Step 6: Ecommerce Solutions

For the scope of this training, eCommerce essentially means everything related to taking payments. This includes the system for taking payments, tracking sales, your checkout pages, and affiliate marketing. So we’re going to go through all that here in this video.

Your task is to figure out the eCommerce tool you will use. It may already be a part of your LMS or something that integrates with it. Make sure you address each of these aspects before you select your tool.

Transcript –

For the scope of this course, e-commerce essentially means everything related to taking payments.

This includes the system for taking payments, tracking sales, your checkout pages, and affiliate marketing. So we’re going to go through all that here.

Let’s start with Taking Payments first

Most cloud LMS and WordPress LMS plugin options offer a way to take payments which is nice.

All the cloud LMS options I’ve mentioned so far and on my best online platforms guide allow you to take payments.

All of them allow you to even take recurring payments, although some of them handle them differently (you may need to be on a higher plan).

Most of them also allow you to offer $1 trials for a short time and then have the client automatically roll into the regular payments.

Teachable charges the most to take payments if you’re using their payment processor, so that’s a factor to consider. But they also allow you to have a hands-free affiliate payment system. That means they will pay out your affiliates for you. Or if you worked on a course with someone else, they will take care of getting that instructor their share of the money.

With many other LMS options, you just hook them up with a payment processor like PayPal or Stripe. You only pay a small fee to the payment provider for every dollar you make.

There’s no way to get around paying at least a small fee for making online transactions. But it’s worth considering whether your LMS will charge you any extra. Make sure you’re aware of the charges you’ll incur on the specific plan you’re using.

Tracking Sales is another factor

Many LMS options also have dashboards in an admin area only you can access. These display how much money you’ve earned (per day, week, month, and more). You can also typically manage future client payments (like recurring payments and subscriptions).

Checkout pages are the next aspect I’d like to talk about.

The biggest problem with some of the built-in e-commerce systems is that the checkout pages aren’t always going to be the highest-converting checkout pages around.

But you can wait on that. Once you’re starting to get a lot of buyers, you can invest in a better eCommerce system. You don’t need that starting out, and you may even find that you never need it.

Some LMS options allow you to customize your checkout page to a limited degree. Those that allow you to add in some text like a guarantee or success stories will likely result in higher conversions.

Kajabi allows some customizations on their checkout pages.

Teachable and Thinkific also allow you to add text to the checkout page. Make sure you see what that whole process is like during your trial period for the LMS.

Also, it’s best if your prospects don’t have to sign up for an account before they buy. It’s nice if the checkout is on one page and not a multi-step process.

Most of out of the box solutions take payments by connecting up with Stripe and with PayPal.

I highly suggest starting out that way, and then if you find you need your own merchant account, you can move up to that. Most of these LMS options offer a way to connect or use an eCommerce system with a designated merchant account.

With almost all of these options, you don’t need the additional expense of another tool. I would start with what they offer to keep your costs down and make it easier to work with all the tech.

One of the top eCommerce systems is Infusionsoft, also known as Keap. I’ve had an Infusionsoft account for at least a decade (probably more than 15 years), and I like it. You can accept payments and use their email marketing tool and built-in affiliate system which will simplify things for you.

But you don’t need that starting. You may never need it if you’re going with a cloud LMS. I recommend it only if it’s within your budget. And only if you’re using a WordPress plugin or building your own LMS, but even that can come after you’ve already started seeing some success.

Another element that’s wrapped into an eCommerce system is an affiliate program. And once again, many cloud LMS options include offering an affiliate program from their dashboard. It makes it attractive to have all these features bundled together.

An affiliate program allows people to market your courses if you’re unfamiliar. The affiliate gets a commission from you for any sales they generate.

If you’re using, a cloud LMS then an affiliate program is probably already offered. Unless you need a highly robust affiliate marketing tool, I would go with what they’ve got. I keep mentioning it, but a nice feature of Teachable is they will pay out your affiliates. There is a fee for doing this, but then you can have a very ‘hands-free’ affiliate program complete with automatic payouts.

If you’re not using a cloud LMS, you may want to look into an affiliate marketing plugin if you’re using WordPress or some other option, like Infusionsoft or SamCart.

Make sure to complete the task below and mark it off. Then I’ll see you again in the next training!

Task

Your task is to figure out the eCommerce tool you will use. It may already be a part of your LMS or something that integrates with it. Make sure you address each of these aspects before you select your tool.

Strategic Planner

Sign up and log in to download the ‘Tool Stack’ Strategic Planner from the first task in this module. Fill it out, and then save it. Start moving your business forward!