If there are any online business newbies out there, specifically digital products, this might be for you.
Why? Because knowing how to price your work can be challenging and ultimately lead you to get caught up in a swirl of confusion. Should I charge more? Is it too expensive? If I put my price too low will people think the product isn’t up to par? Once you start researching this you’ll find a variety of opinions come up such as: ‘price competitively’ or ‘don’t sell yourself short’.
All of these questions and suggestions are valid so you have to do your homework.
First you have to think about the product you’ve created. Is it digital clip art, fonts, digital art tools, guidebook, etc? Also, you have to consider your skill and expertise. Are you top tier in your skills, how extensive is your experience? How many hours did you put in to create the product? Where are you selling this product? I’ll go into detail below.
Things to consider when pricing out your digital product:
What is the digital product you created?
Clip art, fonts and digital brushes are all pretty popular but the market for all is pretty saturated. This means competition is high and in some cases, the most affordable product gets the sale. However, that’s not always the case. In fact, the best products get the sale even when the price is higher. So here is where you have to consider your own product and it’s quality. This doesn’t mean you should never charge a higher price for your work, all it means is that you should be realistic for the moment.
How good are your skills and expertise?
Again, be realistic.
If you’re a skilled artist/creator, chances are you already have a decent following of folks who admire your work. In this case, you can probably start off charging on the slightly higher scale. If you’re still new and a little less skilled, you might want to start at a more competitive price. Trust me, it won’t be long before your own skills build up to a place where you can charge more.
Let’s put it this way, when I first started out making Procreate brushes, I gave them away for free. I wasn’t that great or experienced yet and I simply wanted to test the market. People liked them and I gained a following which encouraged me to enhance my skills. Soon I was able to start selling them. Basically I started low and worked my way up. At this point in my business, I have come to a pretty good place on how my products are priced…but it didn’t happen overnight.
How many hours did you put in to make this product?
This can be tricky for a number of reasons. One, if you’re just starting out it can take a lot of hours from start to finish. For myself, I spend a lot of time on my brushes. I create, then test, then tweak (and do it all over again) until I have the brush exactly how I want it. Sure, I want to get paid for my skills but I also don’t expect customers to pay for my tedious process. That’s just me. The way I price is mostly based on how extensive my product is and what’s included. Then I price accordingly.
If you’re unsure how to price your product based on the above alone, you can look at what other sellers with a similar product/skillset are charging. Just keep in mind there are some sellers who are charging way too low. I get they are trying to be competitive but it might be at the cost (no pun intended) of always being seen as a low-end creator.
At the same time, there are going to be other sellers that charge way too much for their products. Interestingly enough, these tend to be newbies to the market. They must have read somewhere that if they put a high price tag on their work right outta the gate, they will automatically be seen as a top tier creator. It’s happened to me where I’ve fallen for a nice presentation only to be disappointed in the product itself. You can bet that once this happens to a customer, they likely won’t buy from that same seller again. I find most customers will pay a little more for some products…but they have to feel it’s worth it. So be fair to yourself…and your customers.
Be fair to yourself…and your customers.
Where are you selling your product?
I currently sell on my own website as well as a few marketplaces and I price my products with this in mind. The prices on my website are the base price and I consider them very fair for the quality of work I provide. I am also always offering discounts, especially when a new product launches. On Etsy, I offer discounts as well. It’s an extremely competitive market so discounts are a must if you want to make any sales. Other marketplaces, such as Design Cuts, offer discounts of their own…so that also helps give you an idea on how to price.
It’s true that many design asset marketplaces take a good portion of your earnings. However, they also get the traffic. So if they are actively promoting sellers across the board, you’ll not only get regular sales…over time you’ll gain some notoriety too.
In the end, it’s a win/win situation.
Now that you have some suggestions of how I handle my digital product pricing, try to see what works for you. Think about they type of creator you want to be seen as in your market so you can gain a following of loyal customers.
Putting a price tag on your creativity might be a little difficult but it’s very necessary if you want to earn a living doing it. It all depends on you…so be smart, realistic and strategic with how you put yourself out there.
Until next time…
