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Case Study: Guise
How Guise™ Secured New Product Sales By Focusing on Preorders to Launch New Products
The cost per acquisition dropped to $10.14—an 84% reduction in CPA for preorders.
The Start-Up
Guise™ needed a way to establish trust while appealing to new customers at a low-cost commitment threshold for a brand-new brand in a hard-to-reach category.
Guise™ is a premium skincare and cosmetic eCommerce store on Shopify for men. The products are vegan, cruelty-free, fragrance-free, and formulated to ensure men look (and feel) their best.
Preorders with a partial payment option presented a clear opportunity to improve buyer confidence in a new product, where other acquisition strategies fell short. High costs and low conversions on Meta ads made it difficult to execute their vision.
Let’s explore how Guise™ overcame these hurdles with Timesact Preorders, creating a seamless buyer journey that worked instantly with inventory management and demand while unlocking a more brilliant psychology behind the commitment to purchase new products from a brand new brand.
THE CHALLENGE
Selling a new product idea to men online
Guise™ needed a way to capture the interest and commitment of brand-new shoppers discovering their new product: the Green Stick, a color-correcting stick that reduces the appearance of redness resulting from rosacea, rashes, acne, spider veins, and sun damage.
For three months, they attempted to acquire customers through paid media channels like Meta, costing upwards of $66 to acquire preorder customers, which was ultimately unsustainable. It was clear during that campaign that new customers hesitated to pay full price for a new product from an unestablished brand.
THE SOLUTION
Preorders offering partial payments
Guise™ implemented Timesact Preorders to eliminate buyer confidence friction by offering a low $1 upfront commitment upon purchasing the product on preorder and $34 once the product was ready to ship. It unlocked demand for the product while reducing the psychological and financial commitment before it shipped.
Unlike other apps that required complex configurations, Timesact Preorders worked immediately, allowing Will to get set up while working on other aspects of the product launch.
“At some point, I realized it would be convenient if there were a way to put a $1 to reserve an item to decrease the friction and lower the commitment, rather than making the full $35 purchase upfront.”
The Guise™ team realized other preorder solutions would be complicated to install, confusing, or extremely expensive.
Timesact was the perfect solution to allow him to do exactly what he wanted to do — set up a partial payment, shoppers could commit a $1 to his product, credit card information would be stored directly in the Shopify platform (not in the Timesact app), and once the product was ready to fulfill, the app would charge the rest and Guise™ could ship the product to the buyer.
Timesact Preorder Strategy
Guise™ implemented a preorder approach that included capturing a low-cost partial payment while they worked towards launching the product and fulfilling it completely over a nine-month period.
1. Partial Payment
The initial strategy focused on paid advertising for a new product on preorder that would be shipped at a future undisclosed date several months away. Four months before the first shipment of the product launch, the team shifted to a partial payment strategy using Timesact, which lowered the barrier to entry and created trust with new customers to make the purchase commitment.
“By offering the customers to pay $1 as a deposit to secure the product and pay the remaining $34 upon shipping, we were able to secure more than 95% of the original commitments when fulfilling the products four months later.”
2. Back in Stock
Guise™ currently has two high-demand products with new and repeat purchasers. The challenge now is keeping the products in stock to support the demand.
“We are finally reaching the point where we might have to put the Green Stick on preorder again or offer back-in-stock notifications the next time we run low on inventory.”
Using partial payments to build buyer confidence
After moving to capture partial payments on preorders, the Guise™ team realized that paid advertising alone on preorders wasn’t the most effective way to promote the products. The high acquisition costs and buyer confidence in product shipping in several months made them a tougher sell for first-time customers, who typically needed more time to familiarize themselves with the brand before purchasing a product at a higher cost.
THE RESULTS
An 84% drop in CPA for preorders.
While still in the early stages of their product growth, Guise™ has already seen promising results. Partial payments on preorders built buyer confidence, confirmed customer interest, and blew conversion rates out the door for these unique interest products.
The team also discovered that back-in-stock notifications will be useful when demand outperforms inventory management.
With Timesact Preorders, brands can offer preorders with partial payments to create hype for new product launches, build confidence in shipment latency, and replace sold-out products with back-in-stock notifications. Everything is synced seamlessly to your inventory, and buttons can be automatically replaced when inventory levels drop so you never miss a sale.
Install Timesact for FREE on the Shopify app store.
F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Timesact handle partial payments?
Timesact integrates directly with Shopify. Customers pay a small deposit (e.g., $1) upfront, and the rest is automatically charged when the product is ready to ship. No manual follow-up is needed.
What happens when products sell out before shipping?
Timesact can automatically switch to a “Back in Stock” or “Preorder” button when inventory is low, so you keep capturing sales without overselling.
Does Timesact store customer payment details?
No – credit card information is stored securely in Shopify’s system, not in Timesact. This ensures compliance and customer trust.
Can I use Timesact for repeat sellers or just new launches?
Both. Guise™ used it for their first product launch, but they also plan to use it for high-demand restocks to avoid missing sales.