5 Products You Can Fulfill for Under $5

Packaging your products doesn’t have to be painful for your bank account. Get the five products with the highest perceived value in the info publishing world packaged for under $5. You can charge more for the same product packaged in these popular formats.
- By Brittanie Byron, Editor

The cost of packaging physical products can seem daunting, but you don’t have to have thousands of dollars upfront to get started.

Last month, a group of clients involved in our partnership program came to our offices in Boise. One of the groups had a great product idea for parents that initially included two DVDs. The cost of this original idea would have been broken down as follows:
-    2 Full Color DVDs: $3.76
-    Full Color Sleeve: $.98
-    Two Disc Case: $.26
-    Total: $5.00

After taking a second look, they decided to do something different: two DVDs and a Quick Reference Book. This sounds like it would cost more, but because we got creative with the packaging, it actually costs slightly less. Here’s the breakdown:
-    Book with 4 Color Cover: $2.42
-    2 Black and White DVDs: $2
-    2 Adhesive Disc Sleeves: $.42
-    Total: $4.84

In this option, instead of getting cases for the DVDs, they decided to use the inside of their book cover to attach clear, adhesive disc sleeves. This way, the product comes as a package they can keep organized and pull out the parts they want for easy reference.

As you can see, the second option delivers far more value to the customer, but it costs less to produce! Is your packaging achieving this?

Whether you have your own digital products that you want to be able to charge more for, or just have a product idea, here are five packaging ideas that won’t break the bank.
With the vendors we use today, these ideas cost under $5 each based on ordering a minimum quantity of 100 unless otherwise noted. So for less than $500 you can have 100 products ready to sell:

Product Idea No. 1
150 Page Book with Full Color Cover: $4.40:
Turn your Word document into a PDF file and create a cover using Photoshop or your favorite design program. Then upload your files to 48hrbooks.com. They will give you an electronic proof and ship them out within two business days. The pricing here is based on a perfect bound book with a finished size of 5.5 by 8.5 inches.

Product Idea No. 2
12 Page, Full Color Newletter with a Black and White CD: $3.45 + $1.10 = $4.45
The pricing for the newsletter here is based on a quantity of 250. This is a simple way to start your own continuity program without a huge upfront cost. While you need to order larger quantities of a magazine like this one to get a similar per unit price, you can begin with a smaller package and increase the content as your membership grows.

To create this product, you can first create a PDF file of your newsletter in Word and upload it to uprinting.com. Be sure to ask if they have any specials for first time customers. Currently, they are giving five percent off on your first order.

Then, record an interview and burn it to a CD. Take it in to a local store that specializes in disc duplication. They will be able to give you a disc template with instructions for submitting the artwork to their specifications. In Boise, we use Goldlink Media (www.goldlinkmedia.com) for many of the jobs we need done quickly and want to fulfill in house.

Product Idea No. 3
60 Page Spiral Bound Workbook: $4.78
Workbooks are a simple way to add value to almost any info product and it will help guide your customer through the steps they need to take to derive the benefits they were seeking out of your product.

You can also order these through 48hrbooks.com with the upgrade of plastic coil binding and a finished size of 8.5 by 11 inches.

Product Idea No. 4
Black and White CD and DVD Set in Separate Plastic Cases With Full Color Sleeves: $1.10 + $1.25 + $.48 + $1.96 = $4.79

Give your customers both the audio (for their cars) and video (for their computers) versions of you teaching about the topic they are interested in. Or, you can create an introductory video, and record a teleseminar to put on the cd as an added bonus.

You can purchase disc cases at a local office supply store, but it is usually cheaper to go online. We usually us www.CheckOutStore.com.

Product Idea No. 5
Black and White DVD Attached With a Foam Dot Plus a  50 Page Spiral Bound Workbook: $1.25 + $.02 + $3.35 = $4.62

Put together a starter kit for your membership program with a workbook getting them started. Create a simple DVD using Camtasia that will walk them through the workbook.
The finished size of this workbook is 5.5 by 8.5 inches.

You can get a roll of 2,500 foam dots at www.Textol.com for $42.

Deciding on a Quantity
Keep in mind that the higher the quantity you order, the less the per unit cost will be. So if you already have a digital product that sells well, it’s a good idea to order larger quantities at once. Otherwise, start with 100, see how well the product sells and adjust your marketing until you can get consistent orders. Then you can fine tune the packaging and order your products in bulk.
Of course you will have additional shipping charges when you take your orders. But you can add a shipping and handling charge that covers both the cost of postage AND the cost to package your product. Then, whatever the customer paid for the product is pure profit.

Changing Prices
Pricing for packaging info products changes all the time and can be vastly different from vendor to vendor. I put in several hours of research before I choose any vendor for a large product order. I have given you a few here that we have used multiple times and been happy with the final products and the pricing.

The prices here will give you a good guide of what you should expect to pay when looking for your own vendors.

If a company has prices that vary a lot higher or lower than those listed here, they may have extra hidden charges, or provide additional services that are already built into the total cost. Be sure to be specific about what you want.

I always ask if there are discounts for new customers. If you are ordering 1,000 or more products at a time, you should also ask if there are any quantity discounts if they aren’t specific about their policy on their website. I’ve saved hundreds of dollars by simply typing up an email or asking the sales representative if they had any further discounts.   
Good luck on your own packaging products and have fun! DCS