The holiday season is a time for celebration and merrymaking, but it’s not all about eating turkey and exchanging gifts! For businesses, it’s the 4th quarter, and that means it’s the busiest sales period of the year. 

Running seasonal email promotions during this time is the most powerful and cost-effective way to drive sales and end the year strong.

In this blog post, we’re sharing 12 festive holiday themes to inspire your email campaigns during the 4th quarter season so you can enjoy a huge boost in revenue regardless of what you sell. 

There are lots of opportunities to offer seasonal discounts, limited-time promotions, and exclusive offers your subscribers will want to pull their wallets out for.

Before you go, be sure to grab our Email Promotion Planner & Tracker so you have everything you need to plan a stress-free promo, you’ll find it at the end of this post.

Ready? Let’s do this!

Thursday, Oct 31, 2024

#1 Halloween

If you don’t sell Halloween-themed products, don’t let that scare you! You can still use Halloween as a great “excuse” to promote your offerings. It can be as simple as using Halloween-themed subject lines and graphics in your emails to get your subscribers “in the spirit.” 👻😉

Halloween email promotion ideas you can try:

Run a Halloween-themed “event”
This could be a “BOGO” (buy one get one free) sale or % off everything in your store.

Offer a “spooky discount”  until midnight on Halloween
Offer a steep discount on a single product, a curated group of products, or a specific product category. 

Give a Halloween-themed gift with purchase
Such as a sweet treat, sticker, greeting card, bookmark or other novelty item. 

Halloween subject lines to inspire you:

🎃 We’re creepin’ it real with scary-good deals 
🎃 This Halloween sale is so good, it’s scary! 
👻 BOO! Don’t miss these spooky savings! 
🎃 We’ve got a Halloween treat for you, [name]! 
🧛Open if you dare to see these bone-chilling discounts 

Sunday, October 27, 2024

#2 Daylight Saving Time ends

Daylight Saving Time is a fantastic opportunity to engage your audience and encourage them to make the most of their day. As the clocks fall back, it’s a reminder to seize the day and embrace extra daylight with enthusiasm. Let’s make this “time change” a positive event for your business too!

Daylight Saving Time email promotion ideas you can try: 

Time-Sensitive Discounts
Offer exclusive discounts or promotions that are time-sensitive, aligning with the theme of “falling back” in time.

Seize the Day Campaign
Encourage customers to make the most of the “extra” hour with a special promotion. It could be a flash sale, limited-time offer, or an early bird discount.

Free Gift with Purchase
Provide a complimentary gift with each purchase, reminding customers that an extra hour means an extra reason to celebrate!

Daylight Saving Time subject lines to inspire you: 

🌞 Fall Back, Save Big: Exclusive Deals Inside! 
⏰ Extra Savings with Daylight Savings!
🍂 Fall Back, Shop Now: Seize the Daylight Saving Deals!
🍁 Tick-Tock, Shop o’Clock: Dive into Daylight Saving Discounts!
🎁 Fall Into Savings: Free Gift With Purchase Today!

Monday, Nov 11, 2024

#3 Veterans Day 

Veterans Day is a solemn occasion to honor and appreciate the service and sacrifice of veterans, so it’s crucial to approach any promotions or campaigns you run on this day with sensitivity and respect.

When choosing Veterans day to run an email promotion, be sure it aligns with the spirit of honoring veterans rather than exploiting the occasion. 

Note: Outside of the US, Remembrance Day in Canada and Armistice Day in the United Kingdom are observed on the same day to commemorate the end of World War 1. 

Veterans Day email promotion ideas you can try: 

Offer a discount to veterans
You can offer a discount on a specific product or service that is popular with veterans, a free gift with purchase or “buy one get one free” deal.

Donate a portion of your proceeds to a veterans organization
This is a great way to show your support for veterans and to give back to the community.

Partner with a veterans organization
Choose a charity to partner with and donate a portion of sales on a specific product for the year and announce your partnership in a special Veterans Day promotion

Veteran’s Day Subject lines to inspire you: 

🇺🇸Thank You for Your Service: 50% Off for Our Veterans today!
🙏Gratitude in Action: Veterans Day Discounts for Our Heroes  
🎁A Gift for Our Veterans: Buy One, Get One Free Today! 
🤝Standing with Veterans: Together, We Can Make an Impact! 
❤️🤍💙 Purchase with Purpose: Every Sale Helps Veterans! 

Wednesday, Nov 13, 2024

#4 World Kindness Day

World Kindness Day is a global holiday that celebrates the importance of being kind to others. It is a day to remind ourselves that kindness can make a big difference in the world, no matter how small it may seem.

World Kindness Day email promotion ideas you can try:

Donate a portion of your proceeds to a charity
Show your commitment to making a difference in the world.

Offer a gift card to customers who purchase a gift card for someone else Encourage people to spread kindness and to shop at your business with this twist on a “buy one get one free” sale. 

Offer a free gift with purchase
Give something back to customers who meet a certain spending threshold to show them your appreciation for their support.

World Kindness Day subject lines to inspire you:

🌼 Kindness Matters: Join us in Giving Back this World Kindness Day!
💖 World Kindness Day: Your Purchase Makes an Impact!
🎁 Buy a Gift Card, Get a Gift Card Free on World Kindness Day!
💌 Double the Kindness: Give a gift, get a gift for World Kindness Day!
🌸 Free Gift with Your Purchase to Celebrate World Kindness Day!
☀️ Spreading Kindness on World Kindness Day!

November 25-27, 2024

#5 (Pre) Thanksgiving 

The days leading up to Thanksgiving are a great time to start your Black Friday marketing campaign. By sending out email promotions on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the holiday, you can get a jump on the competition in your customers’ inboxes.

(Pre) Thanksgiving email promotion ideas you can try: 

Black Friday Gift Guide + “Early Bird Coupon”
Create a holiday gift guide with helpful tips and tricks to help your audience choose what to give friends, family, and colleagues during Black Friday. Include a coupon for them to use when they purchase from your guide on Black Friday. 

Early Black Friday sale
Offer your subscribers an extra 10% discount when they shop your Black Friday Sale early. This is a great way to generate sales before they max out their budget during their Black Friday shopping sprees. 

Sneak peek of Black Friday deals
Give your subscribers a sneak peek of the deals you’ll be offering on Black Friday to help build anticipation and get people excited to shop with you and make sure they keep an eye out for your Friday email. You might even offer goodies for the first 50 Black Friday shoppers!

(Pre) Thanksgiving subject lines to inspire you: 

🎁Exclusive Black Friday Gift Guide + Early Bird Coupon: Start Shopping Now! 
💌 Black Friday Sneak Peek + Exclusive Coupon! 
⏰ Shop Early, Save More: Additional 10% Off Black Friday Deals Today Only!✨
🎁 Unwrap Early Savings: 10% Off for Our Loyal Customers – Shop Now! 🛒
🏃‍♂️💨Beat the Rush! Grab Your Early Black Friday Discount Today Only!
✨ Be First in Line: Exclusive Black Friday Sneak Peek Just for You!

Friday, November 29, 2024

#6 Black Friday

It goes without saying that Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year so your email marketing needs to be on point!

Black Friday email promotion ideas you can try: 

Run a deep-discount flash sale
This is a limited-time sale that offers a deep discount on a select product or category of products.

Create a Black Friday landing page
This landing page should feature your best Black Friday deals and make it easy for customers to shop.

Offer a limited time bundle
Bundle your products or services together to create a “Black Friday Only” package at a steeply discounted price.

Black Friday subject lines to inspire you:

🤯 No, we’re not kidding – get 90% off today only!
⚡ Unbeatable Black Friday Deals Inside!
🎉Black Friday is here! Save up to 75% on all orders!
🙌The Black Friday Sale Has Arrived ~ Don’t 👏 Miss 👏These 👏Deals 👏
🎈 We Put Together This Exclusive Black Friday Bundle for You, [Name]!

Saturday, Nov 30, 2024

#7 Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is a day to celebrate and support small businesses. It is important to let your customers know that you are a small business and that they can support you by shopping with you on Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday email promotion ideas you can try: 

Offer a double discount or “apply additional discount” coupon
This could be a double percentage-off discount, a double free shipping discount, or an additional coupon code (e.g. “additional 10% off”) they can apply to your already-discounted Black Friday deals. 

Partner with other small businesses in your niche to offer a joint promotion  For example, you could offer a 20% discount to customers who show proof of purchase from another small business in your community. You could also partner with other small businesses to offer a joint bundle of products or services from both businesses.

Host a virtual Small Business Saturday event
This could include a live shopping event where customers can watch and interact with you in real time as you showcase your products, a live webinar on a holiday gift guide and then offer a special discount to customers who attend the webinar, or a Q&A session where you give away a free product or service to one lucky attendee.

Small Business Saturday subject lines to inspire you:  

💸 Stack Up Savings: Additional Discounts for Small Biz Saturday!
🌈 Small Business. Huge Bargains. This Saturday Only.
🛒 Support Small, Save Big: Small Biz Saturday Savings inside!
🤝 We’re Teaming Up With [Business] to Bring You the Best Small Business Saturday Deals!
🎈Small Biz Saturday Virtual Shopping Party! Enter to Win a $100 Gift Card!

Monday, Dec 2, 2024

#8 Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is an annual online shopping event occurring on the Monday following Thanksgiving, featuring widespread discounts and promotions offered by retailers to kick off the holiday shopping season.

The origins of Cyber Monday can be traced back to the early 2000s when retailers noticed a trend of increased online sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Cyber Monday email promotion ideas you can try: 

“Buy More, Save More” deal
Offer tiered discounts based on the purchase amount (e.g., 10% off for $50, 20% off for $100), motivating customers to spend more to save more.

Cyber Monday Mystery Deals
Promote mystery discounts or surprise offers that customers can unveil at checkout, adding an element of excitement to their shopping experience.

“Last Chance” Deal
Highlight products or collections as “last chance” offerings from your Black Friday sale, creating a sense of scarcity and encouraging immediate purchases.

Cyber Monday subject lines to inspire you: 

🌟 The More You Shop, The More You Save: Cyber Monday Special Inside!
⚡ Cyber Monday Alert: Buy More, Save More on Your Favorite Picks!
🎁Unwrap Your Cyber Monday Mystery Discount Today!
⏳ Hurry, Last Chance for Black Friday Deals! Cyber Monday Encore 🌟
⏰Final Countdown: Cyber Monday’s Last Chance Deals Going Fast!

Tuesday, Dec 3, 2024

#9 Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It is a day to encourage people to give back to their communities and to the causes they care about.

It’s an excellent opportunity for online businesses to raise funds for their favorite charity, give back to their communities, and even (optionally) make sales: 

Giving Tuesday email promotion ideas you can try: 

Donate all or a portion of your proceeds to a charity on Giving Tuesday
Show your commitment to giving back and to encourage your customers to do the same. 

Pro-tip: This is an opportunity to put your best selling products or products you normally don’t discount on sale. When positioned as a fundraiser, you retain the perceived value of these offerings.   

Discounts for Donations
Offer a special discount to customers who make a donation to a designated charity on Giving Tuesday, providing an incentive to purchase and support a cause simultaneously.

Volunteer Hour Pledge
Promise to donate an hour of volunteer work to a local community organization for every purchase made on Giving Tuesday, showcasing your commitment to giving back beyond monetary contributions.

Giving Tuesday subject lines to inspire you:

🤝Shop with Purpose: Every Purchase Supports a Cause on Giving Tuesday!
💌 Give back on Giving Tuesday! Donating a portion of proceeds to [charity]
🛍️Shop for Good: Get a Special Giving Tuesday Discount with Your Donation!
🤲 We’re Pledging Volunteer Hours to [charity] with Your Purchase Today!
🌈 Every Purchase Matters: Pledging Volunteer Hours for Giving Tuesday!

Saturday, December 14, 2024

#10 Free Shipping Day

Free Shipping Day is a day when many online retailers offer free shipping on all orders. It is a great day to encourage customers to shop online and to save money on shipping costs.

Free Shipping Day email promotion ideas you can try: 

Send a personalized Free Shipping Day email to your customers
This email should remind your customers about Free Shipping Day and encourage them to shop with you on that day to save on shipping costs

Offer an additional incentive to customers who order on Free Shipping Day
In addition to saving on shipping costs, offer a gift with purchase or special discount to customers who buy on on Free Shipping Day

Host a Free Shipping Day virtual event
In addition to free shipping, you can include a giveaway or “enter to win” prize for customers who shop on Free Shipping Day

Free Shipping Day subject lines to inspire you: 

🚚✨ Don’t Miss Out! Free Shipping Day is Here!
🎉 Ready, Set, Ship for Free ~ Today is Free Shipping Day!
🛍️ Score Big on Free Shipping Day + Extra 10% Off – Double Win!
💸 Shop Smart on Free Shipping Day: Extra 10% Off Your Favorites!
🎁 Join Our Free Shipping Day Event & Enter to Win a $100 Gift Card

Monday, December 9, 2024

#11 Green Monday

Green Monday is an online retail industry term similar to Cyber Monday and happens on the second Monday in December. It’s the last day shoppers are able to place an online order for it to arrive in time for the holidays. 

Green Monday email promotion ideas you can try: 

Send a personalized Green Monday email to your customers
This email should remind your customers about Green Monday and encourage them to shop with you on that day so their gifts arrive in time for Christmas.

Create a last-minute gift guide
Give the last-minute shoppers on your email list ideas for what to purchase for their friends, family, and loved ones for the holidays with a reminder to buy today for their orders to arrive in time for Christmas. 

Run a Green Monday Flash Sale
Since this is the last opportunity to get orders in so they arrive in time for the holidays, offering a discount or gift/bonus with purchase is a great way to generate revenue with last-minute shoppers.

Green Monday subject lines to inspire you: 

🎄 Don’t Wait! Shop Now for Christmas Delivery!
🎁 Hurry, Green Monday Is Here: Get Your Gifts in Time for Christmas!
🎅 Last Chance Gift Ideas Inside! Order Today for Christmas Arrival!
⛄ Still Shopping? Last-Minute Gift Guide for Your Holiday Rush!
✨ Hurry, It’s On! Green Monday Flash Sale for Last-Minute Shopping!

Thursday, December 26, 2024 (day after Christmas)

#12 Boxing Day 

Celebrated on December 26th, Boxing Day is a widely-recognized holiday primarily observed in Commonwealth countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It originated as a day for giving gifts to the less fortunate, but today it’s considered part of Christmas celebrations, with many people choosing to take advantage of Boxing Day sales. 

While Boxing Day is not an official holiday in the United States, the spirit of incredible post-holiday deals and discounts has transcended borders. Nowadays, people in the USA can partake in Boxing Day shopping online, enjoying the excitement and savings from the comfort of their homes.

Boxing Day email promotion ideas for you to try: 

Boxing Day Blowout Sale
Offer jaw-dropping discounts on post-Christmas inventory or select items before they’re gone forever. 

Donation with Purchase
Donate a % of proceeds from every sale to a charity for the less fortunate to honor the spirit of the holiday. 

BOGO – Buy One Get One
Offer a buy-one-get-one free sale to clear out your holiday inventory and offer an incentive for your customers to shop with you on Boxing day. 

Boxing Day subject lines to inspire you:

🥊💥 Unleash Savings: Boxing Day Blowout Sale is Here!
⏳ Last Chance Alert: Boxing Day Blowout – Grab ’em before they’re gone!
🤲 Spread Joy this Boxing Day: Shop & Support a Good Cause!
🌟 Every Purchase Counts: Make a Difference on Boxing Day!
🎁 Buy One, Get One FREE: Double the Joy, Double the Gifts!

BONUS: (Get Ready for the) New Year 

The last week of the year is a great time to start your New Year’s email marketing campaigns. Many people are looking to make a fresh start in the new year, and you can use your email marketing to help them achieve their goals.

Your audience is thinking about New Year’s resolutions so think about  discounts on products or services that’ll help them achieve their dreams and aspirations for the new year such as fitness, wellness, career advancement, skill-building, self-improvement, goal-setting and planning.

Download the Free Email Promotion Planner, Tracker, & Checklist for Google Sheets

We hope you found inspiration for email promotions you can run in the 4th quarter to boost sales and end the year strong! 

Be sure to plan ahead and pull everything you need together including your offer, the landing pages you’ll need, and of course the emails. Having everything ready in advance will save you tons of stress in the long run and help make your promotions go smoothly.

After running dozens of email promotions over the years, we’ve got this process down to a science and have put together an Email Promotion Planner and Checklist to help you make the most out of your email promotions. Be sure to grab it below, it’s free! 

Further Reading:
If you need a deeper dive into the ins and outs of running a successful email promotion, be sure to check out and bookmark our epic Beginner’s Guide to Email Promotions!

So, you have an idea for a digital product — something you know people need in their lives. And you’re the type of person who’ll really bring the value to make sure it’s the best possible product it can be . . .

You dream of finally having a passive revenue stream you can depend on, limitless income potential, and the freedom to spend your time the way you want . . …

You know that with digital products, all these things are possible! 

But there’s just one problem . . .

Having a brilliant product idea and a commitment to quality does not guarantee your product will sell. 

In fact, you might even work your tail off to get it out there and then find yourself waking up to the sounds of crickets chirping. 

(Followed by screams of frustration into your pillow.)

If you’ve created a digital product in the past but it didn’t fly off the shelf the way you expected, or if this is your first product and you’re terrified of putting a ton of time into something that may never pay off.… you’re definitely not alone.

We want to acknowledge right up front that it takes a lot of guts to even attempt to sell something you’ve created with your own skills and talents. 

It’s easy to get emotionally invested and feel that your product is a reflection of YOU and even your worth. Naturally, if that product doesn’t sell it can be a real gut-punch to the old ego.

But the truth is, the world is filled with incredibly valuable, high-quality digital products created by brilliant people that never sell the way they deserve to.

We created this guide as a way to help you avoid the most common mistakes that can make the difference between waking up to sales in your inbox (ca-ching!) and those darn crickets. 

Let’s dive in! 

Mistake #1: Lack of Research 

Coming up with a great idea for a product is no doubt the hardest part of the process. If you make it that far, naturally you want to just dive in and get started creating it!

But if you haven’t done your due diligence to make sure there’s demand in the market first, you’re taking a huge (unnecessary) risk that could result in you spending time, energy, and resources with nothing to show for it. 

Unless you’re intimately familiar with your audience and know without a shadow of a doubt what they’ll open their wallets for, it’s crucial to find out before you get too far. Market research is an integral part of creating a product that actually sells.

It doesn’t need to be complicated or take up a ton of your time to do!

You can interview/survey your audience, research relevant keywords on Google and Pinterest, and look at marketplaces in your niche — what products are already selling? 

Testimonials and reviews are a great place to get intel: What did they love/appreciate? What let them down? Where are the gaps? How can you do it better?

You can also analyze your most popular content to get ideas of the types of things your audience needs help with or experiment with freebies to see what people raise their hands for. 

Mistake #2: Not Nailing Your Niche

It’s instinctive to want to solve all the problems you’re capable of solving and sell your products to anybody who has money to spend, but when you try to be all things to all people,, you end up getting your signal through to nobody. 

Think about it…

The internet is filled with noise and competition. We’re talking thousands of marketing messages daily! In order to cope and get through the day, your customers are filtering out MOST of them. 

What do they pay attention to? Messages that are hyper-relevant to them and speak to their immediate desires and problems.

This requires narrowing down both the problem you solve and the people you solve that problem for so when they see your message, they’ll know it’s specifically meant for them (not everybody) and they know they need to buy it from you.

Niching down can be a painful part of the process because it usually means you have to give something up — either something you’re really good at or markets you love serving.

But when you get clear about your niche, everything gets exponentially easier — including creating marketing messages that get your dream customers to stop scrolling and pay attention! 

And if it makes you feel better, it doesn’t need to be set in stone. You can always pivot if you need to as you learn more and gain clarity. 

Speaking of marketing… 

Mistake #3: Treating Marketing Like An Afterthought 

It’s incredibly common for digital product creators to focus intensely on product creation and not give a single thought to how they’re going to market that product until after they’re finished . . .

“I’m finished . . . Ta Da! . . . now what?!” 

The trick is to start thinking about how you’re going to market your product before you start creating it and be thinking about it throughout the process. 

This will help you make decisions about what to call it, how to describe it, what features/ chapters/modules and bonuses to include, what formats your audience will prefer, and what types of related free content (e.g. blog posts, social media posts, webinars, lives, etc.) you can create to get people into your funnels. 

One of the secrets to our process is that we start creating our sales page in the early stages of product creation and sometimes even before we begin. Sounds counterintuitive, but here’s why we do that . . .

By going through the process of writing the copy that describes our customer’s pain points and frustrations, articulating the transformation they want, and thinking through the ways we’re going to help them get there, we get crystal clear about “what it is” we need to create. 

Oh and about sales pages… 

Mistake #4: Weak Sales Page 

Your sales page is where the sale is ultimately won or lost, but time and time again we see creators spending tons of time creating epic products and then throw together a quick sales page describing the nuts and bolts of what it is and calling it good . . .and sorry to say, that just ain’t gonna cut it. 

The #1 reason why sales pages fail to convert is that when customers land on the page, they don’t understand immediately (we’re talking within seconds) why they need it or what makes it any different than other things they’ve seen or tried. 

As a creator, you’re thinking about your product in one way, but usually your customers are thinking about it in another way. Creating a high-converting sales page means you must crawl inside the mind of your customer and join in on that conversation. 

Said another way: move beyond what you want them to know and get to what they need to hear. 

The decision to make a purchase is a predictable psychological process every customer goes through and a sales page’s job is to guide them through that process.

Conversion copywriters know this (that’s why they make the big bucks!) and they use proven copywriting formulas to make sure they hit on every psychological trigger customers need in order to feel confident hitting the “buy now” button.

The great thing about that is, these formulas are not top-secret! There’s no need for you to recreate the wheel when it comes to your sales page copy — just use a copywriting formula that’s already been tested. They’re easily found online and you can even grab our worksheet here.

But there’s a secret to sales copywriting that a formula can’t give you and that leads us to mistake #5… 

If you’d like our support for your next launch, grab this free Digital Product Launch Blueprint. Click the image below to download so you can get started.

Mistake #5: Not Being Confident in Your Product  

This is something that doesn’t get addressed nearly enough, but your mindset really is 99% of the battle when it comes to making and selling digital products.

When you’re just getting started, it can feel terrifying to put yourself out there in a much bigger way than you’re used to with the goal of reaching as many people as possible to buy something you’ve created. 

GULP.

Imposter syndrome, fear of criticism/failure/success/money, and perfectionism are all incredibly common for creators to experience and when left unchecked, lead to playing it small (or not putting it out there at all!). 

Have confidence in your product because confidence sells. If you are not the most excited person in the room about your product, your customers will sense that in your marketing messages and sales copy.

If you don’t feel confident, you have our permission to fake it until you make it —  try Imagining that you’re selling this product on behalf of somebody you really care about and want the best for.

Remember that the worst thing that can happen is you overpromise and underdeliver so much that somebody asks for a refund.. 

(Refund requests are something that happens to everyone, by the way.)

Let us be clear that we are not saying you should overpromise or underdeliver…. 

But keeping that in mind can be helpful because it’s EXPONENTIALLY more common to underpromise and undervalue your product in your messaging.

The way to make happy, repeat customers is to live up to the promises you make to them —  no more, no less. That means not exaggerating the value and overhyping it, but it also means not undervaluing it too. 

We have a saying around our virtual office: “blow up the value.” By that we mean to get into all the nooks and crannies of your product to shine a spotlight on every possible feature and benefit your customer can expect when they buy.

It’s not about exaggerating. It’s about remembering to tell your customers about the things you might take for granted they’ll just understand is included . . . 

Think of it this way: your customers NEED as much information as you can give them to make an informed decision. 

Mistake #6: Not Enough Paths to the Sale 

What we see a lot is people launching their product, quietly announcing it, and when the sales don’t come immediately flooding in, they consider it a failure and give up. 

Fear sets in, your ego freaks out, and you don’t want to venture any further outside of your comfort zone. 

That’s the time to push through your mindset roadblocks, because “asking once” isn’t going to get the job done. Getting your product visible and guiding customers toward a purchasing decision is a process.

Here’s the thing: if you can sell it once, the rest is just a numbers game. 

Keep in mind that MOST people who see your offer aren’t going to buy, especially if it’s the first time they’re hearing about it. A product that converts at 5% (which is good!) means that 95% of the people who landed on your sales page said “no” and clicked away.  

When that happens, it just means it wasn’t for them, it wasn’t the right time, or their cat knocked over a lamp and they had to step away . . . there are a million reasons why and none of them are personal or a reflection of the value your product is capable of providing your customers. 

Once your product is out there, remove your ego and think like a salesperson whose job it is to get enough people to view your offer. How are you going to do that? Think of some ways right now! 

Now, think of some more ways. 

Then, think of some more.

And don’t stop there! Keep looking for ways to get your product visible with the people who need it and are out there waiting for it.

Ads are the fastest and easiest way to get traffic to your sales page, but starting with organic strategies is the safest bet while you test your market, offer, pricing, etc.

But with organic strategies, you’ll be spending more time and energy so be prepared, and be thinking in terms of creating MULTIPLE paths to your sales page . . .

Creating SEO content, queuing up promotional social media posts to run on a regular schedule, getting in front of other people’s audiences, creating affiliate relationships, building your email list, and setting up automated email sequences and scheduling special promotions are all examples of ways to build those pathways. 

You don’t have to do them all and you certainly don’t need to do them all at once, but it’s important to be prepared that creating your product is just the tip of the iceberg It’s a HUGE accomplishment! But that’s when the real work begins. 

The straight scoop is that “passive” income doesn’t mean you passively wait for money to show up in your bank account. It’s up to you to get the sales flowing. 

When you have a product you know converts and is making a profit, and you’ve got a good grasp on your target market, then you want to crunch the numbers to see if it makes sense to start testing ads to scale your good results.. (We call this “pouring fuel on the fire.”)

Mistake #7: Not Looking At Your Numbers 

Key takeaway: if your product isn’t flying off the shelf right off the bat, do NOT jump to the conclusion that nobody’s interested and move on to the next thing. 

Instead, work to get enough traffic to your sales page so you can start collecting data and use that to inform your decisions going forward. How many people visited your sales page? What % of them purchased?

If your sales page is converting and you’re making a profit —  even if your revenue is low to start — that means you need to keep going! (See #6) 

Mistake #8. No Follow Up

They say “the money’s in the follow up” and that means wrapping your head around the fact that MANY of the people who said “no” on their first visit to your sales page are not saying “no” at all . . . 

They’re saying “Huh! Maybe.” or “Yes! Just not right now…”

Sales funnels to the rescue! 

A sales funnel, in the simplest of terms, just means you’re guiding people through the purchasing decision-making process and that can take time. Email is hands-down the most effective channel to stay visible and earn the trust of your “maybe someday” people. 

Focus hard on building your email list because then, you can continue to nurture those relationships until the time is right for them to say “Heck yes, sign me up!” 

Mistake #9: Creating A Product Rather Than An Offer

The final mistake we want to address is not creating an offer. If you click out of this document with just one takeaway make sure it’s this:

Your product is just ONE PIECE of your offer. 

Make sure you’re including:

>> A clear description of the outcome or result they can expect when they purchase (not just “what it is” but how it’s going to transform their circumstances). 

>> The reasons why they should purchase from YOU and not your competition. What makes this product unique? What makes you uniquely qualified to help them? 

>> Urgency & scarcity: how are you going to get them to ACT NOW (not later)?

>> What bonuses will you include? 

>> What special pricing options will you create to make it easy for them to say yes? 

Be thinking about all of these things along the way as you create your digital product and make these details clear in your sales copy.

Conclusion

Making and selling digital products can be a joyful, rewarding, and incredibly profitable way to build your business (or just earn some extra cash). By following these tips, we hope you’ll be able to avoid some of the common pitfalls that can easily derail you on your journey.

If you’d like our support for your next launch, grab this free Digital Product Launch Blueprint. Click the image below to download so you can get started.