Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The Economics of Selling Digital Assets
- 1. Online Courses and Educational Content
- 2. Membership Sites and Recurring Communities
- 3. E-books and In-depth Digital Guides
- 4. Professional Templates and Digital Assets
- 5. Creative Assets: Photography, Music, and Audio
- The Strategy of Bundling: Physical + Digital
- Why Native Integration is the Secret Sauce
- Overcoming Common Challenges in Digital Sales
- Getting Started: Your Roadmap to Digital Success
- Pricing Your Digital Products
- Building Brand Loyalty Through Digital Ecosystems
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
Did you know that the global market for digital products is projected to surge past $416 billion by 2030? In a world where physical supply chains are often fraught with delays and rising shipping costs, digital assets represent a frontier of incredible efficiency and high-profit margins. Imagine launching a product today and having it available to thousands of customers worldwide by tomorrow, without ever needing to touch a cardboard box or visit a post office. This is the reality for modern merchants who have discovered the power of the "create once, sell forever" business model.
At Tevello, our mission is to turn any Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse. We believe that the most successful e-commerce businesses of the future won't just sell things; they will sell knowledge, access, and convenience. Whether you are an established brand looking to diversify your income or a creator starting from scratch, understanding which digital products are in high demand is the first step toward building a sustainable, scalable business.
This blog post will explore the most profitable digital products that I can sell on Shopify today. We will delve into the nuances of online courses, membership communities, digital templates, and more. We will also discuss the technical advantages of keeping your digital assets native to your Shopify store, ensuring you own your customer data and provide a seamless brand experience. By the end of this guide, you will have a clear roadmap for selecting, creating, and launching digital products that drive recurring revenue and increase your customer lifetime value.
The Economics of Selling Digital Assets
When merchants ask about digital products that I can sell, they are often motivated by the promise of high-profit margins. Unlike physical goods, which typically see margins between 10% and 30% after accounting for manufacturing, storage, and shipping, digital products often boast margins of 90% or higher. Once the initial development phase is complete, the cost of selling to the 1,000th customer is virtually the same as selling to the first.
This scalability is what makes digital products a cornerstone of modern entrepreneurship. However, it is not just about the profit per unit; it is about the stability of the business. By incorporating digital products like memberships or courses, merchants can transition from a "transactional" model—where they must constantly find new customers—to a "relationship" model. This shift fosters brand loyalty and provides a predictable revenue stream that can buffer the seasonal fluctuations of physical retail.
Our approach at Tevello focuses on helping you leverage this stability. We provide an all-in-one ecosystem where physical products and digital learning live side-by-side. This native integration ensures that your customers never have to leave your site to access their purchases, which significantly reduces friction and improves the overall brand experience.
1. Online Courses and Educational Content
Online courses are arguably the most robust digital products that I can sell. People are increasingly turning to the internet to gain specific, actionable skills that traditional education often misses. From professional development to hobbyist deep-dives, the demand for structured learning is limitless.
The Value of Specialized Knowledge
You do not need to be a university professor to create a successful course. What you need is a solution to a specific problem. For a merchant selling high-end coffee beans, creating a "Barista Basics" video course is a high-margin upsell that requires no shipping boxes and adds immense value to the physical product. This type of content helps customers get the most out of what they’ve already bought, increasing their satisfaction and the likelihood of repeat purchases.
Video-Based Learning
Video is the gold standard for digital education. It allows for a personal connection between the teacher and the student. When you build your curriculum, focusing on bite-sized, digestible modules ensures that your students stay engaged and actually finish the course. With Tevello, you can offer unlimited video hosting and bandwidth, meaning you never have to worry about your site slowing down or hitting a cap as your student base grows.
Quizzes and Interactive Elements
To make your course stand out, you should include interactive elements like quizzes and drip content scheduling. Drip scheduling allows you to release lessons over time, keeping students engaged over weeks rather than hours. This is an excellent way to build long-term habits and ensure that your community remains active.
2. Membership Sites and Recurring Communities
If you are looking for predictable revenue, membership sites are the ultimate digital products that I can sell. Instead of a one-time purchase, customers pay a monthly or annual fee for ongoing access to exclusive content, community forums, and expert advice.
Building a "Boutique" Community
The most successful memberships are not just repositories of files; they are vibrant communities. By offering a member directory, social feeds, and profiles, you create a space where your customers can interact with each other. This "network effect" makes your membership more valuable the more people join it. We have seen how migrating over 14,000 members and reducing support tickets can be achieved by moving away from fragmented platforms and onto a single, native Shopify ecosystem.
Exclusive Content and Perks
A membership might include monthly live Q&A sessions, a library of templates, or early access to new physical product launches. For example, a fitness brand might offer a "Gold Member" tier that includes weekly workout videos and a private community group where members share their progress. By solving login issues by moving to a native platform, you ensure that these members can access their perks with the same credentials they use for their regular shopping, eliminating the "password fatigue" that kills engagement.
To support this model, we offer a flat-rate plan that supports unlimited members, allowing you to grow your community without the fear of your software costs eating into your profits as you scale.
3. E-books and In-depth Digital Guides
E-books are often the first digital products that I can sell because they have a low barrier to entry. If you have knowledge that can be written down, you have a product.
Solving Niche Problems
The key to a profitable e-book is specificity. A generic "How to Cook" book will struggle against free recipes on YouTube. However, a "30-Day Meal Plan for Busy Solo Entrepreneurs" solves a very specific pain point for a defined audience. These guides serve as excellent entry-level products that introduce customers to your brand before they commit to a higher-priced course or membership.
Bundling for Higher Value
Don't just sell one PDF; sell a bundle. Include a workbook, a checklist, and a resource list to increase the perceived value of your digital product. We’ve seen incredible results from merchants generating revenue from both physical and digital goods by offering digital guides as an add-on to physical kits. This strategy not only increases the average order value but also provides the customer with everything they need to be successful with their purchase.
4. Professional Templates and Digital Assets
For many professionals, time is more valuable than money. This is why templates are some of the most sought-after digital products that I can sell. Whether it is a Canva template for social media, a Notion setup for project management, or a spreadsheet for financial tracking, people will pay for tools that save them hours of work.
Types of High-Demand Templates
- Design Templates: Social media posts, presentation decks, and resumes.
- Business Documents: Contract templates, email swipe files, and proposal formats.
- Organizational Tools: Budget trackers, meal planners, and workout logs.
If unifying your stack is a priority, start by a simple, all-in-one price for unlimited courses.
Selling to Creators and Small Businesses
The "creator economy" is a massive market for these assets. Bloggers, influencers, and small business owners are constantly looking for ways to professionalize their brand without hiring a full-time designer. By selling customizable assets, you empower them to grow their businesses while you build a stream of passive income.
5. Creative Assets: Photography, Music, and Audio
If you are a creative professional, your portfolio is full of digital products that I can sell. Every photo you take, every beat you produce, and every sound effect you record has market value.
Stock Photography and Video
While large stock sites exist, many brands prefer to buy from independent creators to get a unique look. You can sell themed photo packs or high-resolution B-roll footage directly from your Shopify store. This ensures you keep a higher percentage of the sale and maintain a direct relationship with your buyers.
Audio Products and Music
From background music for YouTubers to meditation tracks and sound effects for game developers, audio is a booming niche. Many creators are looking for "royalty-free" assets they can use in their own content. By offering these on your own URL, you ensure that customers see digital products that live directly alongside physical stock, such as microphones or studio equipment, creating a unified brand experience.
The Strategy of Bundling: Physical + Digital
One of the most powerful ways to use digital products is to bundle them with physical goods. This is a strategy we champion at Tevello because it leverages the unique strengths of the Shopify platform.
Consider a merchant selling gardening supplies. They could sell a physical "Starter Seed Kit" and bundle it with a digital "Mastering Your Garden" course. This bundle has a much higher perceived value than the seeds alone. Furthermore, the digital component allows the merchant to stay in contact with the customer throughout the growing season, offering timely advice and promoting other products.
We have documented how one brand sold $112K+ by bundling courses with their physical craft kits. This approach doesn't just increase immediate revenue; it builds a community of successful customers who are likely to return for more supplies and advanced training.
Why Native Integration is the Secret Sauce
When merchants look for digital products that I can sell, they often make the mistake of using third-party platforms that redirect their customers away from their website. This creates a fragmented experience and, more importantly, means the merchant loses control of their customer data.
Owning the Customer Experience
At Tevello, we believe you should own your brand. Our "Native Shopify Integration" ensures that your checkout process is handled by the Shopify payment gateways you already trust. When a customer buys a course, they don't get sent to a different website with a different login. They stay on your URL, under your brand. This reduces support tickets related to login issues and keeps your brand front and center.
Technical Advantages
Using a native solution means your digital products benefit from all of Shopify’s powerful features, including discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, and detailed analytics. You can see all the key features for courses and communities that we’ve built specifically to work within the Shopify framework. This includes a unified login system, which means if a customer is logged into their Shopify account to check an order status, they are also logged into their course dashboard.
Overcoming Common Challenges in Digital Sales
Selling digital goods is not without its hurdles. However, with the right tools and strategy, these challenges are easily managed.
The Problem of Piracy
A common concern with digital products is unauthorized sharing. While no system is 100% foolproof, using a secure delivery platform like Tevello helps protect your intellectual property. By hosting your content within a logged-in member area rather than sending a simple download link, you make it much harder for content to be distributed without your permission.
Perceived Value and Trust
Because digital products are intangible, some customers may hesitate to pay a high price. You can build trust by providing detailed product descriptions, showcasing student testimonials, and offering a free "mini-course" or a sample chapter of your e-book. This "freemium" model allows customers to experience the quality of your work before they buy.
Competition with Free Content
There is a lot of free information on the internet. To succeed, your digital product must be more organized, more actionable, and more convenient than what someone can find on Google for free. People pay for the curation and the pathway to a result, not just the information itself.
Getting Started: Your Roadmap to Digital Success
If you are ready to start selling, here is a step-by-step guide to launching your first digital product on Shopify.
Step 1: Identify Your Niche
Look at your current physical products or your areas of expertise. What questions do your customers constantly ask? What is the "next step" for them after they buy your physical goods? The answer to these questions is your first digital product.
Step 2: Choose Your Format
Will your product be a simple PDF, a multi-module video course, or a recurring membership? Start with what you can realistically produce in the next 30 days. You can always expand and add more complex features later.
Step 3: Install the Right Tools
To keep everything native and seamless, install Tevello from the Shopify App Store today. You can start your 14-day free trial and build your entire curriculum before you pay a cent. During this time, you can explore how our predictable pricing without hidden transaction fees will benefit your bottom line as you grow.
Step 4: Create and Beta Test
Build your content and share it with a small group of loyal customers for feedback. Use their input to refine your videos, worksheets, or templates. This ensures that when you launch to your full audience, your product is polished and provides high value.
Step 5: Launch and Iterate
Promote your digital product through your existing email list and social media channels. Use seeing how the app natively integrates with Shopify to offer bundles and upsells at checkout. Remember, digital products can be updated instantly, so keep listening to customer feedback and improving your content.
Pricing Your Digital Products
Pricing is often the most stressful part of the process for new merchants. Unlike physical goods, where you have a "cost of goods sold" (COGS) to guide you, digital pricing is based on the value you provide.
The Low-Ticket vs. High-Ticket Debate
Low-ticket products (under $50) like e-books and templates are great for high-volume sales and building a large customer base. High-ticket products ($200+) like comprehensive courses or masterminds require more trust but can significantly boost your revenue with fewer sales. Many successful merchants use a "Value Ladder," where they offer a low-cost e-book that leads into a mid-priced course, which eventually leads into a high-priced membership.
Transparent, Flat-Rate Software Costs
At Tevello, we reject complicated tier structures. We offer The Unlimited Plan for $29.99 per month. This includes unlimited courses, unlimited students, and unlimited video hosting. Most importantly, we charge 0% transaction fees. This means you keep 100% of what you earn, allowing you to calculate your ROI with total clarity.
Building Brand Loyalty Through Digital Ecosystems
The ultimate goal of adding digital products to your Shopify store is to create an ecosystem. When a customer buys a physical product, they get the digital instructions. When they finish the instructions, they join the community. When they are in the community, they see the next physical product they need.
This circular journey is how you increase Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). It moves your business away from the "one-and-done" sale and toward a model where your brand becomes a central part of your customer's life or hobby. Whether they are learning to knit, mastering a new software, or improving their fitness, you are providing the tools and the knowledge they need to succeed.
Conclusion
Digital products that I can sell on Shopify offer a unique opportunity to scale your business with minimal overhead and maximum impact. By diversifying your revenue streams with courses, memberships, and templates, you are not just selling products—you are building a resilient, future-proof brand.
At Tevello, we are committed to providing you with the robust tools you need to succeed. Our native integration, 0% transaction fees, and simple $29.99 monthly pricing are designed to empower you to grow without limits. You can build your entire digital learning powerhouse while keeping your customers on your own URL and maintaining full control over your data.
To build your community without leaving Shopify, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from. Take advantage of our 14-day free trial to see how easy it is to transform your store today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell digital products and physical products in the same Shopify store?
Absolutely. In fact, we highly recommend it. Using Tevello allows you to sell digital courses and memberships alongside your physical inventory. This enables powerful marketing strategies like bundling a physical "how-to" kit with an accompanying video course, all within a single checkout experience.
Do I need a separate website to host my online courses?
No. One of the primary advantages of Tevello is that it turns your existing Shopify store into a hosting platform. Your customers stay on your domain, which builds trust and ensures they don't have to manage multiple logins across different websites.
How much does it cost to start selling courses with Tevello?
We offer a simple, transparent pricing model. Our Unlimited Plan is $29.99 per month and includes unlimited courses, students, and video hosting. We also offer a 14-day free trial, and unlike many other platforms, we charge 0% transaction fees on your sales.
Is my content safe from being shared for free?
While the internet makes complete prevention difficult, Tevello provides a secure, logged-in environment for your content. Instead of sending a downloadable file that can be easily forwarded, your students must log into their account on your Shopify store to access the videos and materials, significantly deterring piracy.
