And my debrief from Lizzy’s Christmas Party 2023
NOTE: Some of the tools and resources I mention in this article are affiliate links. That means when you click the link to create an account, start a free trial or make a purchase, it wonβt cost you any more but I may receive a commission for introducing you to this game-changer. One thing I want to stress is that I would never recommend anything I havenβt successfully used myself or trust unconditionally.
Contributing to Digital Product Bundles was a priority for me in 2023 as a way to grow my list. But unfortunately, I only hacked the learning curve far too late throughout the year.
As it turns out, I could have been much more strategic about many of the 6 digital product bundles I was a part of in 2023. And I could have been much more strategic about the bundles I participated in.
Because not all digital product bundles are created equal!
Before I get stuck into the behind-the-scenes tour of my recent contribution to Lizzy’s Christmas Party bundle (I’m talking hard numbers, lessons, strategies and powerful tweaks I made throughout the bundle duration), let’s get back to basics.
What is a digital product bundle?
A digital product bundle is a free or paid collection of digital products you can sign up to under one umbrella as a way for the bundle host and bundle contributors to grow their email list, visibility and sales.
Bundles are often themed so they speak to one specific audience, but can also be broad so they appeal to a wider audience. You can either apply to be a contributor to a bundle, or if you’re lucky, be invited.
The success of a bundle relies on the joint promotion efforts of all contributors so they amplify the reach of the bundle. Bundles can be a great way to get in front of a new audience of perfect-fit buyers.
They are also amazing as a way to connect with fellow contributors and businesses in your space for collaboration opportunities down the track.
How do you spot a great digital product bundle to contribute to?
To be honest, this one is tricky because I was part of a fair few bundles that looked promising and strategic from the outside but didn’t even add 100 people to my list.
These 3 factors all contribute to your bundle contribution success and should be kept in mind:
π The bundle host:
Do their values align with yours?
Do they attract the kind of brands you’d love to be associated with?
Do they know how to spread the word for their own offers (as a good indication of how they’ll promote the bundle)?
π The bundle branding:
Is the bundle topic specific and irresistible to YOUR people?
Is the branding professional (because first impressions count)?
π The bundle timing:
How does it fit into your launch/business calendar?
Do you have space in your calendar to actively promote the bundle without impacting your product sales?
Personally, I said YES far too often in 2023 without considering these 3 decision-making factors. And that lack of attention saw me waste precious time on bundles that were set up to fail from the get-go.
The bundles that ticked all 3 boxes, on the other hand, were a smashing success!
Is contributing to digital product bundles right for you?
That depends on your goals and where you are at in your business.
Digital product bundles can be AMAZING for your business if…
π You have SEVERAL digital products and next steps for people AFTER the bundle
π You have QUALITY products that create a hunger for more
π You are strategic about the product you contribute so it speaks perfectly to your perfect-fit customers
π You have a strategy to nurture your leads by email once they’ve signed up for your contribution
π You are looking to connect with other business owners in your space
One important thing to highlight:
Contributing to your FIRST bundle will take a lot longer than your NEXT digital product bundle.
The process isn’t complex, it just takes time to set up the tech, promo graphics and blurbs as well as your strategy so you don’t ghost bundle participants once they sign up.
And if you do it strategically, then you can repurpose your processes for future bundles. #winning
Want to optimise your bundle contribution strategy?
Introducing: Bundle Better, Bree Boucher’s 7$/month membership teaching you how to borrow other peopleβs audiences to grow your own.
Things to consider once you’ve been accepted for a digital product bundle:
π€·π½ββοΈ The right offer
π€·π½ββοΈ Attention-grabbing promo graphic and blurbs
π€·π½ββοΈ A checkout or sign-up form for people to redeem the offer
π€·π½ββοΈ Setting up your promotion code for the duration of the redemption period (if you opt for a checkout over a sign-up form)
π€·π½ββοΈ Any order bumps and tripwires so you can monetize your contribution (I use Thrivecart to make this process super simple)
π€·π½ββοΈ Your automated nurture sequence once people redeem your offer
π€·π½ββοΈ How to clean your list once bundle subscribers who only grab the freebie never to be seen again with an automated list clean flow
π€·π½ββοΈ How to use the bundle to connect with your fellow contributors for collaborations
π€·π½ββοΈ Complying with your contributor promotion obligations to your audience (by email and/or social media)
Now let’s take a closer look at my most successful digital product bundle contribution of 2023, Lizzy’s Christmas Party…
For those of you who haven’t heard of this particular bundle, here’s a quick intro:
Lizzy’s Christmas Party is run by the queen of online business Elizabeth Goddard.
I have joined countless of her mentoring programs because she is just so strategic about everything she does… and that includes her approach to digital product bundles.
While Lizzy doesn’t refer to Lizzy’s Christmas Party as a bundle, it really is just that… on steroids! Bundle buyers have the option to sign up for a FREE Goodie Bag and/or a PAID Goodie Bag with premium products.
In 2023, the FREE Goodie Bag saw well over 20,000 sign-ups π€― and the PAID Goodie Bag had several thousand buyers too.
Contributors had the choice to contribute to one or both Goodie Bags. I was a part of both, because why not maximise my exposure?
The Goodie Bags were up for grabs from 8-16 December 2023 with a redemption period until 17 January 2024.
My contributions:
FREE Goodie Bag: The Case Study Toolkit (AUD$45)
PAID Goodie Bag: The About Page Toolkit (AUD$145)
Why did I choose these products?
I am planning to release more strategic copy toolkits in the coming months so wanted to showcase what’s inside my different Toolkits.
My order bumps:
The Case Study Toolkit: The Podcast Pitch Template (at the regular price of AUD$9)
The About Page Toolkit: Screenshot Savvy (at the regular price of AUD$9)
Why did I choose these products?
Let’s start with the Case Study Toolkit. My thinking was that business owner ready to publish case studies are likely further along in their business journey and would be considering or already engaging in podcast guesting. Having a proven podcast pitch template to tap into would be tempting for them to speed up the process and increase their pitching success rate.
As for the About Page Toolkit… people who feel like their about page isn’t attracting the right type of clients are likely also interested in a way to increase their authority and impact. Screenshot Savvy is that helping hand to infuse trust and credibility in your brand.
NOTE:
I offered both order bumps at the regular price of AUD$9 because it felt like a low-friction pricetag and an easy first step to invest in my brand.
My tripwire offers:
The Case Study Toolkit: 40% off The Audience Success Formula for 20 minutes (AUD$174)
The About Page Toolkit: 50% off the first month inside The Copy Confidence Collective (AUD$145)
Why did I choose these products?
Both of these offers seemed like the next logical step.
Writing a strategic case study relies on your asking the RIGHT questions first… and The Audience Success Formula does just that with ready-to-go survey templates to speed up the process.
And writing your about page can feel somewhat too close to home, even with a copy toolkit to guide you. By joining my membership, The Copy Confidence Collective, even for 1 month, these business owners would have my feedback, ideas and objective perspective to guide them and ACTUALLY take action.
Let’s take a look at the sign-ups:
Total sign-ups via Lizzy’s Christmas Party 2023: 2,708
π Case Study Toolkit (Free Goodie Bag): 2,042
π About Page Toolkit (Paid Goodie Bag): 666
Total Order Bump purchases: 80
π Podcast Pitch Template (Case Study Toolkit): 54
π Screenshot Savvy (About Page Toolkit): 26
Total Tripwire sales: 4
π Audience Success Formula (Case Study Toolkit): 3
π Copy Confidence Collective (About Page Toolkit): 1
1:1 Copywriting Projects: 1
π Yours for a Day: 1 (booked by the person who joined my membership via the tripwire purchase)
How about my conversion rates?
Case Study Toolkit: 86.9%
About Page Toolkit: 92.5%
Podcast Pitch Template order bump: 2.6%
Screenshot Savvy order bump: 3.9%
How about the financials?
Income:
Podcast Pitch Template order bump: AUD$486
Screenshot Savvy order bump: AUD$234
Audience Success Formula Tripwire: AUD$522
Copy Confidence Collective Tripwire: AUD$145
Yours for a Day 1:1 Copy Project: AUD$2,100
Total Income: AUD$3,487
Expenses:
Sponsorship to guarantee a spot in the Party Bag: AUD772.35 (based on the exchange rate at the time)
Total Expenses: AUD$772.35
PROFIT: AUD$2,714.65
If you like graphics, then you’ll love these screengrabs from my Thrivecart account:
Case Study Toolkit with Podcast Pitch Template order bump:
About Page Toolkit with Screenshot Savvy order bump:
The impact this digital product bundle had on my email list:
New people added to my list (as of 18 Jan 2024): 2,111
Unsubscribes (as of 18 Jan 2024): 175
New people still on my list (as of 18 Jan 24): 1,936
What else is worth calling out that the numbers won’t tell?
π§ Clearly, my product selection for Lizzy’s Christmas Party worked well with roughly 10% of ALL people who signed up for one or both of the Goodie Bags grabbing my offer. Keep in mind that there were HUNDREDS of products inside each Goodie Bag.
π§ I kept a close eye on the performance of my order bumps. The Podcast Pitch Template did really well right from the start, but Screenshot Savvy didn’t sell ONCE in the first week (when I saw about half of all my sign-ups). So I tweaked the order bump copy for Screenshot Savvy on 17 December… and started making sales right away. This shows that small copy tweaks can have a huge impact on your sales!
π§ I was a bit worried before the cart opened that my $9 order bumps wouldn’t be enough to tempt people to buy… after all, there’s no discount, right? What my order bumps have shown is that you DO NOT have to discount to make order bump sales. If the offer is in alignment with the main product, then people will buy even at full price.
π§ Tripwires CAN BE higher ticket. I wasn’t expecting any tripwire sales because of the relatively high pricetag for people totally new to my universe. But with AUD$667 worth of tripwire sales, I’m very pleased with the result.
π§ What blew my mind is that I booked a 1:1 copywriting project off the back of a tripwire membership sale. It was paid for and locked in within 2 weeks of this person joining my Copy Confidence Collective. It’s all about a great first impression and the rest will follow.
π§ I added bundle buyers into my existing nurture sequence for each product and order bump offer, but I spaced out the frequency so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed with all the new bundle contributors showing up in their inboxes too. And it seems to have reduced my new subscriber churn. I sent out the first regular email to my entire list (everyone who had completed the nurture sequence), and the open as well as click rates have stayed the same as before Lizzy’s Christmas Party. VERY happy with that!
π§ I have strategic plans to introduce these new people to my universe once the dust from Lizzy’s Christmas Party has settled. I can’t give them away yet, but it will be an all-immersive experience helping them work out THEIR next logical step. And no, it’s not a quiz!
π§ As much as unsubscribe rates were lower than I expected after the bundle finished, the email open & click rates of my regular emails started to decline steadily. That’s something I attribute to a group of bundle subscribers grabbing my freebie with no intention to ever engage with my emails. So what I’ve done since contributing in this bundle is set up an automated list clean flow to remove these people without me having to lift a finger.
In summary:
The success of your digital product bundle contribution comes down to a blend of factors:
Your willingness to be strategic about your participation
AND
The makeup of the bundle
Lizzy’s Christmas Party has certainly created a hunger for more. It’s the first time I was super intentional about a bundle contribution, and it’s paid off big time. I have almost 2,000 new AMAZING people in my universe, and I made a decent chunk of profit from my participation.
On top of that, the professionalism that Elizabeth Goddard has shown as a bundle organiser has inspired me to up my game when it comes to collaborations and my marketing efforts.
Did you love my strategic approach to digital bundle contributions and the copy that goes with it?
You can get my strategic copy, sales& marketing brain on your brand within Copy Confidence Collective.
Join me month-to-month (no lock-in contract!) or long-term for peace of mind!
