Pre-Market Launch Feature: Everything You Need to Know

Our Pre-Market Launch Feature is designed to help you generate excitement and build anticipation for your property listings before they officially hit the market. 

Usually, we won’t see a property coming through the property feed until it’s “market by” date however, this is precisely what’s changed. 

This feature enables you to schedule property launches in advance and as part of that, display a countdown clock on your property pages with the goal of creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity - we’re hoping this feature will help drive early interest and enquiries before your listings officially go live. 

Key Benefits

1. Schedule Launches in Advance
   Line up your property launches with confidence. Whether it’s a brand-new instruction or a headline-grabbing promotion, you can prep everything ahead of time – photos, copy, even your marketing push – and set it to go live exactly when you want.

2. Build Anticipation with a Countdown Clock
   Our built-in countdown clock keeps visitors engaged and curious. As the clock ticks down, you build tension and excitement – driving people to keep checking back, ready to act the moment it goes live.

3. Tease the Listing
   We automatically apply the status - “Launching Soon”, we blur the main image, hide the address (only the town is shown), and strip out floorplans, EPCs, brochures, and videos – leaving just the essentials. It’s a tantalising teaser that sparks interest without giving away the goods.

4. Increase Early Enquiries and Visibility
   Even before launch, the teaser listing is live on your site and instead of the CTA being the using “book viewing”, it’s “register your interest” instead – meaning you can email it to your database, tease it on social media, and get it in front of eager buyers before the portals even get a look-in. When launch day hits, your audience is already warmed up and ready.

5. Launch Day!
   On launch day, the listing is automatically set live, the status is changed to “Just Launched”, the main image is un-blurred and all the particulars are displayed in the normal manner. 

How the Pre-Market Launch Feature Works

Here’s how you can set up and use the Pre-Market Launch feature:

1. Ensure you're on the top-tier of subscription
   This feature comes at no extra cost within our top-tier subscription!

For more information about our subscriptions and how they work, check out this knowledgebase article. 

2. Using Street or Apex27 CRM?
   The ‘countdown clock’ part of this feature is currently only available to users of Street and Apex27 CRM. 

If you're not already using these CRM’s, then you’ll need to wait and see if your CRM opens up the same functionality for us to integrate with but in the meantime, we have an alternative approach which utilises the flexibility of our Property Tagging feature - read on.

Schedule the “publish by” date on Street CRM
Navigate to your Street CRM dashboard and select the property you’d like to update.

You’ll see the following screen during the property onboarding process but to get to it manually, you need to go to “Edit > Edit Property Sales Portals” and you can enter a scheduled launch date and time. 

See screenshot below from Street CRM. 

Schedule the “publish by” date on Apex27 CRM
From within Apex27, select the property you’d like to update and enter the exact date / time you want the property to go live in the "Go Live Date / Time" field. 

See screenshot below from Apex27 CRM. 

Using the Property Tagging feature to highlight ‘pre-market’ listings
The flexibility of the Property Tagging feature enables us to tag properties however we want so in essence, we just need to ensure we have the tag / keyword - “pre-market” - applied to your account and then as long as you mention that phrase within the property summary or description text (preferably near the start), then the listing(s) will be tagged automatically. 

With this approach though, we can’t include the countdown clock because of course, there is no date field but it’s a solid workaround and definitely better than nothing! 

3. What’s displayed on a pre-market listing?
   
   Once the launch date is set and you add the property into the CRM (where applicable), the listing data comes through to us and we display the basic details - the town (not the full address), the main image (but automatically blurred out), price, description text and a bit more - the status is set to “Launching Soon” and (where possible) we display a countdown clock on both the search results and detail pages which counts down to the scheduled launch day.
   
   We’ll sometimes need to do a bit of customisation to the appearance and position of the countdown clock to fit your website’s design.
   
   

4. Promote the property
   
   Because the listing is actively displayed on your website, you can drum up interest by sharing it across your social media channels and sending out emails to your prospective buyers etc. Let your audience know that something exciting is coming soon and encourage them to keep an eye on your website for more information.
   
   We incorporate a “register interest” call-to-action (CTA) within the listing page to help drive leads from interested parties. 
   
   As the launch time approaches, you can continue to build excitement with teaser posts, sneak peeks, or additional details about the property.
   
   
   

5. Official launch:
   
   On the scheduled date, the countdown will disappear and the property will automatically “go live” with all the information coming through the CRM - so all imagery, video, Floorplans EPC etc. The status is also changed to “Just Launched”.
   
   Hopefully, any early enquiries or engagement generated during the pre-launch phase will carry over, helping you to make the most of the buzz you've built.
   
   

Best practices for maximising engagement

1. Share sneak peeks
   Leading up to the official launch, consider sharing teasers like images, videos, or virtual tours of the property to build curiosity.
   
   

2. Use social media to drive interest
   Use your social media channels to share the countdown and encourage people to follow along. Highlight the exclusivity of being the first to know about new properties specifically via your website.
   
   

3. Send reminder emails
   As the launch time approaches, send out reminder emails to your prospective buyer list. Include direct links to relevant listings emphasising that the property will be live soon.
   
   

4. Ensure local people are aware of properties being exclusive on your website
   You can do this via social media but don’t forget the old classics - letter and leaflet drops. 

If you have any questions or want help setting up your first Pre-Market listing, just get in touch! 

FAQ

❓ Can I switch a Pre-Market listing back to public?
Yes — just remove the “publish” date from the property in Street or Apex27 CRM or if you're not using either of these CRM’s, just remove any mention of “pre-market” from the summary and main description fields and the full listing with all its particulars will appear on your website and portals as usual the next time the feed processes.

❓ Will the listing appear on Rightmove, Zoopla, etc.?
No — Pre-Market Listings are strictly limited to your website and are not pushed to any portals. Do bear in mind of course, that this part would need to be handled by your CRM as we don’t upload anything to portals anyway. 

❓ Can I change the blurred image or display text?
At the moment, no — the teaser format is standardised, but we may offer more customisation in future.

❓ Can I customise the countdown clock?
Yes, you can customise the appearance of the countdown clock, including its position on the page and its visual design. 

❓ What happens when the countdown ends?
Once the countdown hits zero, the property listing goes live, and the countdown disappears. All the property details are available for viewing, and interested parties can book viewings in the usual way. 

❓ Can I change the launch date once the countdown is set?
Yes, you can update the launch date and time at any time before the countdown begins. If the countdown is active, it will automatically update to reflect the new time.

❓ Is this feature included in my plan?
If you're on our top-tier subscription, it's included at no extra cost.