Real pre-order tiers and shipping cutoffs from album campaigns we ran, and how to build bundles that give fans a clear reason to spend more.
Give your pre-order bundles names from the band's own world, make the difference between tiers easy to understand, and use the shipping cutoff as your deadline. "Order by this date and it arrives on release day" is urgency you don't have to make up.
I learned the cost of skipping bundles on Hayes & The Heathens in 2024. The limited vinyl sold so well that I had to stop profitable ads at release. Cut.
In this post:
- The Duende tier ladder: names, prices and what each step added
- How one pre-order carried two shipping deadlines
- Named bundles and giveaways from four more releases
- What happens to an ad budget when one record carries the store
What did a named tier ladder look like?
For The Band of Heathens' Duende, out in January 2017, the store had a standard pre-order and three bundles. Every bundle came with a custom Band of Heathens rolling papers pack, and the bundle names came from that world.
Each bundle buyer got two tracks the moment they ordered, "Trouble Came Early" and "All I'm Asking." The Hogs Leg added six bonus recordings delivered on street date, including demos of "Cracking the Code" and "Keys To The Kingdom" and an early alternate take of "Deep Is Love."
The store also sold house concerts. One email asked fans if they'd ever wanted Ed and Gordy over to play for their friends, in person or over Skype or FaceTime. Everyone who bought a bundle was entered to win an acoustic duo house concert, handwritten lyrics and a signed Hogs Leg bundle.
Each tier gives the fan a clear reason to spend more. It can add several items, but the difference should be easy to understand. The top tier holds what only this record can give: signed art and unreleased audio.
How do you use the ship date as a deadline?
Duende came out in January, so the pre-order ran through the holidays. The bundle listings carried a mid-December cutoff for holiday arrival. Standard pre-orders shipped for the album's release.
The email calendar carried both deadlines:
- About two months out: pre-order opens.
- A month out, in mid-December: last chance to pre-order for holiday shipment.
- Two weeks out: "Now Available: Special Duende Packages."
- A week before street date: last chance to pre-order and receive it by release day.
- Street date.
A printed date is also a promise. The FTC's rule for online orders says sellers "must have a reasonable basis for stating or implying that you can ship within a certain time." With no date stated, the FTC expects you to be able to ship within 30 days. Shopify's pre-order guide adds that if you miss a date "you must provide a revised shipment date and explain the customer's right to cancel or obtain a refund." Agree the cutoff with whoever packs your orders before you print it.
What other bundles and offers worked as reasons to order early?
- Hard Working Americans, The First Waltz (2014): the deluxe bundle had a limited "rolling papers" t-shirt, the official film poster, a postcard set and an exclusive soundboard download of the band's 2014 show at Riverfront Park in Nashville.
- KIMOCK, Satellite City (2017): the plan gave the first LP buyers a satellite poster signed by Steve Kimock. By launch the posts were selling a limited deluxe edition with the signed poster. Every pre-order in the store was entered to win an hour with the band on tour, VIP tickets and an autographed bundle.
- Todd Snider, Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 (2019): pre-orders were entered in the Cash Cabin Sweepstakes. A week before street date the ultimate bundle added a limited silkscreen that Todd autographed.
- Todd Snider, First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder (2021): the Hope and Wonder Outdoor Bundle and the Agnostic Smoke Bundle, introduced in the week after the pre-order opened. Each name borrowed words from the album title.
- The Band of Heathens, Simple Things (2023): a deluxe translucent 2-LP signed by the band. A limited run, one per customer, with entry to win a private livestream.
How do you put the cutoff in the ads?
We wrote the cutoff into the ads and posts, not only the store listing.
KIMOCK had a small conversion ad for last chance at release-day shipment, running about two weeks before street date. The same day it started, posts said signed CDs were nearly sold out and told fans to order to get the album on release day.
For Cash Cabin Sessions, the bundle post a week before street date told fans to order now to get the album by release day. For Hayes & The Heathens the ad copy read: "Order TODAY to ensure you receive your shipment by release day!"
The last-chance email is its own piece of work. We cover it in the last chance to pre-order email.
What happens when one record carries the store?
Hayes & The Heathens had one star item: a limited edition whiskey smoke vinyl, with tees and bandanas as add-ons.
The report recorded 544 buyers and 530 vinyl units during the pre-order window. Cut. Right around release day the vinyl sold out, and I stopped conversion campaigns that were still making money. My note to the band afterwards: do bundles next time to boost the average order value and let us scale the ads. The full ad recap is in the Hayes & The Heathens album ad recap.
For the holidays we built the next step up. The proposal was a new translucent orange vinyl, a wood ornament and a signed holiday print, limited to 100 bundles, at $40. My reply was "$40 feels low to me." The holiday focus and the autograph could carry more, a higher price leaves room for a discount code, and fans who missed the first pressing might be enough to sell it out fast. We set it at $49.99. We named it the Rockin' Holiday Bundle. It sold 92 of the 100.
Cut.
How do you build yours?
- List what's inside the record that fans would recognize: a phrase, an object, a place, the artwork. Name your tiers from that list.
- Build a record-only option and at least one distinct bundle. Duende had three: entry was the record plus small items tied to the name, the middle added a shirt, and the top added signed art and audio only this record could give, like demos or a soundboard show.
- Price the jumps so the difference between tiers is easy to understand, and check what's left after the cost of making, packing and shipping each bundle.
- Give buyers something you can deliver immediately, such as an early track. If you add a sweepstakes, write its rules and entry process before you launch it.
- Agree the shipping cutoff with whoever packs your orders before you announce, and print it on every listing.
- If a holiday falls inside your pre-order, give the bundles early shipping and keep the standard order on street date.
- Schedule each cutoff as its own email and its own small ad, timed so an order placed that day can still make the date.
- Once the cutoff passes, say plainly that new orders ship for street date.
For keeping those buyers coming back after release, see Part 7 of our E-commerce Success Series.
Questions musicians ask
How many pre-order tiers should I offer?
Start with a record-only option and one distinct bundle, and add tiers when you have items fans want. Duende had a standard pre-order and three bundles, with CD prices of $15, $20, $40 and $80.
When should the last-chance-for-release-day push go out?
Work back from the real shipping cutoff, agreed with whoever packs the orders. Duende's email went a week out. KIMOCK's ad ran about two weeks out. Todd Snider's last chance emails went one to four days out.
Should standard pre-orders get holiday shipping too?
On Duende only the bundles did. The standard pre-order shipped for street date.
So what should your pre-order do?
- Name the tiers from the band's world and make each step's difference clear.
- Print a ship-date cutoff you can keep, and sell it in email and ads.
- Put the limited item at the top of a ladder so an order can be worth more.
Have the bundles ready before the pre-order opens, and order enough stock that a winning ad doesn't have to stop.
