Pro launch · 31 August 2026 · 8 min read
How to price a digital product so the launch is worth running
Most first launches fail on arithmetic, not effort. Price and traffic are one equation: a $19 product needs roughly four times the buyers of a $79 product to make the same money, and cheap products do not attract buyers four times faster.
1. Work backwards from traffic
If you can realistically get 1,000 visitors in a launch month and 2% of them buy, that is 20 sales. At $19 you make $380 before fees, which does not fund the next month of work. At $79 the same traffic makes $1,580. Pick the price band that clears the number your launch has to produce, then sanity-check it against what the product credibly replaces: hours of work, a freelancer quote, a subscription the buyer can cancel.
2. The four numbers that set your floor
Fees: assume 2.9% + $0.30, so a $79 sale nets about $76.41 while a $9 sale nets $8.44 — a 6% haircut versus 3%. Refunds: budget 3-5% of revenue. Support: budget ten minutes per sale in the first month, because early buyers ask what your README has not answered yet. Your time: divide the hours the product took by the sales you expect. Fees plus refund allowance plus support time is your floor, and writing it down is what stops a panic discount in week two.
3. Write the sentence that justifies the number
"$79 replaces the two days you would spend building the launch sequence and pricing sheet yourself" is defensible. "Packed with value" is not. Test the sentence on someone who is not a customer: if they immediately ask what is inside, you are describing a format instead of an outcome. The file list is proof, not the pitch.
4. Launch price, list price and honest anchors
Set two numbers: the launch price the first buyers pay, and the list price the page shows afterwards. Only use a list price you will actually honour — a permanent 'discount' reads as fake and costs more trust than it buys sales. For urgency without discounting, expire a bonus at a stated hour and timezone and leave the price intact.
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FAQ
- What is a good price for a first digital product?
- Whatever clears your floor at the traffic you can realistically get. For template packs and playbooks that usually lands between $29 and $99; below about $19 the fees and support time eat most of the margin.
- Should I discount if launch week is quiet?
- No. Add or expire a bonus instead. Discounting trains your audience to wait, and it drops you toward the floor where each sale costs more than it earns.
- How much should I budget for refunds?
- Three to five percent of revenue is a realistic allowance for digital products with a clear refund policy.
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Show your pricing math
What price did you land on, and what did fees and refunds leave you per sale? Post the numbers — other founders price off real examples, not theory.
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