New Update: Boost Social Proof with Reviews & Automation
Introducing RafflePress's new leave-a-review giveaway actions. Boost customer engagement and build trust effortlessly by incentivizing reviews in WordPress.
New Update: Boost Social Proof with Reviews & Automation
Stacey Corrin
Stacey Corrin
John Turner
John Turner
When you launch a new product, putting it out there and hoping people will find it rarely works. Look at how Apple and Tesla get people excited weeks before they release anything new. That’s the kind of buzz you can create with viral giveaways.
Instead of launching to no one, giveaways and contests help you build a crowd of people interested in your product before it’s even ready. You can collect email addresses and get people talking about your launch, while spending way less than you would on regular ads.
In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to pre-launch a product with viral giveaways. Whether that product is an online course, physical product, or piece of software, I’ll help you turn your quiet launch into something people can’t wait to be part of.
How to Pre-launch a Product:
A pre-launch strategy is your game plan for building excitement before your product goes live. Much like a movie trailer, it gets people interested and talking about what’s coming, so when launch day arrives, you already have an eager audience ready to buy.
Take Tesla for example. Instead of just announcing their new vehicles, they built excitement for weeks before their ‘We, Robot’ event.
They shared teasers on social media, created mysterious drone shows, and slowly revealed details about their new Cybercab and RoboVan.
By the time launch day arrived, everyone was talking about it.
The best pre-launch strategies start about 1–3 months before your actual launch date. This allows you enough time to build an email list, create buzz on social media, and get early feedback from potential customers without losing momentum.
A good pre-launch plan has four main parts:
You’ll want to track data like email signups, social media engagement, and website visits during your pre-launch. This will help you know if your strategy is working and give you time to adjust if needed.
Giveaways are one of the fastest ways to build buzz for your upcoming product launch. People love free stuff, and when done right, giveaways can spread quickly across social media without eating up your marketing budget.
The biggest benefit of running a pre-launch giveaway is growing your email list. When people enter your giveaway, they’re giving you permission to tell them about your upcoming product. And an email list of interested people is worth far more than social media followers.
Here’s what else giveaways can do for your launch:
What makes giveaways especially powerful is that your entrants do most of the marketing for you. As people share your giveaway hoping to win, they spread the word about your upcoming product to their friends and followers.
The type of giveaway you choose can make a big difference in the success of your launch. Some giveaways work better for physical products, while others are perfect for digital offerings.
And if you’re looking for a timely hook, Father’s Day marketing ideas can be a smart angle for launching seasonal or gift-friendly products.
Here’s what you can offer in your pre-launch giveaway:
The key is picking a giveaway type and prize that matches what your audience wants most. For example, early access works great for software products, while product samples are better for physical goods.
Now that you understand what a pre-launch strategy is, let’s look at exactly how to pre launch a product with giveaways to build buzz. We’ll start by setting clear goals for your campaign.
Before you start your giveaway, you need clear goals to track your success. Think about what you want to achieve with pre-launching your product.
Some common goals to consider include:
Be specific with your numbers. Don’t just say“ more subscribers” Instead, aim for something like“ 1,000 new email subscribers” or“ 500 pre-orders”.
Keep your goals realistic but challenging. Look at your current numbers and set targets that push you while still being possible to reach.
Don’t let the tech side of giveaways scare you off. With the right tools and a clear plan, you can set up your entire giveaway in under an hour.
The first step is choosing your prize. This could be early access to your product, a free lifetime account, or a valuable bundle related to your launch.
The key is offering something your target audience actually wants. Don’t just pick a random iPad giveaway if it doesn’t connect to your product. For inspiration, this list of giveaway prize ideas may help.
Next is deciding where to host your giveaway.
If you have a WordPress website, RafflePress, a popular WordPress giveaway plugin, lets you create, manage and embed giveaways directly on your site without any coding.
It even includes a pre-launch giveaway template that helps you get up and running in minutes.
In fact, I’ve seen many brands succeed with RafflePress. Like when Smash Balloon used it for their Black Friday giveaway and got over 3,500 new email subscribers.
If you’re not using WordPress, platforms like Rafflecopter and Gleam can help you run your giveaway. But keep in mind, you don’t own or control your giveaway content because it lives on their platform, not yours.
Now, before launching your giveaway, you’ll need to decide on the following factors:
For a detailed walkthrough on setting up each of these elements, see my step-by-step guide on how to create an online contest. And for tips on creating rules that get more entries, see my guide on writing giveaway rules like a pro.
Even the best giveaway won’t succeed if no one knows about it. Let’s look at the most effective ways to get your giveaway in front of the right people.
The easiest place to start is social media. Share your giveaway on all your platforms and make it easy for followers to enter.
For example, here’s how WPBeginner promoted their 15th birthday giveaway on X. As you can see, the post is clear, engaging, and includes an eye-catching image.
Email marketing is another great way to spread the word. Send an announcement to your existing email list and follow up with reminder emails before the giveaway ends.
All in One SEO‘s holiday giveaway email is a great example. They kept it simple and straightforward, proving you don’t need flashy graphics to create something effective.
Here are more ways to promote your giveaway:
For a complete promotion strategy, see these creative contest promotion ideas. Remember, the more places you promote your giveaway, the better chance you have of reaching your target audience.
Running a giveaway is exciting, but you need to track the right metrics to know if it’s actually helping your pre-launch goals.
During my giveaways, I like to keep track of the following data:
These metrics really matter. For instance, when WPForms tracked their monthly giveaways, they discovered a 50% increase in email subscribers and grew their Facebook group to 11,000 members.
Beyond the data, look at the quality of leads you’re getting. Are these people actually interested in your upcoming product? You can tell by looking at how many stay subscribed to your email list after the giveaway ends.
You can track most of these metrics using Google Analytics for your website traffic and your email marketing platform for subscriber growth.
If you haven’t set up Analytics yet, here’s a guide on how to add Google Analytics to WordPress. Social media platforms also provide analytics to measure engagement and follower growth.
Your giveaway might be over, but your work isn’t done yet. Here’s what you need to do next to turn those new leads into excited customers for your launch.
First, you’ll need to select and notify your winners. My guide on how to pick a giveaway winner fairly will help with this.
Make sure to follow your giveaway rules exactly and document the selection process. Once you’ve picked the winners, announce them publicly and reach out to them directly.
Next, start nurturing your new email subscribers. Send them valuable content about your upcoming product and keep them engaged. Remember, these people joined your list because they’re interested in what you offer.
To help you stay organized, here’s a post-giveaway checklist you can use:
The goal is to keep the momentum going until your launch. A successful giveaway gives you a warm audience, so now’s the time to build on that excitement.
Congratulations. You now know how to launch a product with a viral giveaway. A well-planned giveaway can turn your quiet product launch into an exciting event with an eager audience ready to buy. And the best part is, you don’t need a huge budget or complicated strategy to begin.
If you’re ready to get going with your first pre-launch giveaway, get started with RafflePress and turn your next product launch into a success.
You may also find the following giveaway guides helpful:
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