How I Made £11,169 IN 3 DAYS Selling Digital Products Online
Today I'm going to share with you what we did to make £11,169 ($14,201) from home in only 3 days.
It's a life-changing skill worth learning and I'm going behind the scenes to share this transparently.
I know a lot of our readers are looking for different ways to make some extra money.
Especially as we all navigate the growing cost of living due to rising inflation.
It's my hope that you too can begin to experience a shift in your mindset and explore ways to earn more from your existing skills.
If you're a complete beginner to all this, don't miss my recommended next steps at the end of this post.
I believe that if I can acquire these digital skills as a former Accountant, then so can you 😀.
For some background, the idea for today's post came from our instagram, where we asked people what some of their biggest regrets were over the last decade.
Someone posted that one of their biggest regrets was that they did not start creating digital products a lot sooner.
As soon as we responded to that message, telling them that we have learned so much from our journey, we asked the community if they would love to know more.
Our DM's completely just blew up! 🤯
So many people messaged us, saying they would love to know a lot more about what we have learned on our journey of creating digital products.
Today's post is to help you unpack that and give you practical steps to follow.
Please comment after reading to tell me how you found today's post.
How to Make Money Selling Digital Products Online
The image below is one that I took after the 3 day period that I'm talking about:
You can see in the top right-hand corner the income of £11,169 ($14,201).
There are some really interesting numbers in this particular image that I want us to unpack.
The first thing to note is that we had 768 checkout views, people who came to view our digital product, more specifically it was this ebook (sharing for context).
But you'll notice, what's very interesting is that conversion rate of 45.3%, which I didn't know was actually quite a big deal until I showed it to some of my other entrepreneurial friends.
And they were completely blown away, like, “WOW” 😲.
So that means as you can see above that there were 348 orders from a checkout seen by 768 people, which was just unbelievable for us.
Now you can also see that although there were 348 orders if you look right at the very bottom, where it says Total Transactions, there are 419 different transactions.
If you look to the right, there's an Average Order Value of £32. All those numbers mean something.
Let me now explain to you the 5 steps we took to get this level of conversion and generate that level of income in only a handful of days.
1 – Create a Waiting List
The first thing we did was that we created a waiting list.
Now the interesting thing about creating any digital product is that you can, for example, say:
“Hey, guys, I would love to create a digital product”
Then go ahead and create that product.
Once you've created it, you go back to the people and go:
“Hi, look, I've created this thing, please buy” and then you find that no one is interested.
Another way you could do it is actually to be completely open and say:
“Hi guys, we're actually creating something in demand based on your various questions. Are you interested in this thing? If you are, then please go on a specific waiting list”.
The beauty of the waiting list is that it only really attracts the people who truly want that thing that you're creating.
For the additional product that we created, the people who were checking out the products, once we created it, were the people on a specific waiting list.
We were not just going to everybody to say “hey, look at this thing we've created.”
No, no, no!
We just went specifically to the people who had shown an interest. This is actually very important if you are someone who's thinking – I'd love to create a digital product.
The first thing you need to do is assess some interest (i.e. demand) and then create a waiting list of those people who might be interested in that thing that you want to create.
I used this tool to create a waiting list.
2 – Create a Digital Product That People Want
We took steps forward based on the interest we'd seen i.e. based on asking people questions on social media, via our blog, and even on YouTube.
Then took all that demand, went away and started to create a product.
The digital product we created was this eBook priced at only £29.
The reason we did that was because we wanted an affordable product.
We created this product at a time when many people were looking for good quality information, but at the same time wanted to make sure it was something that worked for their budget.
So £29 seemed like the right pricing based on our research.
We took a few weeks to go away and really research how we wanted to present the product and asked a number of questions.
But what was really unique about this product is that the ebook we created was a “How To” product.
It was literally showing you a step-by-step process for how you go about doing something specific.
And in our case, it was how to go about actually generating passive income online.
That product really went above and beyond.
One of the key secrets to creating a digital product that really sells is that a digital product has to have lots of value i.e. worth many multiple times the price that you're selling it at.
Although we were selling this product at £29, this particular digital product had a value of at least 100 times that.
So if you're somebody who's thinking right now, I'd love to create digital products one day…
… You need to think well actually, if I'm going to price something at, say £19 pounds, or $19…
… the value it offers has to be at least 10 times the price for that digital product to be something that people see as truly valuable and worth paying for.
3 – Create a 3-Day Email Sequence
This is very interesting when you think about it, because oftentimes, people underestimate the power of email.
There is power in a 3-day email sequence, provided you have gone about structuring your emails in a particular way, weaving in elements of storytelling.
So long as you are very transparent in your email process, then you'll have a successful launch sequence.
You could have a 3-day or 5-day launch sequence.
In our case, it was a 3-day launch sequence that became an effective tool to market and sell our product.
This idea of trying to sell digital products via email is actually both an art as well as a bit of a science.
There's a lot of psychology that's actually employed in trying to have that conversation with many people…
…whilst also having it appear as though you're having that conversation with one person.
And this takes some practice, to be honest, 😀.
It is a key part of what takes your digital product from just being a great idea or product…
…to being something that actually ends up selling on autopilot to lots and lots of people.
For example, for our product, although we sold £11,169 ($14,201) worth of it in only three days, it has also carried on selling on a regular basis.
Every other day, we see a few sales of this product. I used this tool to create build my email sequences.
- Get Coaching To Create Profitable Digital Products
- Earn £1000+ Per Month In Passive Income With 2 Hours Per Day
4 – Increase Average Cart Value (ACV) With a Complementary Product
We increased the average cart value and not many people talk about this.
Take a look again at the screenshot that I shared at the start of this post:
You'll see that it says the Average Order Value was £32.
I told you from the beginning that the product we created was actually £29.
This means that on average, more people were buying more than just the digital product of £29 that we created.
Which is fascinating, when you think about it.
The way this came about was that we created a complementary lower ticket product that somebody might find useful when they buy the main product.
Let's use a practical example.
Let's say you went to Amazon, and you were going to go and buy a sharpener.
Once you bought the sharpener you put it in your cart and you're about to go and pay.
Amazon says to you:
“Oh, by the way, here's a pencil that you might want to use with that sharpener”
You think to yourself hmm 🤔
I think I'm gonna want some pencils as well.
It's just a complementary product, in the same way, we had a £29 product, we also created a complimentary £7 product.
This is really interesting because, with these two products, you only create them once.
This is the beauty of creating digital products, you never have to repeat the creation.
More people were buying the product and also buying the complementary one by adding it to their cart.
This is what leads to an increase in the Average Cart Value.
Rather than selling just say a £29 product, we were then selling on average, as it shows in the image a £32 per product.
There are certain practical steps you need to take provided you've got the right tools to do it, in order for this to become a reality.
For us, it was very interesting watching this unfold, actually sitting in our bedroom seeing the sales come through 😊.
As you can see, on the image it says we had a total of 348 orders.
But if you look right at the bottom, it says total transactions were 419.
This means that of the 348 orders, many more people bought something additional, which is why we went from 348 orders to 419 orders in total.
5 – Create Three Mental Triggers
Now the final thing I want to share is that we employed three key mental triggers.
Now, what on earth is a mental trigger?
A mental trigger is something that helps to initiate a particular type of action.
So for example, the key mental triggers we employed were:
- Anticipation
- Urgency
- Scarcity.
i) Mental Trigger of Anticipation
The mental trigger of anticipation comes about by you telling the people who are waiting for something that something is coming.
You achieve this by giving them an element of the thing that's coming.
Let's say, for example, that I'm writing a book and you are on the waiting list because you're interested in buying.
One way I could build anticipation is to email you maybe once a week.
I might email you on week one and say:
“Hey, fairly excited about the book, here is the title of the book”.
Another week, I might email you and say to you:
“Here's how I'm researching the book. Here is a photo of me doing some research about the book”.
Another week, I might email you and say:
“Hey, here's a sample paragraph or sample chapter from the book, check it out, let me know what you think.”
But notice what's really happening here is that, I'm getting you involved in the process.
We are doing a level of co-creating.
I'm not just creating in my little studio and hiding away.
No, I'm actually getting you involved in the journey, which is what the beauty of the internet has enabled.
Previously, creators would create things in their little labs and then come out and go:
“Tada, here's my painting, or here's my product”.
Then wait for people to buy but not much happens because there was no mental trigger of anticipation.
ii) Mental Trigger of Urgency
The second mental trigger is the mental trigger of urgency.
The way we did that is by using real deadlines.
The beauty of technology today is that you can put real deadlines personalised for every single person to who you are speaking to.
So imagine, I've got a waiting list of maybe 100 people.
For every single one of those people, depending on when they join the waiting list, I could create a very specific deadline.
That way I can say, well, this deadline is for you to purchase this thing that you're interested in, within a three-day period.
iii) Mental Trigger of Scarcity
The final measure triggers the mental trigger of scarcity.
We create scarcity for something in two ways.
Imagine you're selling a product and you selling it at a discounted price.
You could say, I'm selling it for £29 because it's an introductory product.
I've just launched it, but the plan is for the price to increase after a set period of time.
Because that price is expected to increase, it means that it creates a level of urgency for people to try and purchase that thing very quickly.
But in order to then inject a level of scarcity into it, you could offer an additional bonus with a condition:
e.g. if you don't purchase this product within a specific period of time, then that bonus disappears.
People typically don't want to lose bonuses, particularly if the bonus is something that they truly want.
Some feel the pain of the loss more and so want to avoid it.
I believe this is known as Loss Aversion Bias in Psychology.
Knowing about these mental triggers for marketing purposes is important, but you need to use them responsibly.
You need to really be transparent with people and be honest, and make sure the product is of good quality.
If there are certain features of your products that you want to be really clear, make sure it's very clear, and you're transparent about it.
Make sure that a product is something that truly will add value to people such that people can then purchase it and give you further good reviews.
That creates this infinite loop of your product constantly selling on autopilot.
Final Thoughts…
I really hope you got some good nuggets from today and on what we did to earn £11,169 ($14,201) in three days.
It truly was a life-changing moment and a repeatable one.
If you truly want to learn and apply these principles and these skills in your life, I can guarantee these skills are truly worth your while.
Don't just think that you've only got your the skills you use for your job and that's all you've got.
I only had skills in finance and things like that and I've had to learn over time by teaching by myself and learning from other people.
The skills I've demonstrated today will help you to generate an income on an ongoing basis online.
Next Steps For a Complete Beginner To Make Money Online Selling Digital Products
Chances are, all this is completely new to you as a beginner.
As such, I'm zooming out below to share some immediate next steps to begin.
1. Choose a Platform
To sell digital products, you can either do it on your own platform (which we did) or sell on existing platforms.
To create and sell on your own platform, you first need to create it.
I highly recommend starting a blog for so many reasons beyond selling digital products.
Then start offering freebies “Lead Magnets” to grow your email list.
If you want to sell on existing platforms, places like Gumroad and Etsy are great, but you have to share revenues with them.
2. Create Your Digital Product
If you have a digital product idea, I'd suggest first following the steps I shared in this blog post to establish demand.
A great tool for creating your digital product is Canva Pro.
3. Launch Your Digital Product
To do this, you need an email list or audience.
This takes a while to build and will not happen overnight.
At the core of building an email list of interested people is creating high-quality content that is helping people.
Take this blog, The Humble Penny, for example.
At one point it had zero content. However, it has taken me consistently creating content to build a bit of authority and trust.
You don't need a large audience at all.
In fact, smaller audiences work better provided you're engaging with them.
I'd highly suggest seeing this all as a learning experience and focusing on creating a digital product that will truly help people.
Feel free to book a Power Session with me if you want any coaching.
Frequently Asked Questions on Selling Digital Products Online
Here are common questions related to selling digital products online:
What are examples of Digital Products?
Examples include e-books, downloadable spreadsheets, digital subscriptions, online courses, downloadable music, digital art, planner, calendars, etc.
How Do I Start Selling Digital Products?
- Offer a lead magnet or freebie to grow your email list.
- Start a waiting list for your digital product.
- Create a digital product that is in demand.
- Build anticipation with a pre-launch sequence.
- Create a 3-day email sequence to launch and sell the digital product.
- Use Mental Triggers of Anticipation, Urgency, and Scarcity for conversions.
- Make More Money by Using Upsells To Increase the Average Cart Value.
How Can I Sell Digital Downloads Without a Website?
- Gumroad
- Etsy
- eBay
- Zazzle
- Envato
Best Platforms To Sell Digital Products without a Website
These online tools have built-in landing pages and carts that will help you sell your products but you'll need to send traffic to them.
- Gumroad
- Shopify
- SendOwl
- DPD
- Sellz
- Payloadz
- Sellfy
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What To Watch Next On Selling Digital Products Online>>
Have you thought of selling digital products? What has held you back? Look forward to chatting with you in the comments
Sonia says
Love this and absolutely adore the new website too!
The Humble Penny says
Thank you, Sonia :). Glad you love the website. It has honestly been an insane amount of work but it has turned out well.
George Lamptey says
Very good article
The Humble Penny says
Thank you, George. Please share with others.