How do I design digital products when I publish five manuals a week?

This article was originally published in “Vista Newsletter (opens in a new tab)” No.150

Hello, hello! Today is a typhoon holiday. I hope everyone is staying safe at home.

After sending out the last e-newsletter, I received a lot of replies. In addition to discussing the issue of fake documents with me, there is another type of problem that surprises me. What several readers asked was not the content of the manual, but: “How come you put five digital manuals on the shelves in one week? How do you make and sell this kind of thing?”

The people who asked questions included teachers, designers who took the case, and friends who were responsible for internal training in the company. It is not difficult to see that everyone has a good skill, but they just don’t know how to turn it into something that can be sold?

So in this e-newsletter, I want to sort out the process of making digital products in the past few weeks, from topic selection, design, publicity and sales, and try to be as specific as possible. For specific examples, please refer to Manual page of the researcher base (opens in a new tab), and go.vista.tw (opens in a new tab) where I display all my products. In the process of trying and exploring, I share these experiences with you.

Let’s make it clear first: what is a digital product?

Digital Products refer to products that have no physical entity, exist in the form of digital files or online content, and are delivered and used through the Internet.

Common types include the following:

• PDF files such as e-books, manuals, and guides
• Templates and toolkits such as presentation templates, spreadsheets, worksheets, Notion templates
• Things like reminder thesaurus, checklists, and SOPs that you can use right out of the box
• Online courses, recorded videos, paid e-newsletters
• Gadgets, plug-ins, software authorization

In my opinion, there are three main differences between it and physical goods. First, the cost of making one copy is almost the same as selling a thousand copies. There is no inventory and no need to ship. Second, it can be delivered immediately after payment. Even if someone buys it at three in the morning while you are sleeping, the other party can get it immediately. Third, it can be easily copied and redistributed, so you have to think about how to deal with this when designing your product.

Well, sounds like the bar is pretty low, right? Who doesn’t know how to create a PDF? Just open Canva! But in the past few years, I have seen many people make digital products, but in the end they only sold them to a few friends… The problem is usually not that the files are not well done, but the topic selection at the front and the promotion at the back.

Development 1: Choose a topic from where others are stuck

My five (opens in a new tab) manuals and product ideas are all inspired by work and life.

For example, in the past two years, I have taken AI classes at universities and research institutions, and I have jotted down the questions I was asked after class. If you memorize it for a long time, you will find that the problems of graduate students are actually very concentrated: after reading twenty documents, I still can’t write a literature review, I am afraid that the references given by AI are fake, I am asked by the teacher about my weekly progress report, and I feel very anxious before the oral exam…

The most impressive thing among them was the oral examination. Many students told me that it was not that they did not understand their own research, but that they knew the answers clearly, but when asked, they explained them in bits and pieces. This sentence later directly gave birth to the digital product “Thesis Oral Examination Preparation Pack (opens in a new tab)”.

Therefore, I only look at one thing when choosing a topic:

Is there anyone who has been troubled by this problem and would like to take the time to ask you?

If you also want to develop digital products, you can check these places first:

• The three most common questions asked by students, clients or readers
• Which of your social posts has the most comments and private messages?
• That thing you have to tell me again every time

Hidden in these places are problems that someone is willing to pay to solve. On the other hand, if a topic is important only to you and no one has asked it, it will be easy for no one to pay attention to it.

Development 2: One product only solves one problem

After choosing the general direction, the second step is to narrow it.

I actually wanted to write a “Graduate AI Guide” at the beginning, covering everything from reading literature and writing to preparing for oral exams. Later I discovered that for such a book, readers will feel very fulfilled when they open the table of contents, but they don’t know which page to start reading?

Finally, I divided the research journey into five levels, and each level has a special manual to deal with:

• The first level, reading and organizing literature: “Gemini Notebook Research Workflow Manual”
• The second level, writing and verifying citations: “AI Academic Research Prompt Manual”
• The third level, weekly on-stage report: “Graduate Academic Briefing Package”
• The fourth level, preparing for the oral exam: “Thesis Oral Exam Preparation Pack”
• The fifth level, submission and handover of dissertation: “AI Usage Disclosure Statement Template Package”

You can go to the Researcher Base’s man page (opens in a new tab) to see this arrangement. At the top of the page, let me ask the reader first: Which level are you stuck at now? Just put one sentence at the bottom of each level, such as “You clearly know the answer, but you can’t explain it in bits and pieces when you ask the question?” Click on it to read the corresponding manual.

A manual only solves one blocking point, which has two obvious benefits. For readers, he can quickly judge whether this manual has anything to do with him or not. For you, only when the scope is small can it be completed and done accurately.

Development 3: Do it until you dare to say it is useful

The most common question when selling digital products is “Is this thing really useful?”

My approach is to make the testing process public. Taking the “AI Academic Research Prompt Manual (opens in a new tab)” as an example, I used 7 real papers as material for 30 prompt words, and ran a total of 120 tests in four rounds. In each round, another AI was used as a reviewer to pick up errors, and the test was repeated after revision. For the areas that could not be repaired by the fourth round, I wrote them all as “Known Limitations” and put them at the end of the book, a total of 19 items.

The same is true for “Gemini Notebook Research Workflow Manual (opens in a new tab)”, with 112 actual measurements in four rounds and 31 known limitations.

I was a little hesitant at first: If I listed the shortcomings, would it deter people from buying? Later I figured out that for readers like researchers, what they care about most is evidence. If you tell the truth about the parts that are not complete enough, people will believe that the other parts have really been tested.

You don’t have to do a hundred tests, but you can think about it: Is there a way for your product to make buyers believe that it has really been used and verified? It may be a template that you have used for three years, a modified version that has been used by twenty students, or a before-and-after comparison of a real case.

Development 4: Deliverables should be accessible and usable

Many people make digital products and only submit a PDF. PDF format files are great for reading, but after reading, readers often have to sort them out themselves.

Therefore, each of my manuals will be accompanied by an asset package that is convenient for hands-on implementation. Taking the presentation package as an example, in addition to the PDF manual, it also comes with three sets of PPTX templates (book discussion, progress report, oral exam briefing) and 5 worksheets; the oral exam package comes with 9 practice worksheets; the two Prompt-related manuals also come with a copy library of prompt words, so buyers don’t have to copy paragraph by paragraph from the PDF.

I added the template because I thought of one thing when I was designing the presentation package: many students not only didn’t know how to speak, but they didn’t even know how to design the presentation format. Instead of teaching them design principles in a book, give them a set of files that they can apply.

When making deliverables, you can ask yourself this question: What will the buyer do in the first hour after he opens the file? Then prepare everything you need for that hour.

Pricing: founding price, original price and joint purchase

After talking about development, next comes the matter of money.

I used the same method for all five manuals: the original price was written with an underline next to it, and the founding price was used for the first 50 copies. For example, the original price of the Prompt manual is 699 yuan, with an initial price of 499 yuan; the original price of the oral exam package is 1,299 yuan, with an initial price of 999 yuan. Once the initial quota is sold out, the original price will be restored.

Setting the founding price has two main functions. First, it is a reward for early supporters. People who are willing to believe in you without any evaluation deserve a more favorable price. Second, limited edition gives people a reason to decide now, rather than bookmarking it and forgetting about it.

There are two other things that I pay special attention to when pricing.

One is a joint purchase. Both the presentation package and the interview package have interview presentation templates. Buying them separately would be repetitive, so I made a joint purchase plan for the two volumes. The total starting price is 1,798 yuan when purchased separately and 1,599 yuan when purchased together. The price of the joint purchase must be calculated clearly. Do not stack up the single discount and end up being cheaper than the joint purchase. This is called price inversion, which will make people who buy the joint purchase first feel cheated.

Another is not to do group authorization. People often ask if one laboratory can buy a copy for everyone to share. I later decided not to provide it because once the PDF is shared, it is difficult to take it back. If they want the entire laboratory to learn together, I would suggest that they ask me for a physical workshop, which is another product.

Promotion 1: The product name is the first advertisement

Digital products are usually swiped on mobile phones, and readers often see only one line of titles. So I spent a lot more time choosing names than you might imagine.

You can go to go.vista.tw (opens in a new tab) to see my product list. The structure of each name is similar:

• [AI Academic Research Prompt Manual] Are you afraid that AI will fabricate documents? 30 prompt words compiled from 7 papers and 120 practical tests
• [Graduate Academic Presentation Package] The teacher’s question is always stuck on “What is the unit of the vertical axis?” 13 steps plus three sets of PPTX templates, explain your research clearly before going on stage

Breaking it down, there are three paragraphs: [] writes what the product is, then a question in the reader’s mind, and finally uses numbers to explain what you get.

The words used in the questions should be words that the readers themselves would say. The words “What are the units of the vertical axis?” are the original sentences that I heard graduate students complain about many times. People who are familiar with them can understand them at a glance. The numbers are evidence. 7 papers, 120 actual tests, and 13 steps make people know that this is not something written casually.

By the way, I deliberately did not use the words “checked” in the name of the Prompt manual. Because it is easy for readers to read it as “you can’t go wrong if you use it”, but no prompt word can guarantee that the AI ​​will not make mistakes. Every word in the name must be able to withstand the buyer’s return with the product for comparison.

Promotion 2: Place the entrance where readers would go

The moment the product is put on the shelves, no one actually knows it exists.

My approach is not to rush to place ads, but to put the entrance where it already exists:

• E-newsletter: The last issue No. 149 talked about fake AI literature, and finally introduced two manuals. The content helps readers solve their problems first, and the products are placed at the end as an option when they want to go further.
• The manual page of the researcher’s base: five levels are used to allow readers to figure it out on their own, and the navigation bar also has a “manual” item.
• At the end of the article: I paired the 42 articles from the researcher base with the most relevant manual one by one. For example, for the article about literature review, I recommended the Gemini Notebook manual at the end of the article. The reader happens to read this question when he needs this manual the most.
• Resource library, research guide, free courses: put an entry point in every place where readers may pass by.

I add tracking parameters to all links. Then I can see which entrance really brings purchases, so I know where to put my efforts next time.

This also echoes what was discussed in the No.146 e-newsletter: works should be placed on their own territory. If you usually run a newsletter, blog or community, that is your best sales channel because the people there already trust you.

Propaganda 3: Not letting go of testimony is also a kind of honesty

A general sales page will include many testimonials from readers saying “My life has changed after using it.”

Currently, the researcher base man page does not do this. This is because the academic circle’s attitude towards AI is still very divided. It is risky for a graduate student to sign and say, “I use AI to prepare for oral exams.”

Instead, the actual measurement method, how many rounds were measured, and the areas that were not repaired were written down on the page and in the book. I also answered the question that readers are most worried about in the FAQ: Does using these manuals count as letting AI ghostwrite them? My answer is no, because these manuals limit AI to asking questions and checking, and do not write papers or prepare lecture notes for you. During the oral test package, I also deliberately asked the AI ​​to give the answer directly, but it would refuse and then ask the question again.

What I want to say is that the way you promote should match your readers. When selling to researchers, evidence is more convincing than testimony; when selling to entrepreneurs, success stories may be more useful. Think about what readers care about first, and then decide what to include.

Sales: Platform, Delivery and Buyback

The last thing is how to collect money and how to deliver goods. I use Taiwan’s creator store platform, and the reason for choosing it is very practical: cash flow, delivery, and order management are all handled for you. Buyers get the download link immediately after payment, without having to write any programs. The product page can be illustrated, you can set the original price and special price, it can be limited, and you can also set the button to display “Original quota has been sold out” after the product is sold out.

Here, I would also like to share with you some practical experience:

• The sorting of the homepage is very important: I put the latest products in the first three boxes. What readers see first when they click in are the things I want to promote most at the moment.
• The delivery file must be updateable: I put the manual on the cloud drive and directly upload the new version to replace it when it is revised. The link remains unchanged. People who have purchased it can download the latest version at any time. So I dare to promise “free updates within one year.”
• The fewer checkout fields the better: I don’t take phone calls, just emails. For every additional field, one more person gives up before checking out.

Another approach I highly recommend: put a discount code for a book on the thank you page.

On the thank you page at the end of the manual, I will put a “Reader Exclusive” paragraph and attach a discount code for another manual. Enter it at checkout to get a 100 yuan discount. This method does not cost any advertising fees, but the effect is beyond my expectation. Within a few days of the first book being put on the shelves, readers started to use this code to come back and buy the second book.

The reason is simple: people who have bought your products already know the quality of your products and are the easiest group of people to buy again. It’s hard to find a new customer, but it’s much easier to get an old customer to buy again.

If you also want to design your first digital product

To sort out the topics we talked about today, we can probably design digital products through these seven steps:

1. Choose from questions that others have asked you over and over again.
2. Narrow it down to one level, and only solve one thing in one book
3. Find a way to prove that it is useful, and honestly write down the areas where it was not done well.
4. Prepare deliverables that people can get and use
5. Use the founding price and limited quantity to reward early supporters
6. Place the entrance into your existing pathway
7. Include reasons for your next purchase on the thank you page

To be honest, there is no secret to this method and every step is not difficult. The hard part is that you have to be willing to take the time to really figure out where your readers are stuck, and then honestly tell them where your stuff can and cannot help.

If you are a graduate student, teacher or researcher and you happen to be stuck at a certain level of research, you can go to the researcher base and read these five manuals. Each of them comes with a detailed table of contents and actual measurement instructions:

Look at the five manuals of the researcher base (opens in a new tab)

If you want to see all my products, including the seven-day challenge camp and one-on-one consultation starting at the end of November, they are all here:

Go around go.vista.tw (opens in a new tab)

If you also have an idea for a digital product you want to develop, please feel free to reply to me directly to discuss. Whose problem do you want to solve? I’ll read them one by one, maybe we can inspire some better ideas!

See you next time!

Vista