subject: The Differences Between Marketing Digital Products and Physical Products [print this page] The Differences Between Marketing Digital Products and Physical Products
There are two different types of products that are generally marketed online; digital products and physical products. Digital products are those in which the buyer downloads the product and typically consists of software, E-books and music to name a few. Physical products include items that literally need to be packaged up and shipped out to the customer. In Internet marketing, the marketer generally does not do the shipping, but instead, they promote an item from another company who ships the items once an order is placed.
Those are the differences that meet the eye, but there are other differences between marketing digital products and physical products, such as:
Since consumers cannot use, see or really test a digital product before they decide to buy it, the description needs to be accurate and the marketer needs to stand behind the product. A little more effort needs to be placed in drawing people into the product and engaging them to buy.
Digital products cannot be purchased in a store like some physical products can. With physical products, consumers can go to a store location at times and get a good idea for whether or not the product is right for them. The only way to know more about a digital product other than what the marketer provides is to ask people who have purchased the product before.
Physical products can be damaged in shipment and buyers tend to frown on poor shipping practices. The marketer should check out the seller's rating in all categories before they decide to market physical products from that retailer.
There can at times be several different versions of an E-book or several different books that provide the same type of information. Marketing a digital product that sets the marketer apart from the rest of the pack can help increase conversions.
Whether a marketer decides to market physical or digital products is up to them. Both have positives and both have negatives and each marketer is going to have his or her preference on whether they want to use one type or even both.
