Five Things I Wish I Knew Before Launching My First Digital Product
A complete breakdown of what not to do when launching your first digital product.
Last year I decided to launch my first ever digital product on the internet and you might have guessed from the title of this story that it did not do very well as I had made some mistakes that I wished I had not made but hopefully you guys would be learning from my mistakes and make your digital products successful.
The digital product that I launched was an icon pack for iOS and iPadOS and this might sound like a weird digital product, but hear me out because it was actually a good choice and it could have potentially made hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On 16th September 2020, Apple released its latest version of the operating system for iPhones and iPad, iOS 14. And with their latest iOS update, they introduced the capability of adding widgets and changing icons for the apps installed on the smartphone for the first time. This feature had been available on android for as long as I can remember but it was the first time that such a capability was introduced to iPhone users because of which it was well-received and it became a trend on all social media platform within days. Graphics Designers started making icons for iPhone users and people were happily buying these icon packs and sharing about it with their friends and family.
I watched some YouTube videos about it and tech enthusiasts were very excited to see this feature available on Apple devices and looking at the opportunity as it was already a trending topic all around the world, I tried my luck and designed an icon pack consisting of 50 custom-designed minimal app icons within a week and it didn’t do well. In fact, it got zero sales.
And you might be thinking that I was too optimistic designing this pack and no one would have bought any such thing in the first place, so let me tell you that you are wrong because I have seen people on this internet earning hundreds of thousands of dollars by making these icon packs.
This designer on the internet, traf, made $266,600 from the same concept that I had, at the same time.
So where exactly was I wrong and what exactly did Traf do right that generated 10,000 sales and made him $266,600, while I made zero.
1. You need to have a website if you are selling something online.
So I started selling my icon pack on my Instagram account that focused on coding and programming and I thought my audience would love to have this icon pack. I tried making a website using Squarespace but it didn't seem feasible for me to invest money into a project that I didn't exactly know would succeed at that time. So I decided to go for a soft launch on Instagram and if a single person liked my product and bought it then I would build a website for it.
But this analogy was wrong because if I had set up a website in the first place, my followers would have trusted me and it would have generated some sales but because I did not set up a website it got zero sales.
2. Using Facebook ads effectively
Rather than spending my money on setting up my website, I invested my money on Facebook ads because I did not have a large audience on my Instagram account. I had a hundred followers at that time or maybe less than that but I was expecting at least one sale from the people who followed me but I go none. So I decided to invest in Facebook ads to get my icon pack to a larger audience. Due to Facebook ads it did reach out to a larger number of people and people followed my account as well but none of them bought my pack. Maybe I used my ads in the wrong way.
The reason why I think I used the ads wrong is that I chose to set up my ads from the Instagram app on my phone instead of using the Facebook ads manager. The Instagram app showed me lesser options to target my potential customers, as compared to Facebook Ads Manager. Because I did not use Facebook Ads Manager, the target audience I set up was not exactly targeting those people who would be willing to buy my icon pack. So instead of setting up ads from Instagram app, use Facebook Ads Manager and set up multiple ads instead of just one
3. Trying out multiple ads at a smaller budget and sticking with the ones that do the best
I would also urge everyone to try multiple ads with a small daily budget rather than choosing a single one because the chances of getting a single ad to work are way lesser than trying multiple ads at the same time. Try it out for a day or two and after you have tested the ads set, only spend money on the ones that are bringing you the most website viewers and sales.
Try it out for a day or two but only spend your money on the ad set that brings the highest number of website viewers or sale after testing it out.
I used a single ad set and it brought me followers and visits but it didn't bring me any sales. I think I had a low budget for my Facebook ads which is why I didn't receive any sales.
4. Have a decent budget for your Facebook ads
I had a very low budget for these ads because it was my first time trying my luck selling my first ever digital product which is why I had decided to spend $2 a day on my Facebook ads. If I would have spent $10 daily for the first couple of days on three to four ads, then I would have made a sale out of it. And I would strongly suggest you try different ads set and have a decent budget to spend on ads.
5. Be the best at what you are offering
Finally, I would suggest you all provide value to your customers. Provide something good to your customers because if you are not providing value to your customers you won't generate single sale even if you spend.
