15 Steps to Sell Your First Digital Product

Summary: 15 Steps to Sell Your First Digital Product

This video by Matt, a media business and newsletter expert, provides a detailed, actionable playbook for founders, creators, and publishers to sell their first digital or information product—even with a small email list (as low as 500 to 1,000 subscribers). Matt draws from his experience generating over $100,000 in his first launch with a 4,000-subscriber email list and helping clients collectively generate hundreds of millions in sales.

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Key Frameworks, Processes, and Playbooks

Audience Size & Quality

• Minimum viable audience: 1,000 organic email subscribers (not paid/ad-sourced).
• Organic subscribers convert 5x to 10x better than paid subscribers.
• Focus on growing email lists via LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube.
• Email list is critical; social followers alone don’t convert well.

Customer Discovery & Validation

• Conduct at least 10 phone calls and 50 email/DM conversations with your audience.
• Offer paid 45-minute coaching/consulting calls ($100 starting price, increase by $100 every 5-10 bookings).
• Use AI transcription tools to capture insights from calls.
• Run a 10-20 question mostly multiple-choice survey with optional open-ended questions; incentivize with a $100 gift card.
• Conduct 15-minute research calls with survey respondents for deeper insights.
• Use these conversations to identify audience problems, prior solutions tried, and product opportunities.

Product Types (“Media Products”)

• Only 10 types:
  • Digital products
  • Events
  • Courses
  • Live learning (cohort-based)
  • Coaching
  • Masterminds/peer groups
  • Subscriptions/memberships
  • Tipping/support
  • Hybrids
• Recommended first product types:
  • Live learning (cohort-based courses)
  • Simple digital products (ebooks, templates, swipe files, databases)
  • Coaching
• Avoid recurring subscriptions as a first product (harder to sell without deep audience understanding).

Pricing Guidelines

• Digital product: $29–$99
• Traditional course: $499–$999
• Cohort-based/live learning course: $999–$2,000
• Coaching programs (6-12 weeks): $2,500–$10,000
• Content subscriptions/paid newsletters: $99–$200/year (not recommended as first product)
• Start with industry-standard prices and increase over time based on demand.
• Doubling prices over 12 months is common.

Tech Setup (Lean, Minimal)

• Sales page: simple blog-post style page using tools like Beehive, Substack, Card, or even Google Docs.
• Checkout: Stripe payment links for easy credit card processing.
• Thank you page: simple hidden Beehive page with product access.
• Delivery: manual email sending for first launches is feasible with small customer numbers.
• Content delivery: Zoom for live sessions, Google Calendar invites, Notion for recordings and resources.
• For scaling: use two main tools — an email service provider (e.g., Beehive) and a membership/LMS platform (e.g., Circle).

Social Proof & Testimonials

• No need for product testimonials before launch.
• Collect “character testimonials” from industry peers, clients, past employers, or loyal readers.
• Request testimonials on why you’re credible to teach or share knowledge.
• Use these on sales pages to boost conversions.

Sales & Marketing Strategy

• Overcome fear of being “salesy” by offering an opt-out link in marketing emails.
• Typical opt-out rate: 0.1–0.2%.
• Sales copy is critical—invest time in learning copywriting via books (e.g., Breakthrough Advertising, The Boron Letters, Expert Secrets) and swiping good emails.
• Practice writing sales copy by launching and iterating.
• Promotion cadence:
  • Use 7–14 day heavy promotional campaigns monthly or every other month.
  • Outside campaigns, focus on value and light promotion (e.g., small CTAs).
  • Example 7-day campaign:
    • Day 1: Announcement email
    • Day 2: Reminder email
    • Days 3-4: No emails
    • Day 5: Newsletter with CTA
    • Day 6: Third marketing email
    • Day 7: Two emails (morning and afternoon) for final deadline push
  • Then no marketing emails for 30 days.

Positioning & Authority

• You don’t need to be a top expert; just 2-3 steps ahead of your audience.
• Your relatability and recent experience as a learner is a strength.
• Document your accomplishments.
• Use character testimonials to build credibility.

Launch Expectations & Metrics

• First launch sales expectations: $1,000–$10,000 is a success; $100,000+ possible.
• Key KPI: conversion rate from free email subscriber to paid customer.
  • For high-ticket ($1,000–$2,000) products:
    • <0.5% = poor
    • 1% = good
    • 2% = great
    • 3%+ = world-class
  • For lower-priced ($50–$200) products:
    • <2% = poor
    • 3-4% = great
    • 5%+ = world-class
• Focus on conversion rate over absolute revenue.

Refund Policy

• Offer a simple, generous 30-day 100% money-back guarantee.
• Clearly state refund policy on sales page.
• Later add a 10% refund fee to protect IP and reduce piracy.
• This policy reduces buyer uncertainty.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Framework: Short, Narrow, Small

• Short: 2–12 hours max to consume.
• Narrow: Solve one specific problem or deliver one outcome.
• Small: Feature-light (3-4 features max; 1-3 ideal).
• Focus on transformation, not just information.

Product Validation & Pre-Sale Strategy

• Don’t build before selling.
• Use consulting calls, surveys, and conversations to identify the #1 problem.
• Run a pre-sale with:
  • A simple sales page and email.
  • 50% off pre-order price.
  • Refundable pre-orders with 30-day money-back guarantee.
  • Minimum pre-order threshold (e.g., 10, 50, 100) within 7–14 days.
• Close cart after hitting goal, build product, deliver to pre-order customers.
• Collect feedback and testimonials post-delivery.
• Launch full-price product afterward.

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Actionable Recommendations

• Build an organic email list (minimum 1,000 subscribers).
• Engage directly with your audience via calls and surveys to discover real problems.
• Start with a simple digital product, live learning cohort, or coaching.
• Price within recommended industry ranges and increase prices as demand grows.
• Use simple tech stack (sales page, Stripe checkout, thank you page, Zoom/Notion).
• Collect character testimonials before launch.
• Run focused 7–14 day launch campaigns monthly or bi-monthly.
• Offer opt-out options in marketing emails to maintain trust.
• Practice and improve sales copywriting continuously.
• Use a generous refund policy to reduce buyer hesitation.
• Validate product ideas with pre-sales before building.

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Key Metrics & Targets

• Email list size to launch: 1,000–10,000 organic subscribers.
• Conversion rates:
  • 5% for $100 product = $5K sales from 1,000 subscribers.
  • 2% for $1,000 product = $20K sales from 1,000 subscribers.
  • Conversion rate benchmarks by product price tier (see above).
• Refund window: 30 days.
• Pre-sale minimum order threshold: 10–100 orders within 7–14 days.
• Launch campaigns: 7–14 days heavy promotion, then 30 days no promotion.

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Presenter

Matt — media business and newsletter expert, founder with 50,000+ newsletter subscribers, multi-million dollar business owner, and consultant who has helped clients add 10 million+ subscribers and generate 100+ million in sales.

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This video is a comprehensive, step-by-step playbook emphasizing lean startup principles, customer discovery, MVP focus, and practical marketing tactics to successfully launch and sell a first digital product with a small but engaged audience.