Latest / The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast / 54. How to Add Digital Products to Your Etsy POD Business

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54. How to Add Digital Products to Your Etsy POD Business · The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here you'll find simple strategies, real behind-the-scenes insight, and the clarity you need to stop second guessing and start moving forward one intentional step at a time.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, welcome back.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Today I want to talk about digital products.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: More specifically, I want to talk about adding digital products to a print-on-demand business.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about how selling digital products compares to selling print-on-demand products, when it might make sense to offer both in the same Etsy shop, and some of the ways you can create physical and digital products that work together.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to give you a bunch of examples because I think once you start looking at digital products as a way to serve the same customer, there are some really interesting possibilities.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've ever thought about adding digital products to your Etsy business or you've wondered whether print on demand and digital products could work together in the same shop, that's what we're getting into today.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let me just start with what digital products are.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: A digital product is something your customer purchases and then receives digitally.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing gets physically sent to them.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, they can access the download pretty much immediately and have what they bought.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's something they can then print themselves or have printed.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So for example, baby shower games or a wedding welcome sign.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Other times it's something that's meant to be used digitally, like a website template or a digital planner.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Digital products can also work differently when it comes to personalization.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes the product is personalized by you after the customer makes the purchase, or you can provide an editable template that the buyer goes into and then they add their own details.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: An invitation or a baby announcement would be a good example of that.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then there are digital products that aren't personalized at all.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: The customer purchases the product, receives the file, and uses it exactly as it is.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: That could be something like a printable sign or a checklist, a game, or a planner page.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there are lots of different types of digital products and different ways that they can be delivered, but the biggest difference compared to print on demand is pretty simple.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's no physical product that needs to be made and shipped to the customer.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Another difference is the profit margin.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: There is generally a higher profit margin on digital products.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: But remember, profit margin and profit are different.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: When you hear people talk about profit margin, they're talking in terms of percentage.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Profit is the actual dollar amount you make.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So with print on demand, every time you make a sale, you have to pay for the physical product to be made.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say you sell a shirt for$30, and after the cost of the shirt and your fees, you make$10 in profit.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Your profit is$10 and your profit margin is 33%.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: With a digital product, you don't have that physical product cost.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So really you're mainly dealing with your Etsy fees and possibly ads.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say you sell a$5 printable and after fees, you make$4 in profit.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your profit margin is 80%, a much higher profit margin, right?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: But in this example, it's not a higher profit.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: You made$10 on the POD product and$4 on the digital product.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that's not always going to be the case.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you're selling a$30 digital product at an 80% margin, your profit would be$24.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just remember that a lot of digital products are sold at lower price points.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so depending on what you're selling, it can become more of a volume game.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Another big difference is fulfillment.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: With print on demand, there are still steps that have to happen between the customer making the purchase and receiving their product.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be produced, packaged, shipped, delivered.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And during that time, there are things that can go wrong.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So even though your print provider is handling most of the fulfillment for you, you're not really finished with that order until the customer receives their purchase and is happy with it.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: With digital, especially an instant download where the product is delivered to the buyer immediately, the fulfillment is pretty much complete as soon as they make the purchase.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And even in the case of a personalized digital product where you have some work to do after the order comes in, you're much more in control of how quickly that product gets to the customer.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's not to say there won't ever be issues.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: You may still have a customer who can't figure out how to download something or has a question about the product.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: But most of the time there are fewer steps between the sale and the customer getting what they purchased.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I personally don't think one is necessarily better than the other when it comes to these two different business models.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I sell both and I love selling both.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And there are plenty of other Etsy sellers who do both successfully.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: They each have their pros and cons.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what I want to talk about next is when it might make sense to sell both in the same shop.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I often hear the question: can I sell digital products in my print-on-demand shop?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the better question is, would digital products make sense for the customer I'm already serving?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because yes, you can sell digital products and print-on-demand products in the same Etsy shop.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: There are no rules against it.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But just because you can doesn't necessarily mean you should.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it comes down to the customer.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: If the digital products you're thinking about adding make sense for the same person who's already shopping for your physical products, then I think there's a really interesting opportunity to offer both.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're selling funny career sweatshirts and suddenly decide to add printable meal planners, those two things don't really have anything to do with each other.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're serving two completely different customers.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a way better fit when the same customer could naturally want both.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Think about a print-on-demand shop that started by selling matching t-shirts for bachelorette parties.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then they eventually added other bachelorette party items, maybe tote bags and can coolers, tapestry signs.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now think about the person who's buying those products.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: She's probably planning a bachelorette weekend.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if she's planning a bachelorette weekend, the shirts and the tote bags might not be the only thing she needs or wants.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: She might need an invitation, a weekend itinerary, games for everyone to play, a checklist, a drink menu, maybe a scavenger hunt or a photo challenge.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: All of those could be digital products.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of having to find another customer to sell more products to, you're finding more things you can sell to the customer you're already trying to reach.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you can take this even further by creating coordinated products.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: An example, sticking with the bachelorette niche, might be the last rodeo theme.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not even sure if this is big anymore, but say it is.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you already have last rodeo shirts.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: You could create matching print-on-demand items.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: But then you could take that same theme and create the matching digital products.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: The invitation, the itinerary, the welcome signs.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have an entire group of products that all work together.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying to bundle everything together.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: There'll still be individual listings.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: The point is that the same person who finds your shirt might also want the invitation.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: The person who finds your invitation might also want the welcome sign.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the person who finds the welcome sign might decide she wants matching shirts for everybody.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you're giving that one customer more opportunities to buy from you.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't limited to bachelor parties.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of niches where physical and digital products could naturally work together.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to share with you now five additional examples of where print-on-demand products and digital products can make sense in the same shop.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to see how this could work with some very different types of customer.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So example one, youth sports.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: On the POD side, you could sell sports mom shirts, team pajama pants, personalized water bottles, custom blankets, coach gifts.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the digital side, that same customer might need a printable team schedule, senior night posters, player spotlight templates, fundraising templates, banquet invitation, end-of-season awards.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I love this one because there's a lot of room to grow.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Once you've created these products for one sport, say basketball players and teams, it's gonna be a whole lot easier to modify them for soccer and baseball and volleyball and whatever other sport might make sense.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You don't necessarily have to start from scratch every time.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can take a product or a design concept that's already working and adapt it for another sport.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, example number two is camping or RV family travel.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: On the print-on-demand side, you could sell matching family vacation shirts, camping mugs, weekender bags, tumblers, ornaments, luggage tags.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: You could add digital products like packing lists, camping checklists, travel itineraries, road trip games, scavenger hunts.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: So now you're not just creating products that commemorate the trip.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: You also have products that help the customer plan and enjoy it.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: The third example is kids' birthday parties.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: On the print-on-demand side, you could sell the birthday girl or the birthday boy shirt, tapestry birthday banners, letters to the birthday child journals, party favors.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then on the digital side, you could have the invitations, the water bottle labels, the cupcake toppers, the thank you cards, the welcome signs.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And this is another one where I think creating around themes could work really well.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe create a dinosaur birthday collection or a ballerina birthday collection.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Take that theme and use it across the physical products and the digital products.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the parent planning that party can potentially find several of the things they need all in one shop.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Example number four, homeschool moms.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: On the POD side, you could sell homeschool mom apparel, drink wear, accessory bags, or personalized products for the kids like notebooks or lap desks.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: On the digital side, you could have homeschool planners, reading logs, field trip logs, lesson planning resources.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you could use the same idea with all kinds of really specific mom niches.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Think about who she is, what she's doing, what she's managing or planning, and then look for opportunities to create both physical and digital products around that part of her life.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the last example here, example number five, is pet owners.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: On the POD side, you could sell personalized pet mugs, ornaments, bandanas, bowls, and feeding mats.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the digital product end, you could add pet sitter instructions, puppy schedules, medication trackers, pet emergency information sheets.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: It really just comes back to understanding the person you're selling to and asking what else does this person need or want that makes sense for me to create.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so six examples we've talked about here.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to keep going.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I want to talk a little bit about when I think doing this, adding digital products to your print-on-demand shop makes sense and when it might not.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually gonna start with when not to.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: First, if you're brand new to Etsy and you're just getting your first shop started, I would not try to do all of this at once.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would not start with both print on demand and digital.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even recommend starting with more than one print-on-demand product.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I firmly believe that it's very important to start with just one product and get really comfortable with Etsy, with print on demand, and with your first product before you add more.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you can start with the end in mind if that's what you want.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So start with knowing that eventually you want to grow toward that type of shop.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: That will make choosing your niche and your customer important in the beginning.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So just think about that if you're at that stage.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Another case where I wouldn't suggest adding digital products to your existing print-on-demand shop is when they just don't make sense for the customer you're already serving.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I already talked about this in the beginning, but another example, if you sell phone cases and decide you want to start creating and selling printable color pages, I would probably suggest opening a second shop rather than adding them to your phone case shop because there's no real connection between those products.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: The person shopping for the phone cases isn't necessarily the same person shopping for the coloring pages.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So even if coloring pages are something you really want to sell, that doesn't mean they belong in the shop you've already built.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, the opportunity we're talking about here isn't just adding digital products.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's adding digital products that make sense for the same customer you're already serving.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I think the opportunity for growth happens much more naturally.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now here's when I would consider this.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: First, if you already have an established print-on-demand shop and you're looking for ways to grow and expand your business, you understand Etsy, you're comfortable with the product or products you're already selling.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, maybe you've started to understand your customer.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's when I think you can look at your shop and ask, what else does this customer need or want?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if digital products make sense for that customer, then I think they're absolutely worth considering as a way to expand what you're already doing.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Another time I think this could be a really interesting strategy is if you're a more experienced Etsy seller and you're thinking about opening a second shop.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: In that case, you could intentionally choose a niche or customer where you know there's room to eventually sell both.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because you already have experience selling on Etsy, you're in a very different position than someone opening their first shop.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: You already understand how Etsy works.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: You likely already have systems in place that allow you to create and list products more quickly and easily.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: So juggling multiple product types from the beginning probably won't be as challenging.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this gives you an opportunity to be really intentional about how you build that second shop.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Start with who you want to sell to.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Choose a customer where you see those possibilities for both physical and digital products and build a shop around serving that customer from the beginning.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I want to wrap up by telling you about a new third-party tool that Anywhere just released.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you have listened to this podcast for a while, then you've probably heard me talk about Anywhere.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: I use it in my own print-on-demand business and it makes personalization super simple.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I am a huge Anywhere fan.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they just launched Anywhere Digital and it's for personalized digital products.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: But not just personalized digital products, it's really for any digital product.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And there are lots of features, but I'm just going to talk about two that I'm especially excited about because I think they will change the digital game in some ways.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: The first is personalization.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: They offer the ability to automate personalization on digital products.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say you're selling a personalized invitation.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: You create the design in Canva and the customer personalizes the name, date, time, etc.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, you have a couple of options for handling that personalization.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can have the customer give you their information when they order, and then you go into the design, make all those changes yourself, and send them the finished product.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: That works, but now you've created a digital product that requires work from you every single time it sells.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: The other option is to sell the invitation as an editable Canva template and let them make the changes themselves.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: That takes the personalization work off of you, but now you have a couple of other issues.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: First, your customer has to be comfortable enough with Canva to go in and make those changes themselves.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And second, you can be limited in what you use to create the design.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you want your template to work for someone using the free version of Canva, you have to be really careful about making sure you're not using the Canva Premium fonts and elements or anything that you've uploaded yourself.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be pretty limiting.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Canva Free doesn't give you nearly the same selection of fonts, graphics, and other design elements that you have with premium.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you may have this design you really want to create, but you're having to think about whether your customer is going to have access to everything you used.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of the things that really caught my attention about Anywhere Digital.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: They've created a way to automate the personalization of digital products without requiring your customer to have Canva or an Anywhere account.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it solves both sides of that problem.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to personally customize every single order, but you're also not relying on your customer having Canva and being comfortable editing a template themselves.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, you're not limited to Canva-free.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to get into exactly how all of that works because Anywhere POD can do a much better job of showing you that than I can.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you in a minute how you can see it in action.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: But there's one other feature I want to tell you about because it connects so perfectly to everything we've been talking about in this episode.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: When someone purchases one of your digital products through Anywhere Digital, they're delivered a branded PDF with the link to their product.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: But that PDF can also showcase and link to other products that you sell.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to the Bachelorette example one more time.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say someone finds your last rodeo invitation and buys it.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: When they receive the PDF for that invitation, you could also show the matching products, the shirts, the can coolers, the tapestry.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why I think the idea of creating digital and physical products for the same customer gets so interesting.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: With Anywhere Digital, you're not just hoping that someone who buys one product happens to find the rest of your shop.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have an easy and automatic way to put another product that makes sense for her directly in front of her after she's already purchased from you.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now how can you see a little bit more directly from Anywhere Digital?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: They held a free workshop yesterday, which I know we're too late for, but there is a replay.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I will be sending the replay link to my email list at some point tomorrow, Friday.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to see Anywhere Digital in action and you're not on my email list, you can join by going to the link in the show notes.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have that there so that you can become part of my email list.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you're already on the list, then just keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow because I'll be sending it your way.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, whether you decide to add digital products or not, I hope this episode got you thinking about some new ways you could grow your Etsy business by creating more for the customer you're already trying to reach.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: All right, guys, thanks so much for joining me today, and I will see you next week.