Have you been toying with the idea of creating digital products/online courses? 🤔
But then think to yourself, “What would I create? What would be the price point? Should I start a membership instead?”
Well, my friend, after listening to this episode/reading this post, you’ll no longer be scratching your head and instead, be filled with clarity and excitement about all of the types of digital products you could create. 🤩
I’m going through five types of digital products, talking about the pros and cons of each so that you can figure out what is right for you in this stage of your business journey.
1. Starter Course
This is a great place to start if you just want to get your feet wet and start your online business by creating a small online course, offering a solution to usually one specific problem.
Typically you’ll offer a lower price point with your starter course – between $50 to $200. A starter course should be just that, a start, and that doesn’t only apply to you, but also to your students.
This is not about putting everything you know into an online course, with 6 modules and 20+ lessons, and selling it for a starter course price – don’t fall into this trap! More content does not mean more value and your starter course should be easy to create and easy to follow.
The value of your offer lies in the transformation or result that you’re promising. Your job is to get your students from point A, where they are right now, to point B, the promised result, as fast as possible without all the theory and fluff.
A starter course is not about life-changing transformations. It’s about creating momentum, to get your student on the first step of their journey. There needs to be a next step, you want to be able to create offers with a higher price point that can follow your starter course.
Here are some ideas:
- Meditation for Beginners
- Puppy Training
- How to find your Niche
In my business, how to find your niche is actually one of my current offerings. This mini-course doesn’t give you everything you need to build a 6-figure online business, it’s about finding your profitable niche, the first step when you’re getting started.
If you’ve never launched a digital product and you only have a tiny audience, creating a starter course is great because it’s not as overwhelming as creating your signature online course. You keep it simple and easy and you start to learn what your audience wants, get to know them, what they need, and where they are having challenges.
You also don’t need a complicated launch involving webinars, challenges, etc. A starter course is a lot easier to create and sell and great to experiment with.
Creating and selling a starter course is what I teach you inside the Blissful Biz Launchpad!
2. Spotlight Course
A spotlight course is a more in-depth course that focuses on a specific topic, for example, how to get your family to eat a healthy breakfast if you’re a nutritionist or arm balances if you teach yoga.
In my business, my Blissful Sales Accelerator course is a typical spotlight course, where I teach one specific topic around building your online business – selling.
This type of digital product is designed to provide your audience with a detailed understanding of one particular subject and dive deep down into the layers. It will usually attract learners who are serious about a specific topic and willing to invest in their education, which can lead to more engaged and committed students.
A spotlight course is usually priced higher than a starter course – between $200 to $500, and so can generate higher revenue, but it requires more time and effort to create and also to sell.
I don’t recommend creating a spotlight course to start because very often it’s a bit of a dead end – because it’s about a specific topic, there’s no automatic next step for your customers to take.
I talk more about how to create a product suite in the Blissful Sales Accelerator, but what it comes down to is that I would always recommend that you offer a starter course first. It’s easy to create and sell and it’s also a great first step for your customers – the low price point makes it a no-brainer purchase and they get to know you and your teaching style and from there you can lead them into your higher priced offers.
3. Signature Course
This is a more comprehensive course that provides your audience with a bigger transformation or a complete understanding of your area of expertise.
This type of digital product is designed to showcase your unique approach to a subject and provide your audience with everything they need to know. For example, in my business, the Blissful Biz Launchpad is a signature course.
Signature courses are usually created to offer a unique experience and approach to learning that can’t be found anywhere else, which can set you apart from competitors and attract more students.
A signature course is priced higher than a starter course or spotlight course, their uniqueness and value proposition can justify the higher price point, leading to greater revenue. It normally requires more time and effort to create, and you need to have the expertise and experience to teach something that goes this deep.
Normally, you sell a signature course for anything between $500 to $3000 and you provide more support and access to you, for example with live rounds that include weekly Q&A calls or a student-only community.
This kind of deeper connection and support can help create a loyal community of students, leading to higher engagement and word-of-mouth marketing.
It’s more work and also harder to sell because it’s a higher price point – I would do something like a 5-day challenge or a virtual retreat where you can introduce your method in depth and invite participants to your course.
If you have a successful signature course, it can be life-changing. It’s more work, but in my opinion, definitely worth it! You don’t need a bunch of digital products to be successful in your online business, one signature course can get you to 6 or even 7 figures.
4. High-Ticket Group Coaching Program
The fourth type of digital product is a high-ticket group coaching program or a mastermind group. This type of digital product is designed to provide your audience with really deep support and guidance and community.
For example, if you’re a life coach, you could create a mastermind group that helps people achieve their goals. In my business, the Blissful Biz Incubator is my high-ticket group coaching program. It’s 6 months long and it includes video trainings on how to elevate your brand and message, create your digital offers, grow your audience, and sell more, and also access to 1:1 calls with me, personal feedback/critique, weekly calls, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs.
This kind of program is priced higher than other types of courses, and it requires ongoing engagement with your audience. However, it can generate a really significant amount of revenue and help you build a loyal community.
I also think it’s very gratifying to work with customers on such a deep and personal level. They are definitely much more invested and committed to doing the work and showing up because of the higher price point, and that means they get results.
A high ticket program for me starts at $3,000 and can go to $25k or more, the sky’s the limit here. You need to have the expertise, audience, trust, and business foundation that allows you to deliver this level of support.
5. Membership
A membership program is a recurring subscription that provides your audience with exclusive content and access to your expertise that you sell for anything from $9 per month to $200 per month.
This type of digital product is designed to provide ongoing value to your audience and generate recurring revenue for your business. If you’re a yoga teacher, you could create a membership program that provides your audience with exclusive videos, live classes, and personalized guidance.
A lot of people underestimate the work involved in creating fresh content and continuously marketing to attract new members, whilst engaging with your current members. However, it can provide a stable source of income for your business. Memberships offer the potential for ongoing, predictable revenue as members pay a recurring fee to access content and services, but it’s important to remember that people could leave the membership at any time.
If you’re thinking about offering a membership, be really strategic about it and create a solid plan about what kind of content you want to offer, what the support will be like, and how you will market it.
If you’re interested in building your first online course, I’d love to invite you into my program Blissful Biz Launchpad.
Inside the Blissful Biz Launchpad, I teach you how to create and sell a starter online course in just 6 weeks (even if you have a teeny-tiny email list and are starting from scratch). You get all the templates, fill-in-the-blank swipe files for your emails and sales page, Canva layouts for your workbook, slide deck, social media posts, and tech tutorials – really everything you need to take action and save a ton of time.
Go to www.susannerieker.com/launchpad and get all the details.
