If you’re planning a new product launch, congratulations! You’ve likely gone through the painstaking process of product development and market research and now have an awesome product to eagerly launch into the world.
And with that, it’s time to plan your product’s launch. Learning how to launch a new product can be stressful, but with the proper planning and preparation, it doesn’t have to be. Following the 12 steps we’ve mapped out for you will ensure a thorough and enjoyable product launch for you and your e-commerce site.
How to Launch a New Product: 12 Tips
Recent times have proven the need for e-commerce products. 2020 forced many retailers to become e-merchants and adapt to the growing demand for online retail. Statista estimates that in 2021, mobile e-commerce sites alone may account for around $3.5 trillion and nearly three in four online sales will be done via mobile devices.
The trend is only slated to increase over time. This makes planning your product launch online and via mobile crucial to its success. If you’re looking to enhance your online business with order fulfillment services, there has never been a better time than now.
Wondering how to launch a new product in the competitive e-commerce world of today? Following these twelve product launching strategies will keep you and your team prepared and will ensure a promising launch.
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Create Urgency
Every good salesman knows that the fear of loss is real for prospective customers. When potential buyers feel that they may miss out on a great opportunity, they’re much more likely to make a quick purchase. This is important specifically when knowing how to launch a product. Here are some ways in which you can create urgency for your target audience:
- Make the product a limited edition. A shorter supply increases the demand.
- Give them a launch discount or special that will run out. Typically discounts over 15% see more action taken than smaller discounts.
- Create an email list and tease your audience with product launch announcements.
Create a Detailed Product Page
Having a product landing page is product marketing strategies 101. This page should be unique to the product and should be crafted to persuade your website visitors to buy. To create even more allure and excitement around the product, create this before the product is officially launched on your e-commerce site, but still include a sign-up form for customers to get information and updates as you make product announcements.
Your detailed product page should:
- Include a full description of your product including high-resolution images, detailed on-brand copy, and pricing
- Show product options like color and quantity
- Show the product’s availability
- Have an easy way for customers to add the product to their cart
Optimize The Product Page For Search
Optimizing your product page for search will help you rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs), whether it’s Google or Amazon. This puts your product front and center to people searching for similar products or researching their pain points. Optimizing your product page for search means doing the proper SEO research and strategy.
This type of research will inform what keywords you should include on your page. If you’re working with a marketing agency, make sure they map out how they’ll optimize your product’s landing page. If you’re more the DIY-er, here are ways in which you can optimize it:
- Write clear and detailed copy with relevant keywords
- Gain and develop authority backlinks that will drive more people and traffic to the landing page
- Make sure the page has enough copy for search engines to crawl and is not duplicate content
- Make sure other pages within your website have clear call-to-actions for your new product. This could be on the homepage, shop pages, or any other relevant pages.
Create a Compelling Product Video
Customers often prefer to watch a video before making their purchasing decisions. Developing a high-quality, compelling, and short video about your product will engage prospective customers to buy your new product.
In your video, you should make sure to highlight:
- How the customer can benefit from the product
- Map out any pain points that your product will solve
- Show them a high-level example of your product in action
Upsell and/or Cross-sell
Always upsell or cross-sell your product throughout your website, especially during a new product launch. This expands the product’s reach across your site and allows users to have more opportunities to learn about and click through to the product page.
Ask For Reviews
Once someone makes a purchase, follow up and ask for a review. It’s best not to barter for reviews, but you can ask loyal customers for reviews first. Offering discounts to your brand ambassadors is also an effective strategy for obtaining quality and positive reviews.
Having an automatic email drip campaign after someone makes a purchase is an easy solution as well. Make sure you’re asking for reviews in the place that makes the most sense. For example, Yelp may make more sense for brick-and-mortar establishments, not e-commerce sites.
Pro tip: Google reviews help your business rank higher on Google’s search results page.
Consider a PPC Campaign
PPC or pay-per-click campaigns are helpful when it comes to search optimization. But if you have a lot of competitors in the space, it may be expensive to show up for everyone who searches for similar products. If you’ve got the money to spend, great! If you’d like to be more frugal with your approach to PPC campaigns, then define a niche audience and target a campaign for them.
Many people falsely believe that PPC is a set-it-and-forget marketing strategy. But this is wrong. PPC has the best return on investment when it’s tailored and regularly monitored and refined.
Retargeting is another great PPC strategy. This is when you serve up ads to people who have visited your product’s page, essentially retargeting them. You know they’re already interested because they’ve visited the page, so retargeting can keep your product top of mind while they are on other sites and social networks.
Market The Product
Understanding how to launch a new product also means creating a detailed marketing strategy across all of your marketing verticals. This includes but is not limited to, website, blog, email, and social. Work with your marketing team to create compelling content across your marketing verticals so you’re saying the same thing across your brand.
Add an SKU and UPC
Adding an SKU or UPC will help you keep track of your inventory. You can sync this up with your e-commerce product listing and tell customers in real-time how many products you have left. This can also create urgency for customers, driving them to make faster purchases.
Reach Out to Customers Who Didn’t Buy The New Product
Perhaps an often overlooked opportunity is not in your current customers but in those that didn’t buy from you. Reach out to them and ask why. Or you can reach out and allure them with more urgent discounts and offers. You can help them see what exactly they’ve missed out on by sharing case studies and customer reviews. Customers who didn’t make the purchase are great resources on how to improve your marketing.
Have Sufficient Inventory
Having a sufficient inventory will vary depending on the type of e-commerce product you’re offering. You can determine what a sufficient inventory looks like by identifying how much it costs to make the product, store it in an e-commerce warehouse, and ship it. If it’s more expensive to do these things, then initially having a lower inventory may make sense. If it’s affordable or doesn’t need much storage, then you can have a higher inventory of products.
Partner With a Customer Service-Focused 3PL
Working with a customer service-focused 3PL or third-party logistics company is a great way to ease some burden off of storing and shipping your products. Many e-merchants turn to 3PLs when first learning how to launch a new product. This often results in strong working relationships built over time.
A customer service-focused 3PL prioritizes exceptional customer services for all of its partner’s customers. If you’re looking for an excellent option, Ship My Orders can be your next partner.
Seamlessly Fulfill And Ship Orders With Our Services
When you work with Ship My Orders, you can rest assured, knowing that your products and customers are our priority. Some third-party logistic companies will fulfill and ship your orders without customer service in mind. We are different. We know that your customers are crucial to your business and we take great pride in partnering with you to deliver on your company’s mission, vision, and values. Learn more and get a quote today!
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