You’re finally ready to introduce your next big product, but don’t know where to start from with publicity. In this article, we shared 10 pre-launch email marketing strategies for eCommerce stores that can get you started.

Launching a new product can be tricky.

In addition to ensuring the product meets and exceeds customer expectations, business owners also have to find the right market and build a loyal customer base. With over four billion worldwide email users, pre-launch email campaigns offer the right channel to build anticipation and prep your prospects for the new launch. 

However, a pre-launch campaign is not a walk in the park; it often fails if not properly planned.

To make it easier, we put together the top ten pre-launch email marketing strategies for eCommerce stores. But first, let us discuss why it matters.

You Might Also Like: The Top 15 Small Business Challenges and How to Navigate Them

Why Pre-Launch Email Campaigns?

Even with social media’s continuous growth, email marketing still remains one of the most reliable and widely used channels for a marketing campaign.

You must demonstrate how your new release will contribute to resolving your consumers’ difficulties if you want them to anticipate buying your new product eagerly.

Your objective with a pre-launch email should be to revive lost customers, boost brand awareness and create anticipation.

With an eCommerce pre-launch email campaign, you will be able to:

• Build your customers’ interest before the debut of your product. Email marketing for pre-launches is an excellent way to spread relevant insights about your new product.
• Gradually reveal information in your upcoming product launch emails up to the launch day. This method develops more interest since you continuously update your subscribers on what to expect on launch day.
• Rekindle lost leads by restimulating their interest with a product that will suit their needs, etcetera.

Now, let us learn some pre-launch email marketing strategies that can guarantee the success of your new product’s launch.

Recommended For You: Steady Streams Of Organic Leads to Grow Your Business this New Year

Top Pre-launch Email Marketing Strategies for your eCommerce Store

Here are our top ten favorite strategies for eCommerce pre-launch email marketing:

1. Release Teasers

Customers are interested in more than just behind-the-scenes stuff.

When you tease your audience with information about your product, a feature or package option you feel they will love, you might be able to increase their interest and get them anxiously waiting for launch day.

They’ll feel like they’re part of a special membership group that knows more than everyone else, which will delight your prospects.

Before the big unveiling, you can reveal close-up product images that merely hint at a portion of it.

You could reveal several parts, excerpts from your planning material, or a portion of the package.

When you post a mysterious picture of a “Coming Soon” product, your prospects may start wondering what it might be, thus raising expectations and building excitement.

2. Personalize Your Emails

This step involves grouping your email subscribers based on the time they registered, their expectations, and the products they are interested in.

You group them to ensure you send specific emails to the right audience. That way, you’ll be able to carry them along until the day of your product’s launch.

3. Leverage Social Media

A social media pre-launch marketing plan can help you raise your audience’s interest in your new products.

Your goal should be to establish a strong connection with your audience through available social media platforms.

After building a relationship, you can funnel your followers onto your email list and vice versa.

4. Work with The Right Influencers

While you’re working on your social media, remember to enlist a prominent personality to help advertise your products and recommend that they join your email list to avoid missing your crucial updates.

Studies reveal that 71 percent of consumers are inclined to purchase products based on recommendations from social media.

Individuals tend to trust other people’s recommendations considerably more than they trust advertisements from companies or brands.

So, when you have the right influencer promoting your product during pre-launch, you’re likely to have an increased demand for it.

5. Devise an Attention-Grabbing Subject Line

Your subject line will determine whether or not your readers will read your entire email.

Your clients receive countless emails every day. Hence, your email needs to stand out. You want to pique your audience’s interest enough that they want to learn more.

Remember to include the preview text for your email body, which appears after the subject line. People often disregard this tip, but it can work wonders in grabbing your readers’ attention as they check their inboxes.

You may also like: How to write product descriptions that sell

6. Plan a Sequence of Emails

Instead of promoting your product’s debut with a single email, why not try a more effective practice by sending out a couple more?

Sending only one email increases the likelihood that clients will forget you reached out to them. Timing and wording are other crucial factors that influence how well your emails perform.

• Send a teaser email two weeks before launch, aiming to inform your customers about your arriving product, while also building anticipation.
• Announce the product a week before launch, thus ending the suspense you created with your previous email.
• Send an email on launch day to announce the product’s arrival.
• Send a follow-up email at least a week later as a reminder of the qualities your new products offer.

7. Use Stunning Email Design that Complements Your Product

Never underestimate the importance of an eye-catching design in your email campaign.

However, the design needs to complement your products, whether your business favors a minimalist aesthetic or bright, colorful tones.

It lets you subtly communicate to the recipients that you’re a firm that prioritizes congruence and consistency. 

These values can contribute to your business’s success when you uphold them.

8. Use Animated Graphics in Your Emails

Using images and graphics can effectively retain your readers’ interest in what you’re offering.

Your content becomes more compelling to read when you include a GIF or animated graphics, especially when they are unique. After all, reading an entire post without images can be boring.

It’s a good idea to have these animated graphics and GIFs illustrate how clients should expect your product to work. That way, you’re conveying a message and retaining their interest at the same time.

Recommended For You: Gain powerful, actionable on-page optimization insights with Surfer SEO to outrank your competitors and dominate the organic competition.

9. Engage Readers with Videos

Using videos is one of many effective means of communicating information to your prospects via email.

This strategy generates enthusiasm in readers who want to learn more about your offerings.

You can use a video as a direct substitute for a lengthy article. This way, your viewers are not bored from reading hundreds of words you’ve written down.

Another reason videos are effective is that you can easily convey your ideas since your recipients will watch you illustrate and at the same time listen to your content. Hence, you are showing them the picture you’re painting instead of having them imagine it when they read.

If, however, you feel the need to write, you can also include a video containing product descriptions and reviews, testimonials, or messages from you (the CEO).

Related article: How to create compelling content your customers will love.

10. Include Customer Reviews in Your Content

A staggering 88 percent of online consumers admit that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations?

When you include customer reviews in your emails, you advertise your business’ legitimacy and arouse trust from your prospects.

You will see how much difference it makes when you add a few reviews from beta testers or customers who have used your products.

Also, ensure you are including recent reviews because a 2020 study shows that 50 percent of consumers feel that reviews from within the last two weeks are more likely to influence their decisions.

Need to outrank competitors? Get hundreds of quality backlinks to boost domain authority, generate referral traffic and get ahead of the competitions.

eCommerce Pre-Launch Email Marketing Strategies: What Next?

Support your pre-launch emails with additional channels to reach more people.

Consider using announcement banners on your website to raise brand awareness and conduct a successful launch campaign. Also, post about the product on online forums and social media and you might want to reach out to influencers in your niche to promote the launch to their audience. 

Your options are countless!

You just need to identify the ones you can access at your business’s current level and go for them. If done well, your product adoption rates will improve in less time like we need in just 21 days.

Recommended For You: How We made Six Figures In 21 Days With Pre-Launch Emails

Hand-Picked For You:

• FAQs: How to Start a Business In 2023 
• FAQs: How to Grow Your Business In 2023 
• FAQs: How to Fund Your Business In 2023