Launching a New Product With Bundles on Shopify

A dependable way to get a new product into customers' hands is to attach it to one they already buy. Pair the new item with a proven seller in an introductory bundle, give that bundle a price with a stated end date, and measure how many buyers of the proven product take the new one. This guide covers choosing the pairing, pricing the introduction, using sample sizes, gathering early reviews and reading the attach rate so you know when the product can stand alone.

Why launch with a bundle at all?

Because a new product starts with no reviews, no search history and no reputation, while your bestseller has all three. A bundle lends the new product some of that standing.

It also solves a traffic problem. A new product page receives visits only from the people you send to it. Your bestseller's page already has visitors every day, and each of them is a qualified buyer for something in the same range.

Which existing product should you pair it with?

The one whose buyers have the problem the new product solves. Volume alone is not the test.

Ask two questions:

1. Is it used alongside the new product? A new conditioner belongs with the shampoo, a new lens cloth with the glasses.
2. Is it bought by the same person? A new children's item attached to a bestseller bought mainly as an adult gift will miss.

Offer the pairing in two places: on the proven product's page as an add-on or bundle, and on the new product's page as a way to buy both. Keep each product purchasable alone. For the mechanics of the first placement, see our guide to add-on upsells on the product page.

Marka Bundles & Upsells covers the offer types a launch tends to use: fixed bundles, add-on upsells on the product page, and buy-X-get-Y or gift offers, each discounted automatically at checkout.

How should introductory bundle pricing work?

Set a modest saving on the pair, state the date it ends, and end it on that date.

Say the proven product sells for $32 and the new one will sell for $24, so the pair is $56. An introductory bundle at $49 saves the shopper $7. If the two cost you $20 together, the bundle earns $29, against $20 for the proven product alone. You have given up $7 of margin and gained a second product in the order, plus a customer who has now tried it.

Two rules keep an introduction from turning into a permanent discount:

• Discount the pair, not the new product. The new item's own price should be its real price from day one.
• Publish the end date. 'Introductory price until 30 November' is a reason to act and a promise you can keep. A deadline that quietly moves teaches customers to ignore the next one.

When do sample sizes work better than a full bundle?

When the new product is something people need to try before they believe in it, such as a scent, a flavour, a texture or a shade. A sample-size add-on lowers the commitment to almost nothing.

Two ways to use one:

• Paid add-on. A trial size offered on the proven product's page for a small price.
• Free with purchase. A trial size added to orders of the proven product.

Either way the sample has to exist as a real item in your catalogue with its own stock, so that orders, picking and inventory stay accurate. Put a card in the parcel or a note in the follow-up email saying where to buy the full size. The trade-offs between giving something away and cutting the price are in free gift or percentage discount.

How do you collect early reviews?

Ask every launch buyer, once the product has had time to be used.

• Time the request to the product. A snack can be judged in days; a skincare product needs weeks.
• Ask about the new item by name. A bundle order contains two products, and you want the review on the one that has none.
• Publish what you get, including the lukewarm reviews.
• Do not make a reward depend on a positive review. Ask for an honest one.

If you collect reviews with Marka Reviews or another reviews tool, set up the request before launch day, not after the first orders have shipped.

How do you measure attach rate?

Attach rate is the share of orders for the proven product that also contain the new one.

Attach rate = orders containing both products ÷ orders containing the proven product.

Say the proven product appears in 400 orders during launch month and 60 of those also include the new product. The attach rate is 60 ÷ 400, or 15 percent.

Read it alongside three other figures:

1. Standalone sales of the new product. If these rise over the weeks, the product is building its own demand.
2. Profit per order on bundle orders compared with orders for the proven product alone.
3. Repeat purchases of the new product at full price by people who first bought it in the bundle. This is the number that tells you whether the launch worked.

A falling attach rate after the introductory price ends is normal. A rate that collapses to nothing suggests the saving was the only reason to buy. The full set of definitions is in our article on bundle metrics: attach rate, AOV and profit per order. Which longer-term offer suits the product once the launch is over is covered in the guide to Shopify bundle types.

A short checklist

1. Pick the proven product whose buyers need the new one.
2. Offer the pair on both product pages, with each item still sold alone.
3. Price the pair with a modest saving and a published end date.
4. Add a sample size if the product needs trying.
5. Schedule review requests for the new product before launch.
6. Track attach rate, profit per order and full-price repeat purchases.
7. End the introductory price on the date you gave.

A launch bundle borrows trust from the product your customers already know, for a limited time and at a known cost. Marka Bundles & Upsells can carry the pairing on the product page while you watch the numbers.