10 Ways to Sell an Online Training Program or Digital Product

Today publishing an online course provides immense value. An online course allows you to help more people than with one-on-one coaching or done-for-you services. Moreover, you can share your expertise with more people and improve more lives. 

Plus, an online course creates another product for you to monetize your knowledge. 

Today, because of technology, almost anyone can develop, create, and then publish an online training program.

Advantages to Publishing an Online Training Program

• Establishes you as an expert on the topic
• Can be repurposed into other products
• Increases speaking fees
• Can charge higher prices as a done for you service
• Passive scalable revenue
• The training program can serve more people than the time involved in providing one-on-one services
• Creates another product so you can increase your overall customer value

Once you create and publish your program, then how do you sell it?

How do you get people to purchase the program?

How can you help more people get involved and engaged with the program?

How do you let people know about the program so they can benefit from it?

Here are 10 ways to sell an online training program

1. Sales letters 

One of the first components you will need is a long-form sales letter. Long-form sales letters were first used with direct mail to sell everything from the Book of the Month Club in the 1920s to magazines and practically every other type of product. Today long-form sales letters are still a huge part of direct mail and sell everything from credit cards, automobiles, print newsletters, and any other type of product.

• Long-Form Sales Letter 

Long-form sales letters work online today. The purpose of a long-form sales letter is to inform prospects about your product. Long-form sales letters state the problem, provide the solution, which is the product, communicate the benefits of the product, have a call to action, often include bonuses, and a guarantee.

• Short-Form Sales Letter

Short-form sales letters provide information at a  quick glance. Short-form sales letters are normally for people who are already familiar with the product and the problem they are trying to solve. The key is to have both a short and long-form sales letter on your website to cater to prospects at different stages of the buying cycle. 

2. Video Sales Letter 

Video sales letters are almost identical to long-form sales letters. Often the long-form sales letter is converted into a video sales letter once the long-form sales letter has been tested and proven to convert prospects into customers.

The advantages of video sales letters are often they can be more dynamic, more interactive, and can convert higher than a long-form sales letter. Not always, though. Sometimes long-form sales letters still outperform video sales letters. So it is important to test to see which one gives you the highest conversion. 

One of the disadvantages of video sales letters is that they are more difficult to optimize for conversion. Long-form sale setters can be tweaked to improve performance until the sales letter is optimized. For instance, two different headlines can be tested to see which one pulls the highest response. Other components of the sales letter can be tested, such as the beginning of the sales letter (known as the lead), the close, the offer, the price, and the guarantee. Each of these components can improve conversion and increase the number of products sold.

3. Webinar 

Webinars are similar to video sales letters, except they are an event. Normally webinars last between 60-90 minutes. They provide content, promote a product, and then have a call to action. Webinars can introduce new people to a product or service or can further inform people about a product they are already aware.

Webinars are similar to video sales letters, except they are more interactive, often have a Q&A session, and link to an order form. 

Emails Sent to Your List

Email provides one of the most versatile ways to promote a product or service to people who are already familiar with you and your company.

4. Articles 

When promoting a digital product with articles, there are several ways to do this. Most articles are between 800 and 1200 words. Each article should provide content that is related to the course and then have a call to action at the end of the article. The purpose of each article is to educate and inform. If done correctly, the natural next step after the person reads the article is to purchase the digital product or course. 

5. Lift Notes/Dedicated Emails

These are promotional emails often between 100 and 400 words and promote one product. Promotional emails can use content to engage the reader, but ultimately the purpose is to promote a product or service.

6. Autoresponders 

These are triggered emails sent once someone opts into a list. They can be sent on a specific day or sent after a specific time. Autoresponders can be either articles or promotional emails. The biggest difference is autoresponders are triggered emails versus manually sent. The best part about autoresponders is once you have an email that converts well, then you can add the email to an autoresponder series to create an automated machine that sells for you when new subscribers opt-in to your list. 

Emails Sent To Other People’s List

7. Sponsored Emails 

Sponsored emails are similar to dedicated emails, except you are sending the email to someone else’s list. Sponsored emails are either sold on a per thousand basis or a flat rate. An example is if the list size is 50,000 subscribers and it cost $75 per thousand subscribers to send a sponsored email, then it would cost $3,750 to promote your product to this list. If you are the list owner, then you would earn this much money for sending the sponsored email. Normal rates for sponsored emails range from $30-$210 per thousand. 

8. Affiliate Promotions

With sponsored emails, the sender pays the list owner before sending the email. With affiliate promotions, the sender gets paid a percentage of the number of digital products they sell. Normal affiliate commissions can range from 30 to 50% but can reach as high as 100-200% of the product’s price. An example is if the list owner promotes a product for a 30% affiliate commission and sells 50 units priced at $300, then the overall revenue is $15,000. The list owner would earn $4,500 for promoting the product. 

9. Upsell from another product

When someone purchases a product, you can immediately offer another product to purchase. These products can be related to each other or not. What is most important when creating upsells is to make sure your list values both products. 

10. Upsell from within a product 

These upsells are not offered immediately when someone purchases, but while people are consuming a product previously purchased. For instance, a premium paid report should solve the problem the report promises to solve, but at the end of the report, you can offer a content upgrade, which could be your digital training program. This creates another way for customers to become aware and purchase additional products to solve more of their problems. 

In conclusion, when selling your training program, brainstorm as many different ways to sell your course as possible. Then over time, continue adding different methods to sell your program. Eventually, you will have a machine with many appendages that introduce you to new people and automatically sells your digital training program. 

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