Sell a course: from checkout to course access

Set up a product, checkout, thank-you page and automation so buyers pay and land in your course on their own, then test it with a $1 purchase.

When this is done, a buyer pays on your sales page, lands on a thank-you page, gets an email, and finds the course waiting in your portal. You don't lift a finger. It takes five pieces: a product, a checkout form, your funnel pages, an automation, and one test purchase.

Before you start

• Time: about 90 minutes the first time.
• Stripe connected and routing set. See Connect Stripe, live and test mode and Choose where payments go.
• Your course is built and published. See Build a course.
• Your portal is set up and, ideally, on its own address. See Set up your client portal.
• Email is sending. Buyers get access by email. See Set up sending email.
• A sales page in a funnel under Sites > Funnels.

Step 1: Create the product and a test coupon

1. In Payments > Products, click New Product. Give it the course name, a SKU (for example COURSE-001), the Price, and Billing Type One-time for lifetime access. Click Create Product. See Add a product to sell.
2. In Payments > Coupons, create a test coupon: an amount off that leaves $1 to pay (for a $97 course, $96 off), limited to this product and to 3 uses. See Create a discount code.

Step 2: Set up the checkout form

1. Go to Forms and open your checkout form (under Checkout Forms). If you don't have one, create it: Forms > Create New > Checkout Form.
2. Click Settings. Under Collect from Customer, keep Name, Email and Phone on and turn Billing Address off. You don't need it for a digital course, and every extra field costs sales.
3. Under What are you selling?, choose Products, then tick your course under Primary Products.
4. Under Checkout Flow, set Checkout Type to Embedded Card Payment (Beta). Turn on Allow Coupon Codes.
5. Under Redirects, set Success URL to your thank-you page address (you'll create it in Step 3; you can come back and fill this in).
6. Click Save Settings. Set the Draft / Publish switch to Publish.

For every checkout option, see Set up a checkout form to sell a program or product.

Step 3: Build the funnel pages

Your funnel needs three steps: the sales page, the checkout, and the thank-you page.

1. Open your funnel and go to Steps.
2. Click Add Step, choose the type (Checkout, then Thank You), and click Create Page. Always add pages this way. A page that isn't a funnel step shows "page not found" when it's live.
3. Put your checkout form on the checkout step.
4. On each step's Publishing tab, set the URL path (for example course-thank-you) and click Save URL path. Paths must be unique across your whole workspace.
5. Publish each page. See Edit and publish a page without taking it offline.
6. If your checkout page is on a website rather than a funnel, check the website's Payment Mode: Sites > the website's ⋯ > Settings > Advanced. It starts on Test, so real cards won't go through until you turn it on and click Save Settings. See Find and manage your websites and pages.

For more on step types and page addresses, see Build a funnel.

A thank-you page that works well has:

• A short "You're in" headline.
• An Open the course button linking straight to the course (see the address format in Step 4).
• Three next steps: check your inbox, sign in with Use email link instead, and start the first module.
• Your support email, and links to your privacy policy and terms.

Step 4: Create the automation

1. Go to Workflows and create a new workflow.
2. Trigger: Payment Received. Add a product filter and pick your course product from the list. Don't type a Stripe product code.
3. Add an Add tag action, for example "Purchased: Your Course Name".
4. Add Grant Course Access, choose the course, and turn on Notify the contact about their new course access.
5. Add your welcome email. Link to the course with this format: https://your-portal-address/portal/courses/your-course-id. It sends buyers through sign-in and straight to the course. Copy the course ID from the course's address in Learning > Courses.
6. Search every email for bracket placeholders such as [COURSE LINK] and replace them.
7. Click Save, then switch Inactive to Active.

New to workflows? See Build your first workflow.

Buyers don't get a password. They sign in with the email they bought with, using Use email link instead. See How your clients sign in.

Step 5: Test it with $1

1. Open your sales page in a private browser window.
2. Buy the course with your test coupon and a real card. On Stripe Checkout (Redirect), there's no coupon, so buy at full price.
3. Check all of these:
   • You landed on the thank-you page.
   • The tag is on your contact.
   • The course-access email arrived, and so did your welcome email with the course link.
   • Signing in with Use email link instead opens the course.
4. Refund the test payment in Stripe right after. See Refund a payment.

Check it worked

• The test purchase shows in Payments > Orders and Txns.
• You appear on the course's Students tab.

If something's off

• Paid, but no access or emails: see Payment went through but nothing happened. Most often the workflow's product filter doesn't match. See also Find out why a workflow didn't run.
• The coupon box is missing: check Checkout Type is Embedded Card Payment and Allow Coupon Codes is on, and that the Coupon Code section isn't hidden.
• "No products configured" on the form: tick your product under Primary Products and click Save Settings.
• The thank-you page says "page not found": it isn't a funnel step, or isn't published. Recreate it with Add Step.
• The buyer can't find the course: make sure the course is published and the workflow's Grant Course Access picks the right course.