Introduction
Selling digital products is actually ridiculously simple, and I’m going to walk you through the four steps to take this week so you can literally start making sales immediately. I’ve also created a free 36 page guide that teaches you how to create a digital product that will actually sell. The first phase is crucial if you haven’t made any or minimal digital product sales. Most people get super excited about a digital product idea that comes to their mind, whether they’re seeing someone else doing it or they just have a really good feeling about it, they rush to Canva or wherever it may be, spend hours designing a beautiful PDF file listed online. No views, no sales. They start to feel discouraged and they either try to create something else completely different or they just give up altogether.
Phase One: Validation
Don’t be that person. Your idea isn’t bad, it’s just that you skipped the most important step, which is making sure people actually want what you’re selling.
I used to rely only on what I was passionate about and what I thought was a great idea, but passion alone does not guarantee profit. At the end of the day, you need to have the skill to solve a real problem for someone else because that’s what people are paying for and I know you’re probably thinking, but I’m not an expert in anything and I have nothing to teach. Let’s just get that out of your head right now because everyone has something to teach even.
Example
You just have to think back to any problems you have solved for yourself or for someone else. For example, maybe you’re a mom who has figured out a system to help your baby sleep through the night and you want to help other new moms do the same. You could create a resource that teaches a step-by-step sleep training method that you have developed, or maybe you’re more experienced with introducing solid foods to your baby and you can create a helpful guide on that.
Detective Work
Brainstorm ideas that come up for you in this phase and once you’re done, you’re going to do some detective work. Are there already people in this niche selling something similar? Check Instagram accounts, Facebook Groups, and YouTube channels. What questions are people asking in these groups? Reddit threads or comment sections? What are people complaining about or wishing existed? Those are all clues that there’s demand for what you want to sell,
Talking to Potential Customers
and here’s what many digital product creators skip, but not you, is actually talking to their potential customers. I do this all the time. I’ll hop on quick Zoom calls or send dms to people who fit my ideal customer avatar and simply ask them, what’s your biggest struggle right now when it comes to, and then insert your niche. What have you already tried that didn’t work? And if someone could make a resource just for you, what would that be? The answers you get here are pure gold.
Without doing this, it’s going to be nearly impossible to sell consistently, so talk to at least five people to get some information before moving on to the next phase. Once I started doing this, I could pretty much guarantee that any digital product I made was going to sell because when your product solves a problem that people are already aware of, selling becomes so much easier. You’re no longer guessing what people want. They literally tell you the next step is my personal favorite because you’re going to actually sell your idea.
Phase Two: Sales
You might be thinking, sales, but I haven’t made the product yet. Exactly. You don’t want to spend weeks creating a beautiful product, designing, writing, recording, editing, and adding all the bells and whistles only to launch it and realize that no one buys. Every time I hear someone say, I’ve been working on my digital course and I’m so excited, it’s almost done, and then they tell me they haven’t pre-sold it, I instantly worry for them, please don’t be that person because they’re investing a ton of time into something they don’t even know people want. This is where you flip the script from now on, you sell your idea before you build anything.
How to Pre-sell
This doesn’t mean scamming anyone or overpromising anything. You’re simply testing interest and validating that people are willing to pay for the transformation that you’re offering. If you’re creating an ebook, a workshop, a course, or even a membership, pre-sell it to a handful of people at a lower price point, like 25 to 50% off. For example, tell them they’re getting early access as founding members or beta testers and that they’ll get to help shape the final version.
You can share your concept on social media, your email list if you have one, or even through direct outreach, that might mean messaging people on Instagram or Facebook groups at the start to get your first handful of people to buy, and it gets easier with time as you start to build awareness around your brand and your products. When you do this, you’ll know exactly what people want and you’ll already have your first customers before you’ve built anything. You’re actually getting paid to create your digital product rather than building it for free and realizing it’s not even paying off. Even if you get just three to five early buyers, that’s proof you’re on the right track.
Setting Realistic Timelines
Now that you’ve made a few pre-sales, you need to be really transparent with your early buyers about when they can expect access to your product since it’s not already done. Think realistically about how long it’ll take to create and deliver it, and this depends a lot on what type of product you’re making and the transformation it offers, so now you’re allowed to go ahead and create your product.
Phase Three: Creation
For the next week or two, clear your schedule as much as you can. Put a serious pause on your favorite Netflix show and get to work block time in your day, sit down and focus. You’re going to use all the information you collected from the validation phase to create a high quality digital product that solves a real problem.
Creating an Ebook
If you’re creating an ebook, you can build it from start to finish within a week or less. Here’s a tip, based on my personal experience, try to include tutorials or fillable templates alongside your ebook. This instantly makes it feel like a mini course instead of just a PDF guide, and it raises the value of your ebook by so much. That’s exactly what I did with my digital product workbook for Etsy Sellers and I break this all down in further detail in my free 36 page guide.
Creating a Workshop
If you’re creating a workshop, you can use Canva or Google Slides to build your presentation and then host it live on Zoom. I did this with a YouTube workshop last month where I hosted it live for two days and I loved it. It was simple, engaging and the live format made it easy to test ideas while interacting with real people and getting real time feedback.
Creating a Course
And if you’re creating a course, my best recommendation, especially for your first one is to host it live so you can create a private Facebook group for your founding members and go live on Zoom once a week to teach each module, record every session and send the replays to your students after. This is my favorite way to host courses, especially new ones because it lets you build it one module at a time, adjust your lessons based on real time feedback, and still delivers an amazing experience without having to prerecord hours of content in advance.
Setting Up a Sales Page with Payhip
Regardless of what type of product you’re creating, you’ll need to set up a sales page. You may have already done this in phase two when you’ve pre-sold your product, even though you can totally just use something like PayPal or a Stripe payment link for your founding members, but regardless, you’ll eventually need a sales page for your digital product. To do this, you can simply use Payhip, which allows you to sell all types of digital products for free. Their platform is super beginner friendly and they have different plan options you can choose from. You can pick the free Forever plan and get access to all their features right away. You can sign up with your name and your email.
Uploading Your Product on Payhip
Once you’re logged in, you’ll be brought to the dashboard. I’m just going to go to product at the top here and then select Add Product. Then you’re going to select digital Product. For this demonstration, I’m going to do an ebook. Let’s go to upload product file, and I’m going to upload the PDF document of my Etsy Digital Product Seller workbook. Let’s go ahead and do that, and you can see it’s really quick. Then I’m going to add in the title, so let’s just call it Digital Product Workbook for Etsy Sellers. Let’s change the price here to $40.
Adding Product Images
This is where we can upload some product images. I’ve already created one using one of Canvas templates, so I’m just going to upload it right here. If you go to Canva templates and type in ebook mockup, you’ll get a bunch of free and pro options that you can use. This is what mine looks like right here. I recommend adding a few more just to show your ebook in different ways, maybe a sneak peek of what’s inside.
Adding a Description and Publishing
This is where we can add in the description. Definitely include the benefits and features of your product, and you can use Chat GPT to help you put together a description, which is what I did. I’m just going to paste it into here. Under visibility, I’m going to keep it at visible because I want everyone to see my product. Let’s go to Advanced Options and Select product is an ebook. Everything else looks good. Let’s go to Add Product.
Previewing and Setting Up Payments
Let’s actually preview the product page. This is what it looks like. It actually looks really good, and you can see it only took me a couple of minutes to make sure you can get paid. Go to account settings, go to payment details, and then this is where you can connect your PayPal or Stripe account. You can also connect to several other payment gateway options if PayPal or Stripe are not available in your country.
The Payhip Marketplace
Payhip also has a marketplace where you can publish your ebook at no cost to you. You’re tapping into their existing audience that’s already coming onto Payhip to search for something to add your digital product to the marketplace. Just select Marketplace, click on Learn More, and here are the step-by-step instructions on how to do it. It also breaks down the criteria you need to meet in order to be eligible.
The Payhip Store Builder
Payhip also has an online store builder where you can create a professional website in a matter of minutes. You don’t need any design or technical skills. This is just a demo website I’ve created for you to see how easy it is, how clean it is. This literally took me a few minutes, and this is an option for you if you want a full storefront with multiple digital products and a place where people can get to know more about you and your brand.
Phase Four: Scale
Now that your product is created and your founding members have gone through it, this is where things get really exciting because you are about to take what’s already working and scale it up. After your first round of buyers go through your digital product, you’re going to do three very important things, because without them, you’re going to plateau in sales.
Get Feedback
First, get feedback. Ask your customers what they loved about your digital product, what they struggled with and what they wish was included.
Collect Testimonials
Next, collect testimonials. These are a gold mine for future marketing because nothing sells a product more than social proof, and if you’re uploading your products using Payhip, there’s actually a customer review feature where Payhip automatically sends an email to request a review from the customer after they purchase.
Iterate Your Product
Then iterate your product. Take that feedback and use it to make your product even better before you launch it again. The thing is, your product isn’t supposed to be perfect the first time around. It’s supposed to evolve over time. This phase is all about intentionally iterating and scaling your product at the same time.
Closing
If you’re just starting out right now, I want to save you from months of wasted time by sharing everything I did wrong when I started my digital product business.
