Easy Digital Downloads Guide for WordPress (In-Depth)

Why should you choose the Simple Digital Downloads?

Here is an example of an active EDD shop running on hosting. The site loads in just 600 milliseconds! The best thing about downloading and service via digital means is that most of the instances, they don't come with huge catalogs of products bogging down their site. They typically sell just few products or one product that has different licensing costs.

Another major advantage of Easy Digital Downloads from a standpoint of the user is the fact that it's very easy to use. It can be up and running within a few minutes. Just add your payment details then create your digital goods then you're all set. Like WooCommerce It also has thousands of extensions and integrations that allow you to accept credit card payments, handle regular transactions, benefit of affiliates, etc. It's extremely versatile and provides users with an easy method to analyze and track your sales. It also has an great team behind it who are committed to WordPress codes, and will ensure that making modifications to the codebase are simple and straightforward.

EDD currently has over one million active users and an overall 5/5 score on the WordPress repository. This is very high for an WordPress plugin! Developers love it for its easy to use and documented hooks.

We're employing EDD as a way to give support. Our service has a downloadable plugin that each customer who needs support must be able to activate once they have signed in with us. EDD allows us to rename the Slug (products) and name it whatever we want. It's a great hook! EDD lets us modify templates so that we can meet our demands. I love that EDD can be updated easily. Nothing really to worry about. Still, we update our staging in order to ensure safety.

- ADD-ONS -
  EDD permits us to utilize EDD to use the Software Licensing Add-On to update the software for all our clients. It is integrated with Stripe and creating an account for our clients and manages every day-to-day tasks we would need to bring in two staff members for. --- Aaron WebDevStudios, WebDevStudios' web development team. WebDevStudios

Support

EDD offers a range of support resources accessible.

• There is no need to seek assistance on the WordPress support forums. Pippin himself is very engaged on the forums. As of writing this, 30 out of 39 tickets had been marked solved over the last 2 months.
• There are helpful instructional videos, tutorials, and the most vast and comprehensive knowledge base that is well-documented.
• Support for basic needs is provided free of charge However, you may select priority support which is either $39 per month, or $129 per year.

Easy Digital Downloads Features

EDD provides three payment options as default (Paypal, Amazon, and manual) however, many more are offered as extensions. One of the most impressive benefits EDD can offer is their determination to help you deliver an outstanding customer experience. The software comes with a built-in user access section so that customers are able to easily access the files they paid for and keep track of their purchase. If they ever accidentally lose/delete an downloaded file the user can login to their account and download it.

EDD provides a full record of every sale along with precise earnings and sales graphs. One particularly cool metric is the forecasted sales report giving you an indication of the sales you can be expecting in the coming years based on your past performance. It is possible to identify the best selling products and also determine which products are not selling helps business entrepreneurs to identify and utilize those products that are most lucrative. It allows you to focus on areas within your business with potential and then revamp the rest.

The plugin will work on any almost every WordPress theme. Our experience suggests that this just isn't an issue with WooCommerce. Typically with WooCommerce theme developers require additional work to incorporate the necessary support. EDD is designed a little differently. This is why it's a great supplement to the theme you have already installed.

It's easy to download Digital Downloads Extensions

There are numerous EDD plugins that are available for purchase to further extend the functionality of the platform. A few of them are developed by EDD creators, while some are offered by third-party vendors.

Here are a few of the more popular examples:

• EDD Social Discounts This extension lets users offer their customers a discount if they share links to the product pages on social media. The extension also offers the option of removing discount functionality and it can be used as a sharing tool.
• Cross-Sell and upsell The extension for marketing offers additional items to shoppers during checkout. They can also offer customers an option to upsell that offers a similar, but more expensive product that they are currently shopping for on their list. For example, products can be packaged into a bundle which includes the product and other items. This is a great method to boost the worth per client.
• EDD Variable Price Descriptions Free extension permits users to include the "Option Description" input field to each download with a variable price. Users can also write a lengthy description. It it automatically puts the description on the front end on the product page.
• The WP Menu Cart The easy and free plugin adds a shopping cart icon in a website's navigation bar. It comes with a range of options, including the ability to show a cart's icon or prices of items. It also comes with a premium version that has a few additional features.
• EDD Downloads as Service The plugin is free and allows you to easily sell services rather than downloads. This is great for WordPress developers and freelancers. It removes the "no downloadable file" on the purchase confirmation page.
• EDD Software Licensing: If you sell digital goods, like WordPress plugins, you will need license keys. This extension will take care of the entire process for you.
• EDD Recurring Payments This extension makes it easy to sell and create products with automatically recurring subscriptions.

Easy Digital Downloads Tutorial Index

•    Installation
•    Configuring EDD
•    Add digital downloadable files
•    Expanding EDD Further With AffiliateWP
•    Handling VAT and Taxes

Easy Digital Downloads Installation

Step 1

The first thing you will have to do is install the Easy Digital Downloads plugin. You can download it for absolutely free from the WordPress repository or read the directions in the following article on installing it directly from within your dashboard.

Step 2

Click on "Activate."

It's over! Your all done. The process is really simple. There are no long walk through wizards. It's very easy to use. However, there are a few additional settings options that you might need to set up further down.

Configuring EDD

Step 1.

The first thing you'll need to set up is the your checkout options, payment, redirects, etc. To accomplish this, simply go to go into the settings section under "Downloads" which is now to the left of your WordPress dashboard.

EDD automatically creates pages in your WordPress website for payment and purchase confirmations, among others. For typical retailers, you don't need to alter any of these. All you have to complete on this page is to define your location and the state or province of your country. Then click on "Save Changes."

Step 2

Are you interested in knowing what we did to increase our volume by more than 1000%?

Join over 20,000 others to receive our newsletter every week with insider WordPress tips!

Step 3.

Next, click into the Subheader "PayPal Standard." If you are using PayPal it is recommended to enter your PayPal email. The default PayPal page style , unless you select one. Learn more about how to create custom page styles for checkout. If you use the no-cost version of PayPal, you can customize most of the customer's experience using your brand.

Step 4.

Then click on then the "Emails" Tab. In default, all is in place. But you will want to at least set a logo for your store or product. Automatically generated emails go out to customers and administrators.

This is an example of the default EDD email template. It sends to customers and includes a logo. The email contains a link to the digital download file. If you're using an extension like EDD Software Licensing it will automatically insert their unique license key.

It is also possible to set up the styles, taxes as well as other settings. For many stores, none of these actually need to be changed. The great thing about EDD is that it functions right out of the box. However, here are some of the additional options that you can choose from:

• Immediately redirect to checkout following the addition of an item the cart.
• Allow item quantities to be adjusted.
• Require that users be logged into the system to buy files.
• Customers can avail multiple discounts on the same purchase.
• File download limits, download link expirations Disable the capability to download files again.
• The option to select terms of agreement upon checkout.

Uploading Digital Downloadable Files

The next step is to add the digital files you download to Your WordPress EDD store. Keep in mind that depending on which extension you choose, this could also be services offered in lieu of physical files.

Step 1.

Select "Add new" under Downloads and name the digital file. You can add the description (which will be displayed on the download's webpage to the customer), category, download tag, and so on.

You can then give your download a price. You can also choose a variable price by pressing the button. Upload the digital file you want to upload, regardless of whether it is a .zip, .pdf, .mp3 and so on.

Step 2 (NGINX only)

To secure your directory, add following to your NGINX configuration. Note: This example is for .zip files. Make adjustments for other kinds of files. If you're a registered client, then you are able to create a Support ticket to our support team and we will add this for you.

rewrite ^/wp-content/uploads/edd/(. *)\.zip$ / permanent;

After adding the above code after which users who attempt to directly access your download will be directed to your home page.

Step 3

The next step is to add a way for users to purchase the digital downloads on your WordPress website. As a default, every download will have its own WordPress webpage with a purchase button. But a lot of you are probably selling licenses in which you might simply want only one pricing page. We recommend using the plugin Simple Pricing Tables.

After installation, you are able to create an "Pricing" page for your WordPress website. You can then utilize the shortcode included in the plugin to show your pricing tables. It is possible to utilize customized Add to Cart links as well as the pricing tables, to provide an optimal shopping experience. Here is an example of one which uses the download ID along with variable pricing.  https://wp.dev/checkout?edd_action=add_to_cart&download_id=4444&edd_options[price_id]=1

Here is an example of EDD price page for stores, along with individual add to cart hyperlinks and prices that are variable.

And that's it! The EDD store will automatically walk people through the checkout process using the pages it created when it was installed. The store will send an email for both customers and to you, that includes their download files (and the license key, if needed) as well as create a WordPress account so that they will be able to log back into their account and view previous purchases.

Other Options

Don't forget to check for the report data as well as the payment history information. Another benefit is that PayPal is also able to communicate with EDD. So if you sell products and people pay through PayPal the item is marked as paid via EDD. In the event that you make a refund on a product the system will update EDD to reflect that it was refunded in addition to updating your earnings total for the month.

Want to make discount coupons to use on Black Friday? No problem. Click on "Discount Codes" under Downloads and create any coupons or discount coupons as you like. You may choose the percentage of discount off your product or a flat rate amount. You can set the expiry date, and restrict the number of times you can use it per customer. A sale every once in a while to boost up your product is super easy by using EDD.

Further Extending EDD Through AffiliateWP

You can further extend EDD by integrating AffiliateWP it is an excellent product created by the same team. The two products are so compatible that you won't even notice the two products are different.

Controlling VAT and Taxes

Taxes can be a bit complicated when it comes to Easy Digital Downloads. However, the solutions listed below can help make it a little easier. This includes things such as auto-invoicing, charging VAT to the countries that need it, etc.

•    Quaderno
•    Freemius
•    ProteusPay
•    WP Route
• Paddle with OmnipayWP

Choosing the Right Plugin to meet your E-commerce needs

When creating a new digital business, it's essential to choose the right online storefront. Even though using an existing third-party marketplace like Etsy could be an best option, setting up your own site is always the best option for people who want to take the business to the next step. That way you own and run the whole company which will allow you make more money in the end. At the same time it is important to not need to waste many hours dealing with customer support or issues with payment. This is why you should select an online shopping plugin which is easy to navigate and reliable.

We'd like to hear your thoughts. Do you prefer WooCommerce or EDD?

Cut down on time, expenses and maximize site performance with:

• 24/7 help and support assistance from WordPress hosting experts 24/7.
• Cloudflare Enterprise integration.
• Global audience reach with 35 data centers worldwide.
• Optimization with our built-in Application Performance Monitoring.