As a business owner working in the online space, one of the tasks we consistently face is figuring out how to get our business or our products in front of more people. There are so many ways to do this including social media, paid ads, collaborations - and something new that I just tried for the first time - contributing to a digital product business bundle.
A business bundle is a group of digital products that is offered for free or at a low cost, giving new customers a chance to get their eyes on your business in a very cost effective way.
Think of it like one of those awesome Sephora Holiday Gift Sets. You buy the set, and you get all the products inside at a price that’s way lower than if you bought them individually.
Typically, one business owner “runs” the bundle - they are responsible for organizing the check out pages, creating specific links, etc. They also set promotional guidelines and rules for each contributor.
Business owners contribute one of their digital products to the bundle and when customers sign up they are able to gain access to the products at a deeply discounted price (or completely free!) In exchange, you get a new person on your email list, and potentially a new paying client.
These bundles usually come with a deadline, adding a bit of urgency to the mix. You've got to grab the goodies before the clock runs out, adding an element of excitement and exclusivity to the whole experience.
Recently, I participated in Lizzy Goddard’s Lizzy’s Christmas Party. In this particular bundle, buyers had the option to sign up for a FREE Goodie Bag and/or a PAID Goodie Bag with higher value products. I contributed my Client Experience Template Bundle, which is normally priced at $77, to the free goodie bag.
If you’re new to the digital product bundle game, like I was, it can seem really overwhelming. I didn’t really know how to make the most of my participation in the bundle, and although I was happy with the overall outcome, I wanted to share some of the mistakes so that you could avoid them and make the most out of this exciting promotional opportunity.
How To Maximize Your Contribution To A Business Bundle
Research and Select The Right Bundle For You
Like almost everything else in the online space, there are a TON of options to choose from when deciding which bundle to participate in. Here are a few things to consider.
✅ When will the bundle be open for sign ups?
If the sign up period is during a time when you’re away on vacation, or if you have a launch planned at the same time, you might want to reconsider your participation.
Most bundles require some type of promotion (and of course, the more sign ups, the better for all contributors!) and you want to make sure you’re available during that time period.
✅ What are the promotional requirements?
Some bundles come with a lengthy list of emails and social media posts that are required to be sent out.
If this isn’t how you typically like to market, or you don’t have the bandwidth to send out a bunch of emails to your list, you might want to pass on that particular bundle.
✅ Who are the other contributors?
Who has contributed in the past? Consider if they align with your values or if they are contributing products that you would purchase for yourself.
✅ Does the person running the bundle seem organized?
Is there a dedicated sales page? Does it look professional? Again, check in with yourself to see if you would feel comfortable giving this person your email address?
Choose Your Bundle Contribution
Once you’ve selected a bundle to contribute to, it’s time to choose which digital product you want to submit. This was the hardest part for me.
I had a hard time justifying the idea of giving something away for free that I had put a lot of effort into creating. But I decided that I would change my mindset and start looking at my participation in this bundle as a type of marketing.
Yes, I was going to be giving something away BUT, in return, for adding potentially hundreds of people to my email list in a very short amount of time.
When I wrapped my head around that, it was time to choose the product I wanted to contribute.
Here are some things to consider when choosing what product to include:
✅ Is this a product you have already created and/or sold?
Since you are technically providing something for FREE, I wouldn’t take a ton of your time to create something new. I chose my Client Experience Template Bundle, since that was already created and I didn’t have to do much tweaking to get it ready.
✅ Similarly, you may want to consider the monetary value of your product.
Although you are getting leads in exchange for providing your product for free, you wouldn’t want to contribute a 15 module course that you normally price at $1497. As a rule of thumb, I’d generally cap the price at $50-$100.
✅ How your product aligns with the intended audience.
If this is a bundle that will be marketed towards homesteaders, for example, submitting a product that explains how to use AI to write sales pages may not be a hit.
Prepare Your Bundle Contribution
One of the best parts about taking part in a business bundle is that you have an opportunity to get a ton of new eyes on your products, and welcome new people into your world.
Most of the people signing up for the bundle have probably never heard of you or your business, so you’ll want to try to create a seamless experience for them.
Make Sure Your Product Stands Out
Once you’ve chosen which product you will be including in the bundle, the next thing you’ll want to do is make sure your product stands out.
In Lizzy’s bundle, for example, there were over 300 different contributions spanning 8 different pages. Each product listing had the name of the product, the business owner’s name, and a thumbnail image of the product.
Here are a few tips for getting your product noticed among a sea of others:
✅ Pay attention to the size of the thumbnail image.
Most bundles will have specific requirements for image sizes - make sure to pay attention to those requirements so that your image doesn’t appear blurry.
✅ Use colors that pop.
I made the mistake of submitting an image with a product mockup that had a pale purple background. I didn’t pay attention to the fact that Lizzy’s branding is bold - hot pink and teal. When placed next to lots of other products, on a page with bold branding colors, my product thumbnail felt a bit…blah.
✅ Submit yours ASAP.
The second mistake I made was not realizing that the products were placed on the page in the order that she received them. There was a one week period that we could submit our final product and I took my time submitting it.
I ended up in the middle of the 4th page (out of 8). I was thrilled with the number of opt-ins I received, but I wonder how many more I would have gotten if I was on the first page.
Optimize Your Check Out Page
When participating in a product bundle like this, it’s important to set up specific tracking so that you know which users come from this bundle alone.
For me, I created a new tag in my email service provider (I use Convert Kit). Then I duplicated the check out page that I have for the Client Experience Templates and made a few tweaks for bundle customers. I made sure that anyone who signed up for the templates would get a special tag in Convert Kit, so that I can now send them targeted emails.
It’s also important to optimize your check out page when participating in a product bundle. In my shopping cart software, Thrivecart, I’m able to make changes to checkout pages pretty quickly.
Here are a few tips I used when setting up my checkout page:
✅ Keep it brief.
Don't ask for unnecessary information from your customer when they sign up. Do you actually need to know their phone number or date of birth? Usually asking for a name and email address is enough in this situation.
The customers who have signed up for the bundle have to individually sign up for each offer - to avoid them from getting tired and just closing out your page, only ask them to provide information essential to the transaction.
✅ Add an order bump!
An order bump offers customers an additional product or service at a discounted price when they are already in the process of checking out.
It 's typically a smaller, lower-priced ($7-27) that enhances the customer's experience in some way. It’s a great way to generate some revenue while you’re giving a product away for free.
Your order bump should either:
Complement your main product – if your main product is a training video on how to create an optimized checkout page, your order bump could be a checklist walking the customer through how to create a sales funnel or
Save your customer time - if your main product is a training on how to create engaging Instagram stories, your order bump might be a set of Instagram story slide templates so that they don’t have to spend a ton of time creating them to implement what they learned watching your training
✅ Stay legally compliant.
Even though you are technically giving your product away for free, you’ll need a Terms of Use on the checkout page if they purchase the order bump. Think of it as a contract with any person who purchases your products.
It explains your refund and payment policies, protects your intellectual property, and spells out how and where any disputes are handled. Most importantly it disclaims liability for the information and products on your website. You can grab an attorney written Terms of Use HERE.
✅ Say hello!
Most of the time, when someone purchases from me, they have already been to my website or seen my Instagram account before they head to a checkout page.
Due to this fact, I don’t typically include my full bio on my checkout pages (since they would have already seen it or they already “know” me) This won’t be the case when you participate in a digital product bundle, since your product will actually be featured on the website of another business owner. Most of these potential customers are going to have no idea who you are. For your bundle product check out page, I encourage you to make that connection with people by adding your photo, a quick bio, and/or a link below to “learn more” which leads to the about me page on your website.
How To Follow Up
Now you’ve got all these people in your world - what should you do!?
First, you’re going to want to make sure you have an automated email set up delivering the product to them. It should be clear and the person receiving the email should immediately know what to do in order to access their product.
There is no quicker way to turn off a new customer than to send them on a wild goose chase searching for a link in the middle of a 10 paragraph long email.
Typically when someone opts in to one of my free resources, they are entered into a 5-6 email nurture sequence. I introduce myself, tell them about my templates shop, and how to work with me 1:1.
But when you’re participating in a product bundle, it works a little differently because remember, these customers are subscribing to potentially hundreds of different products.
If everyone funneled them into their welcome sequence, that would mean they could be receiving hundreds of emails in a 7 day period. Talk about overwhelm! This could cause them to either unsubscribe from your list or simply delete all the emails they receive because they don’t have the time to read them all. Neither is the outcome we’d hoped for.
So here’s what I recommend: wait until the sign up period is done and an additional week after that, and THEN send them a nurture sequence.
I’d write one specifically for the people who signed up. Use the tag that you set up, and track your open and click rates, so that you can have data for the next time you participate in a digital product bundle!
Final Thoughts
Overall, my first experience participating in a digital product bundle was a positive one. I ended up gaining 1500 new email subscribers and sold 25 of my order bump products. I already plan to participate in this bundle again next year (with a few of the tweaks I mentioned above!)
Digital Product bundles can be a great way to generate leads for your business without spending a ton of money. They drive more passive sales, grow your email list, and expose your business to those you may never have reached on your own.
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