So, you’ve got an idea for a great digital product. Whether it’s an ebook, online course or a piece of proprietary software doesn’t matter. With 300 million new websites launching every year, what does matter is making sure your product stands out in this highly competitive space.
It’s easy to understand why digital products are so popular. They’re a low cost and fast to market option with high potential returns.
For example, an average online course can cost up to $100, considering that you have calculated the time, effort, and existing knowledge you have put into creating it. And Amazon reportedly pays $450,000 a year to this self-published writer.
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How can you mirror such success? It’s not easy but here are six steps to help you on your way.
1. Validate your product idea
Will consumers actually want to buy your digital product? You need to conduct market research to make sure there’s a demand for what you want to sell.
Google Trends and the Google Keyword Planner are solid, initial sounding boards. You can analyse a specific keyword phrase and its monthly search volume. Then, you can conduct more robust market research to get objective opinions from the general public. Social media, for example, is a good place to start and will provide you with an open forum where you can evaluate the issues potential customers identify with existing products.
In-depth market research is a complex but highly necessary component of your digital product development. You may want to outsource this stage to a market researcher who can conduct thorough user research and persona testing using the latest tools and technologies.
2. Set up a simple website to gauge interest
Set up a simple landing page so potential customers can register interest in your digital product. It’s a clever marketing trick that builds anticipation.
But you must take the user experience into account in these early stages because 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience.
For example, you may want to try to include some free content to give people a reason to visit your site and register. A small giveaway, pre-launch discount or free webinar could all boost your sign up rates.
If people are willing to give you their email address at this stage, then that’s also a positive indicator that you’re on the right track.
3. Create your digital product
You should now have a clear idea of your target audience. So, it’s now time to create your digital product or service by linking the needs of that demographic with your business needs.
You may want to consider the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach, which is a smart way to create nearly any type of digital product.
The basic premise is that you identify the smallest product or service that you can create while still offering a meaningful benefit to your target audience. The advantage of this approach is that you can incrementally build on this initial offering, optimise your digital product and gain valuable market intelligence.
4. Develop a strong user experience
Before you launch, you’ll need to transform your simple landing page into a more robust web offering. It’s vital to maximise your conversions and research reveals that spending 10% of your development budget on the usability of your website will improve your conversion rates by more than 80%.
Also, three-quarters of users gauge your company’s credibility based on the design of its website, so it’s important to make sure your site looks the business.
5. Launch smart
Before you launch, make sure you take a robust approach to drive people to your site. You’ll need a marketing strategy, sales pages, a shopping cart, delivery methods, and testing.
You may want to reach out to other influencers, brands, and bloggers in your space to further build your audience. You could even partner with someone else in your industry and offer them an affiliate commission fee.
You can increase sales on your site as much as 225% by providing sufficient product information to your customers at the right time. So, make sure you develop a smart strategy for your launch.
And, when you’re ready to go live, make your digital product launch a big event. It’ll incentivise your audience, get you motivated, and the hype will bring you both higher conversion rates and more new customers.
6. Incorporate feedback and continually reevaluate your product
Dynamic content is a must. So, when you launch your product, you need to make sure you keep your offering up to date as the market or information changes.
Make sure you incorporate analytics software onto your landing page so you can gauge where your consumers come from. Make sure you optimise the channels that drive traffic and conversions to your site and ditch unsuccessful ones.
You need to continually reevaluate your digital product to make sure it keeps selling into the future.
If you do, then your digital product will go from strength to strength – and so will your business.