We’ve looked at the cons, so now it’s time to look at the pros of selling digital products. Whilst we certainly need to understand the challenges that come with creating and selling them, we should also be aware of the amazing opportunities they can offer!
Here are some of the advantages of being a digital product creator and why investing your time and effort into producing them could be very lucrative.
In Brief
- Scalability without significant additional costs
- Low production costs
- Global reach
- Flexible monetisation models
- Automated sales processes & instant delivery
- Creative expression
- Ability to adapt to market trends
- Analytics and data insights
- Diversification in your business (multiple income streams)
Scalability Without Significant Additional Costs
Once you’ve created your products, you’ve got something that can be easily replicated and distributed to a much larger audience, without incurring significant additional costs. This allows for potentially high profit margins. Create once, sell a million times (well, that’s the dream!).
Low Production Costs is a Definite Pro
It goes without saying that as long as you have a device where you can create your products, your overall production costs are pretty low. If you make your designs on a third-party app like Canva for example, you can start for free. There are many other apps/sites available where you can get started without paying.
At the time of writing, the pro version of Canva* is only £10.99/month. This gives you access to thousands of extra images, videos, graphics etc – including an AI element – so it’s really not expensive. We create most of our images in Canva and find it works well for our business. (*Not an affiliate link.)
Global Reach
This is one of the biggest pros to selling online. Social media’s global audience is now available to you and your business. Traditional export businesses incur import taxes and surcharges, making products more expensive. But with digital products, as long as someone has the ability to pay online – and somewhere to download to – then you have a huge market at your fingertips. It’s a rare business model that breaks down geographical barriers, thus expanding your customer base.
Automated Sales Processes & Instant Delivery – Both Pros
With digital products, you can fully automate your sales. There is a myriad of available tools and platforms to help you streamline the process. This makes the selling process extremely efficient and almost hands-off (bearing in mind what we said about customer service in part 1).
Because the customer receives a link to download their purchases, they gain immediate access to them. Getting their hands on something instantly can give them a positive purchasing experience, potentially increasing customer satisfaction.
Flexible Monetisation Models
There are several monetisation models available to you when you create digital products. These include one-off purchases, subscriptions, membership sites, and so on. Having free products as lead magnets can help you build an email list. This can also provide another income stream.
The beauty of digital marketing means you can choose the model that best suits you and your business.
Creative Expression
Producing digital products can provide an amazing outlet for your creativity. Whether you enjoy writing, drawing, designing, music etc, you can showcase your talent and passion in your products.
Ability to Adapt to Market Trends
When you’re a digital product creator, you can react quickly to market trends. This allows your products to stay relevant, meaning you can cater to changing customer preferences. Not many businesses models can match this without significantly increasing your workload.
Analytics and Data Insights
It’s relatively easy to gather analytics and data when you’re selling your products online. You then have information at your fingertips to help you make more informed business decisions. This can also help you with marketing strategies and product improvements, as you can easily track what does and doesn’t work.
Diversification in your Business
Listen to any successful entrepreneur and they’ll tell you not to put all your eggs in one basket. In other words, diversify. Relying on one product or narrow niche can be dangerous. Just look at what happened to many businesses during 2020! But it wasn’t all bad news – many businesses thrived.
Whatever you sell online, whether it’s service-based or physical products, adding digital products to your portfolio gives you extra revenue sources. And as we touched on in flexible monetisation models above, your digi-products can open up entirely new marketplaces for you.
And Finally
We hope you found some useful information in these articles and that they inspire you in some way.
Please let us know your takeaway, and do share with other like-minded people. 😊