How to sell more digital products (5 tested tips)

Would you like to sell more digital products from your website?

Due to the rapid evolution of digital marketing and eCommerce, business leaders across all industries have the option to offer their audience digital products and services. Common examples include:

• Online courses
• Ebooks
• SaaS products
• Industry reports
• Music

There are quite a few advantages that come with this strategy.

For starters, digital items don't require physical inventory and usually have a higher profit margin than traditional products. It's also worth mentioning that 91% of online shoppers want more interactive experiences with brands, which you can offer through digital products.

Many new entrepreneurs encounter the same problem: they can't make sales once they launch their product.

I have 10+ years of experience selling digital products online, and I want to help. Today, I'll share five ways you can improve digital sales and grow your business over time.

Let's dive in!

Build Concrete Customer Profiles

If you don't have a solid understanding of your target audience, you will have a difficult time selling your digital products. You can visualize this situation by imagining you want to sell your product on a crowded street. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people will walk by without batting an eye at your kiosk.

Getting even one new sale is going to be a challenge.

Now, imagine the same situation, but you know exactly where your target audience hangs out. You set your kiosk up outside and wait. There's an excellent chance you'll get more sales because the people walking out of the building are very likely already interested in your product, or at the very least, your industry as a whole.

You want to attract people from the second scenario to your website. The best way to do that is to create buyer personas for your intended audience. Buyer personas, also known as customer personas, are sheets that describe your audience's demographics, goals, and pain points.

The information contained in these sheets will dictate the rest of your digital strategy. Once you understand your customers' expectations and roadblocks, you can adjust on-site content, social media posts, and emails to reflect this data.

I recommend sending out surveys and checking your analytics to see how people engage with your site. Once you gather enough data, start building profiles based on specific segments of your audience.

Fill Your Website with High-Quality Content

Now that you know who needs your digital product, it's time to create content for your website. Content marketing, specifically blogging, can help you dramatically grow your traffic, which will likely lead to more sales.

In fact, a whopping 57% of business owners say they've acquired a new customer through their blog. There are a few reasons why blogging can help you reach more people and build rapport with site visitors.

Websites with blogs tend to see 92% more backlinks than those with no extra on-page content. Backlinks to your site mean a stronger reputation with Google, which translates to a better search position for your chosen keyword.

When creating content for your site, use the buyer personas you made as a reference. Ensure your topics and content is relevant to the needs of your customers. You can write product tutorials, cover industry news, or share a few tips and tricks. The more your posts resonate with readers, the better.

Research shows that the average person reads at least three blog posts before buying something from a website, so this is one step you don't want to skip.

Use Landing Pages to Sell Your Product

Landing pages are an excellent way to sell the benefits of your digital product. Simply put, a landing page is a standalone part of your website designed with one purpose in mind. In our case, it's to highlight the value of our product.

Your landing page should give users all of the information they need to make an informed purchase. I suggest focusing on how your digital product or service will ultimately help the customer.

For instance, you could put the features of your software in bullet points on your landing page. But does this give users a reason to complete an order? I would argue no.

Instead, you should explain exactly how the features listed will help your audience. Putting yourself in your customer's shoes can help you frame your benefits list in a way that's advantageous for readers.

You can also use charts, images, or videos to emphasize your point. Visual content, like a software demonstration, can improve your landing page conversion rate by as much as 86%!

Include Subscription Plans

One of the best ways to boost your retention rate and give your customers more options is to develop a subscription service. It doesn't matter what kind of digital product you have; there's a way to turn it into a subscription-based plan.

Let's start with an obvious choice -- software. If you sell software on your site, you should give users the option to buy at monthly intervals. For example, one month, three months, six months, and one year are common software subscription plans. This strategy will encourage users who want to make use of your product to commit to an extended subscription.

Companies that want to sell online courses or music could let their audience buy a specified number of credits each month, like Amazon's Audible. Users can spend their credits on the digital content that matters to them, resulting in more happy customers.

The key is to reward users who opt for longer plans or more credits. So if someone buys a year of your software upfront, they should get a discount to reflect their purchase. Similarly, credit-based subscription plans should offer extra credits to users who choose to buy in bulk.

Offer Several Clear Support Options

The last topic today pertains to customer support. A poor customer service experience, or worse, a non-existent one, will quickly drive potential customers away from your website. This situation is especially true for brands that sell digital products.

You can avoid this pitfall by offering several clear customer support options across your website. We like to include an option to talk to our live chat on landing pages and our checkout page. I believe this is helpful for visitors who are on the fence and want to know more. Your team can connect with users during this pivotal moment and help them overcome objections and see the value of your product.

You'll also want to make it easy for existing customers to reach you if they have an issue. A big part of digital selling is recurring sales. If you don't have a team ready and willing to help people who recently purchased your digital product, you may see an abnormally high number of refunds.

Back to You

Selling digital products is a lucrative way to start your career. But you can't set up a shop and hope for the best. You have to actively engage with your audience and create content that keeps them coming back to your website.

I've used the tips shown today, and they have helped us grow several businesses from scratch over the last few years. I'm confident that you can achieve similar results if you're patient, persistent, and spend plenty of time learning what visitors expect from your digital product.