So, I have a friend, Cynthia, who texted me “My Online Store is not selling anything!, what should I do?”. Cynthia wrote an e-book outlining amazing delicious food recipes (I know because I have tasted them), she was so excited. She paid a web designer to design a state of art online store to sell that e-book and waited…, well, needless to say, she got “0” sales and out of frustration, contacted me to vent.
There are a lot of Cynthia’s out there, selling different things, whether it’s digital products like e-books, online courses, etc OR physical products like clothes, cars, etc, OR services like web design, writing, etc that are experiencing the same thing, hence the topic.
A Lot of people think that the hardest part of selling online is the design of the online store and believe that once the store is made, “they” will buy. This isn’t true, there is more to selling online and if you aren’t succeeding in it, it’s hardly ever because of the online store designs. I have seen “ugly” looking online stores sell out while “beautifully” done stores are struggling to get 1 sale in.
Let’s discuss why this is happening and see how we can remedy it.
#1 Reason Why Your Online Store Is Not Selling Is – People will buy from you because your product or service is awesome!
This is definitely something that affected my friend, Cynthia, just a back story about Cynthia.
Cynthia is a seasoned Chef with over 15 years of experience working as the Head Chef in a popular 5-star Restaurant constantly patronized by well know celebrities in that area. Most of the dishes sold in that restaurant were designed by her and they often get a lot of positive reviews.
So, as you can imagine, she had a lot of confidence in her cookbook because she is very seasoned and her recipes have all received accolades, so you can imagine her shock when she made no sales.
While speaking to me, she constantly mentioned how great and tasty her recipes are and how she can’t imagine why people aren’t jumping at it.
Solution
I had to let her know that that’s not how selling online and offline works, yes, there are some instances where people, mainly celebrities that have fans, will buy anything they sell without even looking at the sales page because they know and trust them, but even at that, the percentage of those “fans’ is significantly lower than the number of people that will buy if they put in more effort to sell their products and services.
I know it’s normal for you to value your products and services especially if you put in the work but the truth is we often value products and services higher than others do and they will not see the value except you “make” them.
You have to approach sales with the mindset of “opening” your customer’s eyes to see how much they will value from your products or services and convincing them to buy them.
#2 Reason Why Your Online Store Is Not Selling Is – People believe your products and service works but don’t believe it will work for them.
This is another important reason why your online store is not selling. No matter how well Cynthia presents her cookbook to customers, through cook shows, explainer videos, etc, if her customers don’t believe that they can successfully execute the recipes in that cookbook, they will not buy it even if they know it’s possible to cook that recipe.
This is the same for other niche products, or services, if you are selling an acne product or a fitness course, even though they believe that these products are genuine and effective, they might not believe it will work specifically for them because they feel like their “problem” is unique, different from others, so it won’t work for them.
Solution
The solution here is to use real life stories based on your target customer to tell the story of your product or service.
For example, in Cynthia’s case, one of her target customers is a stay-at-home wife that is not good at cooking but has to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her husband and young children. So she can look for someone that fits that analogy in real life, video her lifestyle detailing the struggles of that kind of lifestyle and then teach her the recipes in that cookbook that would fit that type of lifestyle.
Now, when another person with the same or similar lifestyle watches this video, it will eliminate the obstacle of thinking that the cookbook won’t help her because she can see that someone else in her situation, someone else that is like her is benefitting from it.
This solution cuts across all niche products and services, if you are selling an acne product, you can use someone (be specific, male or female) with acne for “x” amount of years and is “x” years old. Ethnicity is also important here, basically study your target customer and look for him or her, video them detailing their struggles and video the process of using that acne product, side effects if any, and then finally, the positive results (I assume it will be effective, hence, a positive result).
#3 Reason Why Your Online Store Is Not Selling Is – Having a bad Marketing Strategy
As a “rule of thumb”, I always advise that you should first perfect a marketing strategy that you can effectively execute before you decide what to sell.
Having a bad marketing strategy is another big reason why your online store is not selling
What I mean is that, don’t ever decide on a product or service without already knowing how you will advertise and successfully sell it. This is what successful businesses do.
Usually, people decide on products first, even go-ahead to build a beautiful online store, “brag” online that they are now “entrepreneurs” before working on an effective marketing strategy.
This often leads to frustration, it’s like someone running or riding at high speed, only to crash and fall, it can be very painful. This is what leads the majority of online vendors to quit, because of the extremely high “high” that suddenly became an extremely low “low”.
Solution
You have to strategize your marketing tactics, make sure it’s something you can successfully execute because if you can’t market it successfully, then to me, there’s no point embarking on this business if your aim is to make a profit.
I know that what I just said might be harsh, but to me, it’s the plain truth, I say this because people spend a lot of money on websites and writers or manufacturers, etc but when they aren’t able to get customers, they end up losing a lot of money which can lead to debt, depression, etc, so, in order to guide against that, you need to know how you will get your money back before spending a dime.
Figure out your marketing strategy tailored to your product by doing a lot of research, market research, talk to marketing authorities, read their books or watch their video.
Alternatively, you can hire a reputable and reliable marketing team that will do all that work for you.
#4 Reason Why Your Online Store Is Not Selling Is – Having a dismissable offer:
Your offer is important because no matter how good your product is or how effective your marketing is, people will get to your online store, spend time there and leave without buying anything.
Having a dismissible offer is a big reason why your online store is not selling anything
Solution
Make them an “irresistible offer”, this is the reason why you see software companies offering their software free for the first 14 days with an extra free bonus and excellent customer service in order to get their “foot-in-the-door” first before introducing other techniques to ensure they successfully get them and keep them.
You can also offer products or services at a discount OR free with paid shipping OR paid product with free shipping, the list goes on.
So, like Cynthia, I advised her to consider offering her book at a ridiculously cheap rate like 6.99 USD with free shipping if they want the physical book.
Doing this will give her the contact details of her customer (email address) which she can use to continuously send free tips, giveaways, etc turning them into loyal readers/fans. This will build trust between her and her consumers and lead to more future sales.
Check this out if you are looking for other ways to make money online
CONCLUSION
I hope I have been able to answer “why” your online store is not selling and “how” to remedy it. So, let’s do a quick recap
| “WHY” YOUR ONLINE STORE IS NOT SELLING | “HOW” TO REMEDY IT |
| 1)People will buy from you because your product or service is awesome! | You have to make people see the value in your products or services, if you don’t, they won’t see it. |
| 2)People believe your products and services work but don’t believe it will work for them. | Show them real-life examples of your target customer using your products or services with successful results |
| 3) Having a bad Marketing Strategy | Strategize how you will get your money back before spending a dime by doing a lot of marketing research or by hiring a marketing team |
| 4)Having a dismissable offer | Make your customer an “irresistible offer” |
Comment below and let me know if you have any questions and I will ensure I answer them as quickly as possible. You can also share your experience as an online vendor and share your success tips and tricks.