250 | How she added $55k in revenue by adding a digital product to her e-commerce shop with Dani Bruflodt, The Daily Page
Have you considered what expanding your business into new product categories like digital products and offerings could do for your e-commerce brand?
In today’s episode Dani Bruflodt of The Daily Page shares how she created her first digital product as a happy accident, then proceeded to sell $15k in revenue on that product alone in the first year. Now, Dani has expanded her digital product line with only a full line of paid products, but also free products that she’s used to grow her newsletter list!
Dani’s desire to grow her email list came as she decided to move her shop from Etsy to owning her own ecommerce store on Shopify and realized she wanted to gather her customer’s information, since she’d never had it with Etsy.
Today’s episode is brought to you by our free Email Marketing For Product Makers Guide, where you’ll learn how to map out 12 months of emails in under an hour and learn more about strategies for wholesale and direct to consumer audiences!
Why You Should Have Your Own e-commerce Shop Instead of Relying on Etsy
Dani’s shop, The Daily Page has been on Etsy for over a decade with nearly 20k sales. While she still has an active Etsy shop, she made the transition to opening her own e-commerce shop in the summer of 2021 to sell both her physical products and digital products.
The decision to move from Etsy to her own shop was primarily based on having an independent shop online that she could manage, control, and market. While Etsy was a cozy home on the internet and provided her with an immediate audience, as her business grew, she realized that she would eventually need to build her own home on the internet for The Daily Page.
After going full-time with The Daily Page in 2019 and leaving her social media business behind, she wanted to focus on her own products and the consumer base, but that was hard to do on Etsy without the customer’s information.
She’d built up a social media presence, connected with her audience, then drove them to Etsy for sales, where she immediately lost them.
Additionally, she wanted to be able to do more with her pixel tracking and advertising.
With those considerations, Dani decided to move forward with building her own Shopify site, while she still maintains the Etsy storefront.
Just by reviewing the numbers, Dani’s fully satisfied with the decision to keep the Etsy shop open, as she’s built a client base that continues to return to the storefront for repeat purchases, even though she’s not driving traffic there in her own marketing.
It’s okay to continue having platforms available and running on cruise control as long as you’re marketing your customers to the places that benefit you most in the long-run.
Managing Inventory Across Multiple Platforms
The biggest challenge with having multiple shops is managing inventory. She’s tracking inventory from her Shopify store and her Etsy, with the added complexity of her products being produced in Minnesota, yet she’s in Denmark.
The product based community is in dire need of a software that simplifies the inventory management issues that we face that doesn’t require so many different tools and tech integrations.
Creating a Digital Product for Your Brand
While Dani claims that her digital product line was a happy accident, it turned out to be one of the most valuable accidents her brand could have had. After purchasing an iPad, she wanted to create a product that could be used on it, sell that product, and make back her investment on the iPad within 6 months.
That’s when she looked into apps like Paper 52, that allowed you to import PDFs and use. She turned one of her products into a digital product and made $15,000 that first year on that product.
If you’re making physical products, but want to add digital products to your brand, consider starting with raster files. It’s easier to convert a raster into other file types.
While you’re creating them, consider your pricing and don’t underprice yourself. While you can sell a physical version of a planner for $55, they’re coming back to repurchase year after year, while a digital one page planner is a one-time purchase that they use over and over. Pricing that one-page digital planner at $9.99 allows the customer to essentially own the product forever.
Digital Products & Offerings
One way that Dani grew her email list to over 16k subscribers in two years was by offering digital downloadables in exchange for a newsletter signup. A newsletter offers higher conversion than social media conversions.
When you’re creating a product, think about the person who is landing on your website, and what they would be interested in downloading. For Dani, as a productivity shop, she can create calendars, goal tracking sheets, etc. A few digital downloads that you could offer include:
Printable quote art
Labels/bottle art
Valentines mini card
Phone and computer wallpaper
Mini guides/tips
Calendars
Planners
Templates for time-saving
Pdf - how to write a letter
In Conclusion: Logistics of Managing a Digital Product & e-commerce Business
With so many different areas and components of the business, it’s easy to struggle with the logistics of managing it all.
If you decide to add multiple product lines to your business, whether physical or digital products, it’s important to find a way to streamline your processes and focus on your time-management.
Pick where you want to invest your time and what you want to do with the time you get back through efficiency.
Quick links:
Here is a recap of links shared in this post:
239 | Why You Should Be Tracking Inventory at All Stages of Business with Katie Hunt
145 | Transitioning From Etsy to Your Own Website With Rebecca Inkrote, Bex Marie
148 | Coaching with Katie Hunt: Expanding Into New Product Categories
191 | Why Your Email List Is More Important Than Any Social Media Platform with Meera Kothand
088 | Email Sequences, Sales Funnels and Facebook Ads with Zoë Scharf from Greetabl
277 | Maximizing Online Sales on Amazon and Shopify with Grace Hayden | Shopify Simplified
If you’ve enjoyed this episode and are ready to grow your own email list, make sure you check out my free guide to email marketing, where I help you map out 12 months of emails in under an hour!
Download These Quotables to Save and Share
MEET DANI:
Dani Bruflodt (pronounced brew-flawt) is the creator and founder of The Daily Page, a small-batch paper goods studio creating holistic, sustainable planners that help align your work and wellness in one place.
Their products are created with FSC-certified paper and produced on a woman-owned printing press in Minnesota. A tree is planted for each planner purchased.
CONNECT WITH DANI
WEBSITE: DailyPagePlanner.com | INSTAGRAM: @thedailypage | INSTRAGRAM: @thyme_is_honey | FACEBOOK: TheDailyPagePlanner | PINTEREST: @ThymeisHoney/
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
you might also like:
