques, it is best to use a few in conjunction with each other to see which works best for you.

However, if you are planning for pre-order marketing, always choose an appropriate eCommerce platform capable of running the entire campaign and sales process.

If you are planning for WooCommerce development or any other platform, we can help you leverage your business opportunities with pre-order sales!


Author Bio

Marion Jones is a certified WooCommerce developer passionate about writing WooCommerce development. Her yearlong experience with CartKnitter helps to provide insightful articles for a wide range of customers.

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