Pre-Launch Marketing for eCommerce: Build Demand Before You Ship

The brands that sell out on launch day didn't get lucky. They didn't stumble into demand. They manufactured it — weeks or months before a single product shipped.

Every "overnight success" product launch you've seen followed a playbook. A waitlist that built anticipation. A drip campaign that educated and excited. A community that felt like insiders. And a launch event that felt urgent because everything before it had been leading to that moment.

You can do the same thing. Regardless of whether you're launching an entirely new brand or dropping a new product line on an existing store.

Here's the pre-launch playbook we use for eCommerce brands. Start 6-8 weeks before launch for best results. You can compress it to 3-4 weeks if you move fast.

Phase 1: The Foundation (6-8 Weeks Before Launch)

Build the Landing Page

Before you have inventory, before you have final packaging, before you have professional photos — you need a landing page. This is the hub of your entire pre-launch operation.

What the landing page needs:

• A headline that communicates the core promise: "The protein bar that actually tastes like a cookie" or "Finally, a moisturizer for people who hate moisturizer"
• 1-2 lifestyle images or mockups (doesn't need to be final product photography)
• A brief description of the product and what makes it different
• A waitlist signup form (email at minimum, phone number optional)
• An incentive to join: "Join the waitlist for early access + 15% off your first order"
• A social share mechanism: "Share with friends to move up the list" (optional but powerful)

Tech stack: You can build this on Shopify with a password-protected or "coming soon" theme page. Or use a standalone landing page tool (Carrd, Unbounce, or a simple Next.js page) and collect emails into Klaviyo directly.

The waitlist incentive matters. "Join the waitlist" by itself converts at maybe 10-15% of visitors. "Join the waitlist for early access and 15% off" converts at 25-40%. The incentive should feel exclusive — something waitlist members get that nobody else does.

Set Up Your Email Infrastructure

Every email you collect pre-launch is a potential Day 1 sale. Get your Klaviyo account (or whichever ESP you use) set up before you start driving traffic.

What to configure:

• Waitlist signup form connected to a dedicated Klaviyo list or segment
• Welcome email that fires immediately after signup (confirms they're on the list, sets expectations)
• A property or tag that identifies pre-launch subscribers (you'll want to segment these people forever — they're your earliest supporters)

Define Your Launch Narrative

This is the piece most brands skip. They think the product speaks for itself. It doesn't.

You need a story. Why does this product exist? What problem does it solve? Why now? Why should anyone care?

The narrative framework:

1. The problem: What frustration or gap exists in the market?
2. The failed solutions: What have people tried that doesn't work?
3. The insight: What did you discover or realize that nobody else has?
4. The product: How does this product deliver on that insight?
5. The proof: Why should anyone believe you?

This narrative drives every email, every social post, every ad, and every piece of content during the pre-launch period.

Phase 2: Build the Audience (4-6 Weeks Before Launch)

Paid Traffic to the Landing Page

Once your landing page is live, drive traffic to it. The goal is simple: collect as many qualified email addresses as possible before launch day.

Meta ads for waitlist building:

• Use a video or carousel ad that tells the product story
• CTA: "Join the Waitlist" (not "Shop Now" — there's nothing to shop yet)
• Target: lookalike audiences based on your existing customers (if you have them), or interest-based targeting for new brands
• Budget: $30-100/day, depending on your launch scale
• Expected cost per email: $1-5 (varies wildly by niche)

The math: If you spend $3,000 on ads and collect 1,500 emails at $2 each, and 15% of those emails convert on launch day at a $60 AOV, that's 225 orders x $60 = $13,500 in launch day revenue. 4.5x ROAS on the pre-launch spend alone.

Organic Content Strategy

Paid gets you volume. Organic gets you believers.

What to post during the pre-launch phase:

• Behind-the-scenes content. Show the product development process. Factory visits, prototype testing, packaging design decisions. People love watching things get made.
• Problem-centric content. Talk about the problem your product solves without revealing the product itself. Build tension. "Is anyone else frustrated by [problem]?" posts perform exceptionally well.
• Founder story content. Why you're building this. Personal stories create emotional connection. Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from a dorm room, and that origin story still matters 20 years later.
• Teaser content. Partial product reveals. A close-up of the texture. A glimpse of the packaging. A zoomed-in ingredient label. Tease, don't reveal.

Posting cadence: 3-5x per week on your primary platform (Instagram, TikTok, or both). Every post should link back to the waitlist landing page in your bio.

Influencer Seeding

Sending products to influencers before launch creates built-in social proof for Day 1.

How to do it right:

1. Identify 20-50 micro-influencers (10K-100K followers) in your niche
2. Send a personalized DM: "We're launching [product] in [X weeks] and would love for you to try it before anyone else. Can we send you a sample?"
3. Ship the product 3-4 weeks before launch so they have time to use it
4. Don't dictate what they say. Provide a brief, not a script.
5. Ask them to post during launch week (not before — you control the narrative timeline)

Expected response rate: 10-20% of cold DMs will say yes. Out of 50 outreach messages, expect 5-10 creators to agree.

Phase 3: Nurture the Waitlist (2-4 Weeks Before Launch)

Your waitlist isn't a static list. It's a living audience that needs to be warmed up.

The Pre-Launch Email Sequence

Send 3-5 emails over the 2-4 weeks before launch. Each email should build on the narrative and increase excitement.

Email 1: Welcome + Story (Immediately after signup)

• Thank them for joining
• Share the origin story of the product
• Set expectations: "We'll keep you posted as we get closer to launch"

Email 2: Behind the Scenes (1-2 weeks after signup)

• Show the product development process
• Share a detail they wouldn't know unless they were on the waitlist (ingredient sourcing, design decisions, manufacturing challenges)
• Make them feel like insiders

Email 3: Social Proof (1 week before launch)

• Share early reviews from influencers or beta testers
• Show quotes, screenshots, or video clips
• Build confidence that the product delivers on the promise

Email 4: The Details (3-5 days before launch)

• Reveal full product details, pricing, and variants
• Show the final product photography
• Announce the launch date and time
• Remind them of their exclusive early access and discount

Email 5: Launch Eve (Night before launch)

• Build urgency: "Tomorrow's the day"
• Remind them of the exclusive waitlist discount
• Include the exact time the store goes live
• Tease limited quantities if applicable

Open rates for pre-launch sequences: We typically see 50-65% open rates on pre-launch emails. The audience is highly engaged because they opted in specifically for this product.

Phase 4: Launch Day Execution

Launch day is not the beginning. It's the crescendo.

The Launch Day Email Sequence

Email 1: "We're Live" (At launch time)

• Subject: "It's here. Your early access is live."
• Direct link to the product page with the discount auto-applied
• Countdown timer if using limited quantity
• Keep it short — the pre-launch emails did the selling

Email 2: Social Proof Update (4-6 hours after launch)

• "200 units sold in the first 3 hours"
• Share early customer reactions or screenshots of orders
• Create FOMO for those who haven't purchased yet

Email 3: Last Chance (End of Day 1 or Day 2)

• "Your waitlist discount expires at midnight"
• Restate the offer and the urgency
• For those who didn't buy: "Still on the fence? Here's what [name] said about it..."

Launch Day Social Media

• Post the "we're live" announcement across all channels at launch time
• Coordinate influencer posts throughout the day
• Go live on Instagram/TikTok to show real-time orders and reactions
• Share customer DMs, screenshots, and reactions as they come in
• Update your bio link to the product page

Launch Day Ads

If you were running waitlist-building ads, pivot the targeting:

• Retarget all waitlist page visitors with a "now live" ad
• Retarget all email openers with a product-specific ad
• Run a broader "launch day" campaign to cold traffic with social proof from the first few hours

Post-Launch: Don't Let the Momentum Die

The week after launch is almost as important as launch day itself.

Day 2-3: Send a "still available" email to non-purchasers with a smaller discount (10% instead of 15%)

Day 4-7: Share customer UGC and reviews that start coming in

Week 2: Run a "last chance" campaign for the launch discount before reverting to full price

Week 3-4: Transition to your standard email marketing cadence and paid media strategy

How We Build Launch Campaigns

We've run pre-launch campaigns for brands generating $50K-$500K in launch week revenue. The playbook is the same at every scale — what changes is the budget and the audience size.

If you've got a launch coming up, let's plan it right.

Book a free strategy call.

---

Mark Cijo is the founder of GOSH Digital, a full-service eCommerce marketing agency and Klaviyo Gold Partner that has driven $70M+ in revenue for 150+ brands. His favorite days are launch days — there's nothing like watching a waitlist convert in real time.