Digital products are a boom that is shaping the internet. No wonder – they offer the potential for high profits with low costs. Take a look at what digital products are and how to sell them successfully.
What is a digital product?
Digital products are products that exist only in electronic form. This means they are not physical items you can hold in your hand. Still, they are useful. A digital product can be, for example, a mobile app, an online course, an e-book in your reader, or your favorite music.
Examples of digital products:
- software and apps
- e-books, audiobooks
- online courses, lectures, workshops
- educational materials (videos, podcasts, documents, etc.)
- photography, graphics, digital art
- templates, spreadsheets, planners
- game content (virtual items, skins, etc.)
…and many more.
Advantages of digital products
The main advantage of digital products is that they can be created and distributed online. Compared to physical goods, production costs are often lower. In addition, you only need to create a digital product once and then sell it unlimited times.
Selling digital products can be easily automated, which makes them a form of (semi) passive income.
Imagine, for example, an e-book. You create it (or have it created) and then offer it in your online store. You can sell as many copies as you want – there are no stock limits, storage, or shipping concerns. If you automate payments and delivery, your only focus will be marketing.
Digital products can also complement your physical product offering. You can sell both in the same online store or use digital products to support your marketing, for example to collect leads or offer them as a bonus with purchase.
And what about the disadvantages?
Like any business, selling digital products also comes with disadvantages and risks.
Profit from digital products is not automatic. You need to create the product, pay someone to create it, or purchase ready-made digital products for resale. All of these options require time and/or money that must be invested upfront.
Competition in this area is already strong, so sometimes even a high-quality product may not be enough. This risk can be reduced by a solid marketing strategy and proper market research to ensure there is real demand.
In addition to competition, you may also face a certain level of skepticism among some target groups toward digital products.
How to sell digital products step by step
Let’s take a look at how to ensure your investment in digital products pays off.
Research
Before you start creating your digital product, you need to do research and plan everything. Consider both the topic and format of your product as well as the target audience you want to sell to. Even the best product is useless without customers willing to buy it.
How to find out if there is demand?
If you already have customers or a community (for example on social media), you have an advantage. You probably already know what interests them and what questions they ask. If not, simply ask them.
It is more challenging if you are starting from scratch. In that case, you can use available market data or create a landing page presenting your hypothetical product. The product does not even need to be finished yet. You can start creating it once enough people show interest.
Creation
Are you confident there will be interest in your digital product? Then it’s time to create it. There are several ways to proceed.
If you have the necessary knowledge and skills, you can create the product yourself. This gives you full control but can take a lot of time.
If you lack time or expertise, you can hire a professional to create the digital product. This requires careful selection, clear instructions, and financial investment.
Another option is reselling ready-made digital products. However, keep in mind that digital products are subject to copyright. Products intended for resale are labeled with PLR or MRR licenses. PLR products can be modified and sold under your brand. MRR products can be resold without modification.
Setting up sales
Your digital product is ready – now it’s time to plan the sales process. First, you need to choose a platform that allows you to sell and automate delivery. Most solutions used for physical products can also be used for digital products – from marketplaces and hosted e-shops to open-source platforms.
TIP: We covered choosing an e-shop platform in our article about starting an online store. You will find options suitable for digital products as well.
Next, you need to prepare the product page, set the price, and configure automation that delivers the digital product to customers without your manual intervention.
Marketing
Once your digital product and store are ready, you can start marketing. Just like with physical goods, you need a strategy based on your research.
Based on your target audience, choose the right sales channels. Social media marketing is especially popular for digital products, but you can also use SEO, PPC, email marketing, affiliate marketing, and other online channels.
What’s next? Follow-up products and building a database
Selling your product is not the end. There are more steps you can take.
First, focus on building your customer database if you are not already doing so. You can use collected contacts in email marketing to promote additional digital or physical products.
It is also beneficial to offer upsells or complementary products to increase the order value. These can be other digital or physical products, but they should always be relevant to your customers.
It is best to plan how you will collect email addresses and build follow-up offers before launching sales. This can significantly increase your profits – either immediately through upsells or long-term through repeat purchases.
Selling digital products in WooCommerce
One option for selling digital products is WooCommerce. Although this WordPress plugin is primarily known for selling physical goods, WooCommerce is also perfectly suited for digital products.
When creating a product in WooCommerce, you can choose whether it is physical or digital. For digital products, WooCommerce offers download options, protection against unauthorized downloads, and automated delivery. With additional plugins, you can also create a membership section or set up subscriptions.
Customers can add a digital product to the cart and pay for it just like in a regular online store. The rest of the process can be automated with plugins, allowing orders to be processed without your direct involvement.
Offer customers one of the payment gateways so payments are confirmed automatically and orders completed quickly. Bank transfer payments need to be matched with orders – either manually or using a suitable payment matching tool.
TIP: Don’t forget to issue invoices. This step can also be automated with a suitable invoicing plugin.
After payment, customers receive the digital product via an automated email – for example as a download link or access to a membership section. With WooCommerce, selling digital products can be very simple and fully tailored to your needs.
Digital products: short-term trend or real opportunity?
Although digital products sometimes appear to be an easy path to wealth, they are still products with their own risks and challenges. If you carefully plan what you want to achieve and how, you can succeed even in a competitive market. Digital products can be a great complement to a physical product store or the main driver of your business. Selling through WooCommerce is a solid choice in both cases.
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