Welcome to our Digital Experts Academy Review!
Is Digital Experts Academy a Scam? Is it full of training material and will make you an instant success? We will be answering all of your questions within this Digital Experts Academy review.
Is it really worth the high price tag, or are there better alternatives out there…?
First off, I must congratulate you on doing your research, as that is the best way of avoiding scams and finding genuine ways to make money online. I am not affiliated with Digital Experts Academy in any way, I just want to help people with my review.
Let’s crack on with the review so you can learn more about the Digital Experts Academy.
Digital Experts Academy Review Summary
Product Name: Digital Experts Academy
Founder: Jay Kubassek & Stuart Ross
Product Type: Affiliate Marketing Training Membership Site
Price: From $2,500 to $20,000
Best For: The Owners & The Top 2%
Summary: Digital Experts Academy (DEA) is an affiliate marketing training platform with a lot of useful training and resources. However, their system is designed in such a way that you are forced to keep paying them money, and buying upsells which can cost up to $20,000 to progress, which is really ridiculous.
Rating: 40/100
Recommended? No
Table of Contents
What is Digital Experts Academy (DEA)?
Digital Experts Academy is a membership site, with training and resources relate to teaching you how to make money online with Affiliate Marketing.
They offer training, resources, and support to help people build their online business and brand.
DEA is also the parent company of another site I have recently reviewed call The Six Figure Mentors.
Jay & Stuart are owners of both Digital Experts Academy and the Six Figures mentors. They are linked, and ironically you have to sign up with the SFM program to actually become a member of DEA. Before we get into why I think there is a form of irony with this partnership, let’s check out an introduction video by Jay Kubassek, the co-founder of Digital Experts Academy and the Six Figure Mentors.
Who Does DEA Benefit?
This is a question I ask myself with any product or service I review, who is going to benefit from this DEA membership and being honest, the only people I can see that benefit from this would be the owners and the guys at the top of the pile within DEA.
I found the two products being related ironic, as you cannot join DEA unless you pay to join the Six Figure Mentors and this is where both the SFM & DEA platforms work more like an MLM scheme, than actually being about Affiliate Marketing. Let’s get to how the Digital Experts Academy works…
Digital Experts Academy Membership Levels
Before you even get to access or benefit from DEA, you need to join up with the Six Figure mentor platform. This has 4 membership levels, and you need to upgrade to the top membership level to gain access to the Digital Experts Academy platform, which again has a number of membership levels.
Six Figure Mentors
There are four membership levels within SFM:
- Affiliate Access (Free)
- Student Access ($29.95 +$25/month optional)
- Essential Membership ($297 +$97/month)
- Elite Membership ($2,500/year + $97/month)
You can learn more about SFM at my Six Figure Mentors Review. But know this, even if you want to join DEA straightaway, they will point you towards joining SFM first and you will still need to pay the SFM fees. You will also need to have the Essential or Elite Membership to qualify for the DEA membership.
Digital Experts Academy
This leads us to the four membership levels within DEA:
- DEA Silver ($2,500): Is an e-learning program
- DEA Gold ($8,000): 12-months Digital Marketing Coaching Program + 3-day Bootcamp
- DEA Platinum ($11,000): a 3-Day Workshop + a website with social media profiles. It also includes branded training.
- DEA Black ($20,000): Ticket to the annual Mastermind Retreat, which includes a meeting with Jay & Stuart.
I wouldn’t say that this program is not worth the money, but the reason I state it looks more like an MLM scheme than affiliate marketing is the pure purpose of the training.
All they teach you throughout both programs is how to promote SFM & DEA. They offer no real value when it comes to promoting anything other than these programs.
Another thing about the way they work is the fact, it is a clear ladder. You need to pay more to advance further through the training.
That is personally why I think it is more about making the people at the top earn money, and unless you can get yourself up to the top, then you are going to find this program difficult to recoup your invested money.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Yet?
How Much Does Digital Experts Academy Cost?
When you think about the people who are achieving success from the Digital Experts Academy, it is those people who have paid the $20,000 and have a DEA Black membership, plus paying the SFM fees and they showcase what they are earning.
If I was able to invest $20,000 into something, I would expect a return on that investment.
But an everyday blogger just starting out, hasn’t not got that money and they would struggle in the lower levels of SFM getting nowhere with it and either feeling a need to upgrade or giving up.
If you can avoid the membership fees and want to promote DEA, then this might be a product for you.
If you cannot afford it, there are much better options without the high price tag.
What We Liked About Digital Experts Academy
Here’s what we liked about Digital Experts Academy:
- There is a lot of useful and genuine training and resources for you to learn from
- The help and support provided from their consultants is good
- There are elements of training that focuses on other key attributes needed, other than internet marketing. This include lessons on Leadership, Personal Development and Entrepreneur Mindset.
- If you have a huge sum of money to invest, you can get some real good mentorship, help and support from their team
What We Didn't Like About Digital Experts Academy
Here’s what we didn’t like about Digital Experts Academy:
- It is more like an MLM scheme. The main premise of both platforms is promoting only their membership
- You have to join the Six Figure Mentors program and pay its fees, just to be able to join DEA. That is a big red flag for me
- The way the membership works is the fact you will hit a roadblock every time and need to upgrade to the next level to get past it and progress.
- Too many upsells, 8 levels across the 2 and a need to upgrade to progress and the high price make it only worthwhile for a select few.
- They use videos and sales pages that are typically associated with scams – posing in front of a sports car or a luxury mansion. Making you instantly think this product will help you achieve it.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Yet?
My Digital Experts Academy Review
Digital Experts Academy is not a scam and it does have some great training and valuable information. But I would not recommend it purely down to the high price tag. There are no promises and guarantees, and yet they expect you to hand over a lot of money?
The way the membership levels work to make you progress further up and hand over more money, which could be over $20,000 in the end is why I cannot recommend this program.
Their training might be the best out there, but can you really risk that kind of money with no guarantees?
Especially when you can start learning and building your own affiliate marketing business for Free. Why pay that kind of money for the same thing. All you end up doing is paying for their lifestyle?
Thanks for checking out our Digital Experts Academy Review! If you have any questions or comments to add, then please write them in the comments section below. 😉
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Digital Experts Academy
$2,500 to $20,000
Pros
- Useful Training & Resources
- Help & Support is Good
- Learn Leadership, Personal Development & Entrepreneur Mindset
- Worthwhile if you have a pot of money
Cons
- More like an MLM scheme
- You have to join SFM to join DEA
- Roadblocks to make you upgrade
- Too many upsells and a high price
- the use of videos, normally associated with scam product
Great post and good info.
It is very expensive for what they give you, so for me it is a no.
I know this isn’t a scam but for me it is, asking for money for that.
I will stay with wealthy affiliate, for me it is the best what it is.
You will save a lot of people with this post, so thanks a lot for sharing it!
Thanks Emmanuel,
It is a really expensive product and the need to pay for the six figure mentor platform just to access puts it more like a ladder you have to pay to climb and hope you can earn the money the guys at the top are earning.
thanks
John
Thank you very much for your honest and upfront review. It is so often that people are just trying to sell you stuff that is rare that someone gives an honest opinion about a product especially when the price of the tag is so high. I had seen the course before, and for a minute I did consider it but after reading what you wrote I have made my mind up it is better not to.Thank you very much for your help
Hey Barbara,
thanks for checking out my review. Gem and I love helping people and making sure people make informed decisions, so we are glad our review was able to help.
thanks
John
When I saw your recommendations at the last paragraph, you said exactly what I am about to say. Why would you pay that much as a starter, even as pro, I don’t think it is advisable due to how it has been structured. For God sake, some people don’t earn $20,000 per annum.Your review is apt and revealing, you’ve done justice to it.Do you know any platform that is better than Wealthy Affiliate and lower cost per month?
Hiya,
thanks for checking out my review. I agree, it can be very hard to get to that level of earnings, especially in your first couple of years. No, I cannot find anything better than what Wealthy Affiliate have to offer to people. They truly care about their members and provide value for money at every step.
thanks
John
This is a great post! Digital Experts Academy looked so promising since you could actually fond out who the owners are but ultimately the upsells always seem to be the nail in the coffin if you ask me. I don’t have a lot of confidence in MLM from a few bad experiences so that’s another reason for me to pass on this one.
I think it is good that they have actual training but it seems self-serving because they only teach you how to promote SFM and DEA. I think that this system may also discourage people from affiliated marketing which is sad because it really is a great way to make money online (especially with Wealthy Affiliate).
Can people get a refund on the upsells? I know a lot of companies will refund the base product but a $20000 dollar upsell is pretty crazy right?
Thanks for sharing this information!
Hey Renton,
the SFM program offers a 30-day money back guarantee, but those that have progressed up to the DEA black membership will I think find it hard to justify getting their money back. I think the best action is to not invest that kind of money.
thanks
John
This is an excellent review of Digital Experts Academy and I do hope that anyone considering investing the huge sums of money this platform is asking for finds this page prior to spending their hard earned money on this. My jaw dropped when I saw the price that this offer could cost someone just trying to learn how to make a living online.
No matter how high-quality the training may be, as a seasoned online marketer, I could not recommend this to anyone. The fact that it is mainly training you to sell the program, you are essentially paying huge money to promote their products for which they will get a huge portion of the sales price.
If the main focus and push is to promote the product to others in this competitive market you better have something that offers good value, whether expensive or inexpensive. Also, if you want to be an ethical marketer, you have to look out for the people that are reading about your recommendations.
There are so many other more reasonable options out there where you can learn how to market in any niche online, and not focus on one overpriced set of products. The losers are the many people that pay even the starting costs, and who may want to upgrade, and find that once they do, they are not going to make their money back.
My recommendation is to look at a platform like Wealthy Affiliate. There you can start for free (7-days) without even a credit card! Once you have seen what all there is on the platform you can select several options for a membership that will cost you thousands less.
There are other platforms and tools you may eventually need as you start to get established, but there is no reason to spend so much up front. In the 4-years I have been into online marketing, I have not spent anywhere near that amount of money, and I have 20 e-commerce stores, 5 making money online sites, and 3 membership sites.
I do have additional costs over the Wealthy Affiliate membership, i.e. 4 external hosting accounts, tools such as autoresponders and page builders, plus premium plugins, etc. but they are covered by the income (and then some) I am getting.
I totally agree with your final evaluation of the Digital Experts Academy. It may be for some people (i.e. the owners), but it is not a good fit for 99.9% of the people that are looking for a solid reputable platform to learn the business. There are just too many other options that make a lot more sense.
Thanks Dave,
some great points you have covered in that, really appreciate your time writing them.
Wealthy Affiliate is a tried and tested platform, that is free to get started with and even the paid membership prices pales in comparison to Digital Experts Academy.
thanks again
John
When I started looking for information about affiliate marketing, I stopped for a while at DEA. Indeed, training is quite complex and comprehensive, and the quality of training videos is very good. That’s really a Grand Plus for them. But as your review says, the price is not justified.
It’s not a product anyone can afford. MMO is generally chosen as an additional source of income, which means that not the rich will access the program but the regular people.
They indeed left me a bitter taste.
Hey Raluca,
you bring up a great point, who has that kind of money to invest into something that isn’t guaranteed or justified. I think people should find the right training platform that offers high quality training and doesn’t cost the earth.
thanks
John
Dear John,
Thank you so much for taking the time to review Digital Experts Academy…
I took the time to look around their website and it doesn’t seem like a scam, their team seems pretty big, and they haven’t created one of those reppeling sales funnels which confuse you into buying the product.
However, I would never join the program due to its high price. There are a lot of equally good alternatives but way cheaper (such as Wealthy Affiliate, Affilorama, etc)
Also, the fact that there are no testimonials of other people on their website is kind of fishy…
Thanks again…
Hey Xaric,
thanks for checking out my review. It is an expensive option and i don’t like the fact you have to sign up to the Six Figure Mentors program. I just don’t like MLM schemes, and this is why I would not recommend it.
Wealthy Affiliate & Affilorama are both options for affiliate marketing training. My personal preference is Wealthy Affiliate. They offer more value, but you can read up more in my reviews.
thanks
John