Google Shopping is an increasingly popular platform for e-commerce businesses to sell their physical products online and reach millions of potential customers searching on Google. But did you know that you can also sell digital products on Google Shopping? That’s right – if you sell downloadable or streaming products like ebooks, music, videos, software, or digital subscriptions, you can list them on Google Shopping and take advantage of their huge audience to drive more sales and grow your business.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about selling digital products on Google Shopping in 2024. We’ll explain what digital products are eligible for Google Shopping, the benefits of selling on this platform, and provide a step-by-step walkthrough of how to get started listing your digital goods. We’ll also share expert tips for optimizing your product listings to maximize visibility and conversions. Finally, we’ll discuss how to fulfill digital orders, track sales, and compare the pros and cons of selling digital products on Google Shopping versus other e-commerce platforms.
By the end of this article, you’ll be fully equipped with the knowledge and best practices to successfully sell digital products on Google Shopping. Let’s dive in!
What are digital products?
First, let’s define what we mean by “digital products.” These are intangible goods that exist in digital form and are delivered electronically to the customer, rather than being physically shipped. Some common examples of digital products include:
- Ebooks and digital magazines
- Music files like MP3s
- Videos and movies
- Software programs and mobile apps
- Online courses and digital subscriptions
- Graphics and website themes/templates
- Gaming digital content like in-app purchases
The key distinguishing factor is that customers receive the digital product via download, email, or streaming after their purchase. There is no physical product exchanged.
With the rise of the Internet and connected devices, digital products have exploded in popularity over the last decade. Worldwide e-commerce sales of digital goods are expected to reach $300+ billion by 2023 as more and more content shifts to digital consumption. Offering digital products provides exciting opportunities for businesses to reach a global customer base, streamline order fulfillment, and scale more rapidly compared to selling physical goods.
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Can you sell digital products on Google Shopping?
Yes, businesses can sell digital products on Google Shopping! Google expanded its Shopping platform a few years ago to support the sale of digital goods, allowing more merchants to participate.
To be eligible for listing on Google Shopping, your digital products must meet the following criteria:
- Have a clearly defined price
- Be immediately available to the customer after purchase via download or access to content
- Comply with Google’s Shopping ads policies, including restrictions on offensive content, copyrighted material, gambling-related products, etc.
There are a few product categories that cannot be sold on Google Shopping, even if they are delivered digitally:
- Alcoholic beverages
- Vehicles
- Real estate and timeshares
- Products that promise miraculous cures or unrealistic results
- Counterfeit goods
But in general, most standard digital products are allowed on Google Shopping as long as you follow the guidelines. This opens up a huge opportunity to get your digital offerings in front of the billions of shoppers using Google and drive a new stream of revenue for your business.
Benefits of selling digital products on Google Shopping
Now that we’ve established you can sell digital products on Google Shopping, let’s look at some of the key benefits and advantages of utilizing this platform for your digital goods:
Massive reach and audience. Google handles over 5 billion searches per day and Shopping ads appear at the top of relevant search results. Getting your products listed on Google Shopping allows you to tap into this incredibly large audience of potential customers who are actively looking to make a purchase. It’s an unparalleled opportunity for exposure.
Increased credibility and trust. Having your products show up in Google results instantly lends credibility and trust to your brand. Shoppers know Google has vetted merchants and will only display legitimate products, so you gain the halo effect of Google’s strong reputation. This can boost clickthroughs and conversions.
Pay-per-click instead of commissions. With Google Shopping, you only pay when someone clicks on your product listing. There are no commissions or fees based on sales. This means more of the revenue stays with you. Other platforms like Amazon charge commissions as high as 15-25% for digital product sales.
Easy integration with your website. The process for submitting your product feed and connecting your listings to your website is very straightforward. You can quickly import products and orders will be automatically sent to you for fulfillment. There is no need to maintain a separate storefront or checkout.
Higher conversion rates. Google Shopping has been shown to have up to 30% higher conversion rates compared to standard text ads, likely due to the engaging product visuals and information displayed. For digital products that rely on compelling images and descriptions to sell, Shopping ads are particularly effective.
Fast and easy fulfillment. Since customers automatically receive your digital product upon purchase, you can streamline order processing and fulfillment compared to physical products. This makes it easier to manage a large volume of sales.
In short, selling digital products on Google Shopping provides a powerful way to reach a huge audience of shoppers, generate brand awareness and trust, and drive a high volume of sales with an efficient cost structure and fulfillment process. If you offer digital goods, it’s well worth setting up a Google Merchant Center account and getting your products listed.
How to get started selling digital products on Google Shopping
Ready to start selling your digital products on Google Shopping? Follow these steps to get set up:
Step 1: Create a Google Merchant Center account
The first step is signing up for a free Google Merchant Center account at merchants.google.com. This is the hub where you’ll upload and manage your product feed that powers your Shopping listings. You’ll need to provide basic information about your business, including:
- Business display name
- Website URL
- Country of operation
- Primary contact information
Once submitted, Google will review and verify your account, which usually takes around 72 hours. In some cases, you may need to provide additional documentation like business registration to complete the verification process.
Step 2: Link your Google Ads account
For your Shopping listings to be eligible to show in search results, you’ll need to create a Google Ads account and link it to your Merchant Center. If you already use Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords), you can link your existing account. Otherwise, you can create a new one during this step.
Having your Merchant Center linked to Google Ads is what allows you to create Shopping campaigns, set budgets, and manage your bids for your product listings. Your product feed in Merchant Center is synced with Google Ads to power the actual ads that are shown to users.
Step 3: Add digital products to your Merchant Center feed
Now you’re ready to start adding your digital products to your Merchant Center feed. You’ll need to create a product feed file that contains all the relevant information about each product, including:
- Product Title
- Description
- Price
- Product category
- Images
- Availability
- Link to product landing page on your website
For digital products, there are a few extra attributes you need to include in your feed to indicate the digital nature of the product:
- “condition”: This should be set to “new” for digital products
- “is digital”: Indicates the product is digital and delivered electronically. Set to “true.”
- “digital product fulfillment”: Specifies how the customer will receive the digital product. Options include “download”, “stream”, “key code”, and “access code.”
- “digital product season”: For digital products like courses that have set start and end dates. Provide the relevant date range.
- “digital product subscription”: For digital subscriptions, set this attribute to “true.”
You can create your product feed manually or automatically sync it from an e-commerce platform like Shopify or WooCommerce. Google provides detailed instructions for feed formatting and specifications in their Help Center.
Once you’ve uploaded your feed to the Merchant Center, Google will process and review your products. You can check the status of each product in the “Products” section and resolve any errors that are flagged.
Step 4: Create a Google Shopping campaign
After your products are approved in the Merchant Center, you can create a Shopping campaign in Google Ads to start promoting them on Google. In your Ads account, create a new campaign and select the “Shopping” campaign type. Then, choose which Merchant Center feed you want to use for the campaign.
You’ll set your campaign budget, targeting parameters, and bids during this step. It’s a good idea to structure your campaign to align with your product categories or profit margins. Consider segmenting your digital products into separate ad groups for better control over bids and budgets.
Step 5: Launch and monitor performance
Once your Shopping campaign is saved and launched, your digital product listings can start appearing on Google almost immediately. Be sure to keep an eye on your campaign performance and make adjustments as needed to optimize your return on ad spend. Key metrics to track include:
- Impressions: How often are your product listings showing up?
- Clicks: How many people are clicking through to your site?
- Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that result in a click. A higher CTR indicates your listings are relevant and compelling.
- Average cost-per-click (CPC): How much are you paying on average for each click?
- Conversions: How many clicks are resulting in actual sales?
- Conversion rate: The percentage of clicks that convert to sales.
- Revenue: Total sales generated from your Shopping campaign.
It may take some trial and error to dial in your bids, budget, and product feed to find the sweet spot for performance. But with regular monitoring and optimization, selling digital products on Google Shopping can become a profitable and scalable sales channel for your business.
Tips for optimizing your digital product listings on Google Shopping
To make the most of your digital product listings on Google Shopping, keep these best practices and optimization tips in mind:
- Use clear, descriptive product titles
Your product titles are one of the main factors Google uses to determine relevance to a user’s search. Make sure to include the most important keywords that describe what your product is, but also keep it concise and easy to read. Avoid excessive capitalization, symbols, or promotional phrases.
Good title example: “Beginner’s Guide to Meditation eBook – 10 Techniques to Reduce Stress”
Bad title example: “eBook – Meditation 4 Beginners Guide With 10 Methods To Reducing Stress Levels Fast!!!”
- Write detailed product descriptions
Take the time to craft compelling, informative descriptions of your digital products that clearly explain what the customer will receive and the key benefits. Use formatting like bullet points to highlight important details. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally, but avoid keyword stuffing.
- Use high-quality images
Even though digital products are intangible, having attractive visuals is still important for catching a shopper’s attention and communicating the value of the product. Use clear, professional images that visually represent your digital product, like an ebook cover, app screenshot, or course thumbnail. Avoid generic stock photos if possible.
- Price competitively
Take a look at what similar digital products in your niche are selling to ensure your prices are competitive. Don’t race to the bottom, but don’t overprice yourself out of consideration. Remember that you don’t have the same overhead costs as physical products, so you may have room to offer better value. Consider using psychological pricing tactics like charm pricing (ending prices in .99 or .95).
- Offer promotions and discounts
Use Google Shopping’s promotion options to make your listings more eye-catching and enticing. You can offer a monetary discount, percentage off, or “buy one get one free” type of offer. These appear as a “special offer” link on your listing. Promotions are a great way to stand out from competitors and boost your conversion rate. Test different offers to see what performs best.
- Keep your product feed up-to-date
Make sure to regularly update your product feed in the Merchant Center to reflect any changes to pricing, availability, descriptions, etc. Outdated information leads to a poor customer experience. You can schedule automatic fetches of your feed file if you’re syncing from an e-commerce platform.
- Leverage customer reviews
Positive customer reviews and star ratings provide powerful social proof that can make your listings more compelling. While you can’t import reviews to Google Shopping directly, you can encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on your website, which may get picked up and shown on your Shopping listings. Make it easy for customers to submit reviews and respond promptly to any negative ones.
By implementing these optimizations, you can improve the search relevance, click-through rates, and conversion rates of your digital product listings on Google Shopping. It’s an ongoing process of testing and iterating based on actual performance data.
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How to handle the delivery of digital products sold on Google Shopping
One of the benefits of selling digital products is not having to deal with the cost and logistics of physically shipping orders. However, you still need to have a system in place to ensure customers receive their digital product promptly after purchase.
The most common methods for delivering digital products are:
- Automatic download link
After the customer completes their purchase on your website, they are automatically redirected to a download page where they can access the digital file. This requires setting up a secure hosting location for your files and integrating it with your shopping cart or payment processor.
- Email delivery
Alternatively, you can email the customer a link to download their digital purchase. This can be set up to happen automatically upon purchase or done manually. Make sure to use a reliable email service provider and include clear instructions for accessing the file.
- Login access
For digital products like courses, subscriptions, or membership sites, you can provide the customer with login credentials to access the content on your website or app after their purchase. This requires having a user account system integrated with your payment processing.
Whichever delivery method you choose, clearly communicate to the customer what to expect and provide prompt support if they encounter any issues accessing their purchase. You may also want to consider offering a money-back guarantee or refund policy to assure customers that their satisfaction is your top priority.
It’s also a good idea to have a system for tracking and managing your digital product sales, whether through your e-commerce platform, payment processor, or a separate digital fulfillment tool. This will help you stay organized and ensure a smooth delivery process for every order.
