How do million-dollar brands make 2X more from each customer?

Attention digital creators: you should be making twice as much money as you are now.  

Let's find out how million dollar brands are pulling every single dime of profit from their audience.  

I’m Scott Moran, the co-founder of SamCart, the commerce platform for creators. And what I’m about to show you is pulled straight from a book we have called the The Profitable Customer. If you want to know how our 7-, 8-, and even 9-figures creators are making twice as much money as you from every customer they get, this article is for you.  

I’m going to dive into the SamCart Database, which has data compiled from more than $3 Billion in sales of ebooks, courses, digital downloads, services, coaching, consulting, and everything in between.  

If you like the 4 strategies below, go here get a free copy of this book to get 12 more just like it.  

This all starts with a shockingly simple statistic. In 2022, we dove into SamCart’s database and tried to find out what made our million dollar creators so much more successful than everyone else. Because here’s the truth, so many of our million dollar brands have pretty small audiences. And I’ve worked with plenty of creators with hundreds of thousands of followers and subscribers that are still working full time jobs, struggling to pull enough profit from their digital product sales to turn this side hustle into their only hustle.  

So if audience size isn’t what separates those Creator CEOs from the hobbyist, what does?  

Well the answer is incredibly simple. And it is is what I now refer to as the 3X Rule.  

The 3X rule states that to maximize your revenue, allow your best customers to 3X the size of each order. Meaning, whatever the price of your main offer is, by the time a customer is done placing their order, they should be able to spend triple that amount.  

So let’s say you were selling a $27 e-book, like the very first product we ever sold, “The 10 Step Hitting System.” To follow this 3X golden rule, we need to let each customer easily add other items to their order. Strategically deploying order bumps, upsells, and payment options that would allow our best customers to spend at least $81.  

If you're selling a $1,000 website design service, you need to allow your best customer to spend up to $3,000 by upgrading their order. If you are selling a $100/month coaching package, you need to allow your best customers to spend $300/mo.  

The 3X Rule is remarkably consistent. As we poured through the database, it was crystal clear that creators who let their best customers easily spend more, experience the growth that most creators are trying to chase down.  

If your profits are stuck, then you are likely guilty of the cardinal sin of digital creators. “One and done sales”. If you are currently selling your customers one offer, without any ability to buy anything else, you’re leaving the majority of your sales on the table.  

Not every customer is ready to spend more money. But the ones that are can change your life. Give your best customers the opportunity to spend more (3x more to be exact), and change your business forever.  

Ok, so you need to let your customers spend more. But how?  Well that brings us to item #2 for creating incredibly profitable customers, and that is one simple checkbox that has taken the internet by storm.  

These checkboxes make it incredibly easy for your customers to double the size of their order. These checkboxes are responsible for doubling revenue, and padding profit margins by as much as 3-5x.  

At SamCart, we call these Order Bumps.  

The best comparison here is the famous six word phrase that created the single largest restaurant chain on planet Earth. McDonald’s became the burger behemoth thanks to the beautiful simplicity of “Would you like fries with that?”  

Fries and a drink are such an easy “yes” for every customer. But did you know that extra $2 you spend actually represents the huge majority of McDonald’s profits? Without “would you like fries with that?”, McDonald’s would’ve stayed a little mom and pop burger joint like so many others.  

As a digital creator, what is your “would you like fries with that?”  For Christie Miller, her order bump helped fitness clients spend an extra $13,800 during a special enrollment period. Money that Christie called “pure profit”. Writer Nick Wolny added two bumps to his checkout flow, and then told his his average order grew from $76 to more than $160!  

What would happen if your customers started spending double? That’s the power of beautifully-designed upgrades that make it easy for each and every customer to spend more with you.  

The SamCart database paints a really clear picture. Adding just a single one of SamCart’s Order Bumps increases average order value by +31%. 31% more revenue just by adding one simple checkbox to your order.  

How are you going to help your customers spend more?  Time for Strategy #3, The “Yes!” Email.  

To properly explain this one, we actually have to travel to Disneyland. Specifically, the line to get on SpaceMountain. Because that’s where Molly Mahoney was when she used The YES email to close a bunch of new clients into a high-ticket service package she was selling.  

That’s right, Molly was in line at an amusement park, celebrating her son’s birthday with her family, and closing new clients on her phone. Here’s how she did it.  

Molly sent one email to her customers, letting them know all about the open spots for this monster service package. The only thing customers had to do was reply with, “Yes!”, and Molly could use the “Add to Order” button inside of SamCart to charge that customers card on file for the first payment of this service package.  

Here’s the kicker, Molly was fielding those calls and closing the customers while she was in line in Disneyland celebrating her son’s birthday! She would get a “Yes!” email reply, then just open SamCart on her phone and use that “Add to Order” button to charge their card on file for the deposit payment.  

Because the customers didn’t need to do anything difficult (like place a brand new order, login to their account, or wait for an invoice to be generated) Molly filled up those client spots and made a bunch of money in the process.  

How could you use the YES email? Put an offer out to your customers, and make it that simple for them to buy.  

We saved the best for last. Well, kind of. So much of making more from each customer is a focus on one key stat; customer lifetime value. Your LTV will determine wether you are eating ramen, or splurging on chipotle. Cards on the table, I really like Chipotle. Feel free to substitute something you like into this metaphor.  

But a higher customer lifetime value is a calling card of every single million dollar creator that calls SamCart home. So let’s take a look at one very simple strategy that will pull in more sales well after a customer places their first order. And spoiler alert, every order after that first one is almost always pure profit.  

When it comes to convincing customers to buy again, the name of the game is simplicity. Just like the YES email, you need to let your customers buy something else without sending them on some wild goose chase through some 7 or 8-step overcomplicated marketing funnel. No one wants to go to your homepage, check out all your products, sit through a 90 minute webinar, read a sales page, and then have to re-enter all their information to place another order.  

If that’s what your customers have to do right now in order to buy again, I’m willing to bet your Customer Lifetime Value is looking pretty low right now. Instead, why not give your customers an easy way to purchase related products or services, using the payment information they already have on file?  

The specific example we’ll dive into is a snazzy little SamCart feature called Featured Courses. You can actually deliver digital downloads, ebooks, templates, and even full video courses with SamCart. Every SamCart account comes with our Courses App, where you can sell unlimited digital products to an unlimited number of students.  

But more than that, you can actually feature other courses, services, templates, coaching, or anything in-between to your existing customers. So while your students are browsing that weeknight cooking mini-course they bought, SamCart can help them discover the Home Chef Membership you have, and let them place an order to join using the credit card they already have on file.  

Make it easy for customers to spend more. And watch your sales soar. Focus in on your average order value, and your customer lifetime value. Those two stats separate the Creator CEOs from the hobbyists. Implementing the strategies from this video could very well double the profits you keep from your digital products this year.  

If you liked these 4 ideas, and want to get 12 more just like them, then make sure you grab the The Profitable Customer guide. It’s 100% free.