1. Do Your Research

Success starts with good research, and good research means you know precisely how to create a great product. Understanding what your market is looking for is critical to sales success, and ‘just winging it’ isn’t going to work out well – we promise you that. 

Before diving into how to increase Gumroad sales, do your research. No, this doesn’t mean skimming through a few blogs or watching a quick YouTube video; we’re talking about real, in-depth research about the market, your product, and the environment.

• Product – Examine trends, features, characteristics, and design elements for other top-performing products. While you may believe that your offering is the best available, we can almost guarantee that someone else has improved on the fundamental idea, somewhere, somehow. Try to use this information to create something truly original and valuable. 
• Audience – Understanding your market is vital to knowing what your audience wants and then giving it to them. Begin by reviewing your audience’s demographics to see who you’re targeting before identifying that niche segment you’ll be focusing on. 
• Competition – Look around. Whose products are flying off the digital shelves? What are the best sellers offering their customers? And what are people saying about those stores? Your competition is your best indicator of what works and what doesn’t. Take what they do, improve on it and gain the competitive advantage you need. 

Record your research, draft a strategy and stick to it. Don’t forget to review your research periodically – this is the internet, and things change – and update your plan of action accordingly. 

2. Recruit Affiliates

Yes, affiliates are essential for those learning how to make money on Gumroad. Many people fall into the trap of thinking they don’t need to pay someone a commission to help them sell their products. Well, they do. Think of affiliates as advocates for your products whose only job is to help them sell. Many online sellers cite affiliates as their number one source of traffic and, ultimately, sales. 

Gumroad’s affiliate program is geared towards helping people join up and begin promoting your products in a flash. Their affiliates are pre-vetted (so you won’t have to worry about having your products advertised on dodgy or low-performing web pages), and you can supply them with the materials you want published.

Here’s another tip we’re pretty sure you haven’t thought of – becoming an affiliate on Gumroad yourself! Why not promote other Gumroad products while still selling your own? If you’ve got a solid social media following, run a popular blog or enjoy high traffic to your website, you’ll be able to earn an extra income and – provided you’re not promoting competing products – even collaborate with other seller-affiliates on the platform. Everybody wins!

3. Refresh Your Product Content & Images

Sellers who have figured out how to increase Gumroad sales will often cite investing in high-quality content on their profiles as one of the top reasons for doing so. People want to see more on the internet and read less, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still expecting top-notch written content. 

Online shoppers rely on good quality thumbnails to understand what you’re selling and – once they click – will go on to read about your offerings before making a purchase. However, they’re also likely to peek at your seller profile before checking out, so it’s important to keep things looking great there too.  

• Images – High-quality imagery is essential to know how to make money on Gumroad, but most of us aren’t regular expert graphic designers. Thankfully, tools like Canva make things super easy and accessible on that front. Make sure that you create product images and thumbnails that people are attracted to and can understand. 
• Product title – ‘It’s all in the name’. Well, mostly. Product titles on Gumroad matter more than you know. They appear right next to that product image and are the first bit of information that people consider when making their decision. Try to create a title that is simple, catchy, and clear. 
• Use points and bullets – Break up your product descriptions into bite-sized bullet points, and don’t be shy to use bold or italicized formatting either (so long as it doesn’t look messy). This allows people to scan your information before going back and reading it more thoroughly. 

Once you’ve revised your Gumroad product content, try A/B testing it against the older versions – you’ll see a big boost, guaranteed.  

4. Retarget Your Customer with Tracking Pixels

You’d be shocked at how many people get distracted when browsing an eCommerce store and forget what they were there for. Ensuring you can still target them after the fact is essential to working out how to increase Gumroad sales. 

Tracking pixels are a great way to retarget customers once they’ve left Gumroad. The platform allows you to add tracking pixels for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google ads with ease. This will enable you to create custom audiences for different products and then create ads that promote the same product they viewed previously or an alternative you’re selling, to these audiences.

Creating the pixels is easy, and once you’ve taken the unique pixel code from, for example, Facebook and embedded it into your Gumroad settings, you’re good to go!

5. Refine Your Strategy

Gumroad has worked hard to create a great user experience for buyers, and their features and capabilities mean that visitors can browse, review and purchase smoothly and quickly. Leveraging these features and incorporating them into your strategy is essential to understanding how to make money on Gumroad and keep improving. 

• Tags and categories – Buyers can refine their search by filtering through the endless products available on the platform using tags. These tags also allow you to position your products in the correct categories, putting them in front of your market. Gumroad lets you see which tags are most popular, enabling you to strategize accordingly by adding the most relevant tags to your products rather than the most popular ones. Your niche market will thank you. 
• Use Gumroad Discover – Gumroad’s Discover feature allows your products to be listed as ‘recommended’ to customers who have just made a purchase. This works both ways: Other creators’ products will be listed once someone buys from you, and yours will be listed as ‘recommended’ whenever a customer buys from another seller. Gumroad charges a 10% fee for this feature, though you’ll make that back in no time. 
• Offer multiple products to the same niche – While you’re free to offer a wide range of products across audience segments, finding the niche you’re best at and then offering multiple related products there will go a long way to ensuring that you earn more on Gumroad – especially if you provide products complement each other and can be brought together. 

6. Master The Art of Pricing

One of the biggest drawcards with Gumroad is the freedom they allow around pricing. But if you really want to master the art of pricing, you should create a strategy that hits that price-point sweet spot and allows you the flexibility to give your customers exactly what they want. 

Gumroad allows for price segmentation, where you can offer varying pricing tiers or charge according to different subscription types. This way, you can use subscriptions to get the most out of your customers without the risk of alienating them. 

The platform also gives sellers various payment options for their customers. Often, customers cannot afford a one-off price, so offer them an installment option instead. Recurring payments are also an excellent choice for sellers on Gumroad offering periodic content, updated products, or a series. 

7. Spend Time on Smart Marketing

Nobody is going to buy from you if they can’t find you. Many Gumroad sellers fall into the trap of thinking that their marketing and promotion are taken care of – they’re usually not. One of Gumroad’s best features is that it lets its sellers promote their wares across multiple platforms and gives them everything they need to do so. 

Try creating awareness about what you have to offer the market by doing a little innovative marketing across a blend of different channels. Bring people in by exposing them to your landing pages more, and lock in your customers by getting creative with your messaging.

• Social Media – This is your number one marketing stop. Social media has enormous reach and potential to direct customers to your sales pages and reinforce your brand image while spreading the word. Create custom social media profiles for your brand and engage with your community, encouraging them to visit your site and buy. 
• Paid advertising – Paying for ads on Google and Facebook is a surefire way to guarantee traffic and generate leads. Yes, doing so costs money, but once you open that channel up and start earning, you won’t even care. 
• Email campaigns – Email marketing and newsletters are the perfect delivery system for promotions, sales, and upcoming launches. With email tools like ConvertKit and Substack at your disposal, you can create and distribute perfectly crafted newsletters in no time. 

8. Automate Your Follow-Up Process

Automation is a 2022 buzzword that is becoming essential to eCommerce success, especially for figuring out how to make money on Gumroad. Gumroad’s follow-up feature, called ‘Workflows,’ is a GDPR-compliant tool that allows you to send follow-up emails and reminders to your customers and audience. 

Automating your follow-up process will ensure you leave less to chance and can focus on improving your sales instead of chasing after ‘lost’ customers. 

9. Offer More

Customers nowadays are demanding. With competition on the up and more access to the global eCommerce market, one of the best considerations when looking at how to increase your Gumroad sales is to offer people more than the competition does. 

• Freebies – Everybody loves getting something for free. But you’re on Gumroad to make money, right? Yes, but you can also give a little to earn a lot. We’re not talking about giving away free products at all, but rather free content. eBooks, worksheets, and complimentary courses are great ways to build goodwill. 
• Guarantees – Offering a limited warranty or guarantee communicates quality and credibility. Promising to refund or replace a product if your customers aren’t happy with it can be risky but worth it in the long run. 
• Discount codes – Coupons and affiliate-linked discount codes are a great way to lure in new customers without giving anything away for free. 

10. Create Your Own Demand

Unless you’re offering something that absolutely nobody has thought of yet, you’re going to see changes in demand for what you’re offering. So why not generate some of your own? 

You can create a sense of exclusivity around your product by limiting how many you’re selling or allowing people to pre-order before making it available. This can be tricky, but if you get it right, you’ll have people lining up, desperate to get their hands on your ‘limited edition’ offer. 

Recruit influencers to give your product a much—needed boost by sending them a free sample in return for some feedback or reviews, and make sure you talk your product up on those social media platforms.