$168K Store Case Study: Digital Products to Sell On Etsy

Selling digital products on Etsy is a really great way to build an online business you can truly be proud of. With low overhead costs (sometimes zero!) and the ability to be mostly passive income, finding digital products to sell on Etsy can open up an entirely new income stream. But how do you go from a brand-new store to earning over $168,000 in just one year?

Today, we’re diving into a case study of a digital products Etsy store that did exactly that—turning one year of effort into massive success! We’ll look at how to sell digital downloads on Etsy like a pro using this case study as a guide. It’s almost all profit, and it grows into passive income. Let’s see how this newbie digital products Etsy seller turned one year of sweat equity into $168,000—and growing—so you can start selling on Etsy like a pro. Let’s go!

Selling Digital Products on Etsy: From Sweat Equity to Passive Income

Hello and thank you so much for joining me for this mind-blowing Etsy case study today! This one is all about one particularly awesome niche for digital products to sell on Etsy and the Etsy selling tips that helped them grow like WILD. This blog post is a loose transcript of my case study video. So if you’d like to see this in visual format, you can watch it here. But it’s important to have it in written form, too. This way you can bookmark this page and be able to reference the selling tips and Etsy SEO tips, without digging through the whole video. LOL!

So let’s jump right into their Etsy sales stats breakdown.

As you can see, this is a really beautifully done spreadsheet store. In fact, despite being so new, this store has some of the top selling digital products on Etsy! As of the time I did this case study, although this is rapidly increasing, they have 1,229 sales. They only have 34 listings! But it’s not uncommon for a spreadsheet store to have a small number of listings and still do successfully well. But this store in particular is really crushing it.

Their average product price is about 10 bucks (in USD), and as you can see, that is fairly conservative. I love to be conservative because I want you guys to have realistic expectations! They do have a few things priced around $6 to $8. But most of their stuff is well over that $10 mark.

Let’s look at their oldest feedback. If we scroll down to the very, very end, you can see that their first sale actually came on March 28th of 2023. So, we are looking at a really new store here.

This store has accomplished over 19,000 sales in just about 14 months.

That is super cool and definitely required a bit of strategy and a lot of elbow grease to create these amazing products.

When we add that all together, that gives this store an approximate annual sales of about $177,000. So that is really pretty impressive. That breaks down to around $14,000 a month! This is absolutely amazing considering the passive nature of selling digital products on Etsy.

Obviously, this store is crushing it, really, really crushing it in Etsy sales! And you’re probably thinking that they have some magic secret that helped them get ahead. Maybe they did, but I can only actually see what’s public info here on Etsy after all. They really didn’t need any sort of magic, though, because they’ve literally done everything right in this store.

We are going to start by looking at their storefront. You will see why the store has just popped off like a rocket with their digital product spreadsheet store.

Why Digital Products to Sell on Etsy Can A Great Niche

In case you are totally new to Etsy, digital product niches like these are great because there are not really any overhead costs. This means there’s a much higher profit margin. But more importantly, once you do the initial work to create your products and get your listings put up, they can sell repeatedly as passive income. This means you have more time to focus on adding new listings and scaling your store.

That’s exactly what this digital products Etsy seller did! They focused on getting the initial work done to create high-quality digital downloads that their buyers would love. Now, their products sell repeatedly without them having to do much additional work, aside from marketing and customer service. 

This is one of the biggest perks of selling digital products on Etsy! Once the product is created, it keeps earning for you! To see the full pros and cons of how to sell digital downloads on Etsy compared to other types of products, check out my ‘What To Sell On Etsy’ blog post here. 

How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy: Nail Your Storefront

Now that you’ve got an idea of why I’m totally googly-eyed over this store’s amazing success, let’s look at how. First of all, their store banner boasts that they have minimalistic spreadsheets. And boy, did they hit that nail on the head! 

Not only does this make it clear what the shop offers, but it also attracts the right audience. Aka buyers who want easy-to-use, clean spreadsheets without any complicated features.

Their main images (in the first image up above) are also very minimalistic but not in a whitewashed or bland way. These images are colorful with bold, clear text explaining what the spreadsheet is. There are also little bullet point-style banners to highlight the main features. I talk about a lot about these type of images in my Etsy case studies. It is so important for setting your items apart in those search pages, and you only have a few seconds to catch a buyer’s attention.

But that’s not the only thing they have going for them. If you’ve seen a lot of my videos on youtube, you might have noticed it already. But if not, don’t worry! I’m going to break it down for you here. 

Adding a Unique Twist to Stand Out From Other Digital Product Etsy Sellers

One of the things I talk about in my sales psychology tips for Etsy sellers is finding ways to add something unique or do something different than what’s already selling on Etsy. 

We’ve seen lots of examples in my videos of ways sellers set themselves apart. But this seller has a few really fun and clever ways to snag more sales than the average spreadsheet seller.

This seller didn’t stop at just creating beautiful spreadsheets. They also found ways to add a unique twist to their products. This sets them apart from other sellers in the digital products niche. 

One of their best-selling products is a couple’s budget spreadsheet. This is not only brilliant but clearly a much-needed tool. It’s no wonder that this product is a bestseller in their shop, with multiple versions available!

They also have a life planner, which in today’s chaotic and busy world- can they just take my money already? It’s awesome! These are all digital products ideas that are fresh, new, and fun, especially for buyers who are new to budgeting and might get overwhelmed with some of the fancier, bells-and-whistles-style budgets that you typically see selling on Etsy.

Clearly, this seller has mastered the art of putting a new twist on how to sell digital products online. 

Let’s take a deeper look at one of their best sellers so we can dissect their images, SEO, and other good stuff. By the way, they have 33 listings, and while I didn’t open them all, I opened a lot—and they were all best sellers out of the ones I opened. That’s impressive!

Breaking Down One Of Their Best-Selling Etsy Listings

Okay, so we’re going to look at one specific digital product Etsy listing to analyze,  because this is a fairly typical type of budget spreadsheet that we tend to see selling a lot on Etsy. 

So why is this one in particular selling so well? First of all, there is strength in numbers. Having one best seller in your Etsy shop makes it more likely to get a ‘boost’ to your other listings. This will increase the chances of having multiple bestsellers. 

For example, this particular best-selling listing helps to increase the visibility of their other Etsy listings, giving them more potential to become best sellers themselves and capture more sales. 

This is because Etsy wants to send buyers to products that they know will not only convert to sales but also result in happy buyers. With best-selling listings and great feedback, you get more visibility for your whole shop. Every best seller this store had before this product helped the seller become a bestseller, which helped this listing become a bestseller as well. (I explain in DETAIL how the Etsy algorithm works in my Etsy SEO strategy section of the ESSWB2.0.)

Before we go into their images and SEO, I want you guys to take a second and comment down below for me and let me know where you’re at in your Etsy journey. Do you have a store yet? Are you still researching ideas? Have you been selling for a while?

Just let me know in the comments so I can make sure my content is really tailored to your needs and to helping you not only get started on Etsy but also grow your store consistently and even expand beyond Etsy. I’m here for you guys, so help me out by dropping a comment- it only takes a second. I love to turn your questions into ideas for new videos and blog posts.

Listing Images: How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy Like A Pro

The listing images for this seller’s digital products don’t disappoint. They are simple, easy to read, and highlight the product’s features clearly. When learning how to sell digital downloads on Etsy, this store is a GREAT example to use for reference before creating your images.

There’s also a video that showcases multiple pages of the spreadsheet, giving potential buyers a comprehensive look at what they’re purchasing. The video covers multiple pages to highlight the comprehensiveness of this particular budget. It looks well done, and doesn’t go too quickly or too slow. (You can see the visual breakdown of their images in the video.)

Looking at the rest of their images, everything is well laid out. They’ve clearly written out various features, and they make everything look super easy to use, super approachable, and very detailed so that nothing gets left behind.

This Etsy seller has priced their products slightly higher than the average budget spreadsheet, coming in at around $12 each. Despite the higher price, their digital products sell well due to the perceived value. Everything looks well thought out, easy to use, and detailed, which supports the price point. 

In other words, their images help the buyer to SEE the value in their product and feel comfortable buying it.

They also have an “Is This Product for You?” and “How It Works” image, which you know I love! Informational images like these answer a lot of important questions that potential buyers might have, which not only helps boost sales but also helps keep buyer expectations clear. There’s not a lot of room for misunderstanding or misrepresentation, which in turn prevents bad feedback. Bad feedback can be a real struggle when you sell digital products online, so this seller is very smart to add these images!

But there’s another reason I want to focus on the “Is This Product for You?” image. Not only are they taking a huge page out of the sales psychology book with this image to combat objections right off the bat and rule out potential buyers who might not be looking for this type of product, but they also suggest another product underneath that can redirect buyers who might have been hoping for something simpler. 

This is sheer genius because it keeps buyers on their store page instead of just having them back out and look at a different seller or product. (PS- if you haven’t seen my video about sales psychology for selling on Etsy, definitely check that out next.)

Smart Etsy SEO Helps To Sell Digital Products Online

In terms of their Etsy SEO, this seller is capitalizing on a very strategic amount of repetition without doubling down on too many keywords and wasting valuable space. To nail that repetition that helps give strength to their keywords, they’ve pasted a very similar but slightly longer version of their title into the beginning of their product description. 

There are actually a few more keywords in this paragraph, which is great because Etsy only lets us have 140 characters in our titles, but it’s the first 160 characters that have the most SEO impact in our product descriptions. 

That largely pays off in terms of Google and other search engine results, but Etsy does factor descriptions into SEO as well. If we jump down to their tags, we can see those main phrases are also covered here in their tags. So, they’ve done their keyword research and made sure the important terms were covered to nail as many searches as possible.

Make sure to check out my blog post about the common trends I found in the SEO in over 1,000 Etsy Best Sellers next. It’s a great starting point for laying out your own Etsy SEO strategy for selling digital products on Etsy.

Of course, there’s a lot more than just SEO that goes into becoming a best seller and breaking into a saturated Etsy niche. So, make sure to check out my other Etsy tips posts for more strategies and tips as well!

Key Takeaways for Selling Digital Products on Etsy

If you’re looking to sell digital products on Etsy, here are the key strategies we can learn from this successful case study:

1. Choose a Great Etsy Niche: Focus on a specific product type, like spreadsheets, that appeals to your target audience. (See my blog post of 20+ Etsy Niche Ideas that sell like hotcakes!)
2. Offer Something Unique: Add a fresh twist to your products to stand out from other sellers.
3. Optimize Your Listings: Use clear images, bold text, and bullet points to highlight key features and attract attention.
4. Nail Your SEO: Make sure to use your keywords strategically in both your title and description to increase visibility.
5. Build Up Your Passive Income: Once your products are created, they can sell repeatedly, providing passive income while you focus on growing your store by adding MORE digital products to sell on Etsy as time goes on!

If you’re ready to start selling digital products on Etsy, now’s the time to apply these strategies to your own shop. By focusing on high-quality products, unique offerings, and smart SEO, you can build a thriving digital products business, just like this case study store. So now that you know how to sell digital downloads on Etsy like a pro, I’ll be rooting for your Etsy success! You’ve got this! 

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And don’t forget, I’ve got TONS of FREE RESOURCES FOR SELLING ON ETSY! From how to get sales on Etsy, in-depth Etsy selling tips, a guide on the best Etsy SEO tools, and so much more!

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