reMarkable’s Pre-Order Strategy Playbook

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CASE STUDY
reMarkable

reMarkable sold a vision of distraction-free note-taking for professionals like teachers, engineers, and business leaders.

Their pre-order campaign was all about building buzz, proving people wanted their product, and getting early buyers to commit. By doing this, they:

• Raised a cash investment of $15 million in funding from investors

• Built a solid fan base that spread the word quickly

• Sold tens of thousands of pre-orders

• Reduced financial risks

Today, I’ll be covering:

1. How reMarkable convinced thousands of professionals to pay $399+ for a tablet they’d never seen

2. 3-part strategy they used to build anticipation, reduce financial risk and create a passionate community before shipping a single product

Let’s jump in 👇

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PART 1
Getting People Hyped

reMarkable knew how to grab attention. They focused on one thing and the customer at a time. One ad → One customer → One message

They told a story that made their tablet (that no one has ever heard about before btw) sound like the ultimate tool for focused work, perfect for professionals and knowledge workers looking to kick out distractions caused by phones and notifications.

Once they had their message and story locked in, they distributed it via all the common DTC channels online. They drove traffic to a pre-order landing page, capturing leads and building a waitlist.

→  Started blogging to start ranking on Google, pulling in 386,000 visitors

→ Created a simple email list and sent targeted emails to inform people and encourage them to pre-order.

→ Teamed up with influencers and bloggers to create a buzz.

→ Advertised via paid social campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter) and most importantly, LinkedIn, focusing on professional communities on these platforms.

This strategy paid off big time. Their 2017 campaign was called one of the most successful for a hardware startup; they ended up shipping tens of thousands of units globally. Not a bad way to result from the launch.

PART 2
Driving Pre-Order Sales

There were two ways in which they turned interest from TOF into sales.

1. Likely offered deals, discounts or special bundles (think a stylus or case). Possibly 10-20% off or a bundled accessory like their stylus. They currently offer up to 40% off for bulk orders, targeting B2B deals.

2. Built trust with a clear pre-order landing page and email, clearly highlighting the shipping dates of the products while answering FAQs to remove friction.

PART 3
Fuel Growth with Digital Word of Mouth

To continue building on the initial hype and pre-order list, they segmented out pre-order buyers and focused on them.

The goal → keep buyers excited in anticipation of receiving their products, so they’ll start posting about it.

They sent emails to keep pre-order buyers excited and asked for feedback. The early fans ultimately became cheerleaders, who posted reviews and shared the product on their social media.

From this digital word of mouth, reMarkable were able to gain 47,000 links from other sites, which accelerated their search engine ranking.

A simple example of how important online recommendations and social approval are.

FINAL TAKE
WRAP-UP

This launch was smart because they launched without carrying too much risk, which leads to terrible marketing decisions later, like discounting heavily and looking desperate in their marketing messages.

Instead reMarkable:

• Got people genuinely excited with a great story

• Showed the utility of their product by showing how it’s beneficial to them

• Built and then used social proof to fuel customer base growth

• Made sure they made people feel safe about buying their products through transparency

P.S. Probably my best purchase in the last few years.

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Talk Soon!
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