If there is one complaint that most eCommerce entrepreneurs on Shopify have, it’s this: I have traffic but no sales.
Elle McCann, one of the first registered Shopify experts, helps us get to the bottom of this by sharing her top five reasons for ‘traffic but no sales’.
Elle McCann has been working with Shopify clients for over seven years and in that time has created 150+ Shopify stores. She has a unique insight into what makes a Shopify business successful. Elle is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs grow their online business without the overwhelm.
Top five reasons for traffic but no sales
1. Ideal customer is not right
To start, ask yourself who your ideal customer is.
And before you say it, no it can’t be everyone, or women aged 20-60. That’s too broad and you have to get a lot more niche.
Once you know your ideal customer you can do a whole site overhaul to make sure the language and the imagery is going to be attractive to the target audience. Your ideal customer should go on to your site and feel like it was made with them in mind rather than something thrown together at random.
To scope out your ideal customer, you can use your historical data if you have any to see who has been purchasing on your site already. If you don’t have any historical data, understand your product and what kind of demographic would be drawn to it based on its purpose and packaging.
2. Not speaking to the ideal customer
Standard images and bullet spec lists on a product page are dull and boring. They do very little to draw a customer in and create intrigue and engagement.
Product images or videos of products being used along with embellished wording to describe the product and its benefits bring the product page to life. Customers are better able to envision how they might look or feel using the product and are far more likely to make a purchase.
Naturally, customers want to know the product specifications but they are equally interested in knowing how the product will make them feel and change their lives. The use of descriptive language makes the customer feel like you understand their needs and how the product is going to meet those needs and wants.
You can go one step further and use the imagery, colors and language to inject your own values and personality into your brand. This will make you stand apart from all the other websites selling the same product or vying for the attention of the same ideal customer.
The about page is one of the top five performing pages on a site and so it’s really worth taking the time to add pictures, videos and communicate your reasons for why you even started the business.
3. Not good products
Sometimes a lack of sales simply comes down to your products just not being that good.
It’s easy to quickly put products on your site but to make sure you have a good product you have to first be prepared to do plenty of research.
Before you go to market you should know what product or what pattern or design on the product is going to perform better than others.
To get to this information, you can start building up an email list or use social media to test different products or patterns and designs on the same product. People tend to gravitate towards certain products and the more research you can do to know what it is your customer wants the greater the chances of selling.
“Asking your family and friends that happen to be in that ideal customer range for you, what they honestly think about your product is really helpful as well.”
If you’re creating your own product, start getting feedback throughout the whole process. Make sure you are putting it in front of your ideal customer - even if it is just a random Facebook group - and ask for honest feedback and opinion.
Do your research and know what your customer is going to like and want to buy before you start pushing your design and losing money.
4. Not the right platform
There are a lot of platforms to choose from when it comes to advertising - Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Google and so on but most people default to Facebook and Instagram.
It’s far more useful to base the decision on what platform to use by looking at those that are the best fit for your ideal customer.
It really comes down to your ideal customers. Whichever channel or channels you decide to use for advertising needs to make sense for you and for your ideal customer.
Once you have chosen a platform, be prepared to invest in it. Pinterest and even Instagram to some degree are both image oriented as YouTube is to video. Invest in the image and video quality to make your ad stand out. Creating engaging content and using lifestyle shots of a someone in the ideal customer range using your product is far more likely to catch the attention of your ideal customer.
Don’t be boring.
5. Bad website design
A badly designed website that overwhelms and confuses customers is another reason for the ‘traffic and no sales’ complaint.
When you create false urgency with on sale products it comes across to the customer that it is just a gimmick and you are trying to get them to make a purchase. You have to realize that visitors coming to your site are a little bit smarter than that, and they're not going to just instantly fall for everything being 50% off.
Often eCommerce sites use this kind of urgency or social proof to try and increase conversions but in reality it ends up harming conversions by making the site distasteful and pushing people away.
Design is subjective but it shouldn’t detract or distract from your product. Subtle background colors are much easier on the eye and make for a more relaxing shopping experience.
Clearly the problem of ‘traffic but no sales’ is not going to be a quick fix. It comes back to taking the time to know your ideal customer and whether they are going to like your product. A website that is intuitive and fits with the worldview of the customer is one that will draw traffic and sales.
Takeaway #1 Get to know your ideal customer exceptionally well.
Takeaway #2 Research around your product.
Takeaway #3 Stand apart from the crowd by injecting your values and personality into your brand.
Connect with Elle McCann
Website
Ecommerce courses -
eCommerce in a Weekend - How to set up your shopify store
Drive Traffic - Traffic blueprint
Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCztm-DxaKV1EpXSVxlVvbeg/videos