Sell Digital Products: Monetize with Subscriptions, Purchases, and Donations

Introduction (00:00:00)

• The tip of the week is about the new and improved sell digital products and services add-on, which allows website admins to sell non-physical goods and services to their members and website visitors (00:00:00).
• This add-on has been updated to include features that were previously requested, such as recurring payments and the ability to accept donations, in response to feedback from users (00:00:17).
• The sell digital products and services add-on is one of the more used add-ons, and it has been improved to better meet the needs of website administrators who want to sell additional services or products to their members (00:00:22).
• The updated add-on will be explained in more detail, including its features, when it might be useful, and the newly added updates, such as the ability to handle recurring payments and donations (00:00:43).
• The add-on’s purpose is to enable website administrators to sell non-physical goods and services, and it has been enhanced with new features to make it more functional and user-friendly (00:01:04).

Sell More Products & Services (00:01:05)

• The sell digital products and services feature allows users to sell additional products and services to members and website visitors, with the primary focus on digital products and non-tangible services, rather than physical goods (00:01:06).
• This feature enables users to offer both free and paid products and services, and they can select which email is automatically sent to a buyer after they purchase a specific product or service (00:01:14).
• Users can set up success pages or thank you pages that buyers are redirected to after purchasing a digital product or service, and this feature can also boost member numbers as buyers need to have an account on the website to make a purchase (00:01:34).
• The feature has been updated to include additional payment types, such as recurring payments, which can be set to monthly, quarterly, or annually, and donations, which was a highly requested feature (00:02:48).
• Another update includes user-defined purchase prices, which allows users to type in the dollar amount they want to send, making it useful for accepting donations, and this can also be set as a recurring donation (00:03:12).
• The feature also supports member credits, which allows members to purchase credits using a digital product, and these credits can be used for additional purchases or payments on the website (00:04:03).
• Additionally, users can choose whether or not member credits can be used to purchase a digital product or service, providing more flexibility in how credits are used on the website (00:04:43).

Create Buy Pages for Almost Anything… (00:04:51)

• Digital products can be created for various use cases, including ebooks, white papers, and guides, which can be sold or offered for free, and once purchased, a download link can be provided to the buyer (00:04:51).
• Website services, such as profile optimization and visibility boosts, can be sold on a recurring basis, allowing members to purchase and receive ongoing services (00:05:23).
• Marketing use cases, including add placements, banner ads, and sponsorships, can be created as digital products to accept payments from members or businesses (00:05:37).
• Events can be sold as digital products, allowing members to purchase access to events, and organizers can keep track of registrants and export the list of buyers (00:06:03).
• Professional consulting services can be sold as digital products, similar to profile optimization or account setup services, providing a way to offer expertise and collect payments (00:06:40).
• Donations can be accepted as digital products, allowing members to make one-time or recurring donations, and organizers can export the list of donors (00:06:54).
• For each digital product created, the list of buyers can be exported, allowing organizers to keep track of purchases and manage events or services (00:07:11).

Support for Member Credits (00:07:48)

• Support for Member Credits is now available, allowing members to receive credits after purchasing digital products, with a setting to specify the number of credits received for each product purchase (00:07:49).
• There is a setting to enable the use of credits for purchasing digital products, and another setting to choose whether members can use their credits when buying digital products (00:08:10).
• The Member Credit system enables selling credits at a discounted rate, such as $500 worth of credits for $250, providing a benefit to members, but with the condition that they cannot use their existing credits to make that purchase to avoid an infinite loop of stacking up credits (00:08:25).
• The system is designed to prevent members from using their existing credits to buy more credits, which would create an infinite loop (00:08:48).

Let’s See the Add-On In Action! (00:08:50)

• The process of setting up digital products for sale is demonstrated, starting with a free eBook download that requires registration, allowing the buyer to access the product without a credit card on file (00:09:02).
• A paid eBook download is also shown, which is $25 and requires a test Stripe account, allowing the buyer to purchase the product and add a credit card on file (00:10:30).
• The use of promo codes is discussed, which can reduce the price of an eBook by a percentage or 100%, making it a useful marketing tool to offer discounts and make buyers feel valued (00:10:53).
• The payment processing for digital products is explained, including the ability to send buyers to a dedicated thank you page or email confirmation with a download link, and the buyer can view their payment history in their dashboard (00:11:33).
• Recurring products are also demonstrated, with options for monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual payments, and the website admin is notified when a purchase is made, allowing for further action to be taken (00:11:59).
• The buyer’s perspective is shown, with the ability to view all purchased digital products, and the website owner’s perspective is also demonstrated, with the ability to receive payments and view buyer information (00:09:06).
• The confirmation page can be used to provide additional instructions or steps for users to follow after a purchase, and it is one of the benefits of having a confirmation or thank you page (00:12:28).
• A user can subscribe to a digital product without entering a credit card if they already have one on file, and they will receive a payment summary after a successful payment, which includes details about their active subscription and the option to cancel (00:12:39).
• The payment summary shows the subscription details, including the monthly plan, start and end dates, and the option to cancel, and the website owner will be notified when a user cancels their subscription (00:13:01).
• The user will receive a simple cancellation confirmation email when they cancel their subscription, and the website owner will also receive a notification (00:13:36).
• Website owners can build up their annual and monthly recurring revenue by offering additional digital products and services that are separate from the primary membership plan on the site (00:13:56).
• A good model for website owners is to offer free sign-ups and then provide alternate recurring services and products to their free members, which can include visibility boosts and other managed services (00:14:11).
• The donate feature allows website visitors to enter a donation amount, and the website owner can choose what options are available for donation, including one-time, monthly, or other recurring cycles (00:14:35).
• When a user donates, they will not be able to use coupon codes to discount their donation, but they may be able to use coupons for other digital products (00:15:09).
• After a donation, the user will receive a confirmation email and can be directed to a thank you page, and the website owner can set up emails and pages to provide further instructions or congratulations (00:15:32).
• As a website owner, you have the option to create digital products with different payment types, including free, one-time payment, recurring, or custom, with the ability to choose payment cycles such as one-time, monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually (00:16:15).
• For custom donations, you can select the available payment cycles, and for recurring subscriptions, you can enable monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually options, which must be checked and have an amount entered to be reflected on the site (00:17:05).
• The buy button for each post can be customized with a call to action, such as “yes subscribe now”, and you have control over the button on each host created (00:17:33).
• There are different product options, including one-time pay, free product, and member credits add-on, which allows you to issue credits to members after an initial purchase, with the option to allow or disallow the use of existing credits for purchases (00:18:23).
• With the member credits add-on, you can issue bonus credits to members, and as the website owner, you can see the sales history, including who purchased which products, and export the list of buyers (00:19:34).
• The sales history can be filtered by product, allowing you to see who purchased specific digital products, such as a paid eBook download, and you can export the list of buyers for each product (00:20:04).
• Exporting a list of buyers for a specific product, such as an event ticket, is possible and can be useful for various purposes, like printing the list before an event (00:20:18).
• The transaction history can be viewed by logged-in admin members, allowing them to see the sales history for digital products, including payments made for these products (00:20:31).
• The transaction history also enables searching for specific products to find out who the buyers are, which can be done by searching by product name, and the results will show all the buyers for that particular product (00:20:40).
• Searching for a specific product in the transaction history can be useful for various purposes, and there are many potential use cases for this feature, which can be utilized in different ways (00:21:02).