How to build and sell an info product online

Simple. Not easy.

That's the honest summary of info products. The mechanics are straightforward: package what you know, price it, sell it to people who want the result. In practice, most people get the order wrong. They build first, sell later, then wonder why nobody bought.

I've watched this play out dozens of times while building Ringba. The founders who win treat info products like any other business, which means they validate demand before building, ship something small instead of something perfect and improve based on what paying customers actually tell them. The losers spend six months recording a masterpiece for an audience that never existed.

Here's the process, in the order that works.

Start with a problem people already pay to solve

You don't need an original idea. You need an expensive problem.

The best info products sit next to money. "How to pass a certification." "How to get your first freelance client." "How to run paid ads without losing your shirt." When the outcome has a clear dollar value, pricing gets easy and objections shrink.

Test your topic against three questions. First, are people already spending money on this? Books, tools, consultants, and courses all count, because existing spend is proof of demand in a way that survey answers never will be. Second, can you describe the transformation in one sentence? "Go from X to Y in Z weeks" beats "learn about marketing." Third, do you have a credible reason to teach it? Not credentials. Results, yours or your clients'.

Can't answer yes to all three? Keep looking. The topic is 80% of the outcome, and no funnel fixes a topic nobody cares about.

Pre-sell before you build anything

The single biggest mistake in this business is building the product before proving anyone will pay for it.

Pre-selling is the standard validation step among experienced creators, and the benchmarks are consistent: 5 to 20 pre-orders at your intended price, or a waitlist of 100 to 500 emails, before you record a single lesson. If you can't hit those numbers with a simple landing page and a few weeks of outreach, that's not failure. That's the market saving you two months of work.

The setup costs almost nothing. A one-page description of the outcome, a checkout link through Gumroad or Stripe, and an honest note that the course starts in four to six weeks. People who pay before the product exists are the strongest signal you'll ever get.

I've done this myself. It's uncomfortable every time. Asking for money for something that doesn't exist yet feels backwards, but it isn't. The discomfort is the point.

Build a minimum viable product in 2 to 6 weeks

You do not need a studio. A minimum viable info product can go from outline to launch in 2 to 6 weeks with tools you probably already own: Google Docs for the outline and scripts, Loom or Camtasia for screen recordings, Canva for workbooks and slides, and your phone or a basic USB mic for audio.

Outline the transformation as 5 to 10 modules, each answering one question your buyer has. Record in short takes, 5 to 15 minutes per lesson. Done beats polished. Version 2 will be better because paying students told you exactly where version 1 fell short.

One thing almost everyone misses: completion rates across the industry are brutal, often cited at 5% to 15%. Most buyers never finish. So build in accountability from day one, whether that's cohort start dates, weekly deadlines, or live Q&A calls. These features justify higher prices, cut refunds, and produce the testimonials that sell the next round. Results are your credibility. Students who finish are the ones who get results.

How should you price an info product?

Match the price to the depth of transformation. Ebooks and mini courses typically sell for $10 to $50, flagship video courses for $100 to $500, and coaching or cohort programs for $500 to $2,000 or more. Price the outcome, not the hours of video. A course that helps someone land a $70,000 job can charge accordingly.

Two costs eat into whatever number you pick. Stripe and PayPal charge around 2.9% plus $0.30 per US transaction, and platform fees stack on top, especially on free plans. Build both in rather than discovering them on your first payout.

Skip the marketplaces if you want real pricing power. Udemy controls pricing through near-constant discounts, routinely selling courses for $10 to $20 regardless of your list price. Fine for volume. Terrible for a $200 flagship. Creators who want $100+ price points almost always self-host.

My opinion, for what it's worth: most first-time creators underprice. A $200 course with a cohort component will usually beat a $30 course sold to the same list, in both revenue and student results.

Pick a platform, then stop thinking about platforms

Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, and Gumroad all work. Entry plans range from free (with transaction fees of roughly 5% to 10%) up to $100 to $200 per month for advanced tiers.

Start cheap. Gumroad or a free Teachable plan is plenty for your first launch, and you upgrade when the transaction fees on a paid month exceed the subscription cost, which usually happens somewhere around $1,000 to $2,000 in monthly sales. The platform is plumbing. Buyers care about the outcome, not the logo on the checkout page.

Sell through email, not vibes

Email remains the primary sales channel for most course creators, and the numbers explain why. Cold traffic to a sales page converts around 1% to 3%. A warm email launch to engaged subscribers converts 2% to 10%. Same product, same page, three times the results, because trust was built before the ask.

Kit (formerly ConvertKit, rebranded in 2024), Mailchimp, and Beehiiv all start free or under $50 per month for small lists. Pick one. Publish something useful weekly. A list of 500 engaged readers can realistically produce 10 to 50 sales at launch, and that's a real business.

The standard launch playbook is boring and it works: a week of value-first emails, an open cart of 4 to 7 days, honest urgency like a closing bonus or cohort start date, and a final-day email that usually drives 30% to 50% of total sales. I wrote about performance-driven sales systems in The Pay Per Call Revolution, and the core lesson transfers directly. Measure everything. Let the numbers tell you what to fix.

One legal note. Refund policies of 14 to 30 days are industry standard, and in some places they're required. The EU's 14-day withdrawal rules apply to digital goods unless the buyer explicitly waives them at checkout. Handle this in your terms before your first sale, not after your first dispute.

If you want more on the funnel side, I write about this regularly at adamyoung.com. Your next step is concrete: put up a pre-sale page this week and get five people to pay. Everything else waits.

FAQ

How long does it take to make real money with an info product?

Expect 3 to 6 months from idea to first meaningful launch if you're also building an email list from scratch. With an existing audience, 6 to 10 weeks is realistic. First launches commonly do $1,000 to $10,000, not the six figures the ads promise.

Do I need to show my face on camera?

No. Screen recordings with voiceover sell fine for skill-based topics. Face-on-camera helps with trust for coaching-style programs, but plenty of six-figure courses are entirely slides and screen shares recorded in Loom.

Should I launch with a low price and raise it later?

Yes, but say so out loud. Sell your first cohort at 30% to 50% off in exchange for feedback and testimonials, tell buyers the price is going up, then actually raise it. Founding-member pricing works precisely because it's honest.

What if someone refunds after downloading everything?

Some will. Budget for a 2% to 5% refund rate and don't fight individual cases. If refunds climb past 10%, the problem is usually a mismatch between your sales page promise and the product. Fix the promise first.