WHAT ARE DISADVANTAGES OF CREATING + SELLING DIGITAL PRODUCTS?
The main downside that keeps many small business owners from selling digital products is the lack of control over the customer’s use of your product. There’s almost nothing you can do to keep a customer from sharing a digital file with a friend. But as a designer who’s been selling products like these for a long time, that’s just a risk that comes with the nature of this kind of business. For me, that risk is worth the return I see on my products.
I put as many things in place as I can to protect my work from being redistributed without consent, including copyright info + terms of use on PDF pages and my online spaces and product listings. For the most part, I think the majority of my customers are honest and have integrity, but I’m sure there are others out there who wouldn’t think twice about forwarding a paid product to a friend.
That being said, it’s also important to “patrol” your content, so to speak, and be aware of anyone trying to resell your products as their own. This is quite different than just forwarding a file to friend – when they’re profiting off of a product that you created, that is definitely something you want to take action on and put an end to.
PAID VS. FREE DIGITAL PRODUCTS + WHY IT’S GOOD TO HAVE EACH
Digital products don’t necessarily have to be paid products, but it is good to make sure some kind of trade or transaction is taking place so you have something in return. A common way to do this is to exchange an email address instead of exchanging money. Using digital products as free incentives to signup for email lists is the most popular way of doing this, and one I highly recommend.
It’s a good idea to have a combination of both paid and free digital products in your business because it allows your customer to give your products a test drive before investing. If you offer something free, they’ll be able to check out the quality of your work without any risk, and be more likely to purchase a paid product from you in the future.
