In the summer of 2019, I completed a 8-week program on memberships. During the program I met a Facebook Ads strategist, Alvaro Berrios and afterwards decided to join his program.

Alvaro is very experienced with Facebook Ads, so I knew I was in good hands for the steep learning curve that was required.

As I was learning the process to launch my first Facebook Ads campaign, Alvaro laid out the foundation: it starts with RESEARCH.

He had a very precise and methodical approach to do research, which I’m very thankful I learned. It took a bit of time, but it made the process so much easier and helped my very first campaign to be successful. I was SOLD on the ‘Research Phase’.

So, how is it relevant to the success or potential failure of an eBook you may ask?

It is 100% relevant. As a matter of fact it is relevant to any digital product and it is even applicable to any type of business. By doing research, we are simply doing our due diligence and gathering very valuable information and data.

Data is crucial. It gives an array of insights that can make the difference between success and failure.

What are we researching?

In the case of a digital product, and eBooks to be more specific, we are searching for insights about what our audience wants and doesn’t want, what language they use, how they feel, what it is they are looking for and can’t find, etc…

When we think about it, it makes perfect sense to do research BEFORE we even start creating an eBook. It is a critical mistake to overlook this step, and it may cause the product to fail.

Research isn’t difficult, we simply need to incorporate it into our framework so that we don’t forget to carve out time for it. Yes, it is all about framework, isn’t it?

What are the benefits of doing research for eBooks?

• We have a better understanding of what our audience is looking for instead of guessing or assuming that a topic might be of interest
• We can see the language that they use and then simply reuse that language in our copy - This is a big one.
• It makes it easier to craft a title (and subtitle if applicable) that makes the audience want it
• It brings clarity on other eBooks topics available for a specific market and helps us position our content differently
• We can see what people think about other eBooks already on the market, what they like, what they don’t like, and maybe find a gap that is worth writing about.

Those are just a few examples.

To summarize, we are not using our instincts to create eBooks that we think our audience wants, but instead we navigate with clear data and insights that are highly valuable to create better products.

I am making a point of incorporating a ‘Research Phase’ in all of my frameworks.