How to Create a Paid Product

Step-by-Step instructions. Video Included

Erin Kelly avatar
Written by Erin Kelly
Updated over a week ago

Ready to start making money with your MemberVault account? This is a step-by-step guide on how to get all set up.

Although it's optional, we recommend Adding a Free Opt-In to build trust with your users and give them a MemberVault account with you.

Video Walkthrough:



1. Go to Products and click on "Add Product"

If you prefer to use one of our pre-made product templates, you can see a full list of them here!

2. Add in your Product details

  • Status - Active means it's visible to your users when you have selected a Sign Up Option (details below). Invisible means that it's not visible in your public Marketplace, but people who have the link to the product can view and sign up / purchase. Inactive keeps it hidden from your users. Most people just leave this to active.

  • Type - Most products are set to regular, however, if you need users to go through in order (progressive), or you're doing a timed challenge (timed or date drip) then choose that.

  • Title - Title of the Product

  • Image - Cover image for the product

  • Product Description - Information on what this product is

  • Product Overview Text - A message you want to display to anyone who OWNS the product.

  • EP needed to unlock - Part of the gamification features. Leave blank for now.

3. Add at least one module

Think of modules as just containers for your lessons. It's best to use modules to group your lessons in sections, or categories. If you want to give users a taste of the product, consider adding one or more Teaser Modules.

  • Type - Module will be viewable by only people who own the product. Teaser Module will be viewable by people who don't own the product (provided the product has a sign up type). Bonus Module will be viewable by users who have earned a certain amount of EP in that product (more on gamification later)

  • Title - Title of the module

  • Image - Cover image for the module

  • Short Description - This will be the text that shows up when viewing the product and seeing the list of modules

  • Description - This will be the text that shows up when a user has clicked INTO the module.

4. Add at least one lesson

All engagement and tracking is done at the Lesson level, so it's important that all of your important content is contained in a lesson. If this is a simple module that doesn't have "multiple lessons", simply just add ONE lesson and give it the same title as the module title. MemberVault will then automatically open this lesson when someone clicks into the module (saving your user a click).

Strategy-wise, it's best to break up your content into as many lessons as you can. Not only is this better for your users to learn, but it also allows you to see which content is the most popular.

  • Title - Title of lesson

  • Video Type - If the main part of your lesson is video, you can choose your video type here. We natively support YouTube, Vimeo, and muse.ai, but also allow you to embed whatever video code you have.

  • Video Link - If you are using YouTube, Vimeo, or muse.ai, add the full video share link here. If you are using another platform, copy and paste the entire embed code here. You'll see a successful preview when the correct link or embed code is added.

  • Lesson Text - This is the main content area of the lesson. You can embed anything you want here, use text styling, upload images, and even embed video players and audio.

  • Lesson Activity / Homework - Is there an actionable item your users can do after the lesson? If not, just leave blank.

5. Add Files and Questions (optional)

After you add your lesson, you are given the option to add downloadable files to this lesson, and add quiz questions.

  • Lesson Files - If you have documents or files that go with your lesson, simply name them and upload them here. There is NO limit on size or number of uploads.

  • Quiz Questions - One of the best ways to boost engagement, and start developing a relationship with your users is to use quiz questions. You can add Essay (open-ended) questions, Multiple Choice questions or prompt your students to upload a File. Lessons cannot be marked complete until the required quiz questions are filled out, and multiple choice questions have been answered correctly. Most people use this to ask open-ended questions to their users, but when multiple choice questions are paired with a progressive product type, you can have a legit course with testing.

6. Enable Comments (optional)

Want your users to engage even more and be able to add comments to your lesson? You can choose which lessons you'd like to have comments enabled for (we recommend being strategic about this and only including comments on a select few lessons -- say at the end of a module, or a separate module altogether for a discussion forum).

7. Preview your product

Once all of your modules/lessons are in, click "Products" on the left-hand menu to get back to the main list. Click on the gear icon. In the pop-up screen you'll click on the "Preview Product" button. This will open up a new window and allow you to go through the user experience as if you owned the product.

8. Connect to Stripe (optional)

If you plan on using MemberVault's built-in Payment Forms, you'll need to connect to Stripe or PayPal. To do that, simply Click on "Integrations" and "Payment". Click on the "Connect to Stripe" button.

This should allow you to log in and give MemberVault access to make charges for you. If all goes well, you should be redirected back to the Settings Page with a message that you are connected.

9. Connect to PayPal (optional)

If you plan on using MemberVault's built in Payment Forms, you'll need to connect to Stripe or PayPal. To do that, simply Click on "Integrations" and "Payment". Enter in your API Username, API Password, and Signature. If you're not sure where to get these, click on the provided link and log in.

10. Select a Sign Up Type

Now that your product looks great, click "Edit" on the product and find "Sign Up Options". By default this is set to None meaning that people who do not own this yet, won't be able to see it or sign up for it. The EASIEST way to handle this for a paid product is to select "Payment". This will allow users to purchase and get instant access to your product. If you have your own sales page you want to direct them to, select "Link".

  • Price - The numeric price for your product. (do not include $ or other special characters)

  • Type - "One Time" is for for products with a fixed one time price. "Recurring Monthly", "Recurring Yearly" and "Recurring Weekly" will charge the above amount every month, year and week, which is great for membership sites.

  • Button Text - What you want the actual button to sign up says

  • Teaser Message - Users will see the product description in the main area, but if they click into the product to learn more (and don't own it yet), they will see this message. Use this to tell them more and entice them to purchase. Users who own this product will NOT see this.

11. Get the word out!

Congratulations! Your paid product is ready to sell and have people purchase. You can grab the direct link to this product by going back to the "Products" page, clicking on the gear, and copying the Product Link.

If you want to show it off, please do share it in our Facebook Collaborative Group

Here are more ways you can enhance your users' experience with your MV:


Questions? Reach out to us at hello@membervault.co, within our Facebook group, The MV Collaborative, or via chat support within your admin account (not sure how to log in? look up your account here).

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