How to Build a VIP Program for Digital Product Buyers

There's a small group of buyers in almost every digital product business who are responsible for a disproportionate share of the revenue.

In my case, it's about 8% of my buyers who've purchased three or more times. That 8% generates roughly 35% of my revenue. They're also the most likely to leave reviews, to refer friends, and to buy whatever I launch next.

For a long time, I treated that 8% exactly the same as everyone else. They got the same emails, the same product pages, the same checkout experience. The same newsletter that 10,000 other people got.

That was a mistake. When I started treating my best customers differently — specifically, better — the revenue from that segment grew significantly, and the relationships deepened in a way that no acquisition campaign can replicate.

Here's what my VIP program actually looks like.

Who Qualifies as a VIP

I keep this simple. Anyone who has purchased three or more products from me is automatically a VIP.

No application, no opt-in, no points system. Three purchases is the threshold. When someone crosses it, they get tagged in my email system and start receiving VIP-specific communications.

Why three? Because by the third purchase, someone has demonstrated consistent trust. They're not a casual buyer — they've made a deliberate choice to keep coming back to me. That choice deserves recognition.

I also have a secondary qualifier: anyone on my list who's been active (opening emails regularly) for more than 18 months, even if they've only bought once or twice. Loyalty isn't only expressed through purchases — consistent engagement is worth recognizing too.

What VIPs Actually Get

The key to a good VIP program is that the benefits have to feel genuine, not like marketing in disguise.

Here's what I give my VIPs:

Early access to new products: When I'm about to launch something, VIPs get notified 48–72 hours before the public launch. This isn't just a nice gesture — it's genuinely useful. They can buy at the pre-launch price, which is typically my lowest pricing before the product fully ramps up. They're not fighting traffic on launch day. They get first pick.

Direct feedback channel: VIPs know they can email me directly with questions, reactions, or ideas. I respond personally. This isn't scalable forever, but at my current volume it's manageable and the value of these conversations — in product insight and relationship depth — is significant.

Free updates and additions: When I update a product in a meaningful way, VIPs get a personal heads-up. Everyone gets the update, but VIPs hear about it directly, with context about what changed and why. It signals that their experience with the product matters to me specifically.

Occasional exclusive content: A few times a year, I'll send something only to VIPs — a short guide, a resource, a piece of thinking I'm not publishing publicly. Not every month — that would dilute it. But when I do it, the response is consistently strong.

Direct inclusion in beta testing: When I'm building something new and want real-world feedback before public launch, VIPs get first access. They know they're seeing something unfinished and their input helps shape the final product. People love this — being part of the creation process is a powerful form of loyalty.

How I Communicate With VIPs

The VIP communication style is different from my general newsletter.

General newsletter: polished, edited, informational, broadcast. VIP emails: more casual, more candid, sometimes unpolished. I write them like I'm talking to a colleague who knows me, not like I'm publishing content.

This distinction matters. If VIPs get the same tone and format as everyone else, the VIP tag means nothing. The feeling of being in a different, more direct relationship with me — that's the actual product of the VIP program.

I send VIP-specific emails maybe 4–6 times a year, separate from my regular newsletter. The cadence is deliberately low. These emails carry weight because they're rare. If I emailed VIPs weekly, it would stop feeling like a special channel and start feeling like just more email.

The Technical Setup

This is simpler than most people expect.

In MadeThis, I can see exactly which customers have purchased multiple products. I export that data periodically and update my email platform tags. It's a bit manual right now — maybe 20 minutes a month — but the returns justify the time.

For email, the VIP tag drives a separate segment. When I write a VIP email, I send it only to that tag. Nothing about this requires special software or a complex platform — any email tool with segments can do it.

The whole system runs on two things: good tagging in your email platform, and the discipline to actually write differently for that segment. The technology is the easy part.

What This Does for Retention

Here's the direct outcome I've seen: VIP-tagged buyers churn at roughly one-third the rate of non-VIP buyers.

Non-VIP buyers: I'd say maybe 20–25% make a second purchase within 12 months.

VIP buyers (by definition): 100% have made at least three purchases. But beyond that, VIPs who receive the program communications continue buying at a rate that makes them roughly 4x more valuable over a 24-month period than average buyers.

Some of that is selection effect — people who buy three times were already more loyal than average. But a meaningful part is the program itself. Being recognized, getting early access, having a direct line — these things make people feel invested in the relationship. And when people feel invested, they stay.

Starting Small

If you're earlier in your business and don't have many multi-purchase buyers yet, you can start this program with just a handful of people and grow it organically.

In fact, starting small is an advantage — you can be more personal, more responsive, more genuinely attentive than you'll be able to be with 200 VIPs. The relationships you build with your first ten VIPs can be foundational: they'll become the people who leave your most trusted reviews, refer the most people, and give you the feedback that shapes your best future products.

Read my post on building a loyal audience around your digital products for the broader context — a VIP program is the formal expression of something you should be building informally from day one.

And if you're looking for the right platform to host the products that generate these VIP-worthy buyers, MadeThis is what I use. Clean product experience, solid purchase data, and the kind of buyer experience that makes repeat purchases easy. The VIP program is built on top of a product foundation — get the product foundation right first, and the loyalty layer is much easier to build.

Your best customers are already there. They're just waiting for you to notice.