Are you running a membership site with multiple products?
Are you wanting to create another course or program on the same site?
Having multiple courses and programs accessible on the same site lets you upsell or ascend members to the next step easily and efficiently. If you’re using a platform like Memberium, they can purchase and gain access to new content without having to enter any details or fill out an order form. They can simply click a button, have their existing card charged, and start accessing the new content right away.
As a site owner, being able to create different offer types is an important part of being able to attract new customers. As an example, you might have 5 courses, programs, or products on your site and you want to be able to…
- Sell each course individually
- Sell an all-access pass to every course
- Bundle complementary courses together for a small discount
- Sell individual courses with a discount
- Mix and match all of these together
The key here is that you need to sell multiple products on the same site that compliment each other because it is easier to convert an existing customer than to find a new one.
Big Brand Examples….
Example 1: Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a “prime” example of having a membership with multiple products and offers within the site. When you signup for Prime Video, you get access to a variety of content for free. You don’t get access to every movie and TV show on the platform for the membership fee.
If you come across a movie or show you want to watch that isn’t included in the base membership, you’ll be presented with the option to rent or buy the movie outright.
The second thing is that Prime Video has multiple offers for the base membership. The regular price being $5.99/month and you can often get an intro offer for $2.99/month
In the first case, you can get additional content for a small added price. In the second case, you can get access to the base membership at different prices depending on when you signup.
Example 2: Apple One Subscription
Another powerful example of multiple offers and products on the same site is Apple’s new “One” subscription…
Apple has slowly been growing the number of subscription services it offers. They have Apple Music, TV, Arcade, Storage, and News.
You can purchase each of these services individually, but Apple has bundled these services together for a slightly cheaper price than buying separately.
The main advantage of this is the discount that comes with the bundle. For example, my family subscription to Apple Music is $14.99/m but for only ~$5 more I can get TV, Arcade, and Cloud Storage for the entire family.
This makes the upsell a no brainer. Would I normally have spent the $5? Maybe, maybe not.
Here’s the thing, I didn’t have time to fully think about the decision. Apple makes the upgrade process so smooth that you can process the upgrade in 5 seconds or less.
Here’s a screenshot of upgrading iCloud Storage. You simply click the plan you want. No need to enter card details or your password. Make your membership site upsells the same way.
How does this apply to my membership site or online course?
Here are the key takeaways from the big brands…
- Sell multiple products on your site
- Use one product to sell the next product
- Make the purchase of additional products as simple as possible
- Have different offers for the same product (bundles, discounts, intro offers)
Sell Multiple Products on Your Site
I’ve seen it time and again where course creators and experts sharing knowledge produce multiple courses on a platform that limits them to having one course and offer.
If they want to add an additional course, it has to be accessed at a completely separate site from the first one.
This is a huge limiting factor of growth as you’ll see in the next point.
Simply put, if you are creating multiple courses that are remotely related: put them all on the same site.
If your courses aren’t related at all, it may be best to keep them on separate sites. For the majority of course creators though, the courses will complement each other and should be kept on the same platform/site.
Use One Product to Sell the Next Product
You want to be able to have multiple products on the same site for this reason: use one product to sell the next product
Let me give you an example…
I have a course talking about how to start with Facebook Ads. It talks about writing compelling headlines and such.
At the end of the course, I have a message on the last page that says “I see you just finished the course, you’re probably ready to start creating ads. Click the button below to get a full set of design templates for just $47 that are ready to go.”
The button would say “I’d like to get the design templates for $47 charged to my card on file” or something similar. Clicking it would process the payment immediately and give them access to the templates.
It doesn’t have to be templates, though. It could be any product, program, coaching, course, etc. that fits your site. You don’t need to create new content either. You can do this with your existing content and products.
Make the Purchase of Additional Products as Simple as Possible
As mentioned above, the process to make the purchase should be as simple as possible.
If they’re already on your site, logged in, and have a card on file, there is no point in sending them to an order form. You already have all of their details.
Your current platform may limit you in what you’re able to do. If so, think about the opportunity costs at stake and decide if you need to switch to a different platform.
If you’re using Memberium for Infusionsoft, we provide One-Click Upsell buttons. These let you add a button to a page that when pressed immediately processes an order. You can add a confirmation if needed, too, so you avoid unwanted charges/refund requests.
Adding a step to collect payment info for existing customers is a total conversion killer.
Have different offers for the same product
Lastly, you’ll want a platform that supports giving access to the same content for different amounts of money (maybe even for free).
As you design and evolve your marketing funnel, you’ll find that sometimes the push that’s needed to move a lead into a customer is a discount or special offer.
Other times, you might give away a paid course for free to select people in exchange for their email address.
Whatever the case might be, the ability to sell access to the same program or course as different prices is critical to moving people along your sales pipeline.
Some platforms claim to support this, but require your duplicate the course for each different offer. This is ineffective and creates more work down the line when you need to update the content in the course as you’ll have to update it multiple times for each offer.
Make sure your platform supports this and experiment with adding a discount or introductory offer in your marketing campaign.
Start Implementing These Ideas Today
At this point, you should understand the importance of putting all of your courses, downloads, programs, etc. on the same membership site.
This way you can easily upsell people from one product to the next. Remember, it is almost always cheaper to sell to an existing customer than it is to go out and find a new customer. Use that to your advantage.
There are a lot of ideas here to implement and you’re not expected to have all of these in place. Here’s what you should do piece by piece…
- Create a different offer for the same content you have. Free trial, discount, bundle, etc. Test these to see how they impact your bottom line.
- Look at existing courses, products, etc. and find a way to mention another course on the page. It could be as simple as “Related Course: xx” or if you produce video courses it could be something you say in the video, “Next you’ll want to check out course xx which I’ve linked below.”
- Optimize the purchase process for existing customers. You should already have all the information you need to process an order. Utilize Memberium or a similar system to create One-Click Upsells.
If you just work on these things piece by piece, at the end you’ll have a membership site that uses the same tactics as Amazon Prime Video, Apple, and many other big-name companies. Hint: they use these methods because they work 😉
If you have questions or want to discuss your membership site in particular, you’re invited to our twice-weekly Office Hours webinar where you can get live help on the phone with anything Memberium or membership related.
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