Launching a limited holiday product: an on-site plan from teaser to sell-out

A limited holiday product, such as a seasonal scent, a gift set or a small batch colorway, has a short life. Shoppers need to know it is coming, find it the moment it goes live, and learn quickly when it is gone. Your storefront has to tell that story to everyone who is browsing, in step with your emails and texts.

This guide gives you an on-site plan for a product drop in three stages: the teaser, launch day and the last units. You will see which Atomato campaign fits each stage, which plan each one needs, and sample messages you can adapt.

Atomato works alongside the email, SMS and popup tools you already use. It handles what shoppers see on your store. Your email or SMS platform still sends the launch emails and texts.

Map the drop before you build anything

Write down three dates and one product link before you open the app:

• Teaser start: a week or two before the drop.
• Launch hour: the exact hour the product page goes live in Shopify.
• Close: a fixed date, or "when it sells out".
• Product page: where shoppers should land at launch.

Each stage becomes its own campaign, because a schedule belongs to a whole campaign, not to single messages inside it. A teaser and a launch message in one campaign would start and stop together.

Before the drop: collect shoppers who want to hear first

A signup inside the feed gives your email or SMS platform people to message on launch day. Create a campaign, open Grow my email & SMS list and start from New Drop Alert, under View all 8 templates. For texts, click NotiSMS and start from Product Drop Text Alert.

NotiEmail and NotiSMS are on Enterprise+. Email signups go to Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend or Drip, and SMS signups go to Klaviyo, or to Mailchimp when the email step also uses Mailchimp. Atomato doesn't send the launch email or text itself. You build that in your platform, aimed at the list the signup feeds.

Use Page URL, UTM or Device rules for a signup. A signup that depends on a cart or Exit Intent rule doesn't show. How email capture works inside the feed walks through the steps.

On Starter or Scale, where NotiEmail isn't available, a NotiFeed teaser message can still build interest: name the product, give the launch date and link to a page where shoppers can sign up with the tools you already use. It doesn't collect contacts itself.

Launch day: announce it and set the timing

Build the launch announcement as a NotiFeed campaign. Open Promote a sale or launch, start from Holiday Announcement or Build your own, replace the sample text with your own and point Button link at the product page. A click to a product page gives the longest window, 6 hours, to count a later add to cart.

On Scale and Enterprise+, set the start on the campaign's Schedule tab so it appears at the launch hour, and give each teaser campaign an end at that same hour. Times are in whole hours and follow your computer's time zone, not your store's, so convert them if the two differ. See scheduling on-site campaigns for details.

On Starter, scheduling is locked, and Atomato won't save a second NotiFeed campaign while one is active, even as a draft. At the launch hour, edit the teaser message into the launch message, or pause the teaser and then build the launch campaign.

For a reminder while shoppers browse, add a NotiPop from Encourage shoppers to take action, such as Sitewide Promo, linked to the same product page. A Page URL rule such as Contains /collections/ keeps it to collection pages. A NotiPop doesn't apply a discount code.

Put the product in the feed with NotiSell

On Scale and Enterprise+, a NotiSell campaign lets shoppers add the new product from the feed. Choose Manual as the Method and pick the drop product, plus up to five companions.

With Add product to the cart ticked, the button adds one unit of the chosen variant and opens the cart page. Unticked, it opens the product page. Offer incentive creates a Shopify automatic discount that applies only to listed variants added with the NotiSell button, so keep Add product to the cart ticked when you offer one, or shoppers pay full price. See Recommend products in the feed with NotiSell.

A worked example: a winter candle drop

Imagine a candle store releasing a limited Winter Ember candle on 20 November at 9 AM, on Enterprise+:

1. Teaser campaigns, 6 to 20 November, both ending at 9 AM: a New Drop Alert signup and a separate NotiFeed teaser message.
2. Launch campaigns, from 20 November at 9 AM: a NotiFeed announcement linked to the product page, and a NotiSell campaign with the candle and its matching wick trimmer.
3. After the sell-out: pause both launch campaigns and publish a short "sold out" message.

Here is the launch message before and after editing:

Before: New product alert. Check out our latest release, available now for a limited time.

After: Winter Ember is live. 400 (example) hand-poured candles, smoked cedar and orange peel. Shop Winter Ember

The second version names the product, says why it is limited and gives one clear action. Use your real batch size.

When the last units go

NotiSell doesn't check stock before it lists a variant. If a shopper tries to add a sold-out variant, Shopify refuses it and the feed closes with no error message. So as variants sell out, untick them under Eligible products or remove the product, and save. When the drop is gone, click Pause campaign, which also switches off any NotiSell incentive.

Replace the launch announcement with what happens next, such as a restock date or similar products. For a second batch, this guide to restock alerts shows how to collect interest. To repeat the format next season, choose Duplicate as draft from the campaign's Edit menu and set new dates before you save.

How to read the results

Revenue tracking starts with a click. A click on the launch message or a NotiSell product button opens a 6 hour window to add products to cart, and the checkout has to happen in the same browser within 30 days. Items the message linked to count as direct revenue, other items added in that window as assisted. Signups are counted separately, as emails and phone numbers captured, and code redemptions are tracked only when the success step uses unique coupons. Here is how Atomato analytics work.

What this plan doesn't do

• It doesn't send the launch email or text. Your email or SMS platform does.
• It doesn't show on Shopify checkout, the thank-you page, POS or headless stores.
• It can't schedule single messages, so the teaser and launch need separate campaigns.
• It doesn't target shoppers by location, browsing history, or whether they are new or returning.
• It doesn't add a bundle in one click. A NotiSell button adds one variant at quantity 1.
• It doesn't split traffic between two launch messages. To compare wording, run one version, then the other.

Next step

Pick the drop date, write the three dates down and build the teaser first, so it runs a week or two before launch. Check which stages your plan covers on the pricing page, and if the drop falls around Black Friday, fit it into your BFCM plan.

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