This Creator Made $48k from Digital Products

How This Creator Made $48k from Template Sales

Meet Meghan Lim—a personal finance creator on Instagram and TikTok. In November, Meghan launched a digital product (a budget template) and has since earned over $48,000 in sales.

We interviewed her to learn more about her strategy. Here’s everything we learned.

Q: Why did you launch a digital product? And why’d you choose the product you did?

A: I launched a digital product because I knew how important it was to diversify your income streams as a content creator. I picked a budget template because it goes along with my niche (personal finance). I also have a lot of experience using Google Sheets and excel.

Q: How did you differentiate your product from similar ones?

A: I made sure it had a gender-neutral colorway. That way it appeals to a larger audience. I also added more comprehensive features like a high-yield savings tracker, net worth tracker, annual spending review, etc. My past experience as a financial analyst came in handy when thinking of what to add and how to build it into the spreadsheet.

Q: Can you talk about your launch strategy and how you marketed it?

A: I launched on Black Friday 2023. I did this for a couple reasons.

1) It’s before the New Year, when a lot of people are feeling motivated to clean up their finances.

2) I found that the majority of people aren’t super keen on spending on Black Friday given the current state of the economy. So I also wanted to market it as “instead of shopping on Black Friday, why not use my budget template to track your finances.”

I ended up relaunching it in January 2024 after getting some feedback from people who purchased it. I added a few financial education resources and video tutorials on how to use the template. I think this made it a lot more user-friendly.

Q: How do you market it now?

A: I mention it at least once a month in videos, especially content related to budgeting. I try to show how I use it myself it in my every day life.

Most of this promotion happens in Reels and stories, pairing it with ManyChat (a DM automation software). That way, when someone watches the video, they don’t have to go to my link in bio. They can just comment a word and get the link to purchase it directly in their DM.

When customers leave good reviews and testimonials, I’ll share those to promote the product as well. It provides proof that people enjoy using it.

I like to experiment with marketing it in different ways to see what works.

Q: Can you talk more about using ManyChat? How has that impacted your sales?

A: If I had to guess, I’d say the overall click-through rate is around 10% and then the conversion rate from there is around 50%.

Overall, I’ve made around $48,000 in revenue from the template alone since launching it at the end of November.

Q: Some creators might wonder if follower growth = more sales. Have you found this to be true?

A: My sales definitely coordinated with my growth. I had a viral video that led to a lot of sales and new followers, so I definitely got lucky there.

I think if you decide to sell a digital product, you have to talk about it often and market it. Otherwise, you won’t get any sales.

My sales have definitely slowed down since January (after the New Year motivation), and I only get more when I talk about the template in my content.

Q: How has selling digital products impacted your creator business?

A: It gives me more security. I don’t have to rely on other income streams like brand deals as much. I like that it’s my own product too, so whatever profit I collect comes directly to me.

Other Things Meghan Does Well

In a previous newsletter issue, we talked about the value of social proof in selling. Meghan does this well—her bio states how many people have purchased her template.

When people land on her profile, it immediately makes them think 4,000 people have purchased this?! What is it?! It makes them want to click the link and see what all the hype is about.

She also keeps a video about the template pinned on her profile. Notice that the cover frame is of the template. This might sound intuitive, but tons of creators choose a frame that doesn’t entice people to click and watch the video.

Major Takeaways

• Pick a product you can talk about organically in your content.

• Be open to feedback and update products when needed.

• Leverage DM automation software to get purchase links into customers hands faster.

• You may see more sales with a larger audience, so focus on growth too.

Quick Links

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👀 China to limit content considered “wealth-flaunting.”

See ya next week,

Karat