Mastering Digital Products
One of the best parts about being a web designer is collaborating with talented clients. From artists to instructors to small business owners, they all have unique talents, skills, and knowledge, as well as plenty of marketable material.
Using their Squarespace website and Digital Products, you can convert those skills into recurring revenue streams by selling access to online content. These pieces of digital media, like courses and classes, ebooks, video libraries, photo sets, and more, have real long-term value—plus they’re great for engaging active communities.
Squarespace Digital Products are exclusive pieces of gated, typically monetized content on a website. They’re hidden behind a paywall for registered users only and can be sold using either a fixed-price or subscription model.
There are three different categories of Digital Products:
1. Courses:
These are a guided set of video or text lessons created to share expertise with an audience. You can organize online courses into chapters, and site visitors can sign up, access, and learn.
2. Video pages:
These are browsable libraries of on-demand videos designed to collect and present visual content in one place. Clients can embed private videos from YouTube or Vimeo, or they can upload them directly to their site. Visitors then sign in, select a video, and watch it whenever, wherever they’d like.
3. Member Sites:
These are a set of hidden, members-only pages or microsite experiences that contain exclusive content for a specific audience. Visitors sign up for a pricing plan and log in to bypass the paywall and access the member site.
As a web designer, digital products are an important part of creating value for your clients and helping them establish a better web experience for their customers. Plus, if you use them yourself, it’s a great way to generate more passive income, cultivate your community, signal expertise, and engage with loyal followers.
Continue reading to learn how to sell Digital Products to your clients and see how the suite of tools can work for your clients. Select a section to begin.
Getting started
Digital Products can take some time and know-how to set up. A little navigational help makes the process more manageable, and Squarespace has your back with a number of guides to get you started:
What are Digital Products?
If you’re new to Digital Products, our online course provides a brief introduction to the suite of tools and goes in depth on how to set up pricing plans for your website. It also covers how to create a sales page and connect your payment processor. Learn more in the Squarespace Courses Series:
For additional in-depth coverage, review guides within the Squarespace Help Center. They cover getting started, creating memberships, billing for plans, and more:
How digital products benefit your clients
Whether they know it or not, your clients are likely sitting on valuable resources that you can convert into digital products. Regardless of medium, their skills and goods have both economic and connective value to their audience.
Create a passive income stream
Digital products can generate reliable passive income for your clients, giving them more flexibility in their work. These supplemental profits can give them the boost they need to expand their operations, invest more in marketing, or simply give them back time.
It also diversifies their income sources, better protecting them from the ups and downs of their business. This could help them through the “slow season” in their industry, offer a cushion when work unexpectedly takes a downturn, or help save a little extra. This makes it a viable strategy for long-term success.
For most clients, the subscription model is the best way to take advantage of these benefits. The fixed-price payment model is great for certain offerings, but charging for their digital products monthly generates consistent income they can count on.
Monetize their unique skill set
Many of your clients may take their talents for granted, but their audience would pay well for access to their knowledge and skills. Digital products give value to the expertise that they use every day.
By offering a new creative outlet for their abilities, clients may find themselves growing in the process. Whether they’re teaching a broader community, creating video content, or selling supplemental material, they may find that selling digital products gives them a fresh perspective that enhances their skills.
Engage their audience
Digital products give clients an opportunity to nurture and support their existing audience in an entirely new way. Because they are usually adjacent to their main offering, these goods can serve as supplemental material that provides their base with new avenues to engage with their brand.
Clients selling digital products may find their following expanding as a result. These offerings serve as great introductions to a larger product or service, and their accessibility makes it possible to attract new community members looking to explore their niche.
Who uses Digital Products?
No matter your client’s industry, they likely have an offering or hidden talent that you can convert into a digital product. Here are some common client professions and their potential digital products:
Creators and artists
With many crafts moving online, creatives and artists can use Digital Products to monetize their expertise. They can sell digital versions of their art, illustrations, or designs. They can even teach art courses about their techniques and style.
Authors and writers
Authors and writers can find success selling their works online to their loyal communities. They can offer ebooks, guides, and digital manuscripts, or they can teach writing classes or sell video talks about previous book releases.
Musicians and bands
With their large, devoted fan bases, artists and bands can find an additional revenue stream through Digital Products besides selling merch and touring. They can distribute digital music tracks or albums online, create members-only video libraries of pre-recorded concerts, or provide exclusive looks behind the scenes.
Photographers
Photographers have a long history of monetizing their digital works, although they can find some creative outlets within Digital Products. From digital photo packs and prints to stock photos, they may find both public and private interest in their content.
Educators and course creators
Through the course pages option, educators can take what they do in person and charge for it virtually. They can offer online courses or educational materials through a standard, text-based course or create pre-recorded video walkthroughs on a variety of subjects.
Businesses
Your business clients (e.g., agencies, consulting or real estate firms, non-profits) can sell bite-sized versions of the products they typically offer. These can be digital downloads of their company’s resources and templates, small how-to classes on their specialties, or subscription sites with access to exclusive members-only products.
Consultants and coaches
Life or executive coaches and consultants across industries can also provide digital add-ons to the services they offer their clients. These could be online surveys, digital guides, or supplemental templates. They could also put together a “virtual retreat” membership site or course that walks visitors through various sessions.
Freelancers
Regardless of their niche, even freelancers can get in on the action and sell products virtually. Like consultants, they can sell digital templates, virtual guides, and other tools that clients can use to self-serve. They could also put together virtual webinar video libraries or training courses to educate other freelancers on their specialty.
Small ecommerce businesses
Just like large enterprises, small online businesses can offer digital content as a part of their product lineup. While online sales are their bread and butter, selling digital content can open up new avenues to explore with minimal risk.
Beauty and fitness professionals
Clients who work solely in the physical world, like makeup artists, trainers, and sports coaches, have plenty of opportunities with Digital Products. They can repackage their services into courses or videos and offer on-demand tutorials and virtual libraries, or build Member Sites for their teams or customers.
Selling Digital Products to clients
While the value seems apparent to most web designers, convincing an existing client to try Digital Products can be tricky if they’re unfamiliar or not confident. But, if you come armed with the right benefits and value, pitching Digital Products can be a breeze.
While clients may see the upfront cost and time investment to set up digital products, encourage them to consider the long-term value as a passive revenue stream and community builder. If set up correctly and marketed well, they’ll likely see a return carrying well into the foreseeable future with minimal maintenance.
Even with these benefits, your clients will likely have questions. The following are some of the most common questions, sales enablement materials, and an example pitch email to get your clients on board:
Frequently asked questions
Is there a limit to the number of digital products I can sell on Squarespace?
No, you can sell as much content as you want using Digital Products. You could upload your entire music catalog, a life’s work worth of art courses, or a video workout for every day of the year. There are some caveats, though, as upload amounts depend on plan and file size. Get more information by reading about billing and invoices.
What are the benefits of using Digital Products on Squarespace to monetize content?
There are many benefits, but the biggest value driver to using Squarespace is it creates a recurring revenue stream coming straight from the platform that hosts the rest of your online experience. This creates the smoothest, simplest user experience for your visitors: no redirects, clunky checkout flows, or third parties.
What are the main differences between courses, member sites, and videos pages in Squarespace Digital Products?
While all part of Digital Products, understanding courses, membership sites, and videos pages can help clients decide the best way to monetize their products. Courses function as classes, and are broken out into chapters with videos, walkthroughs, and more. Member sites are exclusive online experiences, like microsites. Paid visitors can bypass the paywall and access exclusive information, unique content, or whatever else would lend itself to a private site. Video pages are on-demand video streaming libraries of exclusive content hosted on the website. These can be an archive of pre-recorded content, virtual classes, or daily videos for your audience.
Are there any transaction fees associated with selling Digital Products on Squarespace?
Yes, there are some transaction fees associated with selling Digital Products on Squarespace. The percentage varies depending on your Squarespace plan.
How can I customize the presentation of my digital products to customers?
Customers sign up and purchase digital products through the Digital Products block, which can be added to any page and customized to match your site’s style.
What are the best practices for promoting and marketing Digital Products on Squarespace?
Like any other offering, digital products need some marketing effort to be successful. There are different methods to pitch to customers, but marketing them in email newsletters, highlighting them on social media, prominently placing them on your website, and creating a “sell page” are great ways to get started.
What kind of analytics and reporting are available for digital product sales on Squarespace?
You’ll have access to all kinds of KPI metrics on digital products through the Sales analytics panel on your dashboard. With reporting on conversion rates, revenue per visit, units, and more, clients can continue to optimize their offerings well after launch.
Sales enablement materials for Digital Products
Talking points
When starting the conversation about Digital Products with a client, make sure you know the value at a high level. When you can confidently talk about their benefit or have previous experience selling your own materials online, you show clients the value. During your conversation, remember to mention that Digital Products offers:
Monetization
Clients can monetize their talents, skills, and knowledge to create passive revenue for their business. Most digital products come from taking something they’re already offering and selling it as digital content through a self-serve experience.
Customization
Every touchpoint of the digital products experience matches their website’s branding as well as look and feel. This eliminates the outdated web experiences and third-party hosting of other product options.
Flexibility
Digital products are sold through your client’s Squarespace site, so you and your client will have access to tools and analytics, as well as the ability to make edits and adjustments on the go. You can make quick adjustments and optimize based on feedback from their community.
Support
Squarespace has excellent support for Digital Products, as well as a comprehensive set of articles in the Help Center. Between you and the Squarespace team, every detail is covered for your clients.
Client email template
Email current and past clients to let them know that you provide Digital Products setup services. The following example can be a guide for your correspondence:
Hi [Client Name],
Would you like a new revenue stream for your business, directly from your Squarespace site? We can package your talents into web content, also known as digital products, and sell them to your community on your website.
With Squarespace Digital Products, you can offer access to members-only online courses, video libraries, or gated microsites to your community. Depending on how you sell them, clients can sign up for a subscription or buy them one-off for a fixed price. It’s a great way to turn some of your skills into passive, recurring income and engage with your following.
I think your brand could potentially sell [brand idea #1] or [brand idea #2] as a digital product. If you want to go all in, you could even offer [stretch brand idea].
Let’s set aside some time to talk further. Schedule a time here [link to your Acuity Scheduling page] and we can talk about how Squarespace’s Digital Products suite can work for your brand.
Talk soon,
[Your Name]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email Address]
Convert your client’s content into cash
Digital Products empowers clients across industries to monetize their expertise and connect with their audience. They convert talents, skills, and knowledge into recurring streams of passive revenue that enable them to grow their business, invest in themselves, or save for the future.
Through online course pages, video pages, and member sites, there’s a medium suited to any offering. All you need to do is show them the right direction, inspire them to create the content, and get it live on their Squarespace site.
For more about Digital Products, check out these additional resources:
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional web designers, developers, digital entrepreneurs, and creatives. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from all across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
