Interesting approach, I see the parallels to my article about pre-development research 
https://steemit.com/engineering/@engineercampus/the-other-kind-of-research-put-your-idea-into-the-world

Now I'm thinking how this can be applied to physical products.
While preorder might be a way, customer satisfaction is also important to monitor after purchase. The amount of preorders doesn't show me if people will be satisfied with the product and recommend it. 
But you probably know this already that it is the same with software too, as can be seen with a lot of preorder games.