Email marketing systems for freelancers.
Email marketing systems for freelancers.
How to sell your products and services via ConvertKit Commerce.
ConvertKit is not only an email marketing platform for creating and sending email campaigns, it also provides functionality for you to create, market, and sell your products and services.
Why sell your products and services via ConvertKit?
With the plethora of options available to us today when it comes to selling our wares, you might wonder why you’d choose to use an email marketing platform. Well, truth be told, it can be as valid an option as any.
We all have differing propensities when it comes to technology solutions and I guess sometimes it’s the path of least resistance that wins the day, providing it’s capable of doing the job. And that’s kinda where I am with selling via ConvertKit Commerce.
It’s not something I use extensively (selling via ConvertKit, I mean), but I have done so just to prove (to myself) that it works and that it does it with relative ease. My own preferences for selling lie elsewhere (for many reasons), but I want to showcase ConvertKit’s capabilities as it could be perfect for you.
The basics of ConvertKit Commerce
Fundamentally, Convertkit Commerce is a conduit through which you can sell your products and services without the need to integrate with any other platform.
In other words, create your digital products, coaching services, or even your subscription services and begin selling them using their native integration with the Stripe payment gateway.
You can create your products, add landing pages on which to market them, collect email details of your subscribers and clients and have it all hosted inside a single platform. Each purchase attracts a standard fee (about 3.5% + £0.20) but that’s unavoidable as most payment merchants will charge a similar fee.
Regardless of which Convertkit subscription you have (free or premium) you can sell via the Commerce feature.
ConvertKit’s free plan is great but if you really want to make your business boom by automating the key elements of your email marketing, then you really need the ‘Creator‘ plan, starting at $9/m.
If you want more info, check out an article I wrote here. 👈
Creating your products
When I say ‘product’, I’m referring to really anything that you want to sell to your clients. This is the term used by ConvertKit, so for the purpose of this article I’ll refer to all as ‘product’ even if it’s more of a ‘service’.
What can you sell as a ‘product’?
Well, pretty much anything that you can imagine – so no real limits.
Typical products include;
- An eBook or digital document.
- A newsletter.
- A subscription to a membership.
- A coaching service.
- A course.
Create a Product
Start by navigating to the ‘Earn‘ menu option in ConvertKit, as shown below; 👇
Now click on ‘Products‘ menu option and you’ll be brought to this page, show below; 👇
Click on the button entitled ‘+ New Product’, in the top-right corner to start the process of creating your first product.
✅ Step 1: Product details
In this step, you give your product a name; this name will be client-facing so make it something that you’re happy with from a marketing perspective.
I’ll create a fictitious product called “Getting started in email marketing, using ConvertKit“, an eBook that I’ll (fictitiously!) sell for a one-off fee of £25.00.
After typing the product name and selecting the ‘Pay once, have access forever‘ option, click the ‘Next‘ button; 👇
As you can see, if you have a subscription-based product that you want to sell, simply choose that option from the Product Type options, shown above.
✅ Step 2: Product Price
In this step, you firstly need to choose the payment method you want; there are 3 options, as shown in the screenshot below.
This what you’ll see when selecting option 1, ‘Standard‘;
Standard pricing method is pretty much what you’d expect, a fixed one-off fee for the product you’re selling. You can choose your preferred currency and assign the sale price.
You can also toggle the option to allow purchasers to buy a particular quantity – this may not apply to what you sell, but you do have the flexibility should you want to offer that feature.
This what you’ll see when selecting option 2, ‘Pay what you want‘;
You can set a minimum price that buyers can pay for it so as to make sure you protect yourself, if that’s something you want to do.
And finally, this what you’ll see when selecting option 3, ‘Payment plans‘;
You can choose the number of instalments that your product must be paid in and ConvertKit will take care of the payment schedule for you. In the example above, I chose 2 instalments, which resulted in two equal payments of £12.50, being collected monthly.
✅ Step 3: Fulfilment
In this step, you need to let ConvertKit know what type of product you are selling. You have 3 options;
If you select this option (Digital Download) then you must upload the digital product to ConvertKit so that it can fulfil the order once placed by the buyer.
If you’re selling a Newsletter or something else, then there’s no need to upload anything to ConvertKit;
Once you click the ‘Next‘ button, you can complete the final step of this part of the process.
✅ Step 4: Domain
In this step, you can choose the URL that you can use to sell your product. When buyers click on the published URL, they’ll be able to supply their contact and payment details and ConvertKit will do whatever you have instructed it to do – e.g. send them the digital download that they purchased.
To complete this part of the process, simply click on the ‘Create Product‘ button. Once clicked, you’ll see the new product appear in your library of products. 👇
Set up payments
ConvertKit use Stripe as their preferred payment merchant for the Commerce feature of their platform, so it’s the only option we have to connect our bank so as to receive payments.
I should clarify that other payment merchant integrations can be set up with ConvertKit (e.g. PayPal, Paystack, Square etc.), but in this article I’m specifically referring to the ConvertKit Commerce feature which has the ‘Stripe’ limitation.
The process is very simple and straightforward, all you have to do is follow the onscreen prompts and ConvertKit will take care of the heavy lifting.
You don’t even need a Stripe account as that will be taken care of by ConvertKit too.
✅ Step 1: Click the button entitled ‘Set up payments‘ 👇
After clicking the button, you’ll be presented with this screen, asking you whether you operate as an individual or as a company; of course, only you know which is the correct answer.
✅ Step 2: Select the appropriate option (Individual or Company), and click ‘Continue‘.
You’ll then to be taken to the page where you’ll be asked for your personal details, as shown below;
✅ Step 3: Select your country, add your mobile number, and click ‘Continue‘.
Note: Your mobile number will used for verification purposes;
✅ Step 4: Enter the code that was sent to your mobile phone so as to authenticate yourself.
✅ Step 5: Confirm your details and click ‘Submit‘.
That’s it – all sorted for you!
It may take a few hours for your account to be confirmed, but once it’s done all your money from sales (minus fees) will automatically arrive in your bank account. Payments are normally made each Friday by ConvertKit.
The following currencies are supported:
USD · US Dollar
EUR · Euro
GBP · Pound Sterling
CAD · Canadian Dollar
AUD · Australian Dollar
NZD · New Zealand Dollar
Here are the fees per currency:
USD · US Dollar · 3.5% + $0.30
GBP · Pound Sterling · 3.5% + £0.20
EUR · Euro · 3.5% + 0.25€
CAD · Canadian Dollar · 3.5% + $0.30
AUD · Australian Dollar · 3.5% + $0.30
NZD · New Zealand Dollar · 3.5% + $0.30
Yes, if you want to sell a product in multiple currencies, then you need to create multiple identical products, and selecting a different currency for each product.
For example:
‘Product A’ – £25.00 (🇬🇧UK)
‘Product A’ – $29.00 (🇺🇸US)
‘Product A’ – €29.00 (🇪🇺EU)
No, as a ConvertKit Commerce user, everything you need will be configurable from directly within your ConvertKit account.
The step-by-step instructions during the payments setup take care of everything for you.
Yes, during the product creation process you can create discount codes that can then be applied during sales.
Yes, the simplest way to do this is to create a 100% discount code for your product and buy it yourself.
You’ll still need to supply your credit card details but you won’t be charged any money.
So there you have it, everything you need to sell your products via ConvertKit’s Commerce platform.
What can you create today start selling right away?
Send me the link to your first product and let me see what you’ve come up with!
If you found this article to be of use, please share it with your networks as your friends will hopefully find value too.
John Bellingham
Email marketing strategist for freelancers.
If we haven’t already, let’s connect on LinkedIn.
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