A digital planner for beginners course might start off answering the question “What do I include in my digital planner?” But this search gives some questionable guidance.
We all know a planner needs a monthly calendar and daily pages, and it could include weekly pages as well. It all depends on your planner and planning style.
But what do you really need in a good digital planner?
You need to help the user plan, structure, and organize their day with a tested planning process and a way to contact you with problems with the planner! You can also opportunity to expand their current planner with other templates, stickers and journals.
This can look different for different people, and the best digital planner is a planner that is designed for a specific audience.
Let’s dive into the 5 digital planner template pages I think you should include in your digital planner and I’ll explain why you need to include them in your next digital planner.
- Index Template
The Index is the main navigation with a ton of hyperlinks, think of it as a dashboard for your user.
This template acts as a guide so that the user is never lost.
The index digital planner template helps your user navigate through the planner and should include links to all the main hub pages in your planner.
A hub page is a page that groups other pages, like a monthly calendar, a set of habit trackers, or meal planners. These are all amazing digital planner templates to include in certain types of planners.
So here is my theory, people are really busy! The index let’s them do things quicker and if done right looks pretty, this encourages them to use the darn planner.
The index digital planner template shown above, is a really simple index page, but it is a great dashboard for this student planner. The tabs have even more “jump” points.
- Thank You/Splash/Support Page
While this digital planner template could be called just about anything it’s a spot for you to grow your business from a current customer.
I typically have a big ‘Welcome’ page with a coupon code to my shop, and contact information if they have questions or problems with the planner.
The following image is an example welcome page digital planner template.
This is an early page, and it doesn’t have my contact information nearly obvious enough. Everything on the page is clickable, but they may not realize it’s clickable.
Serious improvements could be made on this template, and I have done that in later version. But this page is simple to add, and should reflect you.
This section is all about amazing customer service, not just upsells.
When you buy a paper planner it’s filled with little cards, a coupon card and usually an info graphic on how too use the planner. They are setting you up to buy next years planner directly from them.
I look at this page as my place to be available to my planner user. Sometimes they have critical feedback that I can use to make the planner better, and while it maybe hard to swallow sometimes… I truly appreciate those customers that give me feedback.
You should do the same thing!
- How to use the planner page with links
I love this digital planner template! This is where you get to shine! This page could be a link to a video walkthrough of using the planner or it can be text.
I have done both. And I have included both on the page.
Just a thought on this digital planner template
Once again, good customer service is a must if you want to keep your digital planner customer. Showing them how to upload their planner to GoodNotes, Notability or any popular PDF annotation tool is good customer service. And it helps them use the planner.
Maybe you don’t want to create a new video for each tool. You could create a blog post or YouTube video and link to that in your planner page.
Show your users how to add the planner to Good Notes here and how to use any special features like the index.
If you have a planning process, sharing that process in the planner makes your planner more valuable!
This sample page is the cover for an external guide that is linked in the digital planner in a few places instead of taking up room. I chose to make this resource external but accessible from the planner.
This is what makes digital planners so much fun to create, they are flexible. But that flexibility can feel overwhelming without a plan.
That is why I use my Magic Digital Planner Organizer and Workflow spreadsheet to track everything I decide during my planner creation process.
- Year-at-a-Glance Calendar(s)
Ok… why this? Isn’t this just another digital planner template you see in a generic list?
Yes and No…
Even undated planners should include this template because it’s a psychological trigger to buy a new planner when the planner years expire.
Psychological Purchase Triggers
The first time I heard this phrase in psychology, I thought how horrible is that. Slimy sales techniques make me cringe. But overtime I realized that it’s not my responsibility to make those choices for my users. And this template is very helpful with planning, I just know it serves 2 purposes and I make it as helpful as possible.
I love to hyperlink the months, days, and week numbers on my year-at-a-glance calendars to make it almost like another index page. I use this myself, and I love this feature in my planners.
I recommend you consider adding this page and linking the crap out of it!
This year-at-a-glance calendar is in one of my very special undated, but hyperlinked digital planners. The calendar itself i
- Your Planning Method!
Does your planner follow your planning method? If you are a blogger or a coach, the whole purpose of the digital planner is to help your very specific audience do “something”.
Showcase Your Expertise!
Customers are buying your planner for your expertise. If you’re making a simple digital planner that doesn’t showcase any expertise, make sure you add templates specific to your intended customer. Some examples:
- Students: Grade Tracker, Assignment Tracker, Course Contact Links
- Moms: Meal Planner, School Contact Information, School Calendar
- Bloggers: Blog Planner, Business Budget Planner, Blog Post Brain Dump
The page could be a summary of a blog post that explains your process with links back to that post. Or it could be more detailed and take up a few pages right in front of your planner.
This is my ADHD Planning system, I add this to the front of any of my planners that are specifically for ADHD planners. It let’s them see a process for breaking down a big thing into little actionable steps. You don’t even want to see my planner for this blog post… and yes I have ADHD.
Other questions new creators ask…
Where do I start making a digital planner?
Making a digital planner is a 6 phase process, each stage builds on the next. It’s not just open the design software and jump in. That is a planner that isn’t going to get much use. The first phase is research, followed by planning, then creation, testing, and finally the work to list it in the shop.
So… “What do I include in my digital planner?
I include all of these templates because they help my user. They also help me grow my audience for my blog (I use the planning method page as a link to a post), so I am able to grow multiple streams of income from the same place.
Once again the 5 templates you should include in your digital planner are:
- Index
- Sales/Splash/Support Page
- How to use the planner page with links
- Year at a glance calendar(s)
- Your Planning Method!
Now get out there and make an amazing digital planner!
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Disclaimer: Links on this site maybe affiliates links. This means I may get a commission if you choose to purchase after clicking my link. I only share software, tools and templates that I personally use and love.
