For years, course creators and coaches have faced a dilemma: sell through a marketplace and lose up to 30% of your revenue, or duct-tape together a website, a payment processor, and a course platform using clunky Zapier integrations.
That changes today.
Shopify has officially rolled out Link Selling as part of their free, first-party Shopify Digital Products app.
This means you can now sell access to external platforms (like Teachable for courses, or Calendly for coaching calls) directly through your own Shopify checkout, seamlessly.
Why This is a Game-Changer
- You Own the Checkout (and the Customer): When you sell on a marketplace, they own the customer data. When you sell on Shopify, you capture the email, the phone number, and the pixel data.
- Zero Marketplace Fees: The Shopify Digital Products app is 100% free. You keep the profits.
- Higher Conversions: Shopify's checkout is the highest converting checkout on the internet. Your buyers experience a frictionless payment process.
How to Set Up Link Selling on Shopify
Setting this up takes less than 10 minutes. Here is exactly how to do it:
Step 1: Start Your Shopify Store
If you don't already have one, start your free Shopify trial. Pro-tip: During the onboarding questionnaire, make sure to indicate that you intend to sell digital products. Shopify's new intent-based onboarding will automatically install the necessary apps for you.
Step 2: Install the Digital Products App
If you skipped the intent-based onboarding, just head to the Shopify App Store and download the Shopify Digital Products app (look for the one developed by Shopify—it's free).
Step 3: Create Your Product
- Go to your Shopify Admin and click Products > Add Product.
- Give your course or coaching session a title, description, and price.
- Scroll down to the Shipping section and uncheck "This is a physical product". This tells Shopify not to ask the customer for a shipping address at checkout.
Step 4: Add Your Access Link
- Open the Shopify Digital Products app.
- Select the product you just created.
- Instead of uploading a file (like an ebook), select Add Link.
- Paste your approved access link. Currently, Shopify accepts links from:
- Teachable
- Thinkific
- Kajabi
- Calendly
Step 5: Test and Launch
When a customer purchases this product, Shopify will automatically send them a branded email containing the secure access link to your course or booking calendar.
Start selling today
Start with a free trial, then $1/month for your first 3 months. No developer required.
The Best Way to Scale
Once your link is live, you can start running traffic to your Shopify store. Because you are using Shopify, you get access to their newly revamped Analytics dashboard.
You can slice your sales data by custom metafields (e.g., separating your "Course Sales" from your "Consultation Sales"), set revenue targets, and track exactly which TikTok or Instagram Reel drove the purchase.
Need a Name for Your Course Business?
If you're just starting out and need a brand name for your new education empire, check out our Course Business Name Generator to instantly verify domain and social media availability before you launch!
