# Preorder Titles Before Release | Vodlix **Source:** https://vodlix.com/features/pre-order **Summary:** Sell a title while the trailer is still playing and have it open by itself on release day, with preorder volume giving a demand signal before you commit. **Publisher:** Vodlix --- Sell a title before it is playable, then have it simply open on the day. Demand becomes measurable before release rather than after it. - **Feature Plan:** 2 - core-platform ## Take the Decision While the Trailer Is Still Playing A viewer who has just watched a trailer for something arriving next month is as interested as they will ever be. Preordering captures that moment instead of asking them to come back and repeat it. ### Interest Has a Short Shelf Life Somebody who has just seen a trailer and thought yes is at the top of a curve that starts falling immediately. Ask them to remember to come back in three weeks and most of them will not, not because they changed their mind but because life happened in between. That gap between wanting something and being able to buy it is where a large amount of demand quietly evaporates, and it is entirely self inflicted. Preordering closes it by letting the decision happen at the moment of interest rather than at the moment of availability. The commercial benefit is obvious. The operational one is less discussed and often larger, which is that you find out how much interest exists before you have committed to anything. #### Sold before it is playable The title has a page, a trailer and a date, and the purchase is possible. What it does not yet have is a stream anybody can start. #### It opens on its own On the release date the entitlement becomes usable without the viewer doing anything, which is the part that has to be right. #### Demand before release How many people committed, and when, tells you something about a title while there is still time to act on it. ### The Whole Feature Is What Happens on the Day Taking money early is the easy half and it is not where this goes wrong. What goes wrong is the release, when a viewer who paid three weeks ago opens the app and cannot find the thing, or finds it and is asked to buy it again, or receives an email telling them to click something in order to claim what they already own. Every one of those is a support ticket and a reason not to preorder next time. The correct behaviour is that nothing is required of them at all. They open the app and it is simply there, playable, in the ordinary place they would look. Everything else about preordering is subordinate to that. The scheduling that makes the date land reliably is described under [countdown and premiere](/features/countdown-premiere). ### You Are Asking for Trust, So Be Precise A preorder is somebody paying for something they cannot yet evaluate, which puts a higher obligation on you than an ordinary sale does. Be exact about the date rather than vague, because a slipped release with a specific date attached is a refund conversation and a slipped release you were vague about is a credibility problem. Be clear about what they are buying, particularly whether it is a rental with a window or a permanent purchase, since a window that starts at release rather than at purchase is what people assume and not always what happens. And make the refund position obvious before payment, because you will need it if a date moves. The rental and purchase distinction is covered under [PPV and TVOD](/features/ppv-tvod). ### The Number Is Worth More Than the Revenue Preorder volume is one of the few forward looking signals available to a programming team, and it arrives while decisions are still open. Strong numbers justify promoting a title harder, buying more of something similar, or clearing a better slot on the home page. Weak numbers on something you paid a lot for are unwelcome and considerably more useful three weeks before release than three weeks after. Reading it alongside what people actually watched afterwards is where it becomes genuinely valuable, because the gap between what was anticipated and what was finished tells you something neither number does on its own. Both live in [reports and analytics](/features/reports-and-analytics), and the promotion itself under [home page content](/features/home-page-content). **Q: What is a preorder?** A viewer buying a title before it is available to watch, with the access opening on the release date. It exists because interest is highest immediately after somebody sees a trailer, not three weeks later when the title actually arrives. **Q: What happens on the release date?** Nothing, from the viewer point of view, which is the whole point. The title becomes playable where they would normally look for it, with no second action, no email to act on and nothing to claim. **Q: What if the release date moves?** Then you have a refund conversation, which is why being precise about the date and clear about the refund position before payment matters. A slipped date you were specific about is manageable. One you were vague about damages credibility. **Q: Is a preorder a rental or a purchase?** Either, and it needs stating clearly. If it is a rental, whether the window starts at purchase or at release is the detail viewers assume one way and are unhappy to discover the other, so it belongs on the page rather than in the terms. **Q: Why bother if the title is coming anyway?** Because the alternative is asking somebody to remember. Most people who wanted it at the trailer will not come back on the day, and that lost demand is entirely avoidable rather than a fact of life. **Q: What can I learn from preorder numbers?** Whether interest exists while there is still time to act on it. Strong numbers justify promoting harder or buying more of something similar. Weak numbers are unwelcome and far more useful before release than after. **Q: Does the title need to be complete to be preordered?** It needs a page, a trailer and a date. The media itself can arrive later, which is the practical reason preordering works at all, since the whole premise is selling before the file exists on the platform. **Q: Can subscribers preorder too, or only transactional buyers?** Both cases exist and they are different propositions. For a transactional buyer it is a purchase made early. For a subscriber it is closer to a reservation, and the value to you is the demand signal rather than the revenue.