Making your first $5k with Digital Products seems daunting but, it is very attainable if you follow a simple framework and you know the numbers.
I’ll outline that step-by-step below
I launched my first digital product June 18, 2021.
It was an Instagram Crash Course in Notion and came with an eBook. view the Notion part here
It was 100% text based, with graphics and charts
but no videos.
I was a little nervous with that last part, since everyone was going heavy on these big expansive video courses, however, I was able to hit $5K with my first digital product in just over 30 days.
Breakdown of the first 30 days
Sales: 196
Views: 3,100
Conversion Rate: 6.5%
Revenue: $5,042.40
Price: $27
I kept the launch brief and only sold this for two months because I was prepping for a bigger course launch later that year.
Here’s why:
- I needed Intel and feedback for my course launch later that year and
- I wanted to test how a product would sell if it were based solely in Notion
- To my surprise, it sold fairly well ($5,865 in 60 days) and got a ton of positive feedback and 5-star ratings.
Knowing what I know now though…
Here’s what I’d do if I were launching a digital product today:
#1. Research Product & Demand
Look at the insights, past content, other people’s content in your niche and look for patterns, questions, and recommendations.
You need a pulse one what your customers are gravitating to and what they need help with that you can provide with your expertise.
Pro tip: Look at what software, apps, or tools they’re constantly using. You could play your product to fit in well with that. Think an “AI toolkit for people who are using ChatGPT”
You want to go where the attention is, with what they use every day, and build tools to support them there.
After you staple down an idea, you’ll want to starting talking about your new product.
What to do:
- Spend 1 hour an sift through all the questions in your DMs
- What do people ask you for help with all the time (that’s an indicator!)
- How can you wrap this in a tool, template, or resource
#2. Tease your offer
One, you have to talk about your offer more.
That’s a no-brainer.
Build the hype early.
But, you need to show your audience what’s in the works, what you’re building, and how it’s coming together.
You’re basically “Pre-heating the oven” before you launch your digital product.
This will get your audience on your side and be more invested when you finally do open the cart at launch.
What to do:
Spend 10 days teasing your product and the outcome that it will help people get.
Where to do it:
- Stories are great for behind the scenes / raw content.
- Broadcast channels are another big place for this
- The latter half of your feed post captions
- Go Live, teach, and give updates what’s in the works
#3 Create your MVP
By now you have a handle on what people are asking for, what they’re gravitating towards, and what product would be successful.
Now you just have to build it.
Don’t worry, a lot of people get stuck in the Research loop and never make it to step 3.
But not you, we’re launching this b*tch
Personally, I recommend starting with paid templates or an ebook that deliverers 1 specific outcome.
Templates are a cheat code that allow the customer to achieve the result or desired look instantly — you’re saving them tons of time and hassle.
Also, anytime you can quantify the results and make them specific, the better.
Examples:
- 60 Days of Content for personal brands (with templates)
- Grow 5,000 followers in 30 days posting Reels
- How to get 1 Million views on your next video
- Build Your Outline
- 1 Big Idea
- 1 Hour (to complete)
- 1 Big Quick Win (results focused)
- What’s something you can teach that fits those three buckets?
#4 Setup your sales page
For this you’ll need:
- A Gumroad account
- A Banner Graphic
- A Thumbnail
- Some copy for your page
- View an example here
- I like using Gumroad for this.
- Yes, even though you get hit with a 10% fee, there aren’t any startup costs with setting up an account (and it takes literally 5 minutes to get a product launched)
- Plus there’s only 4 things you need to get it published.
- That’s what makes Gumroad a no-brainer.
- You can see an example of how I setup and structured mine: Zero to 100K Club on Gumroad
- Over the last 2 years I’ve done about $100K in digital product sales and had over 10K customers use my products.
#5 Pick Your Pricing
I touched on pricing earlier, and it’s always subjective with a bunch of factors that play into pricing, but I usually follow this chart below:
Templates: $9-$49
eBooks: $27-$67
Minicourses: $47-$150
Courses: $197-$497+
Cohorts: $500-$2000+
Low-ticket impulse products under $60 seem to sell well.
Mini courses are great around $100 to $150
And anything above that, you usually have to have a longer onramp, promotional strategy, and establish more trust.
Trying to pitch a $1997 course as your first product, without that track record, you’re going to get left hearing a lot of crickets (and a few snickers)
#6 Promote with Content
Your traffic will come from your content. Ramp up your posting across various mediums and channels and hit on different messaging.
You could certainly run ads or self promote to a lead magnet and then sell via email as well — that’s a great strategy for another day
However, here’s an 18 day content plan to promote your product on Instagram.
>> Tap here to snag the 18-day plan for free
Each launch is different and each audience is unique but here’s a sample outline that will include Stories, Reels, and Posts.
This will give you 36 opportunities to talk about your product over the next month in both stories and feed posts.
Do this and dial in your messaging (assuming your product isn’t shit) and you’ll win!
TLDR;
If you skipped and just want the recap, here you go:
1. Research your product idea
2. Tease your offer
3. Create your MVP
4. Setup your product on Gumroad
5. Pick your Pricing
6. Promote with Content
Talk soon,
Steve
ps. If you haven’t picked up my Stories to Sales templates, do that here, over 1,100 people downloaded them this week.
Pps. My $100k Creator program is launching soon, this program is going to be epic! if you want in on the waitlist (and exclusive pricing) — keep your eyes on your inbox, I’ll send an invite.