By Jonathan Leger

Have you noticed that most of the big product launches usually go through a "pre-launch" phase? Have you ever wondered why?

I decided to give pre-launch a try on my latest product release, Article Builder, to see if this process really does sell more products. The numbers are in. Let me tell you, the pre-launch made a huge difference in my bottom line.

Pre-Launching Creates Buzz

Pre-launching a product means notifying people about the product 30 to 60 days ahead of the actual date before they can purchase the product. There is nothing new about doing this. Movie studios have heavily advertised their films many months before you go to see them. Recording artists promote their upcoming albums before they are ready for purchase to the public.

Letting people know ahead of time about your product creates buzz. It gets people talking about the product in the forums and to their friends and family. This causes more people to go to your pre-launch site to read about it, and builds anticipation for the actual release date.

Pre-Launching Allows For User Input

With software products, pre-launching gives you a chance to show people how the products work and get feedback. For Article Builder, I collected as many opinions and comments about the software during the 30 day pre-launch phase. I applied many of the suggestions prior to launching. When it actually launched, it was three times as good as, what I had first created!

The best way to sell a product is to find out exactly what your customer base wants, and then sell it to them! Making the product the absolute best it can be, before the actual sales date, ensures a much higher conversion rate and a lot more sales.

Pre-Launching Helps You Build a List

If you supply a -"subscribe for more information"- box on your pre-launch page, notification of the product launch, and people who desire to get more information, opt-in to your email list. This is great for keeping them 'up to date' about coming changes and improvements in your product just before the launch date.

To make sure you get a good number of subscribers; be sure and give them a reward for giving out their email address. With Article Builder, I sent people the URL to a video where they could watch the software in action, if they were willing to get on the pre-launch list.

The benefit of having the person on that list does not stop after the product launches. If the person chose not to buy, you can still send other offers their way for their consideration. It is a great way to continue to earn from people who may not have purchased your pre-launch product!

For Article Builder, I was able to get over 2,000 people on the email list! You can imagine how that has helped me in selling additional back-end products. Therefore, you certainly will want to offer an opt-in box on the pre-launch page.

Summing It All Up

These are great reasons to pre-launch your next product: it creates buzz, it allows you to get feedback, and improve the product, and it builds an email list of people interested in the subject area. All these are key points that boost your bottom line.

For me personally, I will not be launching any new products without a pre-launch first!

Jonathan Leger has a blog on Internet Marketing where you can find other informative articles like this one. You can find it at http://www.jonathanleger.com/