How to Use Checkouts for Selling Digital Products

Please note that Checkout feature is available in Creator plans only!

Checkouts is a tool that helps you sell digital products (ebooks, audiobooks, online courses, digital art, music, stock photos, templates, presets, and much more) by combining email marketing with customizable landing pages. It allows you to create a smooth buying experience for your customers - without the need for complex integrations or third-party platforms.

Elastic Email’s seamless integration with Stripe as the payment provider allows transactions to be processed in the following currencies:

Before using the Checkouts feature, you should create an account with Stripe. This will allow you to process and track all transactions made through your Checkouts. If you already have an account, we still recommend registering a new one, which will be dedicated exclusively for your Checkouts. 

Stripe is a trusted payment provider that offers a simple and transparent account setup process. You can register directly from here.
Your Elastic Email account will be able to connect with Stripe through a convenient solution that allows you to log in directly to the service and smoothly and securely complete the verification process.

Please note that the Stripe users must adhere to specific guidelines for their Stripe accounts. The list of prohibited businesses can be found here, with further details available in the Stripe terms. 
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Once your Stripe account is set up, you can start configuring the Checkouts features.
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If a customer violates Stripe’s terms, their Stripe account will be deactivated within this tool, rendering the payment page non-functional. However, the Elastic Email account, Landing Page, and all settings will remain accessible.

Elastic Email customers should direct any eventual questions about payouts, Stripe accounts, or actions on the Stripe platform (such as refunds or disputes) to Stripe support only. 
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When you open the Checkouts page, you'll see the main list displaying all your checkouts, whether they are published or unpublished. Any checkouts still in progress will be listed under the "Drafts" tab in the upper left corner. There’s no limit to how many checkouts you can create, whether they’re drafts or live. To publish or unpublish a checkout, simply use the designated "Publish" toggle.

The provided information (the product name and the price) will later be sent to Stripe, and you will see it after logging into your Stripe account. The crucial aspect of this first step is the link, where the digital product for sale is hosted (e.g., in Google Drive or similar cloud storage).

Our Checkout Designer allows you to create a graphical details of the event and include all the necessary information about your offer and sales terms. The checkout creation process consists of several steps (Product, Payment, Confirmation), allowing you to customize the event according to your needs. Here they are:

In the Checkout Link section, you can define the URL for your product page. The domain for this page is "myelasticemail.com", the same one used for landing pages. This means name validation applies across your entire account. For example, if you've already used the suffix "ebook" for a landing page, you won’t be able to use it again for a checkout page. 

Each landing page has its own section where you can specify the information that will appear when the landing page is shared in your social media - for example on Facebook.

The "Post-purchase settings" define the actions triggered after a successful purchase. Once the buyer completes the payment through Stripe, they will receive an email containing the download link for the ordered digital product (the link defined in Step 1).
In this section, you can customize the email's "From name," "From email," and "Subject." Additionally, you have the option to add your own logo and edit the email content.
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​TIP - To ensure the proper functioning of the checkout system, it's important to specify which contact list the buyer should be added to after making a purchase. For optimal performance, we recommend creating a dedicated contact list specifically for checkout contacts. This is crucial because emails can only be sent to contacts that are included in a valid contact list. 
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After successfully completing all the steps, the finished checkout can be published.

Voila!  
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If you have any questions about how this feature works, don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Success Team. We're always happy to help!