How to boost your sales with pre-orders
Pre-orders get people excited. They tap into a part of your customers' personalities such as the explorer, or the pioneer which engages them. Drinks enthusiasts and drinks trade buyers want their hands on the newest, most exclusive products.
A pre-order campaign can boost your brand, generate hype, and attract customers. Pre-orders give you certainty. They let you determine packaging splits and guarantee revenue.
The most effective pre-order campaigns emphasise scarcity and add value.
These product launches truly warrant attention and get people excited. Effective pre-orders can be run for a new flagship product, seasonal releases, or an incredible annual special that is always in high demand!
Lure in buyers by adding value such as:
Early-bird discounts on pre-orders
Bulk discounts
Merch and point-of-sale material
Promotion as a venue in a launch event
How to run a pre-order campaign
1) Be organised
Ensure your pre-orders go off without a hitch by planning how you are going to run your pre-order.
Questions to ask yourself
Are you going to package the product beforehand? Some suppliers use pre-orders to determine package splits, others package it before launching the pre-order to avoid any scheduling issues, to get marketing content and to make sure the product is exactly what they want to send out. It's up to you to decide what approach you want to take for your business.
Are you going to add value with an offer? Decide on your terms and conditions and get your copy ready for your product descriptions and trade mailers.
The big one - make a schedule.
Make a timeline
When deciding what day your new product is being shipped or delivered, and launched in venues allow plenty of time for things to go wrong such as keg badges not turning up or canning lines not playing ball.
For example, I used to organise nationwide launches of new products. I would talk to the brewers about when to expect the new product to be packaged. I would allow an extra 1-2 weeks before delivery in case anything was delayed. I would also communicate with trade customers the product launch date and when they could start selling it. I dedicated social media posts to the venues, taking part, and getting consumers excited.
Logistics
Your orders list on Sellar helps you stay organised in fulfilling your pre-orders as you can sort by dispatch date, pre-order products, delivery type and payment status.
Using the pre-orders feature on Sellar will help you with order fulfillment, delighting your customers with faster service.
2) Don't oversell
When you run a pre-order you want to avoid overselling. You don't want to make that phone call to that excited new venue you're working with to let them down. Some suppliers even use pre-orders to gauge quantity and packaging split.
By managing all of your pre-orders in Sellar you can completely avoid overselling.
Sellar's pre-order functionality and inventory table allows you to view all your stock at a glance.
You can also limit customers to maximum order quantities. This can ensure everyone can get their fill of your exciting new product and that your brand gets the largest footprint across the UK.
3) Promote it
Use your marketing channels:
Social media
Trade mailing list
Website
Email signatures
Field sales promotion
Running a pre-order on Sellar enables you to not only capture inbound pre-orders but to also use it as a tool for capturing orders in the field when you and your team visit trade customers and when the product isn't ready yet - hell yeah 🙌
On your website, you could add to your trade page, post a blog all about your new, exciting product launch - don't forget you can add a specific link to your pre-order product in Sellar.
You could also update your Sellar storefront banner to show that you have a pre-order available.
It can be highly effective to pre-empt your pre-order by telling people about it before it happens. 28% of pre-orders are placed on the first day they become available.
Don't worry if there's a lull part of the way through your pre-order - that's the time to ramp up your marketing communications about it. Pre-orders tend to pick up again close to the dispatch date. Don't forget to consistently keep talking about your pre-order in your marketing channels.
You can continue to promote your pre-order after it's happened. For instance, in your email campaigns to your trade customers you could release more stock: "Missed out on pre-order? We've got 5 kegs left".
What suppliers think of pre-orders on Sellar:
4) Learn from it
Use your customer and sales data from your pre-order to inform a variety of elements in your business:
New product development
Production schedules
Packaging splits
Collect feedback on your processes and product from all of those who got involved with your pre-order and use this to inform your marketing and to build stronger relationships with your audience.
This will add up to give you a competitive advantage and stand out in the market.
Top Tips:
Be as accurate as you can in your product description - I know it can be difficult if the beer is still being made - but try and tell them what colour to expect, the general flavour profile, and whether it will be hazy or not.
Having your marketing materials ready helps you accurately tell trade buyers about your product. Get your artwork ready and you could also provide a mock-up of a can and keg badge on a tap with a pour so they can envisage the product in their venue.
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