Your digital good has made it through the conceptualization phase and is almost ready to hit the market; how do you plan to make the final touches to get it ready for sale? If you need a bit of direction in this area, you're not alone. Many digital goods merchants, new and established alike, find those finishing touches to be the most challenging aspect of content creation.
Consider a Help File
If you're selling anything that needs to be installed, like a software program, a smartphone app or even an ebook designed to be sideloaded onto an ereader device, it's a good idea to include a Help file in the product bundle. While many of your customers will already know how to get their new files ready for use, it's always wise to act as if everyone purchasing your product has limited experience installing similar files. Chances are, there will be at least a small percentage of buyers who aren't sure how to install their digital goods, and helping them to make use of files they've purchased boosts your customers' satisfaction while helping you save time answering inquiries.
Considering Device Limitations and Specifications
Is your product designed for use on a dedicated device, like an ebook or smartphone app? If so, it's important to make sure it's formatted properly. This means more than just creating a professional-quality, clean interface, though.
For instance, a single ebook may need to be sold as several separate digital goods, because every device or reading app accommodates its own native file format. You'll want to make sure Amazon Kindle readers can download a .mobi file, Barnes and Noble Nook users have access to an .ePub file, and so on. Files you've created and formatted in word processing software, like Word documents, will never be well suited to any device because they're a fixed format, where ereader devices rely upon reflowable text for scale and readability.
Factor in Your Customers' Needs
Just as not all ebook customers will use the same ereader devices, many buyers of other digital goods will use different means of consumption. Software providers will want to offer PC and Mac versions of their programs, or else risk cutting their potential audience in half. When you're preparing your digital good for market, think about your customers and all of the different ways they might make use of your product. Optimizing for several kinds of user is one of the best ways to boost your customer pool while keeping everyone happy.
Assignment:
Before releasing your digital good on the open market, take a moment to think about compatibility. How can you make this particular product accessible to more users? Find a way to increase the number of people who could conceivably use your product as part of creating a finalized product ready for launch.