If you’re building an online business, you probably need two things right away: a way to sell and deliver your digital downloads and an email newsletter to grow your audience.
The challenge? Most platforms are built for one or the other. You might find a great email tool that can’t deliver products or a great product platform with clunky email features. Before long, you’re stuck managing and paying for tons of different tools when all you really want to do is help your audience and start making sales.
That’s why it makes sense to choose a platform that does both from the start.
With Podia, you can send newsletters and deliver your digital downloads in one place, with all your audience data, sales, and emails automatically connected. No extra integrations or scattered tools. Just one simple, powerful home for your business.
Here’s how to use Podia’s email and product features together to grow your audience and sell what you know. (Start your 30-day free trial here to test everything for yourself.)
There are download platforms. There are newsletter platforms. And there are tools that do both.
When you’re starting an online business, your tech stack often grows faster than you expect.
You launch your first digital download and sign up for a platform to sell it. Then you realize you also need an email list, so you add a newsletter tool. A website builder comes next. Maybe a blog platform.
And before long, you’ve got a dozen different subscriptions just to run the basics.
The cost is a problem (those monthly fees add up fast). But the real drain is the management. Instead of making stuff, you’re:
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Switching between dashboards to check sales and subscribers
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Manually moving customer data from one tool to another
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Piecing together reports to figure out which emails actually led to purchases
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Learning multiple interfaces instead of focusing on your products
And the more tools you add, the more complex it gets. Every new product launch means making sure all your tools are connected, your automations are working, and your customer information is in sync. One broken integration can throw off your entire system.
Worse, as your business grows, you might hit the limits of one of those tools — forcing you to switch platforms and rebuild everything you’ve already set up.
It’s a constant game of catch-up that pulls your attention away from what really matters: creating products your audience loves and building relationships that lead to sales.
Here’s the thing:
There are plenty of solid digital download platforms, like Sellfy, Gumroad, and Payhip. And there are plenty of newsletter platforms out there, like Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, and Substack.
But there are also platforms that do both, like Podia.
With a tool that does both, your data and customers are already connected, so you don’t need to pipe information between different software. It’s easier to manage everything in one spot, and you’ll often save by not having to pay for two (or more) different tools.
You also get a more granular look at your data, which can show you which email subscribers have bought which product, and what email newsletters drive the most sales.
Everything is built to work together from day one, so instead of stitching together a tech stack, you can focus on creating, marketing, and selling.
And because Podia also has features like courses, coaching, community memberships, affiliates, and customer chat messaging, you won’t have to migrate your audience or rebuild your automations when you’re ready to expand.
So here’s a look at how digital downloads and newsletters work in Podia, so you can see if it’s the right fit for your business.
How to make digital downloads with Podia
Up first, you need a place to set up and sell your digital download files.
A digital download can be a PDF, ebook, template, workbook, guide, audio file — or just about anything you’d like to share.
In Podia, you can use the digital download product type and upload nearly any type of media file, like videos, audio, PDFs, or text files. You can also add as many files as you like to each listing.
Then, you’ll set the price. Your digital download can be free or paid, and you can set up a one-time fee, subscription, or payment plan. You can also make your digital downloads available for free email delivery, which turns them into lead magnets for growing your email list.
Everything you make in Podia comes with a sales page that’s automatically generated from the description you add to your product, so you can send people there and start making sales right away. But you can also customize your sales page with sections like testimonials, FAQs, images, videos, and author bios.
Once your page looks the way you like, you can share it with your audience. We’ll handle the checkout on our end (you just need to connect PayPal or Stripe), and we’ll also make sure the files are automatically delivered to your buyers.
You can add upsells to your products, make bundles of related items, throw sales with coupons, and gauge interest in an idea before you build with waitlists.
All these features are available out of the box and work for any product you make, so all you need to do is add your files and share your page with your customers, and leave the rest to us.
You might be thinking, “That sounds great, but where do the customers come from?” A great place to start is with your email list.
How to build your newsletter and email list with Podia
In addition to housing your digital downloads, Podia also has email marketing features that you can use to find and connect with prospective buyers.
You can:
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Add an email sign-up form to your website and blog in just a few clicks.
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Create free lead magnets that visitors can sign up for in exchange for their email addresses.
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Automatically segment and tag your audience using built-in tracking tools.
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Send emails to just people who have or haven’t bought your products.
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Create automated email campaigns that run whenever someone takes action in your business.
Podia also has an email editor where you can design your newsletter to match your brand, use previous emails as a starting point for your next email, and choose from a library of over a dozen customizable templates.
Newsletters can be sent in real-time or scheduled out for the future if you want to get ahead in your planning. You can also set up automated welcome campaigns, sales funnels, nurture sequences, and launches so your business runs smoothly behind the scenes.
And when it comes to growing your email list and actually getting people in the door of your business, you’ve also got options.
You can add email sign-up forms throughout your website and blog, create a standalone landing page for your newsletter, offer free lead magnets, and add people to your list automatically when they purchase a product. You can also use Podia to make a link in bio page (with an email sign up form, of course) to take people from social media follower to newsletter subscriber.
The more you promote your sign-up form, the more people will enter your email list and newsletter, and the more people you can tell about your paid products.
The magic of having both together
You’ve got your digital download, you’ve got your email list, but what does it look like when you combine the two?
Let’s say you have an ebook digital download that you want to sell. You have a website and blog on Podia, so you add an email newsletter form on your homepage and blog. Everything is already connected, so anyone who signs up for your list is automatically added to your Podia audience.
Then, you used Podia’s email campaign feature to automatically send a welcome sequence to new subscribers. Whenever someone joins, they get a 3-part email sequence that introduces them to your business, shares some valuable tips and insights, and then introduces them to your paid ebook. Some of them buy it right then, but others don’t, and that’s totally fine.
Because next week, you’ll send out an email newsletter, and in that newsletter, you’ll also have a link to your ebook product. You’ll share blog posts, insights, and helpful tips that your target audience will love. They’ll learn from you, and next time you have a product to launch, you’ll have a group of people already listening to what you have to offer and excited to learn more.
And with time, this system grows. The more blog posts you publish, the more people will see your email form to join your newsletter. Those people will enter your automations, which means more eyes on your work and more potential buyers.
When everything is connected for you, you don’t have to maintain two separate systems. You don’t have to make a complicated network of tags and rules just to send people where you want them to go. With less time spent on tech, you’ll have more time to send great newsletters and build even more digital downloads that your audience will love.
Podia lets you run your newsletter and deliver downloads in one place
By building your newsletter and digital products in the same spot, you’re setting up a system that helps you find new audience members, bring them into your business, get them on your email list, and nurture those connections long term.
Over time, this system grows and so does your business, all without a ton of extra work for you.
Podia has your digital downloads and email newsletter, as well as your website, blog, courses, community, affiliates, and other tools to build a successful online business — all in one place. Start your 30-day free trial today to see what you can make.
