“Prelaunches”, also referred to as a soft launch, can be one of the most effective tools to acquire loyal customers and establish brand presence, all while testing the quality your idea. They require little commitment in terms of design and financial commitment, and they provide immediate return for your business, giving you insight on many of the most important aspects of your business, namely on how well customers respond to your offering.
A prelaunch is hosted on a landing page. The idea is simple: push traffic to a landing page in order to convert visitors into leads. They’ll hit the page, check out your idea, and hopefully leave their email address. It’s asking them to sign up, and instead offers them a way to get first in line, in case they want to sign up come launch time.
Here’s an example:
Over the next 4 steps, we’ll check out how to create an effective launch page you can use when starting your subscription business.
Step 1: Set up a Prelaunch page
The first step is to set up a launch page. We’ll use the Prelaunch Basic theme from Cratejoy for this example, but if you’re not on Cratejoy here’s some other platforms for consider:
Here’s what the Prelaunch Basic theme looks like from the Cratejoy Designer without any customization:
You can easily integrate this theme with your MailChimp list by adding the free app in Cratejoy applications page.
The Cratejoy Designer allows you to change text, add social buttons, upload a background, and even re-arrange the elements on the page. The goal is to have a very simple page that primary drives email sign ups.
Extra Tips for Your Launch Page
- Considering adding a lucrative element to presubscribing, like giving away a free month, or special discount or niche-oriented gift.
- Keep it simple: Avoid asking for lots of information – just gather the email address and name, or even just the email address! Less to fill out means a higher chance that the person will complete the form and officially become a presubscriber.
- Get smart on expectations: You should expect launch pages to convert visitors into presubscribers at or around 10%. In better cases, this can reach up to 20% or higher, especially depending on your source of traffic.
Step 2: Build out Social Channels
A strong launch page means you’re ready to interact with potential customers. Now’s the time to build out your social channels, like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. On these networks, you should focus on crafting niche-oriented content that will resonate with your audience and relate to your subscription, either culturally or to products you’d include. Be sure to use high quality photos and artfully add your branding whenever appropriate.
Here are some examples of posts on each channel: 
Setting up these channels is the first step to pushing free traffic back to your landing page. Here are a few tips for pushing this traffic on each channel:
- Use #hashtags to navigate to pictures related to your niche. For example, if you’re box involves dog products, consider finding pictures under #dogsofinstagram
- Like & comment on pictures. Instagram is reciprocal social network, and these people will like and comment back on your photos.
- Follow potential customers. Like the above, like ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ some of these people will follow you back.
- Instagram has a cap on likes, follows, and comments. When it gates you, give it some time before continuing.
- Design a nice cover photo to attract eyes on your business page
- Add a handful of photos and posts to create some initial traction on the page
- Invites friends & family to Like your page
- Get quick with messaging: Facebook now shows reply time, which can serve as a great badge of service to customers
- Like Instagram, you can use #hashtags to navigate to posts related to your niche.
- Retweet, follow, and comment on tweets for the same interactions as instagram.
- Like Instagram, you can use #hashtags to navigate to pins related to your niche.
- Like, comment and follow pins and users (the same processes Twitter & Instagram)
- Build albums based on specific interests within your niche. Consider making custom cover photos, like in this example.
Now can also be a great to connect with social influencers who fit your niche. Making connections early on can help establish a rapport with potential future marketing contacts, and the prelaunch phase is an excellent time to build a contact list of these people.
When asking influencers to do a review/plan a review, there are two main ways you can do this: asking for a review up front, or asking to send a box, then following up and asking for a review. Here are two simple prompts to start from:
Influencer Prompt 1: Direct Ask
Hi there! We wanted to reach out because we absolutely love your feed, and we’d love to send over a free box in exchange for a post/review. Is that something you’d be open to?
Influencer Prompt 2: Indirect Ask
Hi there! We wanted to reach out because we absolutely love your feed, and we’d love to send over a box as a gift 🙂 Would you like to check it out?
In each case, try to keep the “vibe” of your message non-committal. Make it easy for your reviewers/influencers to get a box and share it with their audience in a natural way. This helps maintain engagement on their posts (because it isn’t structured as an “ad”) and helps keep costs down (favors are cheaper than sponsored posts!).
Step 3: Keep Your Leads “Warm”
As you gain presubscribers in this phase, it’s critical to remain in contact. Keeping your leads “warm” simply means you’re regularly establishing contact with these presubscribers, perhaps in a weekly email, or email every other day in advance of your launch. Entice them with sneak peeks, urge them to continue sharing, and show them that your brand is growing and will be a cool “thing” to be a part of.
Here are some additional email prompts:
- ‘Progress’ Email: An email meant to show the progress of your prelaunch:
Hi [Name]! We’re making tons of progress here at Joy Box. When we launch, you’ll be first in line to experience both our Premium Pack and our Starter Pack (valued at
- ‘Reminder’ Email: A reminder about your launch/the progress:
Hi [Name], It’s almost here… Joy Box’s official launch! Remember: we’re opening subscriptions on October 31st, and there will be only 100 spots open for our first month. With thousands RSVP’d that means you need to order quick to ensure a box!
- ‘Last Chance’ Email: A reminder about entering a contest or participating in prelaunch activities. Example is for a giveaway:
Hi [Name], There’s only a few days left to get your extra entries in for our giveaway of a LIFETIME subscription. All you need to do is share this [LINK] with friends & family. For every person you refer that signs up for our prelaunch, you get an extra entry toward the giveaway. No purchase necessary!
Of course, these emails are completely flexible. Try your own ideas – just keep in mind that this is the time in your prelaunch to excite, entice, and keep your launch top of mind.
Step 4: Build Momentum When You Launch
Finally, in your final days/weeks of your prelaunch, begin to build extra momentum for your official launch.
- In general, bring more and more attention to deadline that’s pressing, emphasizing sign up date and the promotions you’re offering presubscribers.
- Consider a “Countdown Week”, where you post on social media every day with a 7/6/5 Days Remaining etc.
- Plan 2-3 emails the week of your launch to your prelaunch list: 1) A reminder that week 2) An announcement the day of and 3) A reminder within 48 hours, emphasizing the few spots remaining.
This momentum should be carried over into your launch, as this isn’t only a chance to convert presubscribers – it’s also a chance to convert those ‘lingering’ customers from your early marketing efforts. These are the people who may have not presubscribed, but started following your pages. Transition directly from your countdown to launch to the remaining spots left for your first box.
Reflect During Your Prelaunch
Throughout your prelaunch campaign, reflect on your branding, messaging, and value propositions to customers. This is the perfect time to hone in on your understanding of your target customer and the messaging that resonates with them. Try to correlate specific efforts you took throughout the prelaunch to spikes in presubscribers or large changes in conversion rates. Gather as much information as you can during this phase, and you’ll position yourself for success in the future.
Interesting in using a prelaunch to kickstart your subscription box business? Sign up for Cratejoy and install the Prelaunch Basic theme.
What are your thoughts about using leadpages? I currently use them for other things.
My biggest conundrum besides in developing COGS is getting it launched. How far in advance should prelaunch run?
I like to run a pre-launch for a 1-2 months (this is where I’m just collecting emails) then I like to run a ‘pre-sale’ for about 1.5 months before first shipment.
Hi, Jameston, what is the difference between a prelaunch and a presale? And when you do this, do you overlap the two? Or run one right after the other?
Hey Londya,
A prelaunch is used to gain initial interest around your subscription box. This is the period before you’ve started accepting orders. It usually just involves a launch page.
During the first few weeks of your launch – so, after your prelaunch and after you’ve set up your store, but before you’ve shipped your first box – you’ll begin your “presale.” This is the period you’re actually collecting revenue from subscribers (used to purchase products, pay for operations, etc).
You could pre-sale the entire time, ie. never have a launch page which asks for emails. However, I prefer prelaunching for a bit and gathering enough emails to launch with a sizable amount of subscribers.
Let me know if that answers your question!
Jesse
Hey guys Eric from Instapage http://goo.gl/KLxTE2 here! Would love for you all to check us out (it’s free anyway) and let us know your thoughts! Over 150k businesses use our builder and pre-launch is a BIG BIG reason why.
We’re super easy to use, more affordable and give you more control over how your pages look and feel. If any of you have questions or want help, I’m happy to help eric at instapage dot com
Thank you very much .. It is very helpful .. Brilliant mind
How many people usually signup? What percentage of those people actually buy later?
It really depends on you. Your traffic will convert around 10-20%, probably, and when it comes to launch 10-20% of that entire list will buy later. So if you get 5000 people to visit your page and 20% convert, you’ll have 1000 “presubscribers.” I’d estimate that at least 100-200 of these presubscribers will convert.
Would you normally just keep one of these presale/launch websites active for the few months before selling product then closing it and only running the subscription selling site. Or would it be on-going?
Hey Whitney. You’d keep a prelaunch going for 1-2 months. I usually prelaunch for 4 weeks, launch and collect revenue for 2-3 weeks, then ship my first boxes. After that, you can leave the page up if it’s collecting leads, but your main site is what you should be pushing traffic to.
Did you use an email marketing tool (i.e. mailchimp) with Launchrock or is it unnecessary at the pre-launch phase? Would you recommend using such an email marketing tool to help engage your customers /keep them “warm” as you put it?
Absolutely. You should be using Mailchimp (or whatever email platform) to keep leads interested until you launch.
Does CrateJoy integrate with GetResponse or only Mailchimp?
I believe just Mailchimp – you can find more answers on the FAQ’s on the Cratejoy site.
Okay I’m just trying to get all the dates right for my presale. If I start my presale on the 1st of a month, but won’t be shipping until the 6th of the next month (because I want a bit of a head start in my first month). Say a few people buy in the first week, can I switch the date of their re-billing cycle to be the 11th of the next month and thereafter? Or if I set the date of the re-billing cycle to be on the 11th, they will get charged again on the 11th of the month they already signed up on (and get double charged).
In the picture of the thanks for joining email you have written forward this email to get your first box free.
How do you track who forwarded the email?
So you know who has earned a free box.
Cant find this feature on mailchimp
Hey Hayden,
The launch page itself provided people a unique sharing link that they could include with their email to friends. Users needed to include that in their FWD to get credit.
Cheers,
Jesse
I’m confused as to how to switch from a pre-launch (say Launchrock) to the site where you are actually selling the subscriptions (like Cratejoy). How can you transfer all of the info?
Hi Heather,
No info transfer! You should be using a sub domain with a prelaunch, like join.mycompany.com. For a time, mycompany.com just redirects to your launch page. When your store is finally live, you take off the redirect and have it setup on your Cratejoy store. All the customer data is just emails, which will exist in something like Mailchimp. You email those people at launch, push them to your now live site, and recapture their information + payment when they checkout. You can then use the Mailchimp<>Cratejoy integration to auto update lists for your customers.
Best,
Jesse
Hey Jesse, good stuff here. When creating your launch page, should you put the normal price of the box (not just your special intro deal)? I’d hate to have a lot of people sign up but then not actually purchase because they didn’t like the pricing. I would want to be testing the pricing out on my launch page so I know it will work. But, would that actually deter people from pre-signing up?
Hi Kaley,
Thanks for the note. Glad this was useful for you!
1. If you already have a pricing structure planned out, I suppose you could put the price on this page. I personally prefer *not* having the price on the page – this should gauge interest in you concept, not your price point. If you have high conversions on the launch page, you can assume strong conversions on your launch day, assuming your box is priced well for that audience.
2. Putting dollar signs and a cost on the prelaunch page could confuse people and discourage them from signing up. By how much? Who knows. You could totally A/B test it over a few days and look at which version performs better.
Hope that helps!
Jesse
If I offer an incentive for the emails should I also offer an incentive for the early subscribers? Also how do you keep track of all these incentives you have given people when you are ready to launch?
Hey Justin,
Yes, you should definitely give early subscribers something special, like a “founder” discount. You keep track of these incentives in the form of coupons – you’ll create a coupon for early subscribers and be able to see who redeems with it. You can use a coupon for a lifetime giveaway, future discounts, etc.
Let me know if that answers your question.
Jesse
@Justin
If you are using Mailchimp, it allows you to subgroup your leads. So what I would do is look at my list and sort it by the date they joined. I select the top 25 and click on Actions > and either copy them to another list or add them to the VIP list feature.
I’m not sure how to ask this but say when it comes to pre launching and I put up a few products as a background image of what could possibly be in the box, do I have to have some sort of permission or guarantee that those products will be in the box? Is it ok if I take those product to market my box even if they may or may not be used in the box?
Hey Nicole,
Specifically: yes. I would suggest reaching out to the companies and gauging their interest in working with you, then mention you’d love to include them in some promotional materials as “the types of items subscribers can expect to see.”
Generally: it’s up to you. You’re probably not going to show up on their radar, and you’d probably be hit with a cease and desist vs. anything more serious. The bottom line is you’re using their IP (intellectual property). Exposing yourself to that risk is really up to you!
Hope that helps,
Jesse
hello,
great info! Which website did you use to set up your pre-launch?
Launchrock!
Hi Jesse,
How do you set up mail chimp with launch rock. I am having trouble setting up automated emails to people who subscribe on my pre-launch page. Would really appreciate any input.
Thanks
Hi Thomas,
Mailchimp, unfortunately, doesn’t work with Launchrock. In order to get your emails from Launchrock, you need to manually download the subscriber list they provide, then upload them to your Mailchimp list. It’s kind of a pain.
If you haven’t started, I might recommend KickoffLabs as an alternative, they directly integrate with Mailchimp and it has some cooler features.
Hope that helps,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
After or during the prelaunch, what theme or how do I build my site on WordPress. I can’t find information on how to build a subscription site on a WordPress platform.
Thanks,
Bob
Hey Bob,
This would be a custom page – there isn’t a theme I would recommend off the top of my head. Just show your developer some of the examples in this guide or in our Video on How to Launch a Subscription Business.
It just needs to have a BG image, maybe a Hello Bar, an email signup field, and a confirmation page.
Hope that helps!
Jesse
[…] Interested in starting your own subscription box? Subscription School has great resources for sourcing products, custom packaging, and running a prelaunch campaign. […]
Just needed to emphasize I am happy that i happened onto your web page.
Thanks, Jack!
Jesse
Hello,
Thanks so much for your tutorials!
I set up my prelaunch page : http://www.caketailsdesserts.com
But how do I set up the email responders to those who have joined?
And how to I design the progress emails?
I know you’re busy, but please answer me. I’m trying to set this up to start a presale mid November and the whole month of December. To ship my first boxes in January.
Thank You!
Hi Lavina,
Which service did you use? If it was through launchrock, for example, you’ll need to manually download your emails, then upload them to Mailchimp/whichever mail service you’re using. If it isn’t launchrock, your service might have built in email notice (but you’ll probably still want to connect your service to something like Mailchimp, and you’ll need an API key to do so. If it’s Mailchimp you use, go under Settings > Extras to generate an API key).
To design the progress emails, it depends a lot on the service. With MC, it’s easy to drag and drop element and style it how you’d like. I would suggest reading up on their automations so you can get emails sent out automatically vs. doing everything manually.
Hope that helps!
Jesse
[…] validate an idea, set up a landing page with a description of your subscription box idea and a sign up form. Then purchase $100 of Google, […]
[…] validate an idea, set up a landing page with a description of your subscription box idea and a sign up form. Then purchase $100 of Google, […]
[…] validate an idea, set up a landing page with a description of your subscription box idea and a sign up form. Then purchase $100 of Google, […]
[…] validate an idea, set up a landing page with a description of your subscription box idea and a sign up form. Then purchase $100 of Google, […]
Hey Jesse,
I’m trying to set up an automatic email that will be sent immediately to any new subscriber using MailChimp but I’m having a little trouble figuring it out.
Is this feature only available on MailChimp’s paid version or is there a way to do it on their free version?
Thanks!
Hi Sean,
Yes, automations are only available on the paid version, which starts at something like $10/month.
Jesse
I’m having trouble sending traffic to my landing page! What’s the best way to get targeted traffic?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Kelly,
How hard are you going on IG? I found instagram to be my best source when launching. Go under target hashtag, and spend a FULL 2 hours a day (1 in morning, 1 at night) engaging with people in an organic way. It can also really help to have a sharing contest on your page to encourage referrals. Do you have something like that added?
Hope that helps!
Jesse
Hi,
I was wondering if you could explain how to promote your pre-launch page once it’s created. How do I drive traffic to it? How do people eventually see it? And what ways would you recommend driving traffic to it?
Thanks, Lindsey
Hey Lindsey,
I would suggest using free social media methods (liking, commenting, following, inviting to pages) for an initial set. Consider holding giveaways that require sharing or presubscribing.
If you see good traffic coming from the sources & it’s converting, you can start to consider paid ads.
Hope that helps!
Jesse
Great, great info. Just one question for clarification. During the pre-launch stage, would you have purchased the products for the boxes or would you do that after the pre-sale stage? I’m guessing that for the pre-launch, talking in advance with brands you would want to work with would be good and getting some samples would be ideal for the pre-launch images. Thank you!
Hey Francoise,
Great question! I would definitely suggest starting partnership talks early. Give them a wide estimate (100-200+ subscribers) so you can get a real sense of what a normal wholesale/close to cost order will look like.
For purchasing, I wouldn’t actually buy the products until you’ve officially launched and seen your real subscriber numbers.
Hope that helps,
Jesse
Hi, OK so I’m a little confused on the steps. i understand the “landing page” method (just to gather emails/potential buyers) But after that, should there be a whole other website to cater to the “founder” customers? and then another, for the actual selling website launch? are we talking about setting up 3 different web pages?. I’m sorry, I’m a little lost and not familiar with web pages yet. But i will not be using crate joy because i want to learn on my own.
Hi Veronica,
Thanks for the questions! There is only one website. However, when you do launch, you should market a founder discount (or deal or some incentive in general) to encourage those presubscribers to join. This is basically a code they can use on your existing site.
For the platform, Cratejoy is going to offer you just about the same learning opportunity as anything else. You can work through the Designer or directly code your pages.
I would recommend Cratejoy, however, because of the built in subscription management, you just don’t get with anything else. Basically all other services are going to require you to connect several apps together. It can be expensive for development and a pain in the but for management.
Hope that helps!
Jesse
Hi Jesse
I am wondering how soon, is too soon for a prelaunch.
I will have my products established (food product), which will be late this year, say November. How soon can a generate interest in the subscription box?
Hi Dan,
Prelaunches should only last about 1-2 months. Stringing it past that can mean you’re losing interest from early leads.
If you want to launch in November, I’d suggest you start prelaunching in Sept/Oct.
Jesse
Thank you. Great information . How does any of this detail change when you are
planning on a quarterly box? We want to use CrateJoy.
Hey Judith,
The prelaunch process would be the same regardless of the frequency of your box. However, Cratejoy is no longer offering the quarterly option to new merchants. My recommendation would bed moving to a monthly (it’s actually the most successful of the frequency options for all CJ merchants) or trying Shopify.
Best,
Felicity
In regards to reminding them about the Contest, how do I actually set it up? For example, Jesse gave a great example of it E.g. “You can get your first box free by forwarding this email OR inviting your friends at join.prospurly.com!” This is perfect but how do I manage or keep track of people who actually participate? Thanks in advance.
Mario,
That’s a great question! There are a lot of great resources to help you manage contests like these! Check out Rafflecopter, Wyng, Votigo or PromoSimple!
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Best,
Felicity
Great article !
I am at the prelaunch stage and little confused on when to start creating my social media channels. I have just finished my media kit which is ready to be sent to potential brands to partner with and I was wondering when is it the right time to start building my community on IG, FB, Pinterest etc … Should I build a channel on IG for example without the actual product or should I create my platform when I have sourced the product & able to take great pictures of them? What would be the actual steps?
Thanks a lot 🙂
Julie,
If you’re in pre-launch, now is a perfect time to get your social started and, you don’t actually need the product you’ll be featuring in your box to get things rolling! A lot of brands start with posts centered around the aesthetic of their brand – like pictures featuring the colors of the brand itself or memes that represent what the brand is about. You could also start with some fun images of your branding or box. Your main goal should be to create enough content that it validates the actuality of your box – people tend to go to your socials before your actual website so good social makes helps legitimize your brand.
One of the things I’d make sure of as you put all of this together is that the names of your social accounts are the same – or as close as possible. For example, you’d want @mymadeinbox (or something similar) for both Tiwtter and Instagram, it’s makes your brand easier to find.
Best of luck!
Felicity
Thanks a lot for your feedback Felicity ! I was so hesitant before but your advice makes me getting started 🙂 !!
So glad to hear it!!
I am considering a re-launch? What suggestions from this article should I take? Also, because my current social media page has all my prelaunch pictures and giveaways, should I create a new social media page? Can I reuse pictures from my prelaunch for my relaunch?
Deborah,
Are you re-branding along with this re-launch?
Best,
Felicity
Hi Jameson
My Name is Frank and i recently launched my pre launch for my subscription box called business book monthly. I am having trouble getting people to sign up for it and so far i have used Facebook ads with not much success. I launched all the social media channels but struggling to generate buzz. I am on my first week of the pre launch phase and getting a bit nervous since its suppose to be around a month process or so, would you have any recommendations on how to make my landing page better or how to get leads? below is the landing page. Thanks for you help
Hi, I’d like to do a prelaunch, I’ve already bought my domain name and I’m using Square Space for my website, I was wondering if it would be possible to use Square Space for my prelaunch, or are there added benefits in using Cratejoy or Kickstarter etc? Many thanks
Hi Anja,
You can definately set up a prelaunch page w/ SquareSpace where you can collect email addresses, etc. Do you know who you’re using as your payment processor? Are you planning to design everything yourself. I’d recommend checking out Cratejoy simply for the fact that it is already set up to handle your business vs. you having to design all your own tools. …as for Kickstarter, that can be hit or miss and is really for gathering funding vs. a true prelaunch campaign.
Best,
Felicity