---
title: "Create On-Ramp Products"
source: "https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/academy/create-on-ramp-products/"
description: "Selling online courses is fundamentally different from selling physical products. Traditional tactics that work for physical goods—like scarcity or in-person re…"
vertical: "Software"
area: "Academy"
topics: ["Best Practices", "Courses", "Crafting Your Course", "Promoting Your Course"]
date: "2022-01-05"
last_modified: "2022-01-05"
---

# Create On-Ramp Products

Selling online courses is fundamentally different from selling physical products. Traditional tactics that work for physical goods—like scarcity or in-person relationship building—don’t translate well to digital products. Instead, course creators need strategies that build **trust** and make it easy for strangers to become paying customers. That’s where **on-ramp products** come in.

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#### Physical vs. Digital Products

- **Physical products (like furniture):**
    - Require research, physical interaction (“touch, feel, try”).
    - Are expensive, bought infrequently, and rely on in-person trust.
    - Scarcity tactics (“only one left”) work because scarcity is real.
- **Digital products (like online courses):**
    - Purchased often, usually inexpensive, and don’t require approval.
    - Lack physical interaction, which creates a **trust problem**.
    - Fake scarcity (“limited to the first 100 buyers”) feels manipulative.

The key difference: **digital sales require building authentic trust online.**

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#### What is an On-Ramp Product?

An **on-ramp product** is a small, low-cost offering that gives learners a safe and easy way to engage with you. Think of it like a highway on-ramp—helping someone go from “zero” to “ready” before merging onto the main highway.

- Not free, but low-cost (often under $30).
- “Less for less” or “partial for partial”—delivers a smaller transformation at a reduced price.
- A complete but compact experience (e.g., a 4-lesson mini-course, 30 minutes total).
- Lets learners **sample your teaching style**, get immediate value, and decide if they want more.
- Builds trust without overwhelming commitment.

Example: Instead of a full language course, offer a mini-course on **“Five phrases to start a friendship in Spanish.”** It’s complete, useful, and builds appetite for the full program.

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#### Benefits of On-Ramp Products

**For the Creator:**

- Generate revenue while acquiring new customers (instead of spending on ads).
- Validate whether prospects are willing to spend money.
- Gain email addresses and proof of payment ability for future offers.
- Create organic promotion as satisfied customers recommend or affiliate-share your course.

**For the Customer:**

- Gain immediate, tangible value.
- Experience your teaching style in a low-risk way.
- Decide if they want to invest in more from you.
- Earn social credit by recommending the resource to others.

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#### How to Create an On-Ramp Product

Follow a simple **Homework Framework**:

1. **List Customer Pains** – Start with the problems your main audience faces.
2. **Map Pains to Goals** – Use those pains to infer their underlying goals, creating a hierarchy from broad to specific.
3. **Identify On-Ramp Opportunities** – Choose a **smaller, entry-level goal** to solve with a compact offering.

Tips:

- An on-ramp should be crafted separately—it’s not just the intro to your main course.
- It can be directly related or tangential to your main product.
- Deliver a defined, valuable, and small result (e.g., “Three mistakes to avoid when building your first workbench”).
- Pricing should feel light compared to your main offer (roughly 5–10%).
- Formats can vary: short videos, text with visuals, mini email series, or a combination.

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#### Promoting On-Ramp Products

The best promotion is **word-of-mouth from existing customers**. Many creators even give affiliates 100% of the mini-course fee, knowing the real value comes from turning new learners into buyers of the main program.

This approach builds a **product ladder**:

1. On-ramp product (low cost).
2. Main course (higher cost).
3. Advanced offerings (premium cost).

Learners “step up” naturally as their trust and commitment grow.

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### Why This Matters

On-ramp products solve the biggest problem in digital course sales: **earning trust from strangers.** By delivering quick wins in a low-cost, low-risk format, you turn curious visitors into paying students—and ultimately, long-term customers.

> **Tip:** Don’t think of on-ramps as giveaways. They’re **strategic entry points** designed to delight learners while building sustainable growth for your business.