Digital Product Value

For a digital product to effectively sell at a higher price point, it must first increase in value. Let’s explore a few simple ways that this can be done.

Gated Content

A members’ area paywall almost instantly increases a legitimate product’s value since it allows for a secure, password-protected section of your site to not only display a product in dynamic ways but make relevant updates as well. Users can be notified of changes and/or additions to the content, and unique layers of learning and/or entertainment can be enjoyed.

To elaborate on the latter (i.e., dynamic layers [or types] of content), instead of offering an e-book in PDF format, website publishers can expand what is likely a text-based product into sectional components (complete with graphs, images/graphics/visuals, videos, audios/podcasts — potentially organized by chapter, etc)… whilst being completely gated (i.e., privately available via a premium fee).

Offer More

It’s become commonplace for value-added features and/or mini-products to be tacked onto an existing digital product. Add-ons such as micro-guides, online brochures, and other information delivered through the same or similar outlets/channels can be included in the sale of your digital good (ideally at no extra cost) to entice potential customers to buy, and to buy more quickly, if they do so as early adopters. They can naturally be permanent staples.

Make it Accessible

Accessible-friendly/enabled content (i.e., bolder text, the regular use of alt tags that accurately represent images, the use of meta tags, etc) for the seeing/hearing-impaired indirectly adds a dimension to any digital product. It also assists with improving your reputation and, as such, may increase your future visitor/user base in that regard.

Make it an App

Turning your digital good into a full-fledged app/application (not to be confused with launching it through an app [like email software, or through your hosted site, etc], which it’s already doing) brings it into the territory of a subscription-based service beyond that of a traditional members’ area (as we’ve previously discussed). Yes, users can optionally pay for both on an ongoing (usually monthly) basis, but the differentiation is most evident with what an app in particular can do.

You’re not just delivering content, anymore. Now, you’re offering a tool… hopefully a practical one. It can be an interactive accountability app (with or without suggestive A.I.), or it can be something that empowers users with the ability to create something of their own.

Make it Look Better

There’s something to be said about good design and what art in general brings to the table. And we’re not simply talking about the bottom line. True, things that look nice tend to sell well. But are they, in fact (or in a tangible way, rather), offering more value by their presence alone? Sometimes they are.

In the case of Web apps, for example, usability (i.e., user-friendliness) can be improved if the associated interface is altered to be more pleasing to the eye; some would argue that it improves the app’s overall intuitiveness. This can lead to higher levels of productivity and/or enjoyment — depending on what the core function of the app is, of course.

Either way, an investment in user experience will almost surely reap reciprocating rewards. How much depends on all of the above.