How to Sell on Telegram – Step-by-Step Guide

Whether you're an occasional Telegram user or you’re an admin in a 10k-member group, there’s no doubt that the platform is near-perfect! So, why not use Telegram as your base of operations for your next business venture? Or, better yet, why not have your Telegram channel BE your next stop on the road to financial independence?

In this article, we’ll find out how you can do just that! We’ll look at how you can start selling on Telegram step-by-step, and we'll give you some tips on how to sell through the platform with the help of Whop. We’ll also have a quick glimpse at some popular physical and digital products you can sell on Telegram!

But for now, let’s understand why Telegram is one of the best channels for hosting your sales and marketing processes.

Jump ahead to:

• Why Should You Use Telegram for Sales
• What Can You Sell on Telegram? Physical and Digital Products
• How to Sell on Telegram in 7 Easy Steps
• Top Tips for Selling With Telegram
• Make Money with Telegram and Whop

Why Should You Use Telegram for Sales

Telegram has continued to grow in popularity ever since it was introduced back in 2013. Their privacy game is top-notch, the platform’s completely free, and you can build great communities within it. The stats speak for themselves!

Here are just a few reasons why Telegram is so popular:

Wide Reach

Telegram’s monthly users number 800+ million, with more than half aged between 18 and 34. To you, that’s 800 million pairs of eyes ready to look at what you have to offer, be that your content, products, or services.

This wide reach will also help you find your own niche within the app. There are just so many people, so building a tight-knit community of a few thousand users will be nothing in terms of the total number of users.

Low Cost-Per-Sale

While you will need to spend time and effort in building your Telegram channel, that’s all it will cost you. The platform is free to use, and ads aren’t that popular with the users. So, realistically, your financial costs will be close to zero.

The only real cost will depend on what platform you use to help you build and manage your channel. If, for example, you choose Whop, you won’t need to pay anything upfront, as we only take a 3% cut from transactions.

Tons of Bots

One of the main reasons people host their communities on Telegram is the huge variety of bots it offers. From simple chatbots to more sophisticated ones, like merchant bots, automatic news bots, and many more, the platform allows you to automate tons of processes!

These are extremely helpful to run your business. But they’re also great on the user side, as they’ll allow your members to contact support and go through the sales funnels much more smoothly.

High-Limit Multimedia Uploads

One of the best things about Telegram is that you can upload unlimited multimedia on each channel. Yes, seriously, the cloud storage is unlimited. Now, you can’t upload huge files, but you can upload up to 2GB of files individually (or 4GB if you have the premium version of Telegram).

This is much bigger than what most social media platforms offer, making it great to keep all your content on one platform. 

Security and Privacy

Telegram started out as the most secure and privacy-centric social media platform, and that’s still true to this day. Everything’s encrypted on there, and most of the time, all you’ll know about your members are just their nicknames.

But how does this help your sales? Well, striving for privacy and security throughout the sales or marketing process will be noted and applauded by many of your potential buyers. Thus, if you’re on Telegram, many users will acknowledge that you value their privacy and, in return, will be more open to learning more and potentially buying your products. 

Community-Building Focus

We’ve used the word members quite a bit thus far for a reason. Telegram has many features to keep your channel or group engaged, which will help you build a community rather than just having a marketing/sales channel.

So, you should now have a better idea of why Telegram is one of the best platforms to use as a sales channel and a community builder. But, what kind of products can you sell on it? Well, just about everything.

What Can You Sell on Telegram? Physical and Digital Products

The whole idea of Telegram allows you to sell basically anything you can imagine, from digital to physical products. It’s safe, it’s free, and it’s so customizable that you might sell one product one day and an entirely different one the other. So, let’s take a quick look at some of the most popular items you can sell through Telegram.

Physical Items

There’s really nothing stopping you from selling any kind of physical items you’d like on Telegram. You can even use a Whop checkout link so that you have access to the seller dashboard and analytics that come with it.

Alas, here are a few physical items that we’ve noticed are a big hit with Telegram communities:

• DIY Products: Many creators are selling their handmade stuff, be that jewelry, candles, even soap bars and tote bags, on platforms like Etsy. But you can do the exact same on your Telegram and use some of the many bots to handle processes like fulfillment and payments.
• Second-Hand Clothing: Tons of Telegram channels are dedicated to thrifters who find old-school or second-hand clothes and are selling them from the platform. These are usually groups where individual members are selling between themselves, but you can create a channel where you post your thrifts for anyone to buy.
• Sneaker Reselling: Reselling sneakers, or just about any other type of flipping, can be done from your Telegram channel. If you’re good at securing rare pairs, you can sell them privately on your Telegram without dealing with third-party apps and platforms.
• Electronics: While it’s not the best product to sell, many are dropshipping electronics on Telegram. You can either use your channel to promote these or sell them directly by connecting with members who might want them.

Selling Digital Products on Telegram

Physical products are all good, but the real value lies in digital products. These are much more scalable and cost much less to create, and you can use Whop alongside Telegram to manage, market, and sell these.

• Software and Templates: Many are selling Notion templates and all kinds of software, like trading bots, on their Telegram channels. You can host these on different platforms, such as Whop, and then use your Telegram as your marketing base to market your products into oblivion.
• Ebooks: Ebooks have been in the trends for quite some time now, so it’s safe to say that they’re not a fad but a great digital product to sell. You can write about pretty much anything, whether you want to create an intriguing story or share your knowledge with your community members.
• Courses: If you’re not a big fan of books in general, you can still share your knowledge through courses. Keep in mind that these require their own set of skills, like video editing, though.
• Sports Picks: We think sports picks deserve a spot on their own, as we have tons of Telegram sports betting communities on Whop. We’re talking about big names here, like Sean Perry and MaziVS, who are monetizing their knowledge in sports betting to make some good money.

How to Sell on Telegram in 7 Easy Steps

Now that you know what you want to sell on Telegram, let's take a look at how you can sell. It’s time to take the first step and actually start your Telegram channel. We’ll also briefly talk about how you can connect the Whop Bot.

1. Launch Telegram

The first thing you’ll need to do is to launch the app. In this case, we’ll be using the macOS version, but the process is pretty much the same for all devices. Download the app and double-click on it to open it up.

2. Create a Channel or Group

Once you launch the app, you’ll be presented with your chats, as you can see above, if you already have an account linked to your device. If you don’t, you’ll need to link them by downloading Telegram on your phone, signing up with your phone number, and linking it up with your laptop or PC.

When that’s done, click on the icon right next to “Chats” and select either “New Group” or “New Channel”. The process is pretty much the same for both; it’s just that the steps are a little different.

3. Name it and Add a Description

If you select to create a new channel, you’ll be presented with the screen above. There, you can input your channel’s name and description. You’ll need to carefully consider these, as they’ll make you stand out and let users know exactly what you’re offering.

4. Select Public or Private

Right after that, your channel should be good to go. However, you’ll need to choose whether to have it private or public. We suggest making it public if you just want to use it as a sales or marketing platform and making it private if you want to sell access to the channel itself.

You can follow the steps above, but the process is as follows: Click the 3 dots on the top-right ⟶ Click on “Edit” on the top-right ⟶ Select “Channel Type” ⟶ Choose “Public” or Private”.

5. Add Your Products or Services

So, at this point, you should have a Telegram channel ready to go. Realistically, from this point on, you’ll need to start creating a product or service to sell to your members. For inspiration, check out the most profitable digital products to sell.

Thus, once these are ready to sell, simply add them to your Telegram in the form of links and screenshots.

Or, to keep your products in one organized space, create a Whop Hub and simply link that to your Telegram channel! You can sell access to the channel itself with the Whop Bot, then allow your members to explore your whole range of products (everything from courses to webinars, downloadables to sports picks) all within your Hub. Plus, as a Whop seller, you can then manage all of your members and sales with the Whop dashboard. Let's start by looking at how you can add the Whop Bot to your Telegram channel.

Add Whop Bot to Your Telegram

Adding the Whop Bot to your channel is simple. Sign up on Whop, create your hub, and add the Telegram app to it. Once that’s set, follow the steps we mentioned above to get your channel up and running and add the Whop Bot to your channel as an Admin. Then, input the code you’ll get from your hub to your general chat, and you’ll be sorted!

At this point, you should also set up your Whop Checkout links and play around with the Dashboard to get the hang of it. You’ll find everything you need there, from all the members who have joined your channel to how much they’ve spent on all kinds of operational tools.

And all this won’t cost you a penny upfront. When you sell access to your channel, we simply take a 3% cut!

6. Share Your Channel 

Now that you’re ready to get paid, it’s time to share your channel. Use the link you created in Step 4, and share it everywhere! If you have an active social media account, add it to your bio. If you’re running a newsletter, let your subscribers know that your new base of operations has just opened up!

7. Engage With Your Community

In time, you’ll start getting a few members on your channel, whether premium or free. That’s when you’ll need to put your engagement hat on and run the community. If your premium services include selling sports picks, have a set number of picks you’ll share with your paying members.

Or, if you’re just running a free group, post consistent updates about any new products you’re selling or snippets of your next ebook chapter!

Top Tips for Selling With Telegram

Hopefully, all this should have you rattled up to start your Telegram channel. But don’t rush into it just yet. Let’s go over 3 quick tips that should help you manage your community and grow it when the time comes!

Understand the Difference Between Channels and Groups

One of the main mistakes many new Telegram creators make is treating channels like groups and vice versa. While there’s no colloquial use for either of these, we’ve noticed that both have a specific purpose.

• Channels are mostly for posting deals, selling directly, or offering premium products and services. The only person typing on these should be you and/or your admins.
• Groups, on the other hand, are community-centric. Think of them like a chat instead of a pure marketing/sales channel. But you can still offer both of these under one subscription through Whop, with one being a chat for your members and the other being all about selling your products!

Use Telegram Bots

There’s no doubt that the bots on Telegram are next-level. We won’t go too deep into these, as there are so many, but you’ll easily find a good set of these that’ll help you run your business. They can be bots that output travel deals, sportsbook promotions, trading signals, and everything in between.

Use The Best Telegram Integrations

Telegram has plenty of native and third-party integrations that you should use. Shopify, Zapier, and Jira are some of the few that come to mind. But why choose all these different ones when you can just integrate your Telegram channel with Whop?

Make Money with Telegram and Whop

Telegram is one of the best platforms for starting business ventures, as it’s also one of the few that can be a business in itself. However, many new creators on it have issues with handling everything on their own. They need a platform to help them with payments, a platform that will have all the data they need. We know that the platform you need is Whop!

You can integrate your Telegram with Whop in just a few clicks, and it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes to set everything up. But why? Why Whop and not any other similar platform out there?

Well, Whop has everything you need. Seriously. You can host your storefront with your digital products on it. Your dashboard has all the info you require about disputes, operations, and even in-built marketing tools like discount codes. 

And, on top of that, you get access to your own Whop, your hub, where you can manage your Telegram and any other digital product you’re hosting on the platform. Plus, if you want to get more eyes on your product, join our Whop Marketplace and contribute to the $350+ million revenue earned by creators like you thus far!

When it comes to payments, Whop Checkout is your friend. Send the links to your new members, and they'll be paid within seconds. For all of this, we take an industry-leading 3%, regardless of how many members you have. 

So, if you’re ready to host your Telegram channel on Whop, sign up today! Get your community on Whop, create your premium offerings, and grow alongside thousands of like-minded creators.