As an online business owner, you’re probably going to sell a digital product or two at least once in the lifespan of your business. And one of the best ways to ensure a customer returns again and again to your business is taking them through a rockstar post-sale process. The post-sale process is how you onboard customers into your digital product.

Zapier, a powerful automation tool, can simplify this process by connecting different apps and automating repetitive tasks. This helps streamline your processes and provide a seamless experience for your customers. Depending on the plan you use with Zapier, you can even consolidate everything into one single onboarding Zap.

Automation #1: Send a Confirmation Email

With Zapier, you can connect your payment processor (like Stripe or PayPal) to your email marketing platform (like Mailerlite or Convertkit) to trigger an automated welcome email when they purchase. This is an absolute essential step in the post-sale process. If you only do one thing in this blog post, it’s this. Make sure your customer receives an email confirmation that they’ve successfully purchased the product, as well as details for how to access the product. You can even add things like getting started guides, tutorials for how to get started, or additional content they may find helpful.

**An important thing to note, depending on what your tech stack is, you may not need to set this up in Zapier!

Automation #2: Grant Access to the Product

Okay so when I said you should do anything from this blog post, it’s step #1 … I lied. There’s actually 2 things that are non-negotiable. When selling digital products, it’s important that customers receive instant access to that product (unless it’s stated on the sales page that the product will not be instant access, like a live workshop or something). To ensure your customers can instantly access their purchase, Zapier can connect your payment processor to however you deliver your product. Often times this is an online course platform, like Teachable or Thinkific, but it could even be as simple as granting access via email. Which could be done in Automation #1.

Automation #3: Notify Your Team

This is a fun one. Set up a notification to whatever communication method you use for your team. My personal method for this is to have a Slack channel titled ‘sales’ or ‘project updates’ where you send notifications for new sales. This is also for you if there’s any needed followup or assistance after someone has purchased your product.

Automation #4: Update Your CRM or Lead Tracker

If you want to get really clear on how your audience is interacting with your business, having a detailed (and updated) CRM is super helpful. Zapier can automatically add or update customer information, depending on the platform you’re using. Actual CRMs (like Honeybook or Dubsado) have more limitations with Zapier, but if you have a manual lead tracking system to keep track of your customer information, that can automatically updated via Zapier.

Automation #5: Update Your Sales Tracker

You can easily automate keeping track of your sales with Zapier. Whether you use project management system like ClickUp or Airtable, or just a good ole Google Sheet, keeping your books up to date can happen automatically!

Automation #6: Drop them in a Testimonial Funnel

Yup, you can even automate feedback + testimonials for your digital product! With Zapier, you can easily tag customers in your email marketing platform to send an email to collect a testimonial or feedback form. Make sure to give plenty of buffer time after they’ve purchased, to ensure they’ve had enough time to actually use your product!

Now, to be completely honest, many of the things I’ve listed in this blog post can be done without Zapier too. If you’re looking for an even simpler solution, I strongly recommend checking out ThriveCart (affiliate link). It’s one of my favorite tech investments as an online business owner, because of just how much you can accomplish with it.

Regardless of your tech stack, Zapier is an incredibly powerful platform that can reduce your manual labor for maintaining your online business, while simultaneously giving your customers a high-quality post-sale experience. Less manual labor means more time for freedom, exploration, experiences, and spending time with loved ones!