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View Full Version : Lack of Sales - Marketing Advice Apreciated



LaBella London
01-22-2015, 12:53 PM
Hi all, like many of you I've taken the leap and started my own e-commerce business, however after almost 3 months I've had almost no sales!...

I am marketing like hell, with google shopping, bing ads, facebook ads and I'm active for several hours a day on Facebook/Twitter/Polyvore/Pinterest/Instagram etc. which generates approx 100 visitors a day. My stock is similar to what's being sold on other sites and my prices are competitive or cheaper in a lot of cases, but still no sales???

Analytics tell me visitors are browsing my site and bounce rate is below 10%. I understand that e-commerce is progressive, but that implies progression, I'm seeing none!

The only thing I can assume is my website layout/design is stopping conversions? I've had the functionality checked so I know the sales process work ok, so now I'm at a complete loss.

Therefore would some of you be kind enough to have a look at my website at labellalondon.com and tell me what you think and PLEASE BE HONEST!

Any help or advice would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Aleisha

Croco
01-24-2015, 03:12 PM
Hi Aleisha

with google shopping, bing ads, facebook ads and I'm active for several hours a day on Facebook/Twitter/Polyvore/Pinterest/Instagram etc. which generates approx 100 visitors a day.

Maybe you should take a look at the keywords you are using in your ads?

Analytics tell me visitors are browsing my site and bounce rate is below 10%.

Maybe visitors are looking for something else cheaper or more expensive jewelry?
Do you have organic traffic or only traffic from ads?
Do you have google webmaster and google analytics accounts to watch traffic and pages from where visitors enter your website and pages from where people leave your website?
I think you should add the phone number for quick calls and questions)
Try to analyze your main competitors.

Freelancier
01-24-2015, 03:48 PM
I'm unclear why if you're using PP for checkout, I should enter my billing info on your site.

Also, I think you have a very limited set of countries to ship to... are your analytics showing that those 100 visitors are all from countries you ship to?

Brian Altenhofel
01-24-2015, 03:55 PM
What's your cart abandonment rate, and at what point in the process are customers abandoning their carts?

Basically what I'm getting at is if you even have people adding products to their cart. If they are, then how many of them are proceeding to the checkout screen? How many hit the checkout screen and then quit? How many proceed to PayPal and then quit?

If people aren't adding to cart, then you should look at presentation, pricing, and marketing. If they are but they never hit the checkout screen, it might be a trust issue. If they are hitting the checkout screen but not proceeding, you might need to look at how things are presented there (and maybe trust issues). If they go to PayPal but don't complete the transaction, then it's likely because those customers don't like PayPal or being redirected off-site.

At 100 visits/day, I wouldn't expect more than 1-2 completed transactions per week.

Harold Mansfield
01-24-2015, 04:07 PM
eCommerce is a fickle b*tch. Excuse the language, but it's the most appropriate way to express it.
Little nuances that the customer isn't always conscious of can make all the difference in the world.


Targeting:
You said that you offer the same things as other sites, but many times for a lower price.
Does that mean you are targeting the exact same demographic the exact same way as everyone else?
If so, you will never beat huge retailers who sell the same product whether you are cheaper or not.

In eCommerce price isn't always the determiner of sales. Perceived credibility is. Shoppers have to beleive that you're doing them a favor, not the other way around. Amazon is great at this.

Design:
You have some design issues that aren't 100%. Your sliders have great images , but the copy on them isn't the same caliber of professionalism.
Also, the shaded background doesn't help. Using color is tricky, white and white space is always going to be the safest bet.

If too white, I may even carefully choose some kind dynamic background that peeks out from the side.

Copy:
I can see that your target audience is UK and I know there are some expressions and usage of words that are different than American English.
But I see room for improvement that may help things flow better and change some of those nuances that are kind of off.

For instance:
"Our Customers Top 10 Choices This Week!" - Pretty stiff.
I'd change to something like:
"Most popular items this week".
I'd even show less of them, and change it up to show the most popular watches one week, and most popular earrings the next.

"Browse by categories"
I'd make something like:
"Shop your favorite accessories"

Basically you could revamp some of your copy to use words that convey action and emotion like "Shop", "Popular".

About Marketing:
Online is just one thing. You may want to try some offline marketing. I'm sure throughout your area there are fashion events. Clothes, Hair, Shoes...it'll be holiday season soon ( see how I used that UK expression for it :)) and people will start showing off summer wear. All of those events are going to need jewelry. Where do you think they get it from?
People just like you in exchange for mention of your company and website.

Sure it's a smaller audience, but it's a captive audience and you can probably get some nice image collateral out of them for marketing, and along with your Social Media marketing may help you slowly start building some traction, referrals and word of mouth.

And it's probably a little cheaper than throwing wasted money out there on ads trying to compete with big retailers.

charlieapple
01-25-2015, 09:53 AM
Hi Aleisha,
Your site is very professional, the images are high quality and from what you say you are doing all the right things with social media. Are your followers all organic? The jewellery sector is extremely competitive. I run a local market monthly so deal with all the traders and I get more enquiries from jewellery businesses than any other business by a ratio of about 6:1. Also, the jewellery that you're selling is very much 'statement' jewellery so your target market is quite niche.

I think you need to be out and about at fairs, markets, fashion events, etc., to put your brand out there and get your name known. You'd be amazed how much you can sell at the right market which has the right demographic for your client base, and then once they become customers they will then buy from you online. You've already built the trust because you were in the real world first. Those customers then are in a position to have a friend admire what they're wearing, be asked where they got it, and then be referred to your website - and so it builds. But it takes time, and you need to keep at it and be patient!

You would also benefit greatly from getting some PR going - another big minefield - local stories about you and your business, fashion blogs, contact celebrity stylists, magazine stylists. I'm not sure where you are located but if there is a local women's magazine you could get some good PR from that.

There is a lot to be done with a new business. You have to be EVERYTHING - accountant, salesman, social media manager, marketing manager, pr manager and so on!

Good luck!

LaBella London
01-25-2015, 06:52 PM
Design:
You have some design issues that aren't 100%. Your sliders have great images , but the copy on them isn't the same caliber of professionalism.
Also, the shaded background doesn't help. Using color is tricky, white and white space is always going to be the safest bet.

If too white, I may even carefully choose some kind dynamic background that peeks out from the side.

Copy:
I can see that your target audience is UK and I know there are some expressions and usage of words that are different than American English.
But I see room for improvement that may help things flow better and change some of those nuances that are kind of off.

For instance:
"Our Customers Top 10 Choices This Week!" - Pretty stiff.
I'd change to something like:
"Most popular items this week".
I'd even show less of them, and change it up to show the most popular watches one week, and most popular earrings the next.

"Browse by categories"
I'd make something like:
"Shop your favorite accessories"

Basically you could revamp some of your copy to use words that convey action and emotion like "Shop", "Popular".

Hey Harold, thanks for the insights, good stuff! I've taken your advice and rewritten (well copied you word for word actually!) my homepage titles and will look into perhaps re-wording the slider copy as you suggest.

Thanks again Harold and indeed thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.

Aleisha

Timmons
01-26-2015, 03:50 AM
E-Commerce is one of the hardest things to get off the ground. You only have a couple choices. FIRST, you find family and friends who will support your endeavor through sharing, financial and blogging. You need grass roots marketing as well. You WILL never compete with companies that spend millions, in effort to flood people to their website. Please know that a 'niche' is required without some major investment and even for that, you need heavy traffic. If it don't take off in a couple months, odds are, IT NEVER WILL!

Harold Mansfield
01-26-2015, 09:36 AM
If it don't take off in a couple months, odds are, IT NEVER WILL!

That's not true of any business whether it be online or off. If it were, a lot of currently successful small businesses and well known companies in the world wouldn't exist.

Brian Altenhofel
01-26-2015, 10:10 AM
E-Commerce is one of the hardest things to get off the ground.

Not really, if you're good at marketing or can hire someone who is good at marketing.


You WILL never compete with companies that spend millions, in effort to flood people to their website.

Not true at all. Define your ideal customer and gear your marketing toward building their loyalty. People tend to be more loyal when purchasing than you think.


Please know that a 'niche' is required without some major investment and even for that, you need heavy traffic.

What is "heavy"? Necessary traffic depends on the following two factors: average transaction, and conversion rate. If you can do 2.5% conversion rate Q1-Q3 and 3% in Q4, you're actually doing good. If I want $100K in annual revenue, I can do it with an average transaction of $20 and 3800 unique visitors/week. With an average transaction of $100, that becomes 750/week. $100K/yr is definitely on the very low end for successful e-commerce, but it's doable even with those low traffic numbers I've given.


If it don't take off in a couple months, odds are, IT NEVER WILL!

Not true at all. As Harold said, if that were true, many business we see today wouldn't be here at all.

You must set key performance indicators and measure everything that you do. Review your indicators regularly, and adjust your strategy if something isn't working. Focus on one or two things at a time, and make sure you allow enough time for something to actually perform.

Harold Mansfield
01-26-2015, 10:43 AM
You must set key performance indicators and measure everything that you do. Review your indicators regularly, and adjust your strategy if something isn't working. Focus on one or two things at a time, and make sure you allow enough time for something to actually perform.

This cannot be said enough. NO ONE wants to put in the work anymore. Everyone wants an out of the box marketing strategy that's one sized fits all that they can throw some money at and get instant success. Most people don't understand that you have to test in order to determine what works. And Test again. That you have to fine tune. And most of all...you have to commit to getting it right, not just give up if you don't get instant gratification. Also that it is continuous and long term. It's a marathon. Not a sprint.

When it comes to marketing and advertising...especially if you are a one man show/ do it yourself'er...you have to learn on the job and you will not knock it out of the park the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd time at bat. You can't just hire someone and just sit back, you have to be involved with your marketing. If not, you will keep wasting money.

You can look all around you and see that marketing and advertising works and has since the beginning of time. So the determiner is whether or not you are going to get good at it in the way that it works for you, or just give up. "I couldn't figure it out, therefore it must not work".

billbenson
01-26-2015, 02:25 PM
I agree completely with Brian and Harold above.


If it don't take off in a couple months, odds are, IT NEVER WILL!

That is one of the most ridiculous statements I have seen here. Most businesses have a ramp up period during which you refine all aspects of your business. In the case of ecommerce that can be years.

KristineS
01-27-2015, 01:56 PM
Have to ask about your social media usage since that can be a problem for many new businesses. You say you're everywhere and that does seem apparent, but are your customers everywhere as well? Also, what are you doing on these sites. Are you simply posting sales messages and leaving, or are you interacting on the sites, and sharing content that does more than just bombard people with "buy my stuff"? Since you sell jewelry and accessories, you could post items about how to accessorize, make Pinterest boards showing how to wear particular pieces, or how to accessorize particular outfits. So that's something you could look at too.

KristineS
01-27-2015, 01:59 PM
O.k., I saw a few things social media related when I looked at the sight. First anything I click makes me sign up for your newsletter, and won't give me the option to proceed without doing that. Major roadblock right there.

Second, you say you're on Facebook and Twitter, but you don't link to your profiles. You would be better off just having icons that lead to your pages and dispensing with the like and share and retweet stuff. Makes the accounts interesting and relevant and people will retweet and share on their own. Don't pressure them to do it before they even get to the page.

FirstPortMarketing
01-28-2015, 09:50 AM
Have you created a funnel to identify exactly where people are dropping off?

Which page are people getting to, then leaving? What are they clicking on, if anything? Where are they coming from and where do you want them to go?

It may be time to A/B test your website -- tweak copy, or images, calls to action, etc. one at a time and test with a service like Optimizely to see what version performs better.

RR151
02-22-2015, 05:16 PM
Have ever thought about adding this above the fold...

It uses a physical product as a free gift and only requires payment for shipping and handling. As I can see you have many items that will fall into the free gift category.

The strategy is used to find buyers and not newsletter prospects that want to save 10% from somebody they are not comfortable with yet.

This is done in stages,

1) You have a page of free gifts maybe 5 to 10 items,

2) Once they select their gift you ask for their email,

3) Next you need their mailing address to send the free gift to.

4) Lastly you need their credit card information for the ship/handling.

Once the transaction is complete you have the following information from a low entry purchase that they are expecting to pay anyway.

Name, email, address and you have a new customer.

What has just happened:

They have made their first purchase from you. When you deliver the gift you have a % off coupon with a time limited offer.

I don't know your margins but maybe if they purchase before X they get 20% off. Remember to add another discount coupon that is designed to be used by a friend of theirs.

All the friend has to do to get the discount is make reference of the buyer's email address.

Just a thought...