Customizing Your Digital Planner: A Guide for Digital Product Creators

Are you looking to take your digital planners to the next level and stand out from the crowd? Customization is key. Offering a personalized experience can add immense value to your digital planners, making them more appealing to potential customers.

Let's explore various ways of customizing your digital planners and creating unique, memorable products that your customers will love. Remember, selling a digital planner is selling the navigation and ease of use, but making them pretty isn't a bad idea either!

Tailor Your Design

Customizing the visual design of your digital planner is the first step in creating a unique and distinctive product. Consider the following aspects:

Color Scheme

Choose a color palette that reflects your brand identity and appeals to your target audience. You can even create multiple color variations of your digital planner to cater to different preferences.

For instance, once you choose your niche for digital planners, you can create segments to serve your audience. All the planners for a certain segment can have the same color palette. If you're using Canva, you can save each segment in the Brand Hub.

Fonts

Select fonts that are both visually appealing and easy to read. Make sure the fonts you choose to align with your brand and the overall design aesthetic of your digital planner. So, if you are creating a fitness planner geared towards men, you probably don't want to use an elegant cursive font. Pick a big and bold, more manly font to appeal to your audience.

Graphics and Illustrations

Incorporate custom graphics, illustrations, or patterns to enhance the visual appeal of your digital planner. This can set your planner apart from others on the market and help convey your unique style. Don't limit yourself to the images you use. You can always get commercial license usage items from Creative Fabrica.

You can also use AI to get specific pictures. Midjourney is my favorite to use, and if you need help with prompts and how to get started, check out the Women of AI membership. Sadie and Sharon have so many resources available – simplifying the world of AI (and yes, no dudes allowed, sorry…).

Customizing Your Digital Planner Layout

The layout of your digital planner plays a crucial role in its usability and functionality. Digital planners will be used on an electronic device using a note-taking platform that your customer prefers. Due to this, you'll need to know how your audience uses the planner and what makes the most sense.

If you want to do simple planners that are vertical and one page, you can convert your current printable planners to digital or create a new planner using the 9″x11.5″ dimensions. This allows room for the tabs.

You can also create a 2-page (horizontal) planner or a planner for mobile use. Who is using your planners? How will it be accessed most easily? Answer those questions – and you will know exactly how to customize the layout. Here are other customization options to consider:

Page Types

Offer a variety of page types to accommodate different planning needs, such as daily, weekly, and monthly layouts, as well as note pages, habit trackers, and goal-setting templates.

You can check out PLR shops for unique planner layouts, use templates in Canva, and even download bundles of pages from Etsy or Creative Fabrica. I like this Planner PLR and this toolkit that are currently available. But – always remember, most planner pages are simply shapes and lines. Get creative – and if you create an awesome layout, sell that too!

Sections and Dividers

It's important to remember when you are creating a digital planner to sell that you allow enough elements for the end-user to use the planner fully and that you give them enough space to write. I mean that you don't want to overcrowd the page, but you also don't want your end-user to want more out of the planner page.

It's a fine line when it comes to creating. I suggest immersing yourself in your niche and finding out what your target audience prefers. Ask questions and make them the perfect planner based on their answers!

Hyperlinks and Navigation

Incorporate interactive elements like hyperlinks and navigation tabs to enhance the user experience and make your digital planner more functional. Remember, any PDF can be uploaded to a note-taking app and manipulated.

What you are selling is the ease of navigation. This means you want to hyperlink all elements that make sense, so your end user can quickly go to the page they want and return if needed.

Cater to Specific Niches

Targeting a specific niche can help your digital planner stand out and cater to the unique needs of your audience. Consider creating planners for specific professions, hobbies, or lifestyles, such as fitness enthusiasts, teachers, students, or entrepreneurs.

I created a list of 100 Digital Products you can create, including but not limited to “planners.” I think it's very important to think outside of the box. Anything that can be completed with a pen and paper can be turned into a digital product with hyperlinks for ease of navigation. You can check it out by signing up for our email list!

Listen to Your Customers

Pay attention to customer feedback and incorporate their suggestions and preferences into your digital planner designs. This shows that you value their input and are committed to providing a product that meets their needs. Also, make yourself available either in a social media group you start or by providing good advice in other groups specific to your niche.

With the planners being digital, I always suggest offering a few variations. Meaning once you create your planner, go back into it and adjust the colors to offer a few variations. This simple process can help you increase the number of digital planners that you have to sell, as well as gain more customers!

Check Out Your Competition

Checking out your competition on Etsy and other platforms is always a good idea. What are they selling that works? What can you do to improve it? I am in no way, shape, or form suggesting that you COPY someone's work. However, you can use it for inspiration.

If you haven't yet, you should totally check out Alura and how they can help you improve your Etsy shop. You can search for a shop, see their listings, and then even drill down further to see the tags and listing keywords they are using. Alura is a must for a good Etsy listing – you know, the ones that actually show up in searches…

Offer Add-Ons and Digital Stickers

Create custom add-ons and digital stickers that complement your digital planner and allow users to personalize their planning experience further. When creating your digital planner, you could add a few extra pages that would be notes, blank, or whatever your customer might want to “add” in. Then, they can use the platform they chose to copy the additional pages and then insert them as needed throughout the planner. The newly added pages will not be hyperlinked, but your customer can manipulate them as needed.

Digital stickers are another great option. These would be added to your Etsy listing as a separate file, and then your end user can upload them to the platform of their choice and add them to pages as they see fit.

The Bottom Line

Customizing your digital planner is crucial for capturing the attention of your target audience and offering a product that stands out from the competition. By focusing on design, layout, personalization options, and niche-specific features, you can create a truly unique and memorable digital planner that your customers will love. Customizing your digital planner is the way to go!

If you need more help, make sure to join me in the Make Digital Planners Facebook group. I am always offering up free templates, and I answer any questions that come through. And, if you are looking to up your online business, make sure to check out the PIPs VIP membership! My coach, Sadie, will get you on track to making money in no-time!