7 Lessons I Learned Launching a $1 Digital Product
Stop trying to make $500k a year. Start trying to earn your first $1.
Hi, I’m Ben Watkins 👋 Thanks for joining another edition of La Vie Ben Rose. Every week, I unravel copywriting questions, examples, and conversion tactics from the most recognized brands. I also look at how to transform your writing with style, clarity, and persuasion so you can build an audience.
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Almost a year ago, I relaunched my landing page course from $97 to $1.
I built the course in the spring of 2023, and only a few people bought it.
When I relaunched it, 187 (and counting) folks bought it from me. I posted it on LinkedIn and Twitter and wrote a Medium article. It felt empowering to sell something for $1.
More importantly, I learned seven valuable lessons about selling a course.
1. Sell at Whatever Price You Want
Let’s get this out of the way — YOU CAN SELL A PRODUCT AT WHATEVER PRICE YOU WANT.
Whew. Glad I got that off my chest. The magic number is knowing what your audience will pay for your product.
I quickly learned that my audience wasn’t willing to pay $97 for my course because:
I didn’t market it very well when I built it.
I didn’t build enough trust to show that my course was worth it.
I didn’t share it on social media or give any insight into what was inside my course.
Sure, I could have lowered it to $49 or even $29. But I wanted to start at $1.
2. Just Get Started & Iterate
The most common advice we see when creating online is Just Get Started.
There’s nothing wrong with this advice. But I also think there’s a second part to it. And that’s to iterate.
Starting is important. Iterating is more important. Iterating is how we make things better. It’s how we improve our products, writing, and what we’re trying to give others.
3. Failure Is a Hard Lesson to Swallow
I felt defeated when I only made a few hundred bucks from my landing page course from the original launch.
I spent time creating videos. I explained frameworks. I put hours of work into it. But just because you put hours into it doesn’t mean you’ll be rewarded with success.
There are two kinds of failure:
The failure of giving up entirely.
The failure of the moment and continuing.
I chose the latter.
4. Get Feedback From Your Audience
Feedback will help me determine what I need to improve with my audience.
They will tell me how well I explained a concept and if my videos were helpful. I will listen to them because they are more customers.
Now that more customers are taking my $1 course, I can see what I need to improve.
5. Selling Is Always Hard Work
Selling anything is hard work.
Sure, frameworks, persuasion tactics, and psychological principles help. But selling will always be more challenging if your product isn’t any good.
Figure out what your product does for people, and make sure they want it. Talk to them on calls. Reach out to them.
6. Always Give Endless Value
Some people wait for a massive email list and social presence to sell something. Others start selling immediately.
You can choose whatever method you prefer. The most important thing to recognize is that you know that someone is willing to pay for RIGHT NOW.
The key is to build trust.
Trust comes from giving away value. Trust comes from knowing who you’re buying from. Trust can take years, and it can be taken away in seconds.
7. Keep Building
Launching a $1 product won’t be my last product.
I want to create a writing habit course. I want to launch a freelancing course. I want to create a copywriting course. And I want to build an online cohort for people to start writing online.
I’m going to keep building even if I get some parts wrong. I will keep giving away value for free, but I will also keep launching affordable products (not all $1).
You can build a $1 product. It won’t make you rich, but you’ll get started. You’ll learn more about your audience than ever before.
You’ll start building passive income.
You got this.
When you're ready, here are a few ways I can help you 👇
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Thanks for reading!
Ben Watkins