Lex's Digital/Physical Product Group Accountability Thread

[Timmy C]

I've used photopea quite a bit for background removal. The automatic bg removal tool isn't the best but it gives you the tools you need to get the job done manually for free. Plus it works in browser so you don't have to mess with clunky 'ol gimp.

Granted gimp is slower, but it has more capabilities than all of these things. Same as photoshop.

You also don't lose resolution on the original image like you would editing in canva.

Maybe photopea is different? I briefly remember fiddling with it.

I think once you get past the initial learning curve, it's fairly simple, albeit will take a bit of time.

But as far as i can tell, not many other tools that I have found, can do what I need.

 

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[Timmy C]

Ok so I was just fiddling around and I have just randomly started executing so here's my progress so far:

Checked the Keyword planner for google searches related to my niche:
Several in the 100 - 1000 searches PCM range, this is just an estimate.

I Had a look at the competition on etsy and other third party seller sites. What is available right now is not very good, you can tell people are just lazy when they do this, and I think that will be my biggest edge here.

Once I create at least 20 designs I will launch a shop on etsy and list them all at once, the reason for this is that etsy gives all of the new sellers a temporary boost when they first start selling, so i want to take advantage of this as best I can.

My own website will be made also, and I am assessing other potential marketing channels.

Youtube might help, facebook might help, as well as Pinterest could be a way to go.

I have just finished making my first design and I have a process in place for how to do this that scaled the image and also made it 300 DPI.

Before I go forward with anymore designs I am going to take what I created to a print shop in town and get them to print it for me at various sizes so I can see if this process should be continued and if i see any diference in quality based on the sizing.

That's it so far, I will update more later.

 

[Xeon]

Do you intend to sell the tshirts at high margins? I wonder how much % you intend to markup.

Printify's base cost for tshirts aren't cheap, and if you're absorbing the shipping fees to create the Free Shipping thing to draw people in further, then the actual net profit per tshirt after subtracting ad fees etc, (or Etsy fees if you're selling there) might even land you in the negative lol

 

[mcpretelin]

after spending a majority of the day learning how to code (im srsly brand new, just asking ai for help lol) i actually have a working super simple app! so far its only a handful of pages and a user registration system, but i was able to learn a lot of basics like making links to other pages as well as styling. Its been a lot of fun and the challenges are enjoyable. Time's been flying! Next my goal is to work on incorporating a simple shop setup within the app/site so that people can buy directly thru it and receive their digital product via download.

I was wondering...do you think that im spending too much time creating a platform when instead i should be testing a variety of products thru an already established shop system such as etsy or shopify? i see a ton of potential in my niche to provide many different products and services, so i felt creating an app/brand would follow in line with other similar apps which lend to a sense of community of likeminded people.

ps, was struggling for like 90% of the day to do something so annoying in the programming, and was getting nowhere. Only in the last couple hours did i finally make some breakthroughs and got on a roll with the progress. It's addicting to be excited about a new project, i just dont want the excitement or ideas to fade after a while, so im trying to create a solid foundation, with the understanding that if it totally fails, i'll at least have learned something i can use again and improve upon. Hope u all had a nice one!

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Do you intend to sell the tshirts at high margins? I wonder how much % you intend to markup.

Printify's base cost for tshirts aren't cheap, and if you're absorbing the shipping fees to create the Free Shipping thing to draw people in further, then the actual net profit per tshirt after subtracting ad fees etc, (or Etsy fees if you're selling there) might even land you in the negative lol

I don't have a % in mind right now. I'll test different price points to find out what works for the audience and what is profitable for me. I'm not just selling shirts. They're just one product. I won't be on Etsy because I'm banned form Etsy and there's no good way to run a store there without going through someone else.

 

[Andy Black]

do you think that im spending too much time creating a platform when instead i should be testing a variety of products thru an already established shop system such as etsy or shopify?

Depends on your goal. Is it to learn programming, build a store, make sales, or something else? Have you figured out what you're selling, to whom, and how?

 

[NervesOfSteel]

I ran into this issue with my shirts. Even though I liked the designs, DALL-E wouldn't remove the background, and ignored my requests to fix text. Further, when I went to Canva to remove the background, their background removal tool couldn't do it either. I think DALL-E used shading that made it difficult to determine the actual background color.

As a workaround, I ended up re-creating the design in Canva as best as I could. It turned out well, but I'll need to adjust my process a bit going forward. It took several hours to get 1 shirt live on my site.

I have been using Photoshop for a long time and it is pretty easy to remove the background, add text, or change hue/colors with a few steps to generate pro-level results. I guess GIMP is equally powerful but a bit messy.

You can also use some help from fiver or alike for a few bucks.

UPDATE :

Progress as of 26-12-23:

1. Created a trial (free) website on WordPress, a sample product page on FB, created quick but intriguing 2 photo ads and learned how to run Facebook ads by running live ads for a day by targeting the selected audience.
2. 35 people landed on my page with $1.2 worth of FB ads. It is just a trial run and I am not trusting the visitors per dollar ratio at the moment as reality is often different from experimentation. No sale yet, as the page still says .."coming shortly"

Goals for this week:

1. Create a test page on Instagram.
2. Same on Twitter.
3. Run and test ads on both platforms.
4. Decide between WordPress and Shopify.
5. Plan and execute final website design.
6. Plan the ads.
7. Redesign the logo.

Let's see how much can be done!

 

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[mcpretelin]

Depends on your goal. Is it to learn programming, build a store, make sales, or something else? Have you figured out what you're selling, to whom, and how?

Great questions. I didn’t plan to start learning the programming, i actually was playing around with Wordpress and upon hitting some limitations i found out the control u can have by manually writing some snippets of code. However, the whole point is to bring some digital products to the consumer. I prefer having more control over the system, but i realize it’s not necessary especially when starting. I do have a product(s) and niche picked out. I think it’s that “how” that I’m working on. Thanks for asking!

 

[Andy Black]

Great questions. I didn’t plan to start learning the programming, i actually was playing around with Wordpress and upon hitting some limitations i found out the control u can have by manually writing some snippets of code. However, the whole point is to bring some digital products to the consumer. I prefer having more control over the system, but i realize it’s not necessary especially when starting. I do have a product(s) and niche picked out. I think it’s that “how” that I’m working on. Thanks for asking!

I'd recommend getting visitors to your page asap. As the post above yours is doing.

 

[fastlane_dad]

@Lex DeVille Interesting premise, will be following to see where this goes. There is still definitely opportunity in apparel / tshirt business given the right marketplace and ad placement. I know several who have made fortunes recently through Tshirts.

Additionally, I'm sure you probably mentioned this somewhere - what happened to or are you still working on and promoting some of the courses you made in the past? Did you find challenges to grow and elevate that? I know you had some stuff out there ... so just curious where that all ended up.

Best of luck on this new endeavor and I think giving yourself 365 days to make something happen here is a reasonable goal.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

@Lex DeVille Interesting premise, will be following to see where this goes. There is still definitely opportunity in apparel / tshirt business given the right marketplace and ad placement. I know several who have made fortunes recently through Tshirts.

Additionally, I'm sure you probably mentioned this somewhere - what happened to or are you still working on and promoting some of the courses you made in the past? Did you find challenges to grow and elevate that? I know you had some stuff out there ... so just curious where that all ended up.

Best of luck on this new endeavor and I think giving yourself 365 days to make something happen here is a reasonable goal.

I still have courses that are live, but I don't actively tend to them anymore. They're on Udemy. Since I've stopped freelancing, I don't really have anything else to add. Plus, they attracted a lot of people from third-world countries who stole the material.

Udemy is still a good way to create income with digital products. You have to find the right niches and topics, but a single good course can generate $500+ per month.

Recently, Udemy started showing courses they're looking to promote for business content opportunities. Those might be useful for someone who wants to go the course route.



One thing I didn't like about Udemy courses was that I had to be enrolled in their promotional program to gain traction from their platform. They won't market your courses at all if you're not enrolled in their programs, but then you make a lot less money per sale, and sales drop off over time since ratings decrease over time.

 

[NervesOfSteel]

I was wondering...do you think that im spending too much time creating a platform when instead i should be testing a variety of products thru an already established shop system such as etsy or shopify?

Great questions. I didn’t plan to start learning the programming, i actually was playing around with Wordpress and upon hitting some limitations i found out the control u can have by manually writing some snippets of code. However, the whole point is to bring some digital products to the consumer. I prefer having more control over the system, but i realize it’s not necessary especially when starting. I do have a product(s) and niche picked out. I think it’s that “how” that I’m working on. Thanks for asking!

I suggest you buy a domain name separately and then open your shop on Shopify or WordPress using your domain name. That way they might be able to take down your shop/web store/website from their servers and in that case you can rebuild your shop with another host, and use the same domain name, and now, all the traffic will start landing on your website instead of their server. That's the reason they offer the "free domain with XYZ pack" trap!

I am not sure 100% though, but it's supposed to work that way!

 

[mcpretelin]

I suggest you buy a domain name separately and then open your shop on Shopify or WordPress using your domain name. That way they might be able to take down your shop/web store/website from their servers and in that case you can rebuild your shop with another host, and use the same domain name, and now, all the traffic will start landing on your website instead of their server. That's the reason they offer the "free domain with XYZ pack" trap!

I am not sure 100% though, but it's supposed to work that way!

ok, yes i think that makes the most sense. I actually did buy one a couple days ago and sort of got sidetracked designing a page and deciding on my first product. Now that i've got that more hammered out, im finalizing that first product, however it's not quite a one day build. I think it can be in time, but the learning curve has been steep for all the computer stuff. Typically i work with my hands lol, im a contractor. We're getting there though, and I'll begin with a shopify/wordpress and my initial product, as well as advertise on some other sites and good ads to market. With the release of the first product i'll begin to establish a little brand name and create some socials for it, expand the website, etc. The hardest part for me is staying focused and getting the first product created, but im not trying to put out a rushed product, so its a balance. Thanks for the tips! hows ur progress been?

 

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[JUAREZ]

I'm in @Lex DeVille . Long story short. In 2020 I started a POD business and I am still running it. Only sell in my country, and I make the products. (Have an execution thread if someone wants to see more details). Doing the products myself takes a lot of time and I am at a point now where I feel a little bit stuck. So currently I am looking for normal products to add in order to be able to scale it and move to the next level.

The last 2 products that I tried were - one definitely fail and one 80% fail (had some sales, will try to boost this year to have a conclusion).

Since I have sales and I have a base of customers, I look for products from the same niche to bring.

So, let's do this.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Here's my first update of the new year.

Products
I consolidated three digital product concepts into one site. I created a new site that fits all three. The primary product will pull people to the site. The secondary product will serve as an upsell. The tertiary product will target the most loyal customers, but may become a primary product driving sales later on.

Security
I beefed up my anti-fraud protections in WooCommerce and added 2-factor authentication. I'm still working through additional measures to track users to create the strongest case possible to defeat any disputes that arise.

Payment
I'm testing WooPayments and will probably add Stripe and PayPal shortly. I also added Klarna (what Etsy uses for split payments). Klarna allows users to pay across 4 separate payments.

Google
Analytics is installed. I'll set up my ads account tomorrow.

Website
I have a Home, About, Shop, FAQ, and Contact page. Secondary pages include a Refund Policy, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Disclaimer.

Products
The first product is live, but the website is not live yet. I intend to go live by Monday. Sooner if possible.

---

After Going Live Steps

1. Begin running Google Ads
2. Launch a FB likes campaign to the FB Page
3. Create initial YouTube & TikTok videos
4. Add more products
5. Set up baseline email systems

 

[Lex DeVille]

Update
I'm close to being *launchable* with my first 9 products. I have two or three pages to finish up. They should be ready by tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll run through pre-launch tests tomorrow and see if I can go live by Monday.

Security

- 2FA didn't work out with my setup. It messed up my checkout flow. I'll revisit this at some later point.

- Identity Verification: This process is important to defeat chargebacks where the user claims someone stole their identity and made a fraudulent purchase. Third-party verification services are expensive. One wanted nearly $200 per month plus $1.75 per verification. I settled on Stripe's identity verification option. It's $1.50 per verification. Stripe requires the user to take a selfie and upload a clear image of the front/back of their Government-issued photo ID.

- Digital Signature: Since my digital product is a PDF that gets created when the user submits info to my site, I added a digital signature block to the form. When the user submits the form, a PDF is generated with all of their details and with their digital signature. Next, I'll add additional tracking features to show they've opened and received the product to avoid the other common type of chargebacks (chargebacks for product not received).

Investment
So far, I've only purchased a couple of things to make this work. I purchased a Gamipress add-on to control pages, and a WooCommerce builder that works with my Wordpress theme. In total, I've spent approximately $120 on this.

Email
I don't have any email CRM, not even a free one right now. My only emails come from WooCommerce when a customer places an order. I may set up basic automations later on, but so far they aren't needed.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Going Live
I turned off the "Coming Soon" page. The site is now live. It has no traffic because I'm not running ads yet. That's my big goal for tomorrow morning. Gotta get those first ads live so I can try to earn that first sale.

Main Product
The main product is completely digital. It's not fully automated yet, but it will be 90% automated in a week or two.

Pricing
I've set two price points across the nine products. They are $99.97 on the low end and $197.97 on the high end.

Questions I need to answer for myself:

1. How Will I set up an affiliate program?
2. How will I turn this into an automated membership?
3. How will I go from 90% automated to 100% automated?

 

[MTF]

Identity Verification: This process is important to defeat chargebacks where the user claims someone stole their identity and made a fraudulent purchase. Third-party verification services are expensive. One wanted nearly $200 per month plus $1.75 per verification. I settled on Stripe's identity verification option. It's $1.50 per verification. Stripe requires the user to take a selfie and upload a clear image of the front/back of their Government-issued photo ID.

Why are you so obsessed about avoiding chargebacks? I would NEVER do identity verification for any purchase, let alone a $100 digital product. You're not a financial institution and that requirement will sound to every customer like a scam to steal their identity.

If even 1% of people finish your checkout process after seeing that a private business requires freaking identity verification like a bank, then I'll be very surprised.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Why are you so obsessed about avoiding chargebacks? I would NEVER do identity verification for any purchase, let alone a $100 digital product. You're not a financial institution and that requirement will sound to every customer like a scam to steal their identity.

If even 1% of people finish your checkout process after seeing that a private business requires freaking identity verification like a bank, then I'll be very surprised.

I deal in products and services where there is a high risk of chargebacks. Too many chargebacks and payment processors ban you from their services.

You aren't the kind of person who would buy my product. Naturally, you would not do this. But the people who will buy my product also will complete identity verification.

To put it in perspective, OnlyFans (with 500,000 new users per day) requires identity verification for a digital product that is generally $7 - $9 per month. Unless they've changed processors, OnlyFans uses Stripe.

 

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[MTF]

To put it in perspective, OnlyFans (with 500,000 new users per day) requires identity verification for a digital product that is generally $7 - $9 per month. Unless they've changed processors, OnlyFans uses Stripe.

Holy F*ck people are actually sending their selfies with government IDs to get naked pictures?



I just can't with this world anymore.

 

[Lex DeVille]

My brand new laptop already died. Don't know what happened. Maybe a power surge or maybe something else. I returned it through Amazon and ordered a different laptop. It arrived today.

Progress
It's a holiday weekend. I'll take advantage. My top priorities are to get a G Ads campaign launched. I set up the account and conversion tracking. Just need to create the first campaign and run it.

When I created the ads account, it let me skip campaign creation. That might be helpful for those who don't want to enter CC info yet. That said, you need to spend between $10 and $100 before the keyword tool shows the good data for market research purposes.

Site Visitors
I know I'm receiving visitors to the site because one reached out through my contact form about making a purchase. He has yet to follow through, but I believe he will in time.

Subscription
I set up a WooCommerce subscription plugin to create an upsell. When a customer buys the digital product, they can opt into the subscription for $19.97/mo for additional benefits (such as ongoing access to the product instead of having to repurchase it once their time to use it runs out).

Video Content
My intent this weekend is to create my first pieces of video content. I'll have videos throughout the website to help establish a feeling of connection so visitors will feel more at ease until I have reviews. I'll also begin production on simple YT videos to increase exposure, and help with SEO in the long run.

 

[msufan]

Why are you so obsessed about avoiding chargebacks? I would NEVER do identity verification for any purchase, let alone a $100 digital product. You're not a financial institution and that requirement will sound to every customer like a scam to steal their identity.

If even 1% of people finish your checkout process after seeing that a private business requires freaking identity verification like a bank, then I'll be very surprised.

Agree 100% with this. ID Verification is a bigger roadblock than you apparently realize.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Agree 100% with this. ID Verification is a bigger roadblock than you apparently realize.

I've already used it on my most successful digital product and it worked fine.

 

[msufan]

I've already used it on my most successful digital product and it worked fine.

If you are confident that this product type is comparable to your previous digital product, then I guess it's not an issue. If we're talking about t-shirts vs. a higher-end item, I still think this could be a hurdle.

 

[MitchC]

I've already used it on my most successful digital product and it worked fine.

Did you test and compare without it?

Be interested to know the difference in sales and how many chargebacks you actually get

Is offering refunds to avoid chargebacks and option to keep processors happy?

Seems like you are solving a problem you may not have

Also, worst case, can you just ID people after they purchase before delivering the product and refund them if they refuse?

 

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[Lex DeVille]

If you are confident that this product type is comparable to your previous digital product, then I guess it's not an issue. If we're talking about t-shirts vs. a higher-end item, I still think this could be a hurdle.

I'm only using it for the digital products, not for t-shirts. Wouldn't make sense for t-shirts.

Did you test and compare without it?

Be interested to know the difference in sales and how many chargebacks you actually get

Is offering refunds to avoid chargebacks and option to keep processors happy?

Seems like you are solving a problem you may not have

Also, worst case, can you just ID people after they purchase before delivering the product and refund them if they refuse?

I sold for months without ID verification prior to implementing it. I instituted various versions of money-back guarantees, including lifetime, 90-day, 30-day, and 7-day prior to going forward with it. Once I implemented ID verification, I saw a drop in chargebacks.

The flow now is like this:
- Various places on my site mention ID verification
-- Customer makes a purchase
--- First-time customers of the digital product go through ID verification once
---- If they don't like it, they can request a refund

 

[Lex DeVille]

ID Verification
Decided to test without ID verification because it creates a choke point for automation. Guess we'll see how it goes.

Google Ads
Set up and launched the first ad campaign this morning. Immediately hit with strong restriction. Appealed. Won. First ads are live.

Membership
Members get 30% off, plus benefits. It's $29.97/mo. Later, I'll add an option for $19.97/mo if paid annually. Gotta figure out the best way to set this up in WC.

Videos
Prepped to film videos tomorrow for the About, FAQ, Membership, and Product pages.

Affiliate
Installed a WC affiliate plugin. I'll mess with that later.

That's it for now. Time to get some customers.

 

[MTF]

Google Ads
Set up and launched the first ad campaign this morning. Immediately hit with strong restriction. Appealed. Won. First ads are live.

I'm curious why you always tend to gravitate toward these "gray area" niches that cause you so much trouble.

Is it deliberate because it's harder to operate in them?

Or are you just a true real world villain with an evil laugh and an evil empire to build?

 

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[Earthgirl]

Thanks so much for this and the previous thread, which I read intently over a couple of days!
I'm a newbie, but following your steps - literally have the thread open and do what it says in another tab! I've researched on etsy and google kwc, found my niche with search volumes 10k-1M per month for a product. I think thats been my problem before - not really targeting a niche that is actively looking for a product. Might need to niche down further. I got my .com and hosting. Got my logo. First products designed. It is possible to go as quick as you say

I've found a sales funnel software -apparently alternative to wc / shopify and includes so many other useful tools - incl. email marketing. 60 day a free trial with a lifetime license and very cheap. I'm trying to install - I'll get there or if not will go to shopify. This is where I need to learn stuff about websites and upgrade my skills.

Problem with software is it doesn't integrate with printify etc yet - but has zapier integration so I will see what I can do with it. Printify looks quite expensive for my products anyway so I will look at different suppliers if necessary.

I have an hour a day to spend on it so to keep me accountable this week:
1. set up site except products
2. finish creating product range
3. set up products on website
4. learn about google ads
5. set up google ads
6. set up etsy shop
7. problem solve/improve website/improve ads/improve etsy shop

Just wanted to say thanks so much for the step by step and I'm up for this is 2024 - can't wait to see your results.

 

[NervesOfSteel]

Update:
Day 25

The product: I developed some doubts regarding the retention of customers for repeat orders and piracy of the digital product. It took me a whole week to resolve these issues.

I received the first lot of the physical product. I had some issues with the quality and finish. Re-ordered a second small batch of samples.

The System: The website is done except "About" and "Q&A" pages. The store is ready to accept orders!

I got way too carried away with the R&D with ad campaigns that I figured out a lot MORE OPPORTUNITIES IN digital marketing. Wasted a load of time developing something else rather than the product I was supposed to focus on.

Need to up my game.