Before you start creating your information product, you will need to be honest with yourself: are you creating the product for your customer or yourself? In all of the gigabytes of products I’ve accumulated over the last 7-8 years, I can easily tell what was created for “me.” And there weren’t that many.
When a product is created with customers in mind you can tell they were well thought out and planned. The quality is better, the organization of the information is better. They are usually a fair price (often a pretty low price) and full of information. The product creator will have gone above and beyond showing the value. The product is also accompanied by great customer service. As a customer, you feel good about having purchased this product because you know it was made for you.
Other times products are created for the creator. Maybe they wanted to make some quick cash from their list or had a goal of adding to their product funnel. You can tell these are rushed to be created. There are mistakes made. There isn’t much content. In some case you can tell that the content writing has been outsourced. It’s often priced way more than it’s worth. Sometimes it’s accompanied by 100s of old bonus products. On the other hand, you may run into a fairly high-quality product, but the information is way over your head. You start off reading about the creator and all of his accomplishments and all of his wealth – for the first 1/2 of the ebook. Then you learn about his system, his method and his way – and then he tries to sell even more stuff. So it may seem like some type of self-glorifying product or just a way to sell more stuff.
Before you create your product, decide who it’s going to be for. The obvious answer is to create it for your customers, but there may be times when having a self-serving product is appropriate.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Follow me on Twitter: joycerhansen
Well said Gwen. I get turned off if an e-book author is burning up pages with information that doesn’t address the problem I thought the e-book was going to provide. Fool me once, but never again.
Joyce Hansen´s last blog ..What Humor Researchers Found Out About Female and Male Brains
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I see this a lot when you look at a product being a website. The website is all about me – me – me… and I lose interest. Nobody on any website tells people how CRAP they are. On EVERY website, the owner always says how amazing they are, and their products/ services are the best, etc…
When I visit a website, Im thinking – what’s in it for me? why should i bookmark this site? why would I think of returning?
It’s not about the website owner – it’s about their customers/ followers/ potential clients. So bloggers and website owners should think about this – is your website for you, or for your customers?
Fiona Bosticky´s last blog ..5 WordPress Plugins for Tracking Stats
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The digital products should be tools to serve us better or a way to solve a challenge that we are facing. You are right about observing that some products are self serving. For those products it will be my first AND last purchase from that author.
Last weekend I called in a refund because the ebook inferred I HAD to purchase another product to complete the steps in the ebook I purchased. For $500 I expect to come out as a master expert if I complete all the steps for that amount of money and it better be complete.
Tony Denson´s last blog ..I’ve Got This -
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Fiona,
You have a great point. I’m all for celebrating one’s success, but if your website is just one big commercial for you – guess what, the back button is the remote control of the internet LOL I’ll just skip the commercial and move to the next channel.
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Gwen Tanner´s last blog ..Are You Creating Your Product for Your Customer or Yourself
Follow me on Twitter: gwenatanner
Hi Tony,
I think it’s fair that you, as a buyer, can request a refund. That’s why it’s so important to buy from ClickBank as they reinforce their 60 day refund policy.
I want a refund of a popular product that I bought (non-ClickBank), I’ve been contacting their help desk for help with a specific question – no response. They offered a 30-day money back guarantee. I love the product, but their support STINKS. I can’t get help with it, which is part of the package (1 year support). To me, I’m not getting the product and all I paid for. But guess what? If I can’t get a support question answered, and refund requests are submitted through their support system – how will I ever get it???
Amazing!
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Gwen Tanner´s last blog ..Are You Creating Your Product for Your Customer or Yourself
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Sounds like you’re in one of those “catch 22″ situations, Gwen. Pretty sad. And I’m beginning to think it was set up that way … on purpose. Pretty clever, don’t you think? Refunds are handled through their support system which, to me, seems like it doesn’t even exist!
I’ll back you up 100% on this post. It’s very hard sometimes to put your target audience first, but you must. We’re in business to “serve” our market, not ourselves.
I get really ticked off when I open an e-book, for example, and the first three pages are all about the author. If someone thinks that highly of themselves, that’s fine. Just put the information at the END where I don’t have to take the time to read it if I don’t want to.
Wonderful topic!
Melanie
#blog30
Melanie Kissell´s last blog ..Create Something Buzzworthy
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I thought this post was going to say making a product for yourself would then sell to someone just like me, someone in the same boat. And perhaps I’d better research first to see if I’m alone in my problem.
But nooooo. Instead you reminded me of a bunch of crap things I’ve bought in the past. I hadn’t thought of those being made for the author, but you’re right. Thanks for helping me see this clearly. I hope it helps me avoid any more crap purchases. If the sales page seem a bit blowhard…
Good luck with getting your refund.
Karen Wilson Wehrle´s last blog ..Affiliate Marketing–How to Do URL Forwarding at GoDaddy
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@Karen “Instead you reminded me of a bunch of crap things I’ve bought in the past.”
That made me laugh! I had one of those purchases two months ago. 20$ for a 8 page report that was super basic information. At least it demonstrates that money can be easy to make online.
I think a lot of great products start by the product creators scratching their own itch (for examples, Simon Sinek’s book is great) It has to be about solving a problem and solving it well. I’ve got a couple of products in the pipeline and they are designed to solve problems but there’s always the danger of creating something other people didn’t actually want…especially if you just go on your own interests without the market research and without finetuning it to your target audience. In my case, I’m just too excited about what I’m doing, hitting a wide audience will just be a bonus. (of course I’m doing by best to solve my customers problems)
Peter Knight´s last blog ..Are your if-thens working for you
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Peter – see that is unacceptable! $20 for 8 pages? It’s not that people won’t buy your product, but if you hype it up it better be worth it! You are right, when you start researching stuff about a problem you cant find the answer to (or getting the wrong answers, and you take matters into your own hands) you are building your own experience, best practices and lessons learned. When you learn from someone else, you are learning what they know at the extent you know it. I’m sure your products will be EXCELLENT
Gwem
Gwen Tanner´s last blog ..When the Meat Falls Off the Fork
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Karen – there’s too much crap going around! Too many people wanting to take the money and run. Things need to change. Even crappy products can be made better with some TLC.
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Gwen Tanner´s last blog ..When the Meat Falls Off the Fork