Everyone talks about funnels, ads, and pricing strategies—but what if everything you thought you knew about selling digital products was wrong?
These counterintuitive insights from million-dollar entrepreneurs will challenge your assumptions and put you on the fast track to bigger sales.
1. Simplicity Beats Complexity Every Time
Megan Taylor from The Copy Template Shop didn’t have a complicated funnel. No meticulously crafted sales page. Just a simple, effective email strategy that made her six figures in digital product sales.
“It’s always email,” Megan says. “Absolutely everything comes from email marketing.”
Instead of over-engineering complicated sequences, she focused on delivering value, building trust, and making offers when it made sense. Her takeaway? Keep it simple. Most entrepreneurs think they need an elaborate system, but straightforward email marketing works best.
2. Affiliate Marketing = Instant Audience Growth
Bob Grant from Relationship Headquarters, a relationship advice entrepreneur, didn’t spend years building an audience from scratch. Instead, he tapped into the power of other people’s audiences through affiliate marketing.
“ClickBank takes care of everything—payments, tracking, taxes—and makes it easy to get your product in front of motivated sellers,” Bob explains.
Rather than struggling to attract customers, he partnered with affiliates who already had engaged email lists. The result? Millions in digital product sales.
3. Test Your Idea Before You Build It
Many entrepreneurs waste time perfecting a product no one wants. Not Nilofer Safdar. Her approach? Sell first, create second.
She launches paid offers immediately after her virtual summits—often before she’s even built them.
“If enough people show interest, I record it, send it out, and collect feedback,” Nilofer says. “If it flops, no big deal—I didn’t waste time building something that wouldn’t sell.”
This “validate before you create” method ensures she only spends time on products that have proven demand.
4. Stop Trying to Sell to Everyone—Niche Down Instead
Dara Sklar from Synced with Dara struggled to sell a digital course on digital organization—until she realized her audience didn’t connect with that concept.
The moment she reframed it as “Mastering Gmail and Google Drive,” everything changed.
“When I slapped on the Google angle and started calling out Gmail and Google Drive as the things I was going to help them organize, suddenly everybody could relate,” Dara says.
Her course went from zero sales to $200,000+ just by getting hyper-specific about what she was solving.
5. Your Best Customers Are the Ones You Already Have
One of the biggest mistakes digital product sellers make? Focusing only on new customers and ignoring the ones who already bought.
Bob Grant builds his entire business around repeat buyers.
“A buyer’s list is gold,” he says. “People who buy one product are much more likely to buy again.”
Instead of always chasing fresh leads, he focuses on nurturing his existing customers through email marketing, offering them valuable upgrades and new offers over time.
6. Don’t Overcomplicate Your Tech Stack
Dara admits she wasted money on fancy software before she even needed it. Now, she keeps her setup simple:
- Checkout: ThriveCart
- Email Marketing: ActiveCampaign
- Course Hosting: MemberVault
Megan Taylor follows the same principle:
“When someone buys, they get a PDF with a link to the learning hub. That way, if I ever change platforms, I don’t have to go back and update every single email.”
The lesson? You don’t need an expensive, complicated system to make sales. Start with the basics and scale as needed.
7. Done is Better Than Perfect
If you’re waiting until everything is polished before launching, you’re already behind.
Nilofer Safdar’s biggest success came from imperfect action—whether that meant hosting a simple Zoom summit instead of a high-production event or selling a product before she built it.
Dara echoes the sentiment:
“There’s a temptation to keep creating new things instead of just selling the thing you already made,” she says. “But the world doesn’t need you to create something new every month. It needs you to keep sharing the same message until people hear it.”
The Bottom Line? Just Start.
If you’ve been overcomplicating your strategy, waiting for the perfect moment, or drowning in tech overwhelm—take this as your sign to simplify, focus on what actually works, and take action.
As Megan puts it: “You won’t know what works for you until you try.”