Stan Store! This all-in-one creator store that’s said to jump-start your passive income stream and has stolen the hearts of hundreds of thousands of creators & business owners – but is the Stan Store pricing worth it?
If you’re currently using or are considering using Calendly, Kajabi, Shopify or Link Tree, then keep reading, because in this article I’m sharing everything you need to know about using Stan Store, an all-in-one ‘link-in-bio’ shopping platform.
Try It For FREE: Get a 14-day free trial of Stan Store here
Disclaimer: This post contains links to products I believe to be useful to the reader, from which I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to the reader.
My first ever month of earnings on Stan Store selling digital products, Feb 11th – March 11th
What is a Stan Store? Is Stan Store Legit? And What is the Stan Store Pricing Model?
Sometimes referred to as a Stan Creator Store, it is a platform that allows you to turn your ‘link-in-bio’ menu into an easy-to-use digital shopfront that converts followers into paying customers.
John Hu created Stan Store when he became frustrated with the lack of monetisation capabilities most platforms offer these days, along with the extreme fee’s that platforms like Shopify & Etsy, take from their users.
Hu wanted to change that. He wanted to create a platform that would make it super simple to make money online. And so Stan Store was born.
Stan Store has made it super easy for you to sell your digital products, get bookings, host webinars and basically monetise your content, whilst providing a simple and aesthetically pleasing front-end store for your customer, which can even result in more sales – it certainly did for me!
Who is Stan Store For?
Honestly? It’s for anyone who wants to make money online selling digital products or their online services. It’s especially great for you if you’re struggling to convert your current ‘link in bio’ clickers into buyers like I was – more on that below.
Seriously though, this platform is being used by so many different types of creators & businesses, but I personally think Stan Store is perfect for:
- Online Coaches, Mentors & Teachers
- Content Creators, Influencers, Micro-influencers & UGC Creators
- Instagrammers & TikTokers
- Digital Product Creators (move over Etsy)
- Social Media Managers & Content Managers
- Designers, Freelancers & Small Digital Businesses
Even if you’re a business that sells physical products, Stan Store would still be a fantastic option if you’re looking to grow your email list or host online events. However, currently, Stan Store does not offer the capability to sell physical products.
Stan Store Pricing: Is Stan Store free?
You can get Stan Store free using this link for 14 days, and then after those 14 days are up you will pay $29 per month.
(Sneaky Pricing Tip: if you try to cancel your subscription at the end of your free trial, you can sometimes bag an extension and get another two weeks of Stan Store free – try it out)
It’s a straightforward pricing model with a flat monthly rate for access to all its features. However, while there are no additional costs for using the platform itself, you will still incur standard transaction fees from Stripe for each sale you make. This is around 2-3%.
How Does Stan Store Work? Your Stan Store Set Up
Here’s how it works:
- Set Up Your Store: After signing up, you can quickly set up your Stan Store by adding your products or services. This could include e-books, courses, consultations, memberships, or anything else you offer (full list of Stan Store features below)
- Customise Your Offerings: You can create detailed product listings, set pricing, and even offer payment plans or subscriptions (depending on your Stan Store package). The platform allows you to include videos, course materials, and other resources directly in your product pages.
- Integrate Tools: Stan Store integrates with tools like Google Calendar, Zoom, and email services (via Zapier), allowing for automated scheduling, email flows, and customer management.
- Link in Bio: Once your store is set up, you can add the Stan Store link to your social media profiles. Your followers can access your products directly from this link, making it easy for them to browse and purchase.
- Manage Your Business: The platform offers analytics and customer management tools, allowing you to track sales, manage orders, and engage with your audience effectively.
In short, Stan Store simplifies the process of selling digital products and services, making it easy for creators to monetise their offerings directly through their social media profiles. So how does it work for the consumer?
Let’s say I’m posting a TikTok and I’m talking about my latest digital product, which is an eBook.
Previously I was directing my audience to the ‘link in my bio’ only for that link in bio to then redirect them to another link, such as my website, and the user would have to hunt down the thing I was talking about in my content, or wait for several pages to load *yawn*
But with Stan Store, the link in my bio is the digital store itself, and the user can purchase straight from there, without having to click through to a different website.
Then they can easily click back to TikTok, having never really left the platform.
Stan Store vs Link Tree vs Shopify vs Etsy vs Squarespace
Stan Store vs Link Tree
Link Tree has had a few upgrades lately but is still predominantly a ‘link-sharing’ service. You can customise your link-in-bio page, but it doesn’t offer the unique all-in-one features that Stan Store offers.
Stan Store vs Etsy
Etsy is a popular choice for selling digital products but demands a $0.20 for each item you list, along with a 6.5% transaction fee for every sale, which is significantly more than the 2-3% stripe processing fee, without the benefits of the easy-to-use features of Stan Store.
Stan Store vs Shopify
Shopify is a great platform for building out an entire digital store, but it lacks the simplicity of Stan Store, and the pricing ranges from $25 – $399 per month, depending on how many products you want to feature in your store, plus a transaction fee. This could get pricey. The cost Stan Store is a flat rate of $29 per month + 2-3% transaction fee, with the ability to create an unlimited amount of digital products.
Stan Store vs Squarespace
Squarespace is a versatile website builder so I wouldn’t put these two platforms in the same category. Stan Store is tailored for creators with built-in tools for specifically selling digital products and services, whereas Squarespace is ideal for hosting blogs or showcasing portfolios and physical products. However, you could have both. I have a client who runs her website through Squarespace but has all her payments and products on Stan Store. It’s easy enough to create a payment page on Stan and simply add that link to your website – I do this too!
What Does the Basic Stan Store Include?
It is amazing that the for just $29 a month, this all-in-one platform gives you the ability to:
- Sell a Digital Download
Sell your digital products, such as worksheets, webinars, documents, ebooks, templates and more. Simply create the checkout page, add in the price, upload the digital product and you’re off to the races.
- Collect Emails/Applications
Got a lead magnet that you use to collect emails for your email list? Or perhaps you offer a free cheatsheet or checklist? Stan Store makes it super easy for your lead to sign up for this and Stan collects the email address for you.
If you use Mailchimp, you can seamlessly integrate it to automatically add new email subscribers directly to your automated workflow. Alternatively, you can use a service like Zapier to connect your Stan Store with your preferred mailing service. For example, I use MailerLite and Zapier to ensure that my new Stan customers are instantly added to the appropriate email flow.
This is also a great option if you need to create an application form. Previously, I used Google Forms for my applications, but now I can host them directly on my Stan Store. With this setup, my followers don’t even need to click on anything—the application form is seamlessly integrated into my main storefront, accessible right from my link-in-bio.
- Automated Calendar Booking Feature
Say goodbye to your Calendly app – because why pay $16 per month for a booking service when it’s just one of the many features included in your Stan Creator Store? Plus, you can link it with your Google Calendar and integrate it with your Zoom account, making the entire booking process fully automated. You won’t need to lift a finger – just show up to the call as your fabulous self.
- eCourse
Is Kajabi too expensive? Clickfunnels not in the budget? Then say hello to Stan Store! This platform allows you to create multiple courses, each with the capability to host various modules, videos, and course materials. From the front end, it offers a similar look and feel to Kajabi and is extremely mobile-friendly, perfect for your customers who want to learn on the go.
- Membership Services
I actually moved my monthly marketing membership away from my own website and over to Stan Store, because I was so impressed with this platform.
On Stan Store, you can create a membership by creating an e-course and selecting the subscription payment option.
Or, if your membership doesn’t need an online course platform, such as offering a premium WhatsApp group membership, or a premium subscription to your emails, you can use the Recurring Membership Feature to set up a recurring payment and then direct them to the product via an external link.
- Host a Live Webinar
Host exclusive coaching sessions or live online events with multiple customers through Stan Store. Thanks to the integration with Zoom & Gmail, these events can be booked in your sleep! Calendar invites are automatically sent out without you having to do anything.
- Offer a Custom Product
This is perfect if you offer customizable products or audits. For example, something I’m considering offering is an Instagram SEO audit. The customer books this via my Stan Store, for which I can create specific questions (i.e. what is your handle, what is your niche) and then I create a custom video or document for them.
- External Link
Finally, you can add external links, which are the basics of what Stan Store’s competitors offer, such as Milkshake and Link Tree. I use these links to promote my podcast.
When it comes to Stan Store pricing, all of these services are included in the Creator account for just $29 a month. Wow.
What Does the Pro Stan Store Include:
However, if you’re happy to upgrade your Stan Store pricing to the Creator Pro service for $99 a month, this is what you get access to:
- NEW FEATURE: Stan Store Email Flows
As of June 2023, Stan Store has added an email flows system as part of their Creator Pro package (Stan Store pricing $99), which will allow you to send automated email sequences for things such as:
- Upsells
- Thank You notes
- Follow-up instructions
- Funnel Builder
Create an entire funnel for your customer so that you can upsell similar products in one smooth customer journey. I’ve used this feature to turn a $5 ebook into $820 of sales, by upselling my customers a $44 masterclass.
- Order Bumps
Incentivise your customers to purchase more with a one-time offer in your checkout flow, which Stan Store claims can increase your sales by 20%. I’ve not personally played around with these too much, but plan to in the future
- Payment Plans
Offer your customers the option to pay in instalments. While this does come with some risk, it’s an ideal solution if you know your target audience would prefer to split payments over multiple weeks or months.
- Limit Quantity & Discount Codes
Create personalised discount codes for your audiences. As of July 2024, you can now add expiration dates to the discount codes, perfect if you’re doing an email campaign and need a code to expire without manually having to go and toggle it off.
- Generate Affiliate Links
Imagine if your customers had the opportunity to promote your products and earn a commission. With the Creator Pro account, they can! You can create custom affiliate links for your customers, which they can feature in their own Stan Store. This means more visibility for your products and a nice commission for your customers. The only downside is that their affiliate link must be featured in their own Stan Store for it to work.
Why Did I Sign Up For Stan Store?
After reading a few Stan Store Reviews, I was also wondering the very question: is Stan Store worth it?
So I started with a two-week free trial to have a nose around at what this platform could offer me. Previously I was using the Milkshake app, and before that, I used Link Tree. However, neither of these menus seemed to be great at converting my followers into paying customers or leads.
No matter what design or copy I used, I found my click-through rate from Instagram was extremely low and my conversion lower.
I understand now that this was because every link took them to a different place. I had a link to my website, a link to a mailerlite sign-up form, and a link to Google forms, and each click meant loading an entirely new web page.
However, with Stan store, almost everything is in one place, giving my follower the perfect shopping experience.
(I say almost because I still link to a few external links that Stan Store simply cannot host, such as my podcast).
But seriously, having all my products & services, neatly laid out in one space, was a game-changer.
After three years of simultaneously using WordPress, Learndash & Woocommerce to host & sell my online courses, and feeling fed-up & frustrated with the overcomplicated plugin updates & messy integrations, I’ve now migrated all of my signature courses over to Stan Store.
That’s right! After completing my free Stan Store trial, I loved it so much and found it so easy to use, back-end and front-end, that I decided to move my monthly membership, over to the Stan Store platform – and I have zero regrets.
I also added my lead magnet (a free webinar) to Stan Store and generated 40+ leads in my first month (I would normally only get an average of 15 leads via my link-in-bio). I also generated over $1,800 in digital product sales in my first month (normally $200 – $700).
And because Stan Store has such a great product suite, it meant I was able to cancel some other premium services I was paying for, such as Calendly. Hurrah for saving money!
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Stan Store Pro’s & Con’s
The Pros to Stan Store
I could ramble on and on because there are so many, so here’s a nice concise list:
- You can try before you buy, which means no commitment unless you know it’s right for you
- It’s easy to use in the backend, especially for non-techy people
- It’s so easy for my customers to use, like super-duper easy!
- It creates automatic email confirmations for my customers, that are very easy to edit.
- It offers a flawless check-out process for my customers
- Customisable storefront – you can choose from multiple designs and add your own brand colours
- It’s an all-in-one platform (for me, that meant I got to cancel multiple services, such as Calendly, and use this all-in-one service)
- Integrates with Gmail, Gcal, Zoom, Zapier & Mailchimp, so that 85% – 100% of the work is automated, you can literally make money in your sleep.
- The Stan Store affiliate programme is awesome. If you recommend Stan Store to your colleagues, clients, friends, or followers, you can earn a 20% commission for every month that they’re signed up.
- Offers up to 6 months of analytics data so that you can track where your leads & customers are coming from
- My research shows that Stan Stores show up in Google searches. As an SEO & Content Manager, this pleases me no end, and I’ve already seen traffic to my Stan Store come directly from Google.com.
- Stan Store pricing is much cheaper than its competitors, whilst offering a great service. Normally when something is cheaper it’s because the service isn’t as high quality. And whilst Stan Store doesn’t have the tech support, the customisable analytics and the super-techy backend administration options, in my eyes it is seriously up there as a top-quality service to host your online courses and sell digital products.
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The Con’s to Stan Store
- No option to manually add a customer – when I was migrating my Membership over to Stan, I had no way to simply add new customers without them paying, meaning I had to request my customers re-sign up.
- Analytics could be improved – Don’t get me wrong, you get valuable data, including traffic source, click breakdown and page conversions, however, you can’t customise your date selection.
- Even though I have the Pro Stan Store pricing at $99 per month, I still prefer using MailerLite and Zapier over the built-in email flows. I find that the email flows don’t offer as many automation options, such as redirecting after clicks etc.
- I’d prefer if my customers didn’t have to add their affiliate links to their own Stan Store, as I understand not everyone would want to do that. I prefer a more traditional affiliate system where I provide a link that they can share wherever they like.
- No option to sell physical products – this is not a problem for me, but I think this would change online shopping if Stan Store pricing offered this. I truly believe they would run Shopify out of business.
So, Is Stan Store Worth it?
So, I’ve shared all the details, the pros and cons, but the bottom line is, is Stan Store Worth it?
Whilst I still recommend every business has its own website, jam-packed with SEO and also as a source to rank your business on Google – I cannot recommend Stan Store enough. Especially if you’re someone who is trying to avoid the high monthly fees of the likes of Clickfunnels, I would give Stan Store a try.
– Hannah Brown –
Additional Information: This post was originally posted on March 12, 2023, and was updated with newer information as of 24th August 2024.
P.S. Check out this FREE Stan Store masterclass I hosted, with Lauren from Stan Store, featuring Stan Store examples, an explanation of Stan Store pricing models and all the features of using a store.
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Tags: Stan Store Review, Is Stan Store Worth it, Stan Store Funnel, Features How Much