How To Create & SELL Digital Products (+ 6 WINNING Ideas)

create it once and sell it repeatedly this is probably one of the main reasons you're interested in selling digital products today i'm going to show you how to validate and create digital products that will actually sell

then i'm going to give you a list of the best digital products for turning a profit and improving your customers lives [Music] hey everyone i'm tyler and learn with

shopify is a channel for small business owners with big plans every week we release a new video to help you start and grow your online business so make sure you're subscribed so you can get the knowledge you need

on every step of your business journey selling digital products is one of the most accessible businesses for an aspiring entrepreneur for experienced business owners digital products are also an amazing way to add

on a new revenue stream see the beauty of digital products is that they allow you to package knowledge you already have or skills and services you already perform into a product that you can build once

and sell countless times which allows you to save a lot of time a lot of overhead and reach a lot more customers now let me preface this video by saying that to succeed with digital products

you already need to be an expert in what you do so you can provide customers with genuine value there are no shortcuts to creating a successful business and creating a digital product is no

exception so if you have valuable information that can improve customers lives then let's get started so first things first what is so special about digital products

well they're low investments they're more profitable than physical goods because you don't have to worry about shipping or replenishing inventory you don't have to deal with the hassle of constantly producing stock

storing shipping or any other logistics you can automate delivery and you can serve your niche at scale by providing valuable information not only that but the shift to digital

business models and online education is a powerful market factor working in your favor e-learning for example is projected to be worth 331 billion dollars

by 2025.

okay now let's talk about how to create a digital product and then later in this video i'm going to give you some product ideas so the first thing that we need to do when creating a digital product

is answer a very simple question what problem can you solve and what opportunity can you provide see at the core there are two main reasons why people purchase a product the first is to move further away from

pain and the second is to unlock a benefit in either case these people are seeking to improve their lives in a meaningful way so what you need to do is create a problem statement

which is a concise description that highlights the gap between the barriers your target market is facing and their desired end state the reason why we want to do this is so we clearly articulate what the

idea is and why it is useful in the context of the marketplace writing a problem statement is actually quite simple and it should read more like a paragraph than a sentence

start by stating how things should work then explain the problem and why it matters then explain why the problem is costing money lastly propose a solution and describe its benefits

here's an example for a fictional online course financial literacy is a fundamental life skill that should be taught in schools but it's not as a result 53

of american adults are financially anxious and 4 out of 5 adults aren't confident they'll have enough money saved to retire comfortably not understanding financial principles like

budgeting interest rates credit debt and saving causes the average american to lose 1 634 each year my online course will teach students the

basics of financial literacy in just two hours helping them learn the skills they need to achieve better financial futures do you see how the problem statement helps frame and articulate your digital

product idea and why it is valuable in the market no matter whether you're making software a course or a digital download don't skip this step

once you've outlined what your product is and why it's valuable you'll need to ensure that people will actually be interested in your product the biggest risk that any entrepreneur faces is building something

no one wants here are some popular ways to validate your digital product idea the first is keyword research use a keyword research tool like google's keyword planner or ubersuggest

to give you data about how many people are searching for your digital product idea if the related search terms to your product idea are high in search volume that means there are a significant number of people who are

already seeking it out this is a positive indicator that your idea has product market fit secondly conduct a google search to see if there are competitors already operating a digital product business in

this space if competing businesses are already making money doing it well that's a pretty solid indicator that your product idea is viable however lower competition makes market

penetration easier next head over to google trends and type topics related to your digital product idea into the search bar your goal is to see a line graph that is

moving upwards meaning that the interest in your topic is increasing over time and your potential market size is expanding this will also give you really helpful information on where your target market is located

and if interest in this product idea is seasonal once you've finished looking at trends and keyword research and you realize you have a sizable market you'll want to speak to actual humans

interviewing potential customers in your target market is a powerful way to unearth insights that can be incremental in building a quality digital product that sells want to know what people don't like

about your competitors offerings ask them want to know what your target market's pain points desires and where they hang out online ask them speaking to potential customers

can take a variety of forms simply contact people who you think might be interested in buying your product via email or through social media and ask them if they'd be willing to do a

virtual interview or fill out a survey you can offer them a free version of your finished product when it's done to thank them and create incentive while at the same time giving yourself the opportunity to ask for a testimonial

later down the road when doing this many people make the mistake of reaching out to friends and family instead reach out to strangers who actually represent your target market you'll gain much more reliable and

useful feedback a final way to validate your idea is by creating a simpler version of the product and getting it out to the world as soon as possible to gain feedback which you'll use to

improve and create a final version of your product in the tech world this is known as a beta launch or a preview where a product with known or unknown bugs is released to the public or a select

group of people for usability testing this technique is helpful if your digital product requires a significant amount of effort to create in the case of an online course live webinars have often been used as a

way to validate product market vet speaking of webinars if you love the idea of running a semi-automated business from anywhere then you're going to want to register for this free webinar that will teach you how to quickly start a profitable

print-on-demand store this 40-minute webinar will get you from a product idea to setting up your online store to getting your first print on demand sale learn where to find designs

how to connect with suppliers without paying for products upfront worrying about inventory or shipping a single package yourself just click this link next let's create some customer personas

customer personas tell the story of a customer in a few sentences at the exact moment they hit an urgent problem if you've conducted customer research doing the interviews or surveys like we

suggested before you can use what you learned to inform these customer personas with customer personas you want to avoid generalities instead flesh out their problems understand

why they should care about you your brand and your product this will help you create a more valuable product overcome objections with your copy later on when you start selling

and help you understand what channels you can reach customers on here's an example of a bad customer persona millennials interested in personal finance here's a

solid customer persona kayla the graphic designer who just got a raise at work but is still struggling to pay down her 25 000 student loans she's looking to figure out how to save

money so she and her partner can buy a house in the next three years landing pages are often the first impression people get of your company and they are a vital component in increasing trust and getting a sale

while some digital product entrepreneurs treat landing pages as an afterthought they can actually be a strategic way to generate leads before you even launch and all you need to do is run some paid

media to gain some traffic creating a wait list is a powerful way to build an audience while you are building your product it allows you to collect emails of people with the problem

and see your product as the solution of that problem collecting emails of leads is incredibly valuable it can be used for email marketing retargeting campaigns and even to build your first look-alike audience

and collecting emails of potential customers couldn't be easier than with shopify the entrepreneurship philosophy we're talking about here is the opposite of the build it and they will come mentality

which in the context of an already crowded internet marketplace is a little risky doesn't it sound wiser to have a pipeline of leads ready to purchase as soon as your product goes on sale now

when building a landing page you'll have three guiding principles the first is increased desire by tempting people with value second be specific with your wording avoid any

vagueness and number three is get to the important points fast make your prospects life easy by being concise your copy should do these things number one is outline how your product offers a

better solution than other worse alternatives number two highlight the problem your target customer is experiencing number three pour salt on the wound and highlight how

their problem is costing them time money health relationships or reputation number four state clearly how your product solves the problem and lastly highlight how the benefits

naturally arise from your solution now i understand that for someone creating a landing page for the first time it can feel a little bit daunting so as a starting point

follow this structure at the top we have a navbar that's pretty self-explanatory then the next section is a hero and this is where you explain who the products

for and why it is so valuable then you'll have a social proof section and this doesn't need to be testimonials if you don't have them yet it can be things like certifications

publications you've been featured on years of experience number of projects completed social media proof or expert endorsements the section below that you'll want to be

a call to action and then below that you'll have a section that will outline the features what do they get from buying this digital product and then lastly we'll have another call

to action now we want to make our waitlist enticing to our target customer other than having an optimized landing page free content is a great way to give people a reason to sign up for the

waitlist so we've already established that beginning to create an audience before you launch your product is a great idea well free content is a really effective way to do that free content helps

build an audience forge deeper relationships with that audience build trust gain consumer insights and help stimulate demand for your product

regardless of the format your content needs to meet this criteria it needs to be relevant to your clearly defined audience it needs to provide genuine value it

needs to dovetail with your digital product and it needs to be working to drive a profitable action webinars a newsletter educational videos

free downloadable templates on ultimate guide blog posts any of these formats can help you gain more traffic and acquire more email addresses not to mention if

you create the content yourself this is an extremely cost effective way to build a pipeline of leads now the process of actually developing a digital product is highly dependent on the type of digital

product you decide to create the length of time and difficulty and investment for executing these products and bringing them to market varies widely here are some of the most popular types of digital products

first we have an online course as we spoke about at the beginning of this video e-learning is a fast-growing industry projected to be worth over 331 billion dollars by 2025.

with the increasing normalization of remote work and remote learning if you're an expert and have valuable information to share this could be a great digital product to create now when selling an online course one

really key thing to remember is what you're really selling is the transformation that your student undergoes you're selling a curriculum that will help your customers achieve this improved end state if you're a

writer and have valuable knowledge to share creating an ebook and a companion audiobook can be highly profitable when executed correctly putting your book in both formats allows

you to use the same book in two markets significantly amplifying your reach without significantly increasing the cost of production then we have templates and templates

provide a significant value to customers saving them time money and helping them to create a quality asset that is probably traditionally outside of their skill set here are some examples of templates and

these are just some of them there are so many more we have business templates like accounting spreadsheets proposals resumes pitch decks then we have graphic design

templates like motion graphics product mockups ux kits website templates poster designs social media graphics wedding invitations business cards

product packaging and so much more next we have music and sound effects video creators and musicians are always looking for sounds and music to power

their projects and creativity then we have stock photography and every website and ad campaign on the planet needs photography then we have presets

photographers and videographers will pay for presets that make their workflow easier like lights which make the process of color correction exponentially faster then we have a membership site

a membership site is a great way to monetize content in a subscription model creating reoccurring income then we have webinars paid webinars are a great way to sell your expertise to multiple people

simultaneously if you're in a service or consulting business this is a perfect way it's also a great first step to creating an online course of course we have software which is one

of the most potentially lucrative digital products to sell if you're a computer whiz that can create a program that solves a pain point creating standalone software though can be pretty

expensive and labor intensive as another option you can potentially create an app or plugin to add value to already existing software for example

creating a shopify app now one really important thing to remember when creating a digital product is you don't need to go it alone services like fiverr and upwork can help

connect you with specialists who can help bring your vision to life next you need to set up your online store and shopify is easily one of the simplest

fastest and most effective ways to sell your digital product and that's because not only does it make setting up a beautiful website easy by offering a variety of free and premium templates

but it also makes processing payments tracking sales collecting customer emails running promotions and marketing your product incredibly simple and good news you don't even need to know how to write a

single line of code for those who want to create an online course you can easily add the thinkific app to your store for a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up your online store check out our

shopify tutorial on this channel which breaks it down so simply that anyone with an internet connection can do it to begin marketing your product you need to create a customer acquisition plan

where is the best place to find customers well there isn't exactly a simple answer to this it's not a one-size-fits-all it's going to entirely depend on your business specifically it's going to

depend on who your target audience is and how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer while remaining profitable here are the main things you'll need to take into account the first is volume how much of your target

audience lives on this channel volume is related to scale then we have targeting how easy is it to reach your target audience on this channel next we have minimum cost to require a

customer you see each marketing channel from google ads to facebook ads to seo has a unique customer acquisition cost and you need to make sure that your unit economics makes sense

so that you retain a healthy profit margin this means you're spending less on marketing than you're making back in profit two incredibly important numbers you need to know

the first is customer acquisition cost which is the expense you spend to acquire a customer the next is customer lifetime value which is the expected profit

you'll make from your customer over time we're going to put together a worksheet with the formulas for calculating customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value which we'll link below

some of the most popular customer acquisition channels for digital products are referrals and affiliate links facebook ads instagram ads youtube ads

content marketing and seo and of course google ads and the best part is we have free dedicated tutorials for each one of these marketing channels on learn with shopify now one of the

really beautiful things about creating digital products is that iterating and improving your product over time is significantly easier than with physical products since you don't have to deal with inventory or logistics

by gaining feedback from your customers you can add on features to your digital products to increase their value over time now one thing you also really need to prioritize is acquiring and promoting

your customer testimonials testimonials are vital to creating a sustainable growth engine and helping build trust once you've made some initial sales testimonials should become a prominent

part of your landing page and ad copy now comes the most important part turning your plan into action if you're looking to get started selling digital products shopify is offering a

free 14-day trial selling online has never been easier faster and more scalable you can get up and running in just a few days and there's no commitment at all

no credit card required this will give you a full two weeks to build your store and start making money online click the link below to get started i hope this video gave you some serious value and you're confident in the next

steps you need to take to start your digital product business if this video did give you some awesome value make sure to give it a thumbs up so more people just like you can see this video and you can help our

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