Selling is not easy in real life, but it is even harder on Social Media. Everyone who has tried to run an online shop knows that in order to succeed and get to the good part a.k.a the profit, you will have to go through a lot of challenges. Like figuring out why your products are not selling to your target group.
So, today, I will give you five BIG reasons why people are not buying your products and give you tips on how to change that and start selling.
Not enough trust
Lack of trust is one of the main reasons why people are not buying your products, especially online. If your shop is relatively new and you don’t have a lot of content on your Social Media (which is equal to more credibility), trust is the reason why you are not getting any sales. If you have an active online shop, but you are not consistent in creating new content on your Social Media platforms, how do you expect people to trust you and know that your store is still operating?
Plus, there are many skeptical people because of bad previous experience or they have heard the stories of products that never arrived, arrived damaged and so on. Because we are living in a world of scams, it is understandable to have to win the trust of your customers for one reason or another. But how to do that?
You can start by posting every day on the Social Media platforms that you are using. Inactive profiles don’t get sales. You will have to remind your customers that you exist and your content is worth their attention, just like your products.
Then, think about your customer’s trust. What do you need to do and post, in order to gain their trust? How to develop more credibility?
Think of trust and credibility as one of the key components of selling successfully online. Without them, you won’t manage to keep your business alive for a very long time.
Not enough knowledge of who is your target group
Another very big and common factor that affects the sales are the people you are selling to – your target audience. There are a lot of different ways how the lack of sales is tied directly to your target group.
For example, if you don’t know who is your audience. If you don’t know who you want to reach, you won’t be able to find them and choose their preferred Social Media platform. That’s important because there are specific demographics that use Pinterest and another for Instagram. You need to know where to showcase your products. And don’t count on the fact that many people use both platforms. While there are people who use all Social Media platforms, this is not the case for the majority of your clients.
Do you know what’s worse than not knowing your target group?
Trying to sell to everyone. It is hard to create a product, that appeals to every consumer. Not everyone who buys a book will subscribe to Netflix and vice versa. That’s why there are so many different industries and niches with sub-niches with sub-niches.
Knowing your customer, even if they are a small group of people, is better than trying to sell the product to literally anyone who sees it. Plus, selling to a specific niche will make it easier to reach out to them and grab their attention, because you will find out what your niche likes and prefer.
If your products are not selling, there might be another reason for that – you are targeting the wrong market. You need to drive desire in your (potential) customers, in order to get the sale.
To overcome every one of these issues, you need to research your target audience. You need to identify the perfect customer for your product – describe their hobbies, demographics, and interests. This will give you a clear idea of what group of people you need to target.
Or maybe your target group is not aware of your product?
It is possible that even though you are running ads, you are not reaching the consumers that would buy the product. If that’s the case, you need to immediately evaluate why it is not working for your profile and what you can do to change that. If you divide your budget properly, then the problem might be in your ad design or value proposition (what you are offering with this ad).
You can run split tests with various designs and compare which one of them performs best. This will give you an idea of what your target audience likes. If you focus on that, you will have no problem reaching the right group of people.
You are not URGENT enough
Oh, yes, that’s a thing. You need to create a sense of urgency in your customers. You want to convince them that they want this product, not tomorrow, not for Christmas, but NOW. If you are not creating that feeling in your customer, that’s a red flag.
If you think that’s your issue, you can easily fix it with the help of Social Media. Create posts with special CTA (Call To Action) messages such as “Join NOW and get…” or “A few more left”. Make people hungry for your product.
If it doesn’t work, try the art of persuasion. Offer something to the people. Give discount code through your Social Media channels or create deals such as buy 1, get 1 for free.
Your target group doesn’t understand your message
It is one thing to don’t know who is your target group. But what is worse is not being able to connect with them. You can evaluate that by looking at your previous content and how engagement (likes and comments) your posts usually get. If the content you create and share is irrelevant to the people who follow and like your company, then the numbers will be very low.
If your target audience likes your products, but your company doesn’t connect with them on an emotional level, this is yet another problem. What sellers don’t understand is that they need to be the ones to motivate the people in order to get the sales.
How to fix this?
Sell the benefits of your products. Customers want to know how your product can benefit their everyday life. People want to see a preview of what you are offering before they are convinced. Post pictures and videos of your product in use or before/after (results) pictures.
And make sure that you are not posting only about your products. Share something for your audience as well. Connect with them, ask them questions, and make them connect with your product/company by rising an emotion without them realizing it.
Your Social Media profiles are not optimized
If you are using more than one Social Media platform for your business, make sure to keep all of them active and optimized. Optimizing your company’s Social Media channels is very important because you need to make a good first impression on everyone who visits your profile.
To ensure that your profile is optimized, make sure that you have a nice profile picture (your company’s logo is a great example), a catchy biography description, and a link to your website. Also, use every opportunity to share more information about your business and core values. For example, change your About page on Facebook or add highlights on Instagram.
Tip: Try to use the same username on all Social Media platforms. This will make it very easy for people to find you.
Conclusion
These are only five of the reasons why your products are not selling. We often create a product, without asking the customer for feedback until it is too late. Some products are not as great as we want them to be. Others are already on the market (competition). Third, are not that necessary and there is a great substitute for them.
You are the one in charge. You need to analyze your business and pay close attention to your Social Media channels. If you see a problem, you need to be able to fix it. After all, it is in your hand to encourage and stimulate people to buy your products.