Recommended Resources Page

Why most Amazon sellers fail to make the jump to selling information products?

By Dean Sotto

Okay, today we're going to be talking about something that's near and dear to my heart, and that is selling information products. We're also going to be talking about why it's very hard for Amazon sellers to make the jump from selling physical products on Amazon, to selling information products.

First off, what is an information product? An information product is a product that's based around information that you know. It could be information on how to sell on Amazon, how to cook an amazing pot roast, or how to ride a motorcycle backwards blindfolded. It doesn't matter what you are teaching. An information product is based around knowledge that you have, or knowledge that you are able to get from somebody else and put into a productized format. Now there's a lot of mystique that goes into the idea of creating information products, and it's very alluring to think that you could create something that has no cost of goods associated with it, and sell it for a lot of money.

This is especially attractive to Amazon sellers who always have a cost of goods associated with their physical products that they're selling. The problem is not understanding that the two types of products, physical and information, are completely different, and customers see them in very different ways. Why are Amazon sellers so bad at making and selling information products? Well, typically Amazon sellers are not bad at creating the information product itself. Often the courses that they make and the products that they create are very in-depth, they are extremely valuable. The problem is really that they don't know how to sell the actual information.

The key to understanding this whole dilemma is understanding how physical products are sold and seen by customers, as well as how information products are sold and are seen by customers as well. Physical products have an inherent value in them. Somebody can see them, touch it, they can feel it, they can look at it and determine whether or not it's something that they need, want, desire or will relieve their pain. For example, if I have a need for a laptop computer, I'm going to go out and I'm going to go to a website to go and buy a laptop computer. I can see the picture of the computer. I know that when I get it I'm going to be able to touch it, feel it. I know what the speed is going to be. I know a lot about the product because it is physical and has its own inherent value just in the fact that it's physical.

However, with an information product, there is no physicality to it. Everything is based off of whether or not the information that this product has is going to solve a particular pain or pleasure that I have or need. For example, a $5 e-book about how to sell more products on Amazon does not have any type of physical essence to it. The human brain, because it doesn't have that physical essence to it, has to convince itself why spending $5 on this particular e-book is going to benefit them when there's nothing physical about it. It's only the information that's inside of it that's going to benefit in some way.

Now all that being said, you'll notice that when you are an Amazon seller and you're selling a product, you never have to convince your customer. How often have you had an e-mail from a customer asking you questions about a product that you are currently selling? Probably never. You just see e-mails coming in from Amazon letting you know that you sold a particular product. Well with an information product, typically if you're not selling via a webinar or a long-form sales page, you're going to get a lot of questions from customers, even if it is a $1 e-book. They need to know that there is value in the information that's going to solve their particular problem, or give them the pleasure that they need or desire.

I can't tell you how many times I've sold a $697 course and had a ton of questions. Even more hilarious is selling a $20 e-book and getting 10 times as many questions from customers, as to why it will solve their particular need or pleasure. Any time you are selling an e-book or information product or online course, you are going to have to convey a ton of information. That requires good copywriting. It doesn't require good copywriting to sell products on Amazon. Amazon has a ton of [eyeballs 07:57], and by sheer statistics, you are going to be able to sell your product. Whereas with an information product, everything is on you to persuade the customer, to get the customer to the page, and to show them why they need your product.

This is where a lot of Amazon sellers fail.

• They don't understand sales and marketing.
• They don't understand copywriting.
• They don't understand customer needs and desires, and don't know their customer enough to be able to convey why their course, as opposed to every other Amazon course out there, is the one that the customer needs right now, and will benefit from in the long run.

If you're going to sell a course, you need to really understand your customer, as well as you need to understand how sales, marketing, persuasion and copywriting work. It doesn't matter if you're going to be selling a $1 information product or a $1,000 information product, you're going to get questions from customers why they should spend their money on this information.

Yes, I know it doesn't make sense, but that's the way it works... and that's at least some reasons why most Amazon sellers fail miserably when it comes to selling their products.

(SOURCE)

- Are you selling information products online? Read this to learn more!