Tag Archives: online business ideas

What Are Some Essential Features That Should Be Included in a Digital Product?

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Creating a digital product isn’t just about putting information into a PDF, making it look pretty, and listing it for sale.

A good digital product should actually do something for the person who buys it.

Whether you’re creating an ebook, printable, workbook, planner, template, spreadsheet, course, guide, or digital toolkit, the features you include should make it easier for your customer to solve a problem or reach a specific goal.

And here’s something that’s easy to forget:

More features don’t automatically create a better product.

Sometimes they just create a more overwhelming one.

The goal is to include the right features.

So, what should a good digital product actually include?

Let’s break it down.

1. A Clear Purpose

Before anything else, your product needs a clear purpose.

Someone should be able to look at your product and quickly understand:

What is this?

Who is it for?

What is it going to help me accomplish?

If you can’t answer those questions in a couple of sentences, the product may be trying to do too much.

For example:

“A 30-day content planner designed to help new content creators organize their ideas and consistently post without wondering what to create every day.”

That’s clear.

The customer immediately knows whether the product is relevant to them.

2. Simple Instructions

Never assume your customer automatically knows how to use your product.

Even if something seems obvious to you, you’ve probably spent significantly more time thinking about it than the person who just purchased it.

Include simple instructions explaining:

  • What the product includes
  • How to access everything
  • What programs or apps are required
  • Where to begin
  • How to use each section
  • Whether anything can be customized
  • How to get the best results

You don’t need to write an instruction manual for something that takes 30 seconds to understand.

But your customer shouldn’t have to message you asking, “Okay…what am I supposed to do with this?”

3. Easy Navigation

This becomes increasingly important as your product gets larger.

If you’re creating an ebook, workbook, guide, course, or bundle, make it easy for customers to find what they need.

That could mean including:

A table of contents.

Clickable links.

Clearly labeled sections.

Page numbers.

Tabs or categories.

Consistent headings.

Organized folders for bundles.

People shouldn’t have to search through 87 pages every time they want to find one worksheet.

Good organization makes a digital product feel significantly more professional.

4. A Clean, Readable Design

Yes, appearance matters.

But usability matters more.

You can create the prettiest workbook on Pinterest, but if someone needs a magnifying glass to read the text, you’ve got a problem.

Make sure your design includes:

  • Readable fonts
  • Appropriate font sizes
  • Good spacing
  • Clear headings
  • Consistent formatting
  • Enough contrast between text and backgrounds
  • A logical visual hierarchy

Decorative elements should support the product rather than compete with it.

Think:

Pretty AND functional.

Not:

Pretty instead of functional.

5. Actionable Information

Information alone isn’t always enough.

People can find an unbelievable amount of free information online.

A strong digital product should help customers do something with the information.

Instead of simply explaining how to plan content, for example, you might include:

A content planning worksheet.

A monthly calendar.

A brainstorming page.

A posting checklist.

A list of prompts.

A progress tracker.

Now you’re helping someone move from:

“I understand what I should do.”

to:

“I know exactly what I’m doing next.”

That’s a big difference.

6. Templates That Save Time

Convenience is valuable.

People often buy digital products because they don’t want to build something themselves from scratch.

Depending on your product, templates could include:

  • Content calendars
  • Email templates
  • Caption formulas
  • Budget spreadsheets
  • Checklists
  • Planning pages
  • Business forms
  • Canva templates
  • Trackers
  • Schedules
  • Worksheets

Ask yourself:

What part of this process can I do for my customer ahead of time?

The more unnecessary work you can remove from their plate, the more useful your product becomes.

7. Real Examples

Sometimes instructions make perfect sense to the person writing them and absolutely no sense to anyone else.

Examples fix that.

If you’re teaching someone how to write a social media hook, don’t just explain what a hook is.

Show them several.

If you’re creating a budgeting product, include an example of a completed budget.

If you’re teaching organization, show what a completed system might look like.

Examples help customers understand how to apply what you’re teaching.

8. Checklists

There is something wonderfully satisfying about checking a box.

More importantly, checklists simplify processes.

If your product teaches something that happens in multiple steps, consider turning those steps into a checklist.

For example, a Digital Product Launch Checklist might include:

☐ Research audience
☐ Validate product idea
☐ Create product
☐ Proofread and test
☐ Create product images
☐ Write sales description
☐ Set pricing
☐ Create promotional content
☐ Test checkout process
☐ Launch

Instead of trying to remember everything, your customer has a roadmap.

9. Progress Tracking

If your product helps someone accomplish something over time, give them a way to track their progress.

This works especially well for:

Habit trackers.

Savings challenges.

Fitness planners.

Business planners.

Content calendars.

Courses.

Challenges.

Goal-setting workbooks.

Progress creates motivation because people can actually see what they’ve accomplished.

10. Customization When It Makes Sense

Customization can make certain digital products significantly more useful.

Depending on what you’re creating, customers might benefit from being able to:

Edit text.

Change colors.

Add their branding.

Duplicate pages.

Rearrange sections.

Customize categories.

Enter their own information.

But don’t add customization just because you can.

If editing the product requires complicated software or makes it harder to use, it may create more frustration than value.

11. Mobile-Friendly Options

A lot of people are going to discover, purchase, download, and possibly use your product from their phones.

Think about that during the creation process.

Ask yourself:

Can someone comfortably view this on a phone?

Are links easy to click?

Is the text readable?

Are the files unnecessarily huge?

Does the product require a desktop computer?

If it does, that’s okay — just make that clear before someone buys it.

12. Accessibility

Accessibility should also be part of the design process.

Depending on the format, this might include:

Clear fonts.

Strong text contrast.

Descriptive labels.

Logical reading order.

Captions or transcripts for video and audio content.

Avoiding unnecessary walls of tiny text.

Accessible design doesn’t only help people with disabilities. It often makes products easier for everyone to use.

13. Resources and Helpful Links

If there are tools, websites, programs, or resources that will help your customer use the product, consider including them.

For example, a guide about creating digital products might include recommended tools for:

Design.

File storage.

Email marketing.

Selling products.

Market research.

Organization.

Just make sure your recommendations are relevant.

Don’t stuff a product with 75 random links just to make it look more valuable.

14. Frequently Asked Questions

If you already know customers are likely to have certain questions, answer them before they’re asked.

An FAQ section might cover:

Can I print this?

Can I edit it?

What software do I need?

Can I use it on my phone?

Can I use this commercially?

Can I share it with someone else?

This reduces confusion for customers and support requests for you.

Everybody wins.

15. Clear Usage Rights

Digital products are extremely easy to copy and share, which makes clear licensing important.

Tell customers what they are and aren’t allowed to do with the product.

For example:

Personal use only.

Commercial use permitted under specific conditions.

May not be resold or redistributed.

May not be shared with others.

If you’re selling templates, graphics, prompts, or business resources, usage rights become especially important.

16. Customer Support Information

Something will eventually go wrong.

A download won’t open.

A link won’t work.

Someone won’t understand the instructions.

Someone will lose their files six minutes after downloading them.

Make it clear how legitimate product-related problems should be handled.

You don’t necessarily need to provide unlimited personal support, but customers should know what to do if there’s a technical problem with something they’ve purchased.

17. A Logical Next Step

One of the most overlooked features of a digital product is telling customers what to do when they finish.

Don’t just end the product with:

THE END.

Give them direction.

That could be:

Complete this checklist.

Start your 30-day challenge.

Use this template to create your first post.

Review your progress after seven days.

Move to the next workbook.

The product should lead somewhere.

18. Something That Makes Your Product Yours

There are thousands of planners.

Thousands of ebooks.

Thousands of templates.

Thousands of courses.

You don’t need to reinvent any of them.

But you should give people a reason to choose yours.

Maybe it’s your:

Personality.

Design style.

Organization.

Experience.

Examples.

Teaching method.

Simplified approach.

Unique framework.

Specific audience.

The difference doesn’t need to be revolutionary.

It needs to be useful and recognizable.

Don’t Add Features Just to Make the Product Bigger

This might be the most important part.

It’s easy to start thinking:

“Maybe I need another 20 pages.”

“Maybe I should add five bonuses.”

“Maybe I need 100 prompts instead of 30.”

“Maybe I should turn this into a massive bundle.”

Stop and ask:

Does this actually help the customer achieve the result I promised?

If the answer is yes, consider including it.

If the answer is no, you’re probably adding filler.

Customers aren’t buying page counts.

They’re buying solutions.

A simple 15-page workbook that helps someone accomplish exactly what they wanted can be far more valuable than a 150-page bundle filled with things they’ll never use.

The Essential Digital Product Checklist

Before releasing your product, ask yourself:

Does it have a clear purpose?

Is it easy to understand?

Is it easy to navigate?

Does it look professional?

Does it help someone take action?

Does it save the customer time or effort?

Have I included useful examples where necessary?

Does the customer know exactly what to do next?

Have I clearly explained how the product can be used?

Have I tested the files, links, downloads, and instructions?

And most importantly:

Does this product actually solve the problem I promised it would solve?

If the answer to that last question is yes, you’re already focusing on what matters most.

Because a successful digital product doesn’t need every possible feature.

It needs the right features for the right person solving the right problem.

Build around that, and everything else becomes much easier.

How Do I Determine the Target Market for My Digital Product?

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You have an idea for a digital product.

Maybe it’s an ebook, planner, printable, template, workbook, course, guide, digital journal, or something completely different.

You start thinking about the design, what you’re going to include, what you’re going to charge, and where you’re going to sell it.

But there’s one question you need to answer first:

Who is actually going to buy it?

And no, “everyone” is not the answer.

Trying to sell something to everyone usually makes your marketing so broad that nobody feels like you’re actually talking to them.

Determining your target market doesn’t mean excluding everyone else. It means identifying the people who are most likely to need, want, and pay for what you’re creating.

Here’s how to figure out exactly who those people are.

What Is a Target Market?

Your target market is the specific group of people most likely to be interested in your product.

Think about a digital budget planner.

Technically, almost anyone who earns or spends money could use one.

But that doesn’t mean they’re all the ideal customer.

You could create a budget planner specifically for:

  • College students
  • Single-income households
  • Families trying to reduce debt
  • Small-business owners
  • Freelancers with inconsistent income
  • People saving for their first home

Those are completely different customers with different problems.

The more clearly you understand your customer, the easier it becomes to create something that feels like it was designed specifically for them.

1. Start With the Problem

Before worrying about age, gender, location, income, or anything else, identify the problem your product solves.

Ask yourself:

What problem will someone have right before they realize they need my product?

Let’s say you’re creating a social media content planner.

The problem probably isn’t:

“I don’t own a content planner.”

It’s more likely:

“I never know what to post.”

“I’m inconsistent.”

“I have ideas but can’t keep them organized.”

“I spend way too much time trying to create content.”

“I want to grow my business, but social media overwhelms me.”

Now you’re getting somewhere.

You’re no longer looking for “people who like planners.”

You’re looking for people struggling to consistently plan and create content.

That’s a much more useful target market.

2. Determine Who Experiences That Problem

Once you know the problem, ask:

Who experiences it most often?

For our content planner example, that could include:

Content creators.

Small-business owners.

Etsy sellers.

Bloggers.

Affiliate marketers.

Coaches.

Freelancers.

New entrepreneurs.

You might discover that several groups could use your product.

That’s fine.

Now you need to determine which group your particular product can serve best.

3. Create an Ideal Customer Profile

This doesn’t need to become some complicated 20-page marketing exercise.

You’re simply trying to picture the person you’re creating for.

Ask yourself:

  • How old are they approximately?
  • What stage of life or business are they in?
  • What are they trying to accomplish?
  • What frustrates them?
  • What are they already spending money on?
  • What platforms do they use?
  • What questions are they searching online?
  • What would make their life easier?
  • What might stop them from purchasing?
  • What would make them immediately think, “I need this”?

You don’t need every demographic detail unless it’s relevant.

Knowing someone’s favorite color probably won’t help you sell them a budgeting spreadsheet.

Knowing they’re overwhelmed by complicated budgeting systems probably will.

4. Pay Attention to What People Are Already Saying

Your potential customers are probably already telling you what they want.

You just have to listen.

Look through:

  • Facebook groups
  • Social media comments
  • Pinterest searches
  • Google searches
  • YouTube comments
  • Reddit discussions
  • Etsy reviews
  • Amazon reviews
  • Competitor reviews
  • Questions people ask in your niche

Pay particular attention to phrases that keep appearing.

If you repeatedly see people saying:

“I wish this was easier.”

“Does anyone have a template for this?”

“How do you organize this?”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“I wish someone would just tell me exactly what to do.”

Those statements can reveal actual problems worth solving.

They can also help you understand the language your audience uses to describe those problems.

That’s incredibly valuable when you eventually start marketing your product.

5. Research Similar Products

Competition isn’t automatically bad.

In fact, competition can be useful.

If other people are successfully selling products similar to your idea, that’s evidence that a market may already exist.

Study similar products and ask:

Who are they targeting?

What problem are they promising to solve?

What do customers like about them?

What are customers complaining about?

The negative reviews can sometimes be more useful than the positive ones.

Imagine several reviews say:

“This planner is beautiful, but there are way too many pages.”

That tells you something.

Maybe there’s an audience that wants a simple, no-overwhelm version.

That’s an opportunity to differentiate your product without copying someone else’s work.

6. Find the Intersection of Need and Willingness to Buy

Someone having a problem doesn’t automatically mean they’ll pay to solve it.

This is important.

Your target market needs to have three things:

A problem + a desire to solve it + willingness to spend money on a solution.

For example, someone might think:

“I should probably organize my recipes someday.”

That’s very different from:

“I’m spending an hour every week trying to find recipes and make a grocery list. I need a better system.”

The second person has a stronger problem.

Strong problems usually create stronger buying motivation.

7. Don’t Make Your Target Market Too Broad

Compare these two descriptions:

“My product is for women who want to improve their lives.”

That’s enormous.

Now compare it with:

“My product helps overwhelmed women who want to create a realistic daily routine but struggle with consistency and don’t want an overly complicated productivity system.”

Now I understand exactly what you’re creating.

Specificity makes your marketing stronger.

It also helps customers recognize themselves in your message.

8. But Don’t Make It Pointlessly Specific Either

You can go too far in the opposite direction.

You don’t necessarily need to decide your ideal customer is:

“Jennifer, a 37-year-old brunette mother of three who drinks iced coffee at 7:42 every morning and shops at Target on Thursdays.”

Unless those details affect why she needs your product, they’re probably useless.

Focus on characteristics connected to the problem, purchasing decision, and desired outcome.

Behavior is often more useful than random demographics.

9. Look at Your Existing Audience

If you already create content, your current audience can give you clues.

Look at:

  • Which posts get saved
  • Which posts get shared
  • Which topics generate comments
  • What questions people ask you
  • Which links people click
  • Which Pinterest pins generate traffic
  • Which videos hold attention
  • Which topics consistently outperform others

Don’t just look at follower counts.

Look at behavior.

If 500 people repeatedly interact with content about one particular problem, that may tell you more than having 10,000 followers who rarely interact with anything.

10. Ask Your Audience Directly

Sometimes we make market research much harder than it needs to be.

Ask people.

Create polls.

Ask questions.

Give people several choices.

For example:

What’s your biggest struggle with creating content?

A. Coming up with ideas
B. Staying consistent
C. Writing captions
D. Finding time to create
E. Understanding what actually performs

Now you’re collecting useful information while also creating engaging content.

You can even ask follow-up questions based on the responses.

11. Test the Idea Before Building the Entire Product

You don’t necessarily need to spend three months creating something before discovering whether anyone wants it.

Test the concept first.

Create content about the problem.

Share a free resource.

Create a simple landing page.

Build an email waitlist.

Ask your audience questions.

Offer a smaller version.

Watch how people respond.

If nobody seems interested, that doesn’t automatically mean the idea is terrible.

It might mean the product, audience, positioning, price, or marketing message needs adjusting.

That’s much easier to fix before you’ve spent 100 hours creating it.

12. Learn the Difference Between Your Audience and Your Buyer

This is another important distinction.

The people who enjoy your content aren’t necessarily the same people who will purchase your product.

Someone might follow you because you’re entertaining.

Someone else might follow because your educational content helps them.

Another person might actually be searching for a solution you’re selling.

All three can be valuable followers.

But they’re not necessarily equally likely to become customers.

When planning a product, focus specifically on the person with the problem your product solves.

13. Write a Simple Target Market Statement

Once you’ve done your research, summarize everything in one sentence.

Use this formula:

My product helps [specific type of person] who struggles with [specific problem] achieve [specific result] without [major frustration or obstacle].

For example:

My digital content planner helps new content creators who struggle with consistency plan a month of content without spending hours every day wondering what to post.

Now you have direction.

That sentence can influence your:

Product design.

Product description.

Pinterest pins.

Blog posts.

Social media content.

Sales page.

Email marketing.

Advertising.

Even your product title.

Your Target Market Doesn’t Have to Be Permanent

Here’s something else worth remembering:

You don’t have to figure this out perfectly on day one.

Your target market may evolve as you learn more.

You might create something thinking one type of customer will love it and discover another group is actually buying it more often.

Pay attention.

Your customers’ behavior is data.

Use it.

Stop Trying to Sell to Everybody

One of the biggest mindset shifts when creating digital products is understanding this:

You don’t need everybody to want your product.

You need the right people to recognize that your product was created for a problem they already want solved.

Start with the problem.

Identify who has it.

Research what they’re already doing about it.

Listen to the language they use.

Find out what existing solutions are missing.

Test your idea.

Then create your product around what you’ve learned.

Because once you know exactly who you’re creating for, deciding what to create — and figuring out how to sell it — becomes a whole lot easier.