I’m obsessed with selling digital products on Etsy. In this blog post, I will be sharing digital product mistakes to avoid and how to start selling digital products on Etsy the right way.

After 14K sales,  I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes and success. I’m going to be sharing my most valuable tips today that will help how to create digital products and how to sell digital products. 

Selling Digital Products

Let’s talk about first why sell digital products versus physical goods?

• Low overhead costs. No more expensive materials, no need for inventory or shipping charges.
• High-profit margins. You make more money because there’s no cost for inventory or delivery.
• Potential to automate. You can get your orders delivered instantly, which means you don’t have to be hands-on with fulfillment.
• Flexible products. You can offer free products to build your email list, or you can license to use your digital products. You have many options as to how you incorporate digital products into your business.
• Low-cost start-up – If you’re starting your Etsy digital business, it’s so much cheaper to begin compared to selling physical goods. 

Digital Product Mistakes

Tip #1 Validate Your Product Idea

You’ve probably heard me talk about validating your product ideas all the time, and that’s because, in the past, I have failed miserably when skipping this part when it comes to building a sustainable business for the long run. Think about how pointless putting forth all this energy for days/weeks, or months to build a product nobody actually wants!

In my Etsy Mastery Course, I have an entire module on finding your profitable niche, and I teach my students how to find a niche market that you can dominate on, become an industry leader, and have a viable customer audience.

To have a successful Etsy digital download business, you must validate your digital product ideas before creating them. 

Tip #2 Add Your Unique Selling Proposition

Now that you have done the work and validated your product idea, and chosen the digital product you want to sell on Etsy, the next step is making sure you add your Unique selling proposition.

Simply put, your unique selling proposition is what makes your digital products different from everyone else in your market.

The USP will help you communicate the key factors that separate your product from your competitors.

This is another digital product mistakes to avoid. 

When working on your USP, make sure to include these key factors:

Clearly Defined Differentiator: Your USP should be something that sets you apart from other Etsy businesses and defines how your company does business. This is an important factor for success because it ensures customers are not just getting another similar product from someone else with slightly different features. Instead, they’re receiving service explicitly tailored towards their needs- leading them back to your products in the future. 

Clarity on Your Value:  When you’ve identified your differentiator, make sure to be clear on why that’s helpful or useful. Use examples when applicable so the reader understands exactly what they can get out of it for themselves in their own situation!

Credibility With Social Proof: Human beings are primarily instinctive, emotional creatures who make decisions based on what they see and hear. As such, it is important to use all channels of communication available to create trust with your prospects – one way you can do this is by adding credibility through social proof and an engaging hook that will get them interested enough to take action!

Tip #3 Create Digital Products for A Niche Market

So far, you have validated the digital product idea, you have chosen what types of digital products you’ll be selling, and added your unique selling proposition to make it irresistible. The next step is making sure you stay within a niche market.

You want to focus on a unique target market vs. targeting your products to everyone. This strategy will help you create products based on your specific audience’s needs. It’s going to be the quickest way to grow your Etsy business, gain credibility as an expert within your niche, and attract the right people for your products. 

Stay in your lane, don’t get distracted by shiny object syndrome, and give your business time to grow. 

Tip #4 Turn Audience Pain Points Into Content 

What does that mean? You can’t create content willy nilly on whatever topics come to mind. The easiest way to attract the right audience for your products is by developing content that speaks to their pain points.

For example, I have an Etsy shop that is all about wedding printables. One of the pain points that I often talk about on my Etsy listing description and social media is how overwhelmed and burned out brides get trying to plan their special day.

I sell a wedding planner that has a specific checklist of all the things that a bride has to do monthly, and this helps take that long to-do list and breaks it down into smaller monthly goals that everything seems achievable. They can actually enjoy the process of planning their wedding.

So, I create intentional content talking about brides’ pain points that attract the right audience, get engagement, and the most important clicks to my products – which is also a best seller. 

One of the top Etsy sellers’ mistakes is not understanding their target audience’s pain points, posting irrelevant content, treating their social media as a billboard to sell, and not selling the value of their digital products. 

Tip # 5 Don’t Rely On Etsy SEO Only

I recommend from the start using at least one other platform to drive traffic back to your digital products. My favorite platform, which you often hear me talk about, is Pinterest. 

You can exponentially start driving tons of traffic on auto-pilot using Pinterest. I love Pinterest because I batch out my monthly pins in just a couple of hours, and I only do this once a month, and I use the Tailwind App to automate everything for me. And Pinterest works for me every day, driving back unlimited traffic to my products.

Tip #6 Be Prepared To Deal With Individuals Who Resell Your Content 

This has been the most frustrating part of selling digital products online. I used to get super annoyed and lose sleep over this. Still, after speaking to several of my colleagues, this happens pretty often, especially when you start growing your online presence.

The #1 thing I recommend is having a legal professional create one page cease and desist notice. 

This letter will nicely inform and warn copycats of any copyright infringement, giving them a short period to take your materials off their shop, or anywhere else you found it, and It works!

The reason why I was affected by this was mostly my fault. I would create videos or share my top store with FB Etsy support groups, use my main store as an example of what a successful digital shop looks like, and that’s when I started noticing other people copying me, buying from me, and using my work on their shops, using the same tags including my shop name, and it was frustrating. At one point, I had over ten stores in a matter of months that had copied the majority of my listings.

So, that’s when I created my new shop for tutorials and ended up changing my shop name and social media profiles for that particular store. It sucks but having the one-page cease and desist and now I’m careful where I place my shop’s link helped get it under control. 

It still occasionally happens but not as often. This also doesn’t mean that it should discourage you from selling digital products. 

Tip # 7 Expect Bad Reviews 

What do I mean by this? This is a huge problem you’ll face when selling digital products. Many buyers have never heard of digital products, it’s their first time buying a digital product, or they don’t know how to download it. 

I actually created a script where I explained how to download the files in detail. I provide that information in the “message to buyers for digital items” that Etsy sends automatically and provides it on Etsy conversations if they reach out. 

You want to make sure to solve their issue asap, avoid going back and forth, and provide all the information they need to know at first hand this will help avoid the customer getting more upset, it will show that you have great customer service and avoid them leaving you a bad review. 

So there you have it, an actionable plan to start an Etsy digital product business the right way. I hope you enjoyed this post all about digital product mistakes to avoid. Have questions? Let me know in the comments below!

And if you haven’t already, make sure you check out our FREE resources!

• Follow me on Instagram: @nancybadillo13
• Check out my YouTube HERE for more tips
• Join my FREE Facebook Group Daily Etsy Seller Tips

Rooting for you!

– Nancy

P.S. Have you attended my free masterclass yet to help you scale your Etsy business to the next level with my 4 step framework for a profitable Etsy shop. If not, CLICK HERE to register before seats fill up.

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