Selling inside your member area: how to earn more while spending less

What's your online business's cost per lead right now?

A few years ago you could convert online sales by spending just a few cents, and sometimes even organically. Today things are different. The amount varies with your ad targeting and the marketing strategy you use, but one thing is certain: it won't be R$ 0.35. In the United States, which is usually the benchmark for markets around the world, the average is already US$ 23.

Converted, that's about R$ 180 per lead. Can you imagine running an online business at that cost?

Your answer was probably no. After all, how do you sell back-end products with that acquisition cost? That's why the way forward is to diversify and have more than one way to win customers. There are some traditional ways to do it: using lead magnets and long-tail content (optimized for SEO), for example. But those are not the only options, and not always the most efficient. Selling inside the member area is also an option, and one that is still underused.

But how do you sell inside the member area? How is that possible?

If that question just crossed your mind, keep reading to learn:

• How to sell inside the member area
• What the diamond funnel is
• What the Cademí-style catalog is
• How to use banners and frameworks

How to sell inside the member area

First of all, it's important to understand why selling inside the member area needs to be part of your strategy.

According to data from Outbound Engine, for example, acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one. Another study, this time from 99firms, shows that existing customers spend 67% more than new customers.

In other words, you lose money when you stop selling to people who are already your customers. And the simplest way to do it is to invest in internal sales inside your member area. After all, in your learning environment you'll have two things you won't find anywhere else:

• Your student's full attention;
• A high level of excitement and enthusiasm.

To make the strategy even more efficient, it can be worth adding people who aren't your students yet to your member area too, as long as they've shown interest in one of your lead magnets. For that, it's important to have a member area that doesn't charge you by the number of students you have. That way, you can put your lead magnet leads on your platform without increasing your costs.

Trust me, this will boost your sales beyond what you can imagine.

That's how the diamond funnel, exclusive to Cademí, came about

Exclusive to Cademí, the diamond funnel is, in short, a strategy built on selling to a cold audience inside the member area. It consists of three lessons, in a separate environment within the learning platform.

But it all started with the idea of selling inside the member area.

This strategy is possible because of Cademí's business model, which:

• Doesn't charge you extra fees based on the number of students;
• Has no annual price increases (the price you sign up for is locked in for life)

This gives you complete freedom. That makes the diamond funnel a simple strategy to apply, and one that will greatly improve your business's revenue.

Just to illustrate, one of the member areas built on Cademí generated R$ 180,000 in internal sales in the first two months after migrating. Without any spending to attract new leads. In another standout case, a customer sold their mentorship to a lead from a free lead magnet. In a traditional sales funnel, it would have taken months before that offer was even made.

“For the vast majority, the game is the launch. But the truth is that a launch is a funnel, not a business model,” explains Matheus Benatti, CEO of Cademí. “Every 60 days there's a huge effort to bring more people in. When it's over, the cycle starts again. The idea here is to work after the strategy and after the sale.”

Whether the customer has just swiped their card and completed the purchase, or has handed over their email and other details to access your lead magnet, countless opportunities open up the moment they get access to your member area.

With the new diamond funnel feature, you can not only bring leads into your member area but also follow each lead's journey through the content and communicate with each one in a targeted way. Whether it's someone who watched all three lessons or someone who dropped off halfway through the second, for example.

Cademí-style catalog

Besides creating the diamond funnel, Cademí also pioneered the Netflix-style catalog. In short, with this model your customers get a complete view of your digital products.

What they have access to, with the lock closed.

What isn't available to them yet, with the lock open.

That way, they can discover new products and make more purchases. That's why using the diamond funnel and polishing your offers for it is so transformative.

Beyond ascension, the strategy will also multiply your business's LTV, meaning how long your customers keep generating profit for you. It's also possible for a lead from a low-ticket product to convert into a high-ticket sale. Like the example of the person who downloaded the lead magnet and went straight to the mentorship.

“A lead for a free or low-priced product costs much less than one for a mentorship. Imagine paying for that and converting it into a sale of more than R$ 10,000? It sounds unreal, but when you apply the strategy, it happens.”

For this to be possible, he explains that Cademí works on three pillars: quantity, consumption and frequency. “At Cademí, we don't earn based on the number of customers an online business has. The price is always the same. And that lets the creator put every lead, paying or not, inside the member area. We also have features that help the customer journey move more naturally toward where the digital creator wants it to go.”

Banners and frameworks

Within this structure, banners play an important role. With a good call to action (click to learn more), you can promote:

• Upcoming products;
• Older products that make sense for that customer;
• Special deals;
• Loyalty programs;

On top of that, other frameworks are constantly being created, tested and validated, and they're made available for you to use. Cademí's strategy team is always available to help each creator figure out the best strategy for their products and how best to apply it. Every customer gets this support. If you want more details, click here and talk to one of our specialists.