How to sell digital products on platforms like Hotmart

Thinking about selling digital products on platforms like Hotmart?

This is a market that really does offer good opportunities, including financial independence. To get started, though, it's important to know it in detail to avoid mistakes and problems.

In this article, we'll explain how to sell on platforms like Hotmart. Keep reading to find out:

What Hotmart is
What a digital product is
How to create a digital product
How to start selling digital products on Hotmart

What Hotmart is

A pioneer in the digital product market, Hotmart started out as a payment gateway. This means creators could use the platform to sell their digital products and, through its technology, have payments processed with customers' banks around the world.

Although it's still the most popular, today this is just one of the services the company offers. You can also:

Host and sell your product;
Sell subscriptions;
Manage affiliate partnerships;

If you want to get started in this market, keep in mind that Hotmart isn't the only option for your sales. There are a number of payment gateways on the market.

It's worth comparing them, both in fees and in features, before choosing which one to bet on. Click here to see the most popular ones and all the details on how they work.

But what is a digital product?

Digital products, also called info products, are content that shares valuable knowledge. They can come in all kinds of formats. These include, for example:

E-books;
Courses;
Masterclasses;
Subscriptions;

As a rule of thumb, anything that offers a way to learn online counts as a digital product.

In recent years, this way of learning has gained popularity. After all, you can learn practically anything. And, even more importantly, on your own time and from home. That's why selling digital products on platforms like Hotmart has become a business model.

How to create a digital product

Do you already know what your digital product will be?

The first step to producing it, of course, is deciding what your product will be and what format it will take. If you already have that in mind, the next steps involve market research. You need to understand who your persona is and how well your idea will resonate with them.

Cademí's specialists always recommend validating the idea before putting it into practice. That way you can make the necessary adjustments and avoid many of the objections you'd run into after launch. A good option is to create a product related to the topic you want to cover, but at a lower price. An ebook, for example. Then use it to understand how your target audience behaves.

For a full baking course, for example, one way to test the market could be an e-book of specific recipes. The production cost and time will be lower and, as a result, you can sell it at a lower price and test your idea. By the official launch you'll be better prepared and better known, too.

Also, remember to:

Research the competition and understand the offers that already exist;
Create content and have an online presence;
Offer good quality, whatever format you choose;

How to start selling digital products on Hotmart

Product ready? Then it's time to start selling.

At this point, it's important to align your messaging and study topics like copywriting, social media and paid traffic. You'll also need a landing page optimized for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and a good sales strategy. Today, there are a few popular strategies in the digital product market:

Lead magnet
In short, this is a lead generation strategy. The product offered is usually a low-ticket or free e-book or masterclass. It's a way to grow your list and also to start a relationship with potential customers.

Launch
Traditional launches usually last 60 days. During that period, the digital creator warms up the audience, runs paid and organic traffic and uses lead magnets such as live streams and free lessons, for example. Only then do they open the cart for a set period.

Seed launch
A seed launch is a good option if you want to test a product while you're still building it, since it's a pre-launch strategy in which you offer perks to people who buy before the launch.

That way, you can find out whether there's demand and raise the budget for the official launch.

Flash launch
With messaging focused on scarcity, anticipation and belonging, a flash launch takes place in 15 days at most. The goal is to warm up the audience and make the sale within a few days, getting better results from the persuasion triggers.

Evergreen sales
Basically, with evergreen sales your product stays available on an ongoing basis after the launch. Unlike the launches mentioned above, the offer has no deadline. It also usually comes with lifetime access to the product.

In short, all of these options work and are proven in the online business market. You need to figure out what makes the most sense for your business and audience.

Internal sales

Whichever strategy you choose, it's important to also think about what happens after the sale. If you keep your business in the built-in member area of Hotmart or another gateway, your sales will be limited to your own students. But if you choose an external one, like Cademí, you can also sell to your lead magnet leads.

That's because the price is the same no matter how many students you have. So you can work with your lead magnet leads inside the platform and sell to them much faster than in a normal flow.