Why you need to pre-launch your next product.
October 11, 2006
Have you noticed that most of the big product launches lately have first gone through a "pre-launch" phase? Have you ever wondered why?
I decided to give pre-launch a try on my latest product release, Article Builder, to see if a pre-launch really does sell more product. The numbers are in, and let me tell you, the pre-launch made a huge difference in my bottom line.
Pre-Launching Creates Buzz
Pre-launching a product means letting people know about the product 30 to 60 days ahead of the actual date that they can purchase the product. There is nothing new about doing this. Movie studios for years have heavily advertised their films many months before you can go see them. Recording artists often advertise their upcoming albums well before they can be purchased.
Letting people know ahead of time about your product creates buzz. It gets people talking about the product in the forums and to their friends and family. This causes more people to go to your pre-launch site to read about it, and builds anticipation for the actual release date.
Pre-Launching Allows For User Input
In the case of software products, pre-launching gives you a chance to show people how the product works and get feedback on it. For Article Builder, I collected as many opinions and comments as I could on the software during the 30 day pre-launch phase. I applied many of the suggestions prior to launching, so that by the time it actually launched, it was three times as good as what I had first created!
There is no better way to sell a product than to find out exactly what your customer base wants, and then sell it to them! Making the product the absolute best it can be before the actual sales date ensures a much higher conversion rate and a lot more sales.
Pre-Launching Helps You Build A List
If you supply a "subscribe for more information" box on your pre-launch page, then people who want to get more information or be notified when the product actually launches are added to your email list. This is great for keeping them up to date about coming changes and improvements in your product up to launch date.
To make sure you get the most number of subscribers, be sure and give them a reward for giving out their email address. With Article Builder I sent people the URL to a video where they could watch the software in action, if they were willing to get on the pre-launch list.
The benefits of having the person on that list doesn't stop after the product launches, however. Even if the person chose not to buy, you can still send other offers their way that they may take you up on. It’s a great way to continue to earn from people who may have not even purchased your pre-launch product!
For Article Builder I was able to get over 2,000 people on the email list! You can imagine how that has helped me in selling additional back-end products. So you certainly will want to offer an opt-in box on the pre-launch page.
Summing It All Up
These are great reasons to pre-launch your next product: it creates buzz, it allows you to get feedback and improve the product, and it builds an email list of people interested in the subject area. All three are key points that boost your bottom line.
For me personally, I will not be launching any new products without a pre-launch first!
Comments
8 Responses to “Why you need to pre-launch your next product.”
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. He is the creator of a suite of popular software tools, including: Jonathan L Leger 
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I agree with you Jonathan. I have created a site, targeted for local country. Within two weeks of pre-launch, I have got more than 2,000 subscribers at my site and that was really great!
Thanks for sharing this info.
Let others know the great impact of pre-launch!
Bitol
When you do a pre-launch is there an investment you are making to advertise without any return for a couple months?
I'd also think that already having a huge list or friends with list would be an advantage that the average web marketer does not have access to.
Hi Jonathan
I know from experience that a pre-launch buzz works. Otherwise I would not have subscribed to your list and tried out your product.
It works although i have not applied this concept, but I have plans to use it later for my future projects.
May Ong
OnlineInternetMarketingTip.com
Thank you for the article, I would try to use this technique next time!
Tim:
If you don't have an email list yourself, getting JV partners in on the pre-launch is a good option as well.
I never invest money in pay-per-click campaigns for pre-launch. I always let the affiliates and JV partners handle that so they can profit from it. I don't like to soak up my partners' potential earnings.
A believable pre-launch also makes a pricing policy more believable. While "I sell only 100 at this price" might seem believable, a pre-launch indicates that someone still works on the product. This is far more honest as opposed to offers that do NOT claim that they are beta (I would claim that at least 70% of sales letters promise things that are never delivered in the first "version" of a product, ebook or other service).
A pre-Launch works only if you promote affiliate products and do not the pre-launch yourself. A recent example of such a successful pre-launch is
http://www.semmy.name/recommendations/projectx.html
sorry for the typo above!
The last paragraph should have read like this:
A pre-launch works ALSO (!) if you promote affiliate products and do not the pre-launch yourself.
Good advice. Any marketer who does not keep consumer psychology in mind will not be very successfull.