What is a digital product? Learn how to create and sell them

Digital product can be a variety of things, but it must essentially be digital and not physical.

Although a product is generally known as something physical that you can hold in your hands, it is not quite the same when it comes to a digital product.

A broad definition is a product or service that has been provided with software and can be used by human beings. Others might say it is a product in digital form or a product sold online that has no physical form.

A digital product comes in a number of terms, sometimes known as a digital asset and a digital download. The digital product is based on the value it provides. As long as it is in digital form and provides value, it can be defined as a digital product.

A quick explanation of a digital product

A digital product is simply a non-physical asset that can be sold digitally. This means that it cannot be a real product, but only a digital asset. Digital products include items such as software, applications, e-books, videos, photographs, PDF files, Zip files and many others.

Steps in creating a digital product

Digital products always start with an idea and are then transformed into a digital asset. And this follows different types of processes depending on what you are offering to the user, but it always comes down to three steps.

Idea of digital product

First you need to come up with an idea and define the market to which you will sell that idea. Otherwise you will have a product and no one to give it to. During this stage you can create a prototype to test the product in your target market. This involves checking the buyer personas, including what they want and hate.

When you start up, you need to make sure you have a saleable digital product. Over the years, I’ve noticed that it’s all about the product. If you have a good one, you will sell it, if you don’t, it won’t sell.

If you can’t think of any digital product ideas, check out this blog on 10 digital products to sell and how to sell them. It might give you some ideas. I suggest you find passions you love and write about them.

Take a look at them and ask yourself what I could do to make these activities easier. It is always best to find an idea for the subject you love.

Researching and putting a plan in place

Now that you have a prototype or idea, you need to base it on real-world data, which is where the research comes in. If you don’t know what people want and you don’t give it to them, you end up with an unmarketable product. So put a firm plan in place for your digital products and base it on research.

It will help if you know who your customer is. Know who you want to sell your product to. The main question is: does the product solve a problem or offer benefits or convenience to the customer? If it does, that’s a good start.

Crafting

Now you can design your digital product. After conducting market research and finding out what is missing in your sector, you can create a digital product from an idea you have had.

Execute your plan and test the product quickly, as you may need to make some adjustments. Once you have made a real digital product from the prototype that fits your target audience, you can sell.

Digital product you can sell online

Whether you sell PDFs on Shopify or downloads on Etsy, there are different types of products you can sell online. While selling software is the most popular, you don’t have to create a full software package, website or app before selling digital products online.

You can sell eBooks, videos, audio, graphics, photographs, digital art, courses, documents, tickets and even professional services. Take a look at this guide to find inspiration for your digital products.

Where can I sell digital product?

There are many marketplaces and platforms for selling digital products these days. They all have advantages and disadvantages, but ultimately it all depends on your product and your choice.

Sell digital product on Shopify

This will help you create your own shop and earn as much as possible on any marketplace. You can learn how to sell digital products on Shopify using our expert digital download app. Find out how our app can deliver your digital downloads in the best way possible.

The only slight downside to having a Shopify shop is that you control your own traffic, which means there is no search volume unless you work on SEO, social media or ads. But in my opinion, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Shopify is the best place to sell your digital products.

Marketplaces have the advantage of giving you instant potential traffic, but this comes at a significant cost. Most marketplaces are just rented space, which means you can’t customise your pages.

They have their own rules, they take large commissions, sometimes up to 50%, they can remove you if you don’t follow their rules and much more. If you have your own shop, you are in total control.

Sell digital product on Etsy

Etsy is a huge marketplace, well known for its custom product sellers. It allows you to sell digital products on this site, but the file size cannot exceed 20 MB. This is what you need to do on marketplaces like Etsy.

Sell digital product on Envato

You can sell digital products on Envato but I strongly advise against it. They take up to 50% commission and must be exclusive and can only be sold there, nowhere else!

Their submission process is the worst I have ever used, really bad. But it seems to work for many sellers so I just wanted to mention them.

What are the digital touch points?

When you create a digital product, your goal is to define the touch points of a service or product. This is the interface where the user interacts with the product. The two most popular types of touch points are web and mobile, as these are the two main ways to access a digital product.

But, many platforms can work on both touch points. You can have the Instagram website and the mobile app, offering the same product and similar functionality. Today, digital touch points are evolving into conversational interfaces like smart speakers and virtual assistants.

Conclusion

Digital products are constantly evolving as you update them and learn more about what consumers need and want. It’s not like a physical product that gets shipped, which means a lot more costs and problems in the workflow.