Digital product sales are booming and with the advent of easy-to-implement online stores and payment processing systems, it’s a great time to come up with your own product offering.
There are many advantages to this strategy. For starters, the cost of the fulfillment of digital products is virtually zero, so once you get your offer up and running, you’ll only have to deal with few variable costs such as those of online advertising, web hosting, or email marketing.
In this article, you’ll learn about a few fundamental concepts that will enable you to get started and have your offer ready within a couple of weeks maximum.
Find a specific niche to fill in the market
When you’re a one-person show or have a small team, it’s difficult to compete with established businesses that spent years crafting their digital product and service bundles. For example, a brand like PokerStars Casino would not only offer staples like blackjack or roulette but sprinkle them with extra layers of thrills to boost customer retention and engagement to a higher level. The same goes for e-commerce giants like Amazon that offer one-click payments and single-day deliveries, or streaming platforms like Netflix that even Apple TV+ cannot compete against.
So instead of attacking a broad market, develop a micro niche where you’ll build closer relationships with your clients, and develop a unique selling proposition that will make your offer so much more attractive. Analyze your target market and check which parts of it are underserved. Then, figure out how your product idea will stack up against the competition. Always look for unique points of differentiation and carve out your place in the market.
Pick the right format for your offering and come up with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
There are many formats you can implement when selling a digital product. It can be an e-book, a video course, a PDF template, an Excel database, a checklist, an audiobook, or a piece of software.
Pick the best format possible for your market, and quickly come up with a minimum viable product. This product will be by no means perfect, but you can take it to the market faster and get immediate feedback from your clients. This will give you a unique insight into what buyers are looking for, so you can tweak your offering to satisfy their needs.
Don’t forget about the bonuses, guarantees, and social proof
According to the direct marketing lore (and dozens of case studies), bonuses, guarantees, and social proof are what makes people buy stuff online.
What kind of small extra could you throw in to sweeten the pot for your customers? The more bonuses you have on offer, the higher the conversion rates you can expect. Moreover, give your buyers peace of mind by providing them with an ironclad guarantee.
30-days no questions asked money-back guarantee is good for starters, but you can get even more creative than that. The third element that will make your offer irresistible is social proof. That’s why you should include at least a couple of customer testimonials on your sales page or somehow demonstrate that your product actually works.
Pick the right platform and payment processing system for your digital product
If you’re looking for a low-cost way to start selling your product, you can invest in a combination of WordPress (CRM), WooCommerce (e-commerce plug-in), and Stripe (a payment processing system).
These solutions are almost free and they’ll allow you to create easily customizable sales pages and even advanced sales funnels, complete with up sales, cross-sales, down sales, offer bumps, and pop-ups containing discount codes.
Outsource the parts of the process you can’t do by yourself
Setting up the entire sales process will require a bit of technical expertise so don’t be afraid to ask for help if you don’t know how to create a cover for your ebook, format a PDF document, or structure a landing page.
You can easily get your problems solved by employing freelancers on platforms such as UpWork, Fiverr, or PeoplePerHour.
Use email marketing and social media to get your first few sales
Once you have your product and the sales process ready, it’s time to ring your digital cash register. The best way to get your first few sales is to promote your offer to your email marketing list as it contains people who already know and trust you.
Then, work on developing your social media channels (especially YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram), and to raise interest in what you offer in a non-salesy way. Soon enough, you’ll be making $500 – $5000 per month and bursting with fresh ideas for even more digital products.
