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Funnels
Creating An Application Based Funnel to a High Ticket Course
- March 13, 2023
Sales funnels are a marketing tool that helps guide your audience through the steps they need to take to complete a transaction or purchase. Today, we will look at creating an application based funnel for your high ticket course or program. We’ll discuss some key points below that will help guide you in designing the perfect funnel for your high ticket course.

At its core, a high ticket course funnel consists of several steps your potential customers must take to complete the purchase. For example, this might include an initial sign-up or form completion to pitch your course, followed by some educational content about your program and what it can offer to potential students.

What is Considered a High Ticket Course?

High ticket sales pricing is subjective. What high ticket means to one person may not be high ticket to another person.

Generally, high ticket sales funnels are for offers of over $3,000 and upwards of $20,000+. These courses and programs are designed for people who want a more personal experience or want to learn from a specific source. If you are selling a high ticket course, consider putting extra time into creating an application based funnel.

To create an application based funnel for your high ticket course, you can use applications like Airtable (my personal favorite) or Typeform. These types of tools allow you to collect all of the application information you need.

How Does an Application Based Funnel Work?

An application based funnel (or form funnel) will help you offer a high ticket course to your audience that includes an application process before someone can join. With the application in your funnel, you can guide people through purchasing your high ticket course.

The key component of this type of funnel is ensuring everything is clear regarding what your audience should do next. It’s important that you include clear instructions on what they need to do and where they need to go if they have any questions about their purchase.

What Are the Benefits of an Application Based Funnel?

An application based form funnel’s benefits can be seen as a two-fold process.

The first benefit is that it helps you fulfill your promises to the customer. As discussed, if you are selling a high ticket course, your ultimate goal is to get people enrolled in the course who are ready to take action.

The second benefit of using an application based funnel is that it helps increase retention and satisfaction for your customers who follow through with their promises. This benefit lies in how easy or difficult it is for people trying to enroll in a high ticket course.

1. More Control Over the Enrollment Process

A high ticket course or program should have a high ticket experience and enrollment process.

An application form funnel allows you more control over who is invited into the course and more control over the entire onboarding process for new students.

This type of enrollment gives you more control over who enrolls in your course and ensures that your customers are fully aware of what’s going on before completing their purchase.

When it comes to your onboarding process, automation is critical! You can easily set up workflows for when an application is accepted or not, so you aren’t manually doing tasks like sending emails, following up, or adding access for new students.

2. Generates Exclusivity for High Ticket Sales

One of the most important aspects of creating an application based funnel is ensuring they are exclusive. There’s no reason to have an application based funnel if you’re going to accept everyone who applies. It needs to be ethical and exclusive. There needs to be a genuine reason behind the application based model.

3. More Sales If Your High Ticket Sales Funnel Engagement is Set Up Properly

That’s because the application process encourages those most likely to take action and have a high likelihood of success with your program, product, or service to join your course. Because the application process helps ensure that only those with a genuine interest in your program are enrolled, you may see an increase in revenue and an improvement in return on investment for your business.

What Are the Disadvantages of an Application Based Funnel?

There are a few disadvantages of an application based funnel, but the main one is that it could turn people away. Especially if you don’t have visible pricing listed on the sales page prior to someone filling out an application.

While deciding to show pricing or not is a personal choice, it’s important to consider the following:

1) If no pricing is listed, it could turn away ideal students because they imagine the price is outside their budget.

2) If pricing is listed, it could turn away people who can’t afford the cost of your high ticket course or program. This is good news because you’ll have to process fewer applications and onboarding.

Tools to Use For An Application Based Form Funnel:

There are many different tools you could use to help automate your application based form funnel, but here are a few suggestions:

1) Airtable

As you can tell from my program, Bundle Formula, I love Airtable. It can be used as a completely automated onboarding system for your high ticket course or program. In fact, I manage my entire business with it, including my course content, my student experience, feedback, offboarding, engagement – everything. Curious about setting something like this up for your own group program? Check out this epic masterclass on how to do all that with Airtable.

2) Dubsado

You could also use Dubsado forms for the application form and create Dubsado workflows – one for accepted applications and one for not accepted applications.

3) ThriveCart

Of course, when it’s time to process payment for your high ticket course or program, my tool of choice is ThriveCart! With my conversion-friendly checkout templates, you can completely customize and brand your checkout page.

4) Typeform

If you’d like a simpler way to create your application form, Typeform is a popular choice for creating fully functional and easy-to-use forms.

5) Zapier

If you’re using multiple tools, you’ll likely need to use Zapier to connect them and streamline your entire course and program processes.

Final Thoughts

An application based funnel is a powerful tool for businesses that offer high-ticket sales, courses, programs, or services.

It allows you to control and manage the enrollment process more closely, generating exclusivity and higher sales. However, it also has some potential drawbacks, including the risk of turning away ideal customers if you don’t disclose pricing on your sales page.

As with any marketing strategy, it’s important to carefully consider an application-based funnel’s pros and cons before implementing one for your business. By doing so, you can be sure that you are maximizing its benefits while minimizing its disadvantages.

Other posts you may want to check out:
Marketing
10 Design & Copywriting Secrets to Improve Your Checkout Page
- March 6, 2023
Design and copywriting are two of the most important aspects of any website. In fact, they can make or break a website. This is especially true when it comes to the checkout page. You will lose sales if your checkout page isn’t designed and copywritten well. This blog post will discuss 10 design and copywriting secrets that will help improve your checkout page!

Checkout Page Design & Copy: What Is More Important?

When it comes to website design and copywriting, there is no doubt that both are critical for a successful website or checkout page. In fact, they can make or break your site, especially when it comes to the checkout page.

Online shoppers are a fickle bunch. If they don’t like your checkout page, they’ll leave and never come back. That’s why it is so important to design your checkout page well. But what are some of the critical elements that you should focus on?

10 of the Best Design & Copywriting Secrets for Checkout Pages

Let’s discuss the best 10 copywriting and design secrets that will help increase your conversion rate and generate more revenue for your business!

1) Design: Clear Layout

Your checkout page should be easy to read, with straightforward typography and an uncluttered layout. This will help keep online shoppers engaged and interested in completing their purchases. With our conversion-focused templates, you can have your ThriveCart checkout page become your sales page. But remember where they are coming from. Did they already receive information on the previous page they would have landed on?

2) Copywriting: Concise & Informative Text

In addition to a clear design, your copy should also be concise and informative. Avoid long blocks of text that are hard to read and blend together. Instead, break up your copy with bullet points and distinct sections to help online shoppers get the information they need quickly and easily.

3) Copywriting: Testimonials & Customer Reviews

Online shoppers are constantly looking for social proof before making a purchase. Adding testimonials or customer reviews on your checkout page can give them extra confidence to purchase. And yes, a screenshot of a positive comment on social media is okay to add too – just be sure to get permission from the poster or blur their name and photo to respect their privacy.

4) Design: CTA Button Colors

Your checkout page should include a clear and prominent call to action button that stands out. This will help increase conversions and encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases on your site. You can use contrasting colors like red, orange, or bright backgrounds with a contrasting CTA button color to create eye-catching designs.

5) Copywriting: Focus On the Benefits

Your copy should focus on highlighting the benefits of your products or services rather than simply listing out all the features. By focusing on what your customers will get out of your offer or product, you will appeal to their actual needs and encourage them to make a purchase.

6) Design & Copywriting: Highlight Risk-Free Guarantees

To further alleviate any concerns that online shoppers may have about making a purchase from your checkout page, consider including risk-free guarantees or money-back offers if you have such a policy in place. This can help give them extra peace of mind and increase sales in the process.

7) Design: Add Visuals or Videos

Visuals and videos are another great way to engage online shoppers on your checkout page and convince them to complete their purchase. Use stock photos, graphic elements, icons, or branded photos. You can also use product demos or customer testimonials to add a more personal touch.

My favorite stock photo subscription sites are Styled Stock Society and ColorJoy because both feature high quality images, women of color, and women of all builds and sizes. Bonus points to Styled Stock Society for their absolutely spectacular collections and Canva templates, and for Color Joy’s amazing license that allows template sellers like me to use their images in my designs. We proudly feature and include stock photos from ColorJoy in many of our templates.

8) Copywriting: Clear & Direct Call to Action

Your copy should also clearly and directly tell online shoppers what they need to do in order to complete their purchase. This will help increase your conversion rate by focusing on the action that you want them to take.

9) Design: Always Double Check Mobile

No matter where your checkout page is hosted or created, always check the mobile version. In ThriveCart, it might make more sense to move some sections around for the mobile layout. This can help display your checkout page in the best possible way and encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases.

Heads up: every Thrivecart checkout and sales page in our template shop comes fully mobile optimized, optimized and designed with conversions (sales) as the primary focus, and ready for traffic.

10) Copywriting: Know Your Ideal Audience

I’ve done some professional conversion copywriting in my years as a funnel builder, but these days I prefer to work with some fantastic copywriters. The most critical and essential step for good copy on a checkout page is to do your research. You need to know your ideal audience so you can speak to them in your copy.

This means knowing their pain points, their goals, and their desired outcomes. By doing this research, you can craft copy that speaks directly to your ideal audience and compels them to complete a purchase on your checkout page. With these tips and tricks in mind, you can create a high-converting checkout page that online shoppers will love.

Want to know the copywriting resources I love and recommend?

Sandra van der Lee from Damn Copy has some amazing copy templates ready for you to make your own. I’ve used and love her templates in launches before and been very happy with the results!

BONUS THRIVECART CHECKOUT PAGE TIP #11:

If you use ThriveCart, add a link to your main website on your checkout page (probably in the footer is best, especially if you’re linking to your privacy policy and/or your terms and conditions). This provides your potential purchasers with an added level of trust AND gives you a backlink to your domain. Backlinks are great for SEO (search engine optimization)!

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a design-focused solution that will improve your checkout page and increase conversions, turn to ThriveCart today! With our user-friendly checkout page templates and copywriting secrets, we’ll help you generate more revenue for your business.

Curious how we’re using Thrivecart for our full funnel solution – from sales page, checkout, affiliate program, upsells and course platform? Check out this free 15-minute behind-the-scenes video showing our complete Thrivecart setup.

Other posts you may want to check out:
Business, Marketing
Creating Your Own Live Launch Method to Make You Love Live Launches Again
- February 27, 2023
Want to launch your next digital course, group program, or service offer? Creating your live launch method can help you to love live launches again. When done correctly, live launches are a great way to build anticipation and excitement for your product or service. They can also help you to generate more sales and increase profits. In this blog post, we will discuss the steps that you need to take to create your own live launch method. We will also provide tips on how to market your product or service before the launch takes place.

Live Launches vs Evergreen

One of the key differences between live and evergreen launches is that live launches typically generate more excitement and anticipation as they take place in real time. This can be an advantage, as it allows you to build greater momentum leading up to your launch date and capture the attention of potential customers or clients.

However, live launches can also be energy draining.

The best live launch method is one you use in combination with an evergreen launch strategy! That way, you get the best of both worlds.

Get my free resource, How to Go Ever(Green), to create a better evergreen strategy and sales funnel.

The 3 Phases of a Live Launch Method

There are typically three phases to a live launch method: the pre-launch phase, the live launch itself, and the post-launch phase.

1) Phase One: Pre-Launch Marketing

The first step in creating your live launch method is to focus on pre-launch marketing efforts. This can include things like building anticipation and excitement on social media and running email marketing campaigns.

The goal of the pre-launch phase is to warm your audience up and get them ready to buy.

You’re not necessarily selling here. You are providing value and building the know, like, and trust factor with your audience. You’re getting them excited about what’s coming up!

How Long Is the Pre-Launch Marketing Phase?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer here. Typically it’s 2-6 weeks before your cart is open.

But it really depends.

I know that doesn’t sound very helpful… but here are some things to think about:

How warmed up is your audience? Have you been marketing and showing up consistently? Is your offer’s topic completely different from anything you’ve done before? Does your offer help with a problem your ideal customer is already aware of? If not, you should spend more time during the pre-launch phase creating that awareness first.

2) Phase Two: Live Launch

Once you have built up a strong base of pre-launch marketing activities, it’s time to launch live! During this phase, you will typically hold live webinars or live Q&A sessions, where you can engage directly with your audience and answer their questions about your product or service.

This is the period of time when your cart is open, and all of your launch planning is happening.

In most cases, the highest launch days will be the first day the cart is open and the last day. So, if you find yourself in a middle of the cart slump, know that is normal. Don’t stop engaging, networking, and talking about your launch!

Email Marketing Tip for Live Launches:

Not everyone on your list is interested in every offer. Maybe it’s not the right time, or maybe it’s not the correct format for them. That’s okay! Add an opt-out feature to the top of your live launch sales emails so those people can opt out during the launch period but still remain on your email list.

How do you do that? With most email marketing providers, you can add a trigger or rule where when someone clicks on a link, a tag is added to their contact record in your email service provider. Then, make sure future promo emails for your launch are sent to everyone except people with that opt-out tag. I’ve done this successfully with MailerLite, ConvertKit, and ActiveCampaign.

3) Phase Three: Post-Launch

You did it! Your live launch has wrapped up, and sales of your offer have concluded, well done!

Now it is important to continue marketing your product or service in order to drive further sales and increase revenue, especially if you have an evergreen marketing strategy. I recommend making the offer available at full price year-round, and when your live launch is over, redirecting that sales page to the year-round, always-open offer for that product. You’d be surprised how many folks will join after the live launch is over, simply because they missed your emails or regretted not purchasing it during the launch.

This may involve running email marketing campaigns, promoting your product on social media platforms, or reaching out to potential customers or clients through other channels. With the right strategy and planning, a live launch can be an extremely effective way to grow your business.

During the post-launch phase, you’ll also want to do a launch debrief to review your live launch.

What Should You Look At For a Launch Debrief?

There are several different factors that you should consider when doing a launch debrief, including your pre-launch marketing activities, live launch performance metrics such as webinar attendance or Q&A session engagement, and post-launch marketing performance.

This free guide on evergreen sales funnels will show you how to analyze your live launch and which pieces to repurpose for your evergreen funnel, includes a fillable workbook to help you identify your funnel’s strengths and create an action plan, and my favorite tech tools to get all this done. Grab that here!

Other important elements to look at include customer feedback and reviews, as well as your overall sales results. By analyzing these various aspects of your live launch, you can identify improvement areas and continue optimizing your live launch method over time.

This data can also help you fine-tune your evergreen sales funnel for the course or offer. And when you’re ready to run your next live launch, you’ll know exactly what to focus on for even greater success!

Final Thoughts

Whether you are new to live launches or have been doing them for years, there is always room for improvement. By taking the time to plan, strategize, and optimize your live launch method, you can create a successful and profitable launch that will help grow your business over time.

And don’t forget to make the more sustainable choice for more revenue and turn your live offer into an evergreen offer, too. Your income, audience, and sales, will thank you later.

With the correct live launch method and planning, you can make more money and love live launches again!

Other posts you may want to check out:
Business, Tech
Thrivecart Account Security: How to Protect Your Account from Scammers
- February 22, 2023
A new threat in Thrivecart account security are scams called Card Testing scams. In this post, I’ll share my best tips for protecting your Thrivecart account from Card Testing scams and other security risks.

Along with protecting your Stripe and Paypal accounts, protecting your Thrivecart is also crucial for protecting your business, your digital assets, and ensuring you and your customers have uninterrupted access to their purchases if you use Thrivecart Lear to host your courses and digital products.

What are Card Testing scams and are Thrivecart accounts at risk?

Card testing scams are one of the most common scams and have recently become more prevalent with Thrivecart accounts. Here’s what happens: scammers purchase or otherwise acquire -aka steal- lists of credit card numbers. Before they make big purchases with them, they first want to test and see which cards are still valid, active accounts, so they make a LOT (hundreds, or sometimes thousands) of small purchases, often for $0.00 or as little as $1 or as much as $10, to see which transactions go through. They need a valid payment processor for their scam, so they might use an unsuspecting Thrivecart account or checkout to test their purchases. Once their small purchase goes through, they then move on to make bigger purchases with that credit card, for luxury goods, clothing, electronics or other expensive purchases.

How to know if you are under a Card Testing attack and what to do

I recently spoke with two creators who had to deal with a Cart Testing attack on their Thrivecart and Stripe accounts. Each scam will be different, but I want to share some similarities so you can recognize what’s happening and take immediate action.

Both creators sell digital products via their website and take payment via Thrivecart. Their attacks occurred between December 2022 and January 2023.

Here are the similarities between two recent card testing attacks involving Thrivecart and Stripe:
- Neither creator saw any unusual activity in their Thrivecart account – no new transactions, purchases, refunds, etc.
- Their Thrivecart and Stripe logins had not been compromised and they did not lose access to their dashboards or accounts. Their real customer data was not breached or compromised
- Their attacks started gradually, with just one or two small charges, either for $0 or $6, a day, and then increased. It’s clear that these were processed via a bot
- The customers whose cards the scammers were using were not charged, as the charges were either $0 or were marked as pending in Stripe, but in some instances, the attempted charge still showed up on the customer’s credit card statement
- These creators only became aware they were under attack when they saw the pending charges when they logged in to their Stripe accounts – again, there were no transactions or changes on Thrivecart, or when they were contacted about the attempted charges customers saw on their credit card statement.
- Stripe may or may not notify you of a potential attack – one of these creators received a single email from Stripe after weeks of being under attack, the other was never contacted by Stripe
- In both instances, Thrivecart and Stripe both claimed the breach was on the other’s platform. The transactions were processed via Open API via Stripe, but associated with Thrivecart products (as in, there was one product singled out and used to test thousands of cards). If any funds had actually been processed, the creators would have had to refund the charges and eat the Stripe fees.
- Both creators could only stop the attack by pausing or requesting a temporary hold on their Stripe account. Their Thrivecart accounts were able to function normally using Paypal as a payment processor.
If you think you may be under a card testing attack, immediately open support tickets with Thrivecart and Stripe. You may also want to have Stripe freeze your account. Lastly, consider creating a notification for your site (such as a pop up or a footer bar notification) that you are aware of the transactions and are taking action. While that may seem scary and vulnerable, it’s never a bad thing to be as transparent as possible and have documented proof that you notified site visitors of a potential issue as the people who are innocent victims of the scam may be looking up your site to investigate the problem.

As with all things Thrivecart account security and general online security, the best course of action is to prevent falling victim to card testing scams and other potential security issues for your e-commerce business in the first place with a few basic preventative steps.

Here are 5 tips to protect your Thrivecart account security:

1) Enable two-factor authentication for your Thrivecart account

You’re likely already very familiar with this security protocol, but it can go a long way to protecting your account from spammers or when your favorite password storage app has a breach, like LastPass did in December, 2022.

How to enable two-factor authentication on your Thrivecart account
1. Log in to your ThriveCart account
2. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner
3. Select “Profile”
4. Scroll to the bottom of your profile page and enable 2FA by clicking the button “Set up your 2-factor auth” and following the prompts.
NOTE: Many Thrivecart users find that despite checking the box “remember me on this computer for the next 30 days,” they still need to authenticate their login credentials every single time they log in to their account. While annoying, it’s still better than risking potentially losing access to your account.

2) Enable fraud prevention via Captcha security protocols on your Thrivecart account

We’ve all seen Captcha (or ReCaptcha) boxes before: they usually look like a checkbox that says, “Click here to confirm you’re a human” or something like that, and sometimes they make you do a puzzle or identify traffic lights or fire hydrants. However, enabling Fraud Prevention for your Thrivecart account with Captcha will not add a Captcha checkbox to your Thrivecart checkouts. In most instances, it will be invisible. In the instance that the system is not sure a real person is attempting the purchase, or their appears to be an issue or risk with that card, a traditional Captcha box will appear.

I’ve been told that adding this feature to your Thrivecart account may slow your checkouts down by a second or two, but I strongly recommend it anyway. Card Testing scams are now common and I’ve had 2 friends whose accounts have been impacted. Enabling the anti-fraud Captcha on their checkouts could have prevented this.

How to enable Fraud Prevention in Thrivecart with Captcha
1. Log in to your ThriveCart account
2. Click on “Settings” in the left-hand menu
3. Click on “Account-wide Settings”
4. Click “Fraud prevention”
5. Enable “Google reCAPTCHA”
I recommend using “Google ReCaptcha” but you may wish to test both. If you don’t have either of these settings enabled, I strongly recommend you GO NOW to set this up.

3) Grant your VA or team members access to your Thrivecart account via the Users feature, not by sharing your login.

I can’t stress this enough – for the absolute strongest Thrivecart account security, no one should have full admin access to your Thrivecart account other than you if at all possible. Instead, never share your Thrivecart login and grant access to your account via the subusers feature. If you have Thrivecart Pro, you’re able to add up to 5 additional users with customizable access to your account, for a total of 6 logins, including your own. I believe this is not available for regular Thrivecart accounts, but if it were me, I’d upgrade to Thrivecart Pro just to get access to this.

Within the Users settings, you’re able to create a new user account and customize, down to a product-by-product level, which courses and products your team member has access to, whether or not they can delete products, see statistics like sales data and conversion rates, look up customers, perform refunds, or manage your affiliates.

How to create user accounts for your team members or contractors in Thrivecart
1. Log in to your ThriveCart account and go to the “Settings” section.
2. Click on the “Subusers” tab. You can also find the Users menu by clicking your profile picture in the upper right corner and then clicking Users.
3. Click the “Add Subuser” button to add a new subuser.
4. Enter the subuser’s first and last name and email address. The rest of the fields (Country, State, Zip code, etc.) are optional.
5. Choose the App Permissions tab to customize what access you want to give to the new subuser. ThriveCart offers a variety of permission levels, from read-only access to full control over your account, broken down into these categories: Coupons, Learn, Statistics, Affiliates, Users, and Settings.
6. Click the Product Access tab to customize which products the subuser will have the ability to see and edit inside their dashboard. NOTE: Your subuser will not have the ability to create new products, only the primary user (you) can do that. However, you can create a product, Save and Exit, and then allow your subuser to handle all the other settings, design, and set up tasks.
7. Last, click the Course Access tab to customize which courses your subuser will be able to see and edit within their account. Approvals are given on a project-by-project basis. Projects inside Thrivecart Learn are simply folders used to organize your courses. You cannot grant access on a course-by-course basis.
8. Click the Save button to create the subuser.
Thrivecart will send your new subuser an email notifying them they’ve been added to your account and prompting them to set up a password.

To manage your subusers, head back to the Users menu to edit their permissions, reset their password, or delete their account. If you make any changes, such as removing access to a product or project, they will be notified via email.

4) Create a unique, strong password for your Thrivecart account and don’t add it to your LastPass or save it to your browser.

Start with a strong, complex password and consider not storing it anywhere. This is totally optional, but services like password-storing apps have data breaches often and it might just be one more step to protecting your account and preventing you from losing all your valuable work and products.

Suggestions for creating a strong, secure Thrivecart password:
- Use at least 12 characters
- Use a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols
- Avoid using common words or phrases, especially avoiding meaningful words like your name, a spouse or child’s name, or your birthdate or birth year
- Don’t reuse passwords across different accounts – only use this password for your Thrivecart account
5) Check your transactions regularly, both in Thrivecart and in your payment processors like Stripe and Paypal

It’s never a bad idea to keep an eye on your ThriveCart transactions and be alert to any suspicious activity, like a sudden uptick in orders or a high number of refunds. I also routinely, usually weekly, log in to my Stripe account and keep an eye on how many failed payments have occurred that week.

Failed payments are not necessarily a sign of an attack, as sometimes cards simply get declined, but I do pay attention if its a customer trying to purchase multiple times, or if there are several failed purchases all occurring close together. I’d recommend checking your transactions at least once a week to stay on top of any trends or sudden increases in failed payments or purchase attempts.

If you suspect you’re under a card testing attack, immediately contact Thrivecart and Stripe and see our recommendations and guidelines as listed at the top of this article.

Bonus tip for extra fraud prevention if you use Stripe as one of your payment processors in Thrivecart

Stripe recently introduced a new layer of security to all payments processed via their service, Radar. You can find more details on Stripe’s site here, but the basic premise as of 2023 is Stripe will charge you an extra $0.05 USD per transaction to process extra checks to prevent fraud. I recently enabled this after my friends experienced Card Testing attacks and have not noticed any adverse affects, lost sales, or conversion dips. If you offer split-pay or payment plans on your digital products, this can also help to reduce the number of defaulted/incomplete payment plans you have to deal with.

Spam or scam attacks are not going away, and scammers will continue to innovate and find new ways to make a quick buck, but by following these tips and best practices, you can help protect your ThriveCart account from scammers and spammers. While not fail-proof, implementing security and fraud prevention measures like limiting enabling 2FA, using CAPTCHA on all your checkouts, creating a strong, secure password, and adding your team members to your Thrivecart account as subusers rather than sharing your login details with them directly, can all help to make your Thrivecart account, transactions, customers, and digital assets like your courses and products stored in Learn, more secure.

Other posts you may want to check out:
Business
7 Steps to Creating a Digital Product That Will Sell Like Crazy
- February 20, 2023
If you’re an entrepreneur or course creator, you know that digital products can be a great source of revenue. There are so many different types of digital products you can create. But how do you create a digital product that will sell like crazy? In this blog post, we’ll share 7 steps to creating a digital product that your audience will love.

What is a Digital Product?

A digital product is a type of information product that can be delivered entirely online. It’s typically a downloadable or importable file, like a training video, template, ebook, or PDF. There are many different ways to package up a digital product!

The power of digital products is that they can be sold over and over again. They are a fantastic type of offer because they are evergreen (meaning they’re always available, not just during certain times of the year), and they’re pretty close to passive income – sometimes folks just happen on them, and they’re the right product at the right time, and they purchase immediately.

The 7 Steps to Creating a Digital Product That Sells

If you landed here by Googling ‘how to create a product to sell’ or ‘selling digital products’, you’re in the right place. We always hear how amazing digital products are and why they’re so beneficial. But there’s not a lot of practical advice about creating digital products.

1) Figure out what problem your product will solve

Creating a successful digital product starts with determining what problem it will solve for customers. You need to identify both the problems your prospects have and potential solutions your product or service can offer them.

From there, you can craft an effective selling strategy that appeals to their needs, so you can generate higher conversion rates and ultimately strengthen customer satisfaction.

Once you figure out what problem your products solve, you are well on your way to building strong selling relationships with clients.

2) Do your research and make sure there’s a market for your product

Making digital products is an exciting venture, and sometimes it can be tempting to go right into creating the product. However, it’s important not to skip the research process! Doing thorough market research will ensure that your digital product has potential customers. After all, there’s no point in making a digital product if no one is interested in buying it.

It may take some extra time upfront, but doing your research will pay off as you launch your digital product into the world.

3) Figure out the deliverables

Working out how to deliver digital products can be a tricky process, but it doesn’t have to be! By taking a systematic approach and breaking the task into smaller deliverables, you’ll soon find that understanding how it all comes together is much less daunting.

Taking the time to map out each step of how your product should come together makes the whole process much easier and ensures you don’t miss any important details.

When deciding the format of your digital product, it’s essential to consider 3 things:

What makes sense for the topic?

You won’t want to do a digital product on a tech tool with a private podcast feed. It wouldn’t make sense because your audience needs to see your screen.

What makes sense for your audience?

Does your audience love listening to podcasts? Are they super busy and prefer shorter 5-10 minute videos over a 2-hour workshop replay? Always consider your audience and what will work best for them.

What makes sense for you?

If you don’t want to be on camera, don’t! There may be a way to take your digital product idea and turn it into an ebook or a set of done-for-you templates.

Establishing critical milestones along the way also helps ensure you stay on track and ultimately successfully deliver your digital product. Remember, a digital product can be super simple, like a spreadsheet, or it can become something more robust, like a mini-course.

Speaking of deliverables, if you’re wondering how I deliver my digital products, including templates, workshops, trainings, courses, and bundles, I use Thrivecart as my full-funnel solution, from sales page to delivery. Want to take a peek at how I use Thrivecart as my complete funnel software? Tap here to watch a free 15-minute behind-the-scenes video.

4) Find a way to stand out from the competition

Navigating a competitive marketplace can be difficult, but if you’re wise enough to go in prepared, you can stand out. Taking time to do competitor research and learn what they offer will give you insight into your unique value.

Consider creating a digital product that caters to your niche customers and provides them with something no one else is offering. Remember that sometimes your digital product’s most unique selling feature is YOU. Your experiences and training style are different from everyone else’s. That’s where you can differentiate your product from others that look or sound similar.

Going the extra mile will surely make an impression and get you noticed!

5) Build an audience for your product before you launch it

When pre-selling a product, the purpose is to create anticipation and generate interest prior to launch. A presell strategy can involve entering pre-sales data in a CRM system, limiting the number of pre-purchased items, or hosting livestream events and releasing exclusive content.

When designing presell strategies for digital products, putting together incentives like pre-order discounts and partnering with partners or affiliates who will talk about it can help build an audience before you launch your product.

Implementing presell strategies right at the start of your product’s development lifecycle gives you the best chance at success. You’ll have time and the opportunity to make any necessary changes based on early feedback generated by your presell efforts.

6) Make sure your product is priced correctly

So many of us struggle with pricing! When pricing a digital product, it’s important to keep in mind a few key points.

First and foremost is the time and energy you’ve spent creating your product: pricing it too low may not give it the value it deserves. But, pricing it too high could cause buyers to question whether or not they should make that purchase.

It also helps to have an understanding of customer demographics; if your product sells primarily among a particular demographic, pricing it realistically for that demographic can be very beneficial for sales.

Ultimately, setting the right price for your digital product could make all the difference in finding success with customers. But pricing is something that is going to be different for everyone. It depends on your current audience, your other offers, etc.

You can always increase the price later on!

7) Create an Evergreen Sales Funnel

Now that you have your digital product created and it’s sold a few times, it’s time to add it to an evergreen sales funnel. Remember to ask for testimonials for your digital product from your customers. This social proof is so valuable for your evergreen sales emails and sales page for the digital product.

The final stage in creating a successful digital product is to build an effective sales funnel that will help you to continually sell and engage with customers over time. By making an evergreen sales funnel, you can take advantage of various automated marketing tactics, such as email marketing, lead nurturing, and social media engagement.

Final Thoughts

If you’re thinking about launching a digital product, following these steps will help ensure that your digital product is successful. By taking these steps, you’ll set yourself up for success when you launch your digital product. If you want to sell your products using ThriveCart, check out our template shop for beautiful conversion-focused checkout templates.

Other posts you may want to check out:
Business, Marketing
Course Creation Guide: How to Price Your Course Correctly
- February 13, 2023
When you’re creating an online course, how do you determine how much to charge for it? It can be tricky to find the sweet spot, but with the correct information, you can price your course for maximum profit.

Pricing your online course can be a complicated, even intimidating, process. With the right strategy and a little time, you can price your course effectively and in a way that makes sense for everyone involved.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to come up with a pricing strategy and how to use a pricing calculator to help you determine the right price for your course.

How Much Should You Charge?

That answer depends on many factors, including the type of learner who will enroll in your course, their goals after taking the course, and more. While I’m happy to provide some things to consider in this blog post, just know that pricing is always subjective. There is no one size fits all answer.

Even the pricing calculators I’ll share later in this post should only be used as a guide.

How to Price Your Course Correctly

The first step to pricing your course is deciding what you want the course to accomplish. This is a key decision because it will help you determine how much the course should cost and what kind of revenue it can generate. A lot of this comes down to defining who the target audience is and what they’re hoping to get out of taking your course.

Once you have decided what you want the course to accomplish, determine how much time students need to complete the content.

1. What’s the Transformation?

First, you need to determine what type of student you’re going to attract by offering your course. What is the transformation that your online course will help them go through? This is a crucial question to ask before pricing your course.

The most common transformations are:

– Learning new information

– Building professional skills like public speaking, leadership, etc.

– Becoming more productive or efficient in their work

– Gaining knowledge about an industry or topic

Take some time and think about these questions before you create your course. Then ask yourself, ‘what is the true value of this transformation?’ Your answers will help guide you as you price your course.

2. Look at the Competition

Pricing online courses can be difficult because there are so many options to choose from. Some courses may have a low price, while others are more costly. There are also varying levels of difficulty and quality that you need to consider.

You should look at the current market for price points for similar courses to get started. If you want your course to be competitive in the marketplace, it’s essential to know what other courses are doing and how they compare with yours on specific metrics like price or course length. You can find this information by looking at reviews or doing your own research.

Don’t use competitor research as a deciding factor for pricing; it should just be a consideration and a guide. You don’t need to have the cheapest course in the market, and you don’t need to have the most expensive one.

So, do your competitor research but don’t let it completely sway your pricing decisions.

3. Consider Your Ideal Audience and Their Budget

An important step in pricing your online course is to consider your ideal customer and their budget. The best way to start thinking about how much you should charge for your online course is by figuring out who the ideal learner would be, what they will achieve after taking your course, and if there are any costs associated with that.

Learners who are looking for quick information or insights might not want to spend a lot of time and money on a course. On the other hand, those seeking more hands-on training may wish to pay more because they expect more from their courses. Asking yourself these questions will help you determine what price point is appropriate for each type of learner to maximize revenue opportunities.

For example, a course focused on assisting people to start as a new virtual assistant might be priced lower over a course focused on helping virtual assistants get to $10k months.

That’s because people starting might not have a small budget to invest in a course. However, people wanting to scale their business should have more to invest in getting to that next level.

4. Review Your Online Course Deliverables and Value

First, you should understand the type of learner who will enroll in your online course.

There are a few different types of learners:

Self-learners want to learn for personal interest and development but don’t need extra support.

Learners want to improve their knowledge or skills for a specific job or career path.

Once you know the type of learner you are addressing, you can determine what they will get out of your course and how much it will cost them.

For example, if someone is looking for a self-learner who wants to learn something new. They might not need any support after the course is complete. They may only need to spend a few hours learning about a new topic. If someone is looking for employability skills and needs more in-depth learning opportunities with materials such as assessments, exercises, videos from experts, etc. In that case, they may choose an option with more days of instruction at a higher rate.

That’s why it’s important to know whether your course will be a signature course, a mini-course, or a super specific course.

Remember: Just because a course has tons of stuff thrown into it doesn’t mean it’s more valuable. People want quick wins, even for longer signature courses. Be mindful of how much information you’re throwing at your students!

Online Course Pricing Calculator

We’ve discovered the best online course pricing calculators for you. The calculators can help you determine your price point to maximize your revenue and provide value for your customers. Just remember to use these only as a guide:

Teachable Online Course Pricing Worksheet

Free Online Course Pricing Calculator

Podia Course Data and Statistics

Want to Earn More From Your Course Sales?

One of the best ways to increase your revenue when selling digital courses is to offer upsells. Check out Unleashing Upsells to learn how easy it is to increase your average order value.

Not using ThriveCart to sell your online courses? Sign up through my affiliate link to get instant access to my exclusive bonuses.

Final Thoughts

Pricing your online course is a difficult task, but it will ultimately be worth it. If you charge too much for your course, you won’t attract many students, and your business will not thrive.

On the other hand, if you price your course too low, you’ll need to find a way to make up for the lost revenue, which can be difficult.

It’s important to remember that pricing isn’t just about making money — it’s also about providing value. That doesn’t mean that there is a right or wrong price for your course; instead, it means that there are ways to provide value while charging a fair price.

Bottom line: If you’re really struggling with pricing, go with your gut and don’t be afraid to start lower and gradually raise it. You can always change or increase your prices later on!

Other posts you may want to check out:
Marketing
A Complete Guide to Heart Centered and Heart Based Marketing
- February 6, 2023
Are you curious about how to tap into heart centered and heart based marketing? You’re in the right place! In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about this type of marketing – from what it is and why it’s so effective, to tips and strategies for putting it into practice. So let’s dive in and chat about heart based marketing strategies!

What is Heart Centered Marketing? And Why Should You Care About It?

Have you ever heard of heart centered marketing? It’s a great way to start building meaningful relationships with customers. Using heart focused strategies in your marketing activities comes from a place of compassion and connection.

Heart centered marketing isn’t about pushing products or services just to make sales; it is more about nurturing trust with your customers. By utilizing heart-centered tactics in your marketing strategy, you can engage people more deeply and be more genuine with them as you deliver quality customer service.

You should care about heart centered marketing because it will help put your business on the map and build strong relationships that last for years to come.

How to Connect With Your Target Audience On a Deeper Level

Finding common connections with your target audience is key to creating a deeper bond and successful communication. Take the time to get to know them, understand their needs, preferences, and values. Show them an authentic interest in building relationships – not just making deals or transactions.

Make sure you are communicating on their level by using language they can relate to, so they feel like you truly “get” them. Pay attention to what resonates with them and craft your messages based on that information.

If there’s something special about the target audience that aligns with your own values, use it as a connection bridge and strengthen the ties even further. Communication should be interactive, open, honest, and friendly. You should make sure everyone involved feels heard and understood!

Let’s build that know, like, and trust factor!

The Importance of Authenticity and Vulnerability in Marketing

Authenticity and vulnerability in marketing are essential in heart based marketing and meaningful connection with customers.

These days, it’s important that brands find ways to humanize themselves, as people are wanting a more personalized experience. Showing genuine emotions and taking risks allows for a deeper connection to be fostered with customers that results in long-term relationships built on trust and respect.

Authentic messaging helps your brand stand out from the competition, creating an experience customers won’t forget or overlook. It also demonstrates that you understand their needs, goals, and values – which is key to having sustained success in any market.

Tips for Creating Content That Comes From the Heart

Content created from the heart is a powerful tool for gaining attention and connecting with your audience. But how the heck can you create content that hits the mark?

Heart-based marketing involves taking time to think about how the content resonates with people on a personal level. It is important to look at content through the lens of ‘what is it trying to say’ instead of ‘what does it do?’.

That small shift in thinking will give you a better idea of connecting heart-to-heart with your target market. Plus, content that comes from an honest place will more likely be embraced by its intended audience.

Why Heart Centered Marketing & Values is Good (For Business & The World)

When you put your heart into your business you make it a better place. Heart-centered marketing applies this concept to most aspects of business. From treating employees and customers with respect, focusing on building relationships rather than simply making sales, and using values-based decisions that not only benefit the company but also serve the greater good.
Heart centered marketing is a wonderful way for businesses to show their commitment to excellence and puts you at the heart of your business. By taking a human-first approach you ensure you are still providing excellent service while showing that you care about people and the world around you – making heart centered marketing beneficial for everyone involved!

Get Started With Heart Centered Marketing in Your Business

Taking the first steps toward heart-centered marketing can seem like a daunting task, but you are not alone. The best place to start is by connecting with who you are and why you do what you do – you are the heart of your business, after all!

Try asking yourself questions like:

– What do you love about your business?

– What values do you stand for?

– What would make you proud of your brand and services?

Once you have the answers, you can communicate all that authentically through your marketing. A good idea is to incorporate stories and true moments into your content. When customers feel a genuine connection with you, they’ll be more inclined to switch lanes and support you.

Evergreen Heart Based Marketing

Selling your offers on evergreen can feel a little disconnected, but there are ways to make your marketing ethical & filled with heart. Check out my free resource, How to Go (Ever)Green. You’ll learn how to get started with evergreen marketing that will allow you to connect with your ideal audience on autopilot.

It can be challenging to stay on top of all the latest marketing trends, but evergreen strategies are a great way to streamline your efforts. Whether you’re trying to grow your list or increase sales, there are many ways that you can use heart-based marketing techniques within your evergreen marketing.

Final Thoughts on Heart Based Marketing

Welcome to the age of heart centered marketing! The key to success with this approach is authenticity and vulnerability. When we show up as our true selves and share our stories, we create powerful connections that can lead to positive change in the world.

Heart centered marketing is good for business (and the world) because it allows us to sell from a place of integrity and compassion. Always remember that selling is about serving others. When you focus on providing value and making a difference in someone’s life, success will naturally follow. Remember that heart centered marketing is all about building relationships. Take the time to get to know your target audience so you can really understand their needs and desires. When you do this, you’ll be able to create content and offers that speak directly to them – which will result in more sales for your business!

Other posts you may want to check out:
Funnels
How Downsells and Upsells Can Increase Your Revenue and Improve the Student Experience
- January 30, 2023
Who wants to make more money in their business? Yeah, me too! It’s no secret that businesses need to make money to stay afloat. One way to do this is through upsells and downsells. Sales funnels and increasing customer lifetime spending is the true measurement of a sustainable business. But it’s not just about the sales and revenue. It’s also about the customer and your student’s experience.

I’m not talking about those funnels that seem to go on forever.

You’ve probably seen them. They have a bazillion offers, including bump offers, upsells, and downsells. They give sales funnels a bad name! But when done correctly, offering diverse offers within your funnel improves conversions, increases revenue, and makes your customers happy.

That’s the true power of a sales funnel that converts and offers that fit perfectly together.

What the heck is upselling and down selling?

Upselling is when you offer a customer a product or service that is more expensive than the one they initially wanted. Down selling is when you offer a customer a product or service that is less expensive than the one they initially wanted.

This blog post will discuss how downsells and upsells can help increase your revenue and improve the student experience!

The Benefits of Offering a Downsell Offer

One of the main benefits of a downsell offer is that it can help you increase your revenue. This is because down selling allows businesses to offer a lower-priced product that might fit the person’s budget.

Additionally, down selling allows businesses to create additional revenue streams by offering products and services that their customers may be interested in but weren’t aware of before.

Another benefit of using down sells is that they can improve the student experience. This is because they can provide them with more flexibility and choice when purchasing.

Downsell Offer Example:

For example, suppose you have a group program about improving your mindset, and someone starts the check-out process but doesn’t buy. In that case, price is usually the biggest objection. You can offer them an alternative and lower-priced product during the abandoned cart email process. For our example, let’s say we have a downsell offer into a lower-priced membership or a workshop about mindset obstacles.

It improved the client experience because they now have what they need for a quick win and at a price they could afford to invest.

The Benefits of Offering an Upsell

Another key benefit of using upsell offers is that they can help you increase your revenue. This is because upselling often involves offering customers a product or service that is more expensive than the one they initially wanted, which could result in larger sales and more revenue for your business.

The truth is: it’s easier to have someone buy from you who has in the past versus a new cold lead.

Additionally, upsells enable businesses to provide customers with better value for their money by giving them access to premium products and services.

Finally, offering upsells can also help improve the student experience by providing them with additional learning resources and value. For example, if you offer an advanced program on enhancing productivity, students may be excited at the prospect of taking their learning to the next level.

Upsell Offer Example:

Let’s say I have a workshop on productivity for entrepreneurs. This workshop is a lower-ticket evergreen digital product at $97. After someone purchases, I offer them an upsell with a special bonus to join my group program. This group program is higher-ticket at $997 but has more content and a longer duration. This allows me to provide my students with better value for their money while also generating additional revenue for my business.

How to Map Out The Offers In Your Sales Funnel

One key strategy for effectively using downsells and upsells in your sales funnel is to map out the offers in your sales funnel. This can involve creating a detailed plan that outlines which products or services you will offer at each stage of the sales process and how much you will charge for them.

To get started, consider mapping out the different stages of your sales funnel, including:

– The initial product or service that customers see when they first enter your funnel

– The lower-priced offering that comes next

– Any additional upsells or downsells that might be appropriate at this stage

– The final product or service offered at the end of the funnel, such as a signature high-ticket coaching program, online course, or membership program

Once you have mapped out your sales funnel and created a plan for the different offers you will make at each stage, you can then work to implement these offers in your marketing and sales processes. This can involve tweaking your website copy or creating targeted email campaigns.

Ultimately, downsells and upsells are powerful tools for increasing revenue and improving the student experience. Planning out these offers carefully in your sales funnel and implementing them strategically can help your business thrive today and into the future.

Creating an Upsell or Downsell With ThriveCart

My favorite sales funnel tool, ThriveCart, makes it super easy to add an upsell or downsell offer into your funnel.

Want to see setting up a funnel in ThriveCart in action? Watch my free 15-minute training to see how it all works (and how easy it is!)

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re looking to increase revenue or improve the student experience, downsells and upsells are powerful tools that you can use in your sales funnel. To get started, consider mapping out your sales funnel and creating a plan for the different offers you will make at each stage.

With tools like ThriveCart, creating an effective upsell or downsell offer within your sales funnel is easy. So what are you waiting for? Sign up today and start optimizing your sales process for even better results!

Other posts you may want to check out:
Funnels, Tech
ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels – Which is the Best Tool For Your Sales Funnels?
- January 23, 2023
When choosing the right tools for your business, it can be hard to decide with all the options available. If you’re looking for a ClickFunnels replacement, you’re in the right place. In this blog post, we will compare ThriveCart and ClickFunnels to see which is the best tool for your sales funnels.

Both of these tools are great for creating sales funnels, but they have different strengths and weaknesses. So let’s take a closer look at each of them!

Before we dive in, I think it’s clear that my sales funnel builder of choice is ThriveCart. But I know many people are familiar with ClickFunnels, and I’ve been asked what the difference is many times! I wanted to compare these two tools and explain why I love ThriveCart so much.

ThriveCart vs Clickfunnels – Pricing

When it comes to pricing, ThriveCart tends to be a bit more expensive at first than ClickFunnels. ThriveCart has a lifetime pricing structure, whereas ClickFunnels is a monthly or annual fee.

ThriveCart lifetime cost is $495 + an upgrade to Pro for an additional $195.

ClickFunnels has a sliding scale model. Their basic plan is $147 per month, and their highest plan, which is more comparable to ThriveCart, is $297 per month.

The winner? Definitely ThriveCart! While it is more of an up-front investment, you will have paid more for ClickFunnels in only 3 months.

ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels – Free Trials

One spot where ClickFunnels wins over ThriveCart is that they have an option for a 14-day free trial. Because ThriveCart is a lifetime purchase, they don’t offer a free trial to get familiar with the system. They do, however, offer a 30-day refund period, so if you get in there and don’t love it, you can request a refund.
Want a look at how ThriveCart funnels work? Sign up for my free 15-minute training to see behind the scenes of setting up a funnel with ThriveCart!

ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels – The Design & Templates

One place where ThriveCart was lacking was beautiful checkout and sales page templates. But I solved that problem for you with the ThriveCart Template Shop!

ClickFunnels does have hundreds of built-in templates. However, most people aren’t happy with the selection of templates or how easy they are to customize. With ThriveCart, you can easily use our templates and customize them however you want.

ThriveCart is NOT Just For Building Checkout Pages

Some blog posts and articles state that ThriveCart is “a shopping cart.” This is true, but it’s so much more than that!

You can use it for more than just checkouts – you can create upsells and downsells, add coupons and discounts, create tripwire offers, offer payment plans, build membership sites, host your courses, set up affiliate programs, and much more!

What’s the Big Difference Between ThriveCart and ClickFunnels?

At a glance, ThriveCart and ClickFunnels might seem similar – they’re both tools for creating sales funnels and collecting payments. But there are some key differences that make each tool better suited to different use cases.

With ThriveCart, you get more flexibility and power over your checkout pages, plus added features like membership sites and affiliate programs. And while ClickFunnels has beautiful templates and built-in funnel creation features, it doesn’t offer quite the same level of customization as ThriveCart.

Is ThriveCart a Good ClickFunnels Replacement?

Yes! Whether you’re looking to build one-time checkout pages or complex sales funnels, ThriveCart is an excellent option.

With advanced features like upsells, downsells, payment plans, and more, you’ll be able to create powerful sales funnels that get results – without another hefty monthly payment for a tool.

ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels – Final Thoughts

So which one is the best tool for your sales funnels? While ClickFunnels may have some advantages over ThriveCart regarding built-in design and templates, in my opinion, ThriveCart is a better all-around solution. If you’re looking for a long-term investment with tons of features, ThriveCart has everything you need to build successful sales funnels.

And we’ve got you covered with the design part with our easy-to-use and conversion-focused ThriveCart templates!

Overall, ThriveCart and ClickFunnels are both great options for creating sales funnels. Obviously, my recommendation is ThriveCart for any business that wants to create sales funnels that convert without a costly monthly fee.

The Best ThriveCart Sign-Up Bonuses EVER

Ready to get started with ThriveCart? Make sure you sign up through my link and get my amazing bonus! And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m happy to help!

Other posts you may want to check out:
Business
Ethical Member Retention Strategies for Keeping Members Happy
- January 16, 2023
Loyalty is the cornerstone of a successful membership organization. While it might seem like an obvious pillar, many programs fail to effectively retain members. In fact, the majority of loyalty studies point to member retention as the most important success metric for any membership program.

In order to keep members happy and loyal, it’s essential to have a solid retention strategy in place from the get-go. You see, not everyone will stay once they’ve joined your community. This means you need to create an effective plan right away that will keep your new members around for good.

In this article, we’ll explore different strategies for retaining members — both current and new — so that you can build lifelong customer relationships instead of just one-time guests.

Creating a Membership With ThriveCart and ThriveCart Learn

Before we dig into member retention strategies, did you know that you can create and host a membership on ThriveCart?

It’s true!

You can create a membership product with a recurring subscription payment option and host the membership portal in ThriveCart Learn, like you would a course or digital product.

Looking for a Thrivecart sales page template for your Membership? Shop our full-funnel templates for Thrivecart here.

One Important Challenge for Memberships with ThriveCart:

Right now, ThriveCart doesn’t have the capability to see when the member’s last payment came out for cancellations.

For example: If a member signs up for an annual membership in July and cancels in December, they should keep access until the following July, right? But, ThriveCart immediately removes their access to the Learn product when their membership is canceled.

It’s an important quirk to keep in mind, but it can easily be resolved by using Zapier or Slack notifications to manually review annual cancellations.

One membership host I asked has this process when a member cancels:

– They receive an automatic cancellation notice in a Slack channel

– Their VA (virtual assistant) reviews the cancellation dates and adds their access back to the membership in Learn

– Next, the VA creates a task in ClickUp (their project management system of choice) with a due date of the actual date their membership access would expire

– When that due date rolls around, the VA manually removes their access and finalizes the membership cancellation

It’s not a perfect system at the moment, but it works to avoid membership complaints and issues with members not having access to things they should.

Why Is Member Retention Important?

Member retention is necessary because it keeps members engaged. Retaining members not only ensures that the community will be successful in the long term but also prevents members from leaving for competitors.

As a member of a group, you’re more likely to stay if other members are satisfied with the program.

For example, if you’ve been involved in a fitness group for six months. In that case, you’re less likely to leave than someone who was just introduced to the program and had no connection with previous members.

Membership owners should focus on retention as they want to ensure their community is sustainable in the long term and avoids costly membership churn rate spikes.

Member Retention Strategies

1. Personal and Professional Development Strategies

Members can make the best use of their membership by focusing on personal and professional development. The truth is many people leave because they lose touch with memberships after a while. This happens when members stop using their programs to improve themselves and just join for social reasons. But if you focus on personal and professional development, your members will stay engaged throughout their relationship with your program.

One fun way to do this and encourage engagement is by running live events, networking events, or live challenges.

2. Fix Your Onboarding Experience

One of the best ways to create a more ethical and engaging membership program is by focusing on the onboarding experience. If a new member has a wonderful experience right from the start, it makes a great first impression.

A great first experience will make them want to stick around.

Review and improve your welcome videos, your welcome email sequence, and everything else that a new member first experiences.

3. Offer Discounts and Other Negotiating Tools

One way to keep members loyal is to offer them discounts and other negotiating tools. You could easily add in a couple of emails that someone receives at the 50-day mark as a monthly member to upgrade to annual.

Why the 50-day mark? Because we don’t want to offer them this when they just had a monthly payment come out, but we also want to give them some time to think it over.

Another way to keep members around is by offering membership benefits that they can’t find anywhere else. People love exciting additions and exclusive offers! A benefit like this helps retain members for years.

4. Always Get Feedback From Your Members

One of the best ways to keep members engaged and loyal is to ask them what they want. Send market research surveys, let them vote on content – this allows them to feel heard and supported. This strategy will establish you as an accessible resource and make it easier for people to feel connected with your membership.

By engaging in these types of practices, members are more likely to feel like valued customers who know how much you value them.

Conclusion

Member retention strategies are valuable for any business. By implementing these strategies, you can improve the quality of your membership experience and grow your membership!

Other posts you may want to check out: