How Do You Put A Price On A Digital Product?

 By Bonnie Boots

You've done it! You've created a product of your own. You're sales page is almost complete and you're anxious to jump through the last hoops and get your sales page rocking and rolling.

So you take a giant leap over the step you've left for last-deciding what to charge for your product-and simply slap on whatever you think most people are charging. Job done!

And you've just made a mistake that could end up costing you thousands.

There are many steps to creating and selling your own digital product. One of the most important is deciding on a price. Leaving it for the last thought, when you're tired and anxious to move on, usually means you won't give it enough thought-and that can be a costly mistake.

Getting the price right is crucial. Price it too high and people won't buy. Price it too low and you won't earn enough profit to make it worth your while.

Earning a profit is the most important duty you have as a business owner. This may sound simple-minded, but over the years I've worked with an awful lot of people in all sorts of businesses that miss this point.

Earning a profit is the primary duty of any business. Selling beauty supplies or counseling people on nutrition may be your business, but earning a profit is your duty.

Earning a profit is what makes the difference between a viable business and one that will go belly up the first time it's challenged with real trouble.

The world economy is in real trouble right now, and no matter what your business is, I guarantee you're going to be challenged by money issues. You must earn a profit. And you will only earn a profit if your product is priced right.

In the last month, four people asked me to look at their web sites and tell them if their product was priced right. In every case, my answer was the same. "Your price is too low."

They all made the same mistake: frightened by the economy, they made an emotional decision to drop their price, often into the basement.

They let fear do their thinking for them, and that's always a mistake. Fear is not rational. It doesn't look at web analytics and sales data and comparables and make a calculated decision.

Fear just yells, "The boogey man is at the door!" and drops the price.

You must never let fear or the competition set your prices for you. You must decide what you are worth, then find the kind of clients or customers that have good reason to accept the value you establish.

The fact is, if you've done a good job of researching your market, understanding the needs of your target customer and establishing the features of benefits of your product, then you know what you should charge for your product.

If it's not selling at that price, then most likely price is not the problem. Something else is. Something like the traffic coming to your site isn't targeted. That is, you're not finding the people who would need your product and driving them to your site.

Or the problem is that your sales copy doesn't work hard enough to convey the value of your product. People need to be told, firmly and directly, why they need a product. And they need to be told to buy it. If your sales page isn't explaining the features and benefits of buying your product and then giving the call to action, "Buy this now!' in a commanding voice, you're not likely to make many sales at any price.

There's a process to setting the price of a product and getting it right. You'll find everything you need to price right, including complete instructions on how to decide on a pricing strategy and how to research for comparable prices in my book, "Finding The Best Price For Your Digital Product."

Don't let the bogeyman scare you into dropping your prices into the basement. Order "Finding The Best Price For Your Digital Product" now, because knowledge is your best defense against fear.
 

About the Author

Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine and the companion The Internet Wizards Blog to teach self-employed people and small businesses owners how to leverage the internet for advertising, marketing and promoting their business. To stay in touch with her, type your name and email into the subscriber box in the left column of this page. You'll be glad you did!To republish this article in your newsletter, you must agree to reprint the article in its entirety and include the author's information box. If you have questions or comments, contact the author here.