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comments and suggestions appreciated (increasing conversion) [newbie]

by Korhan Uran
10 replies
Obviously I'm a newbie here... so any helpful advice would be valuable. Especially when it comes to increasing conversion. My understanding is that our progress has got us to a point where ads are showing up, with the right keywords, people are clicking, retargeting brings them back to other products they might be into yet sale numbers are not what they should be.

I can't figure out what the problem is.

1. It's not shipping because
- We are located in the US,
- We ship from US,
- With free shipping to US

2. It's not the products because
- These are unique handmade products
- The artisans making them have good online sales on Etsy
- So we know the product sells

3. It's not the price because
- We get a discount from the artisans
- We sell for the same price as the artisans
- So we know it's the price these items sell for already
- Prices seem to be normal market prices for the items

4. It's not finding the right visitors because
- On Google Shopping ads, the viewer searches for the product, sees it, clicks with the intention of buying it
- Same thing on Bing/Yahoo network
- Our dynamic retargeting ads on Facebook target visitors and show them other products they might be interested in
- So it's not like we're using keywords to cast a wide net and hoping the visitors will be interested in the product by luck. Only those who already know they are interested in the product visit the store. Landing pages for visitors are product pages, not the main store page.


5. I don't think it's the website itself because
- We have trust badges that show a secure checkout is provided
- PayPal is supported, so it's not like they need to give us their credit card information or anything
- The trust rate looks good on scamadvisor
- About us, Contact us, Shipping Policy, Return Policy pages are all there.
- The photos are good (definitely good enough for the artisan to sell the product)
- It's Shopify based with the Brooklyn theme, making it a familiar and good looking store with enough customization to give it character
- The discount on catalog pages are in percentage (thus a larger number than if it was in $).
- Only some products are on sale (no faking)
- There are no annoying pop-ups or anything
- We did try to induce a sense of urgency by offering a discount code that was only good until mothers days
- We have "related products", "most popular" etc showing up to help with the bounce rate
- You can checkout without becoming a member (membership optional)
- The announcement bar at the top of every page screams "Free shipping to US!"


Out of 2000 unique visitors, not a single sale this month. I did have one sale more than a month ago and if it wasn't for that one, I'd say our payment provider must be set up wrong or something.

I know there are things we can improve like focusing on benefit more (vs feature) on the product description but this conversion rate is a mind bender to me.

What do you think I'm doing wrong?
#appreciated #comments #conversion #increasing #newbie #suggestions
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  • Profile picture of the author JSammon512
    Hi there! If you are comfortable sharing the indivdual layouts of pages, that would be super helpful. The design can play a huge part in whether people convert or not. You'll need to make sure that the "call to action" or buy now button stands out (perhaps you could help this by making the color more bold or brighter).

    Another thing to look at is how your site/pages look in mobile. Most don't factor this into the design of their website and you want to make sure that the buy now button is above the scroll on mobile devices. I hope that helps as a starting point!
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    • Profile picture of the author Korhan Uran
      I don't mind sharing a link to the store, anything that improves the customer experience is worth it. I'm just shy about being flagged as spammer or something. I have the link in my signature.

      On the desktop:


      With variant selection, I don't think I can make it above the scroll on mobile. Actually unless the add to cart button is before the product image, some scrolling will be needed.

      But I can make the Add to Cart button larger and a different color.


      Do you think it might help? It even wiggles on hover
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    With 2,000 unique PPC traffic and no buyers, odds are you're targeting the wrong keywords.

    Do the keywords have buyer intent? What's an example keyword? Use another niche as an example If needed.

    You need a heatmap or something similar to show you what traffic is doing on your webpage/s.
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    • Profile picture of the author Korhan Uran
      That is the crazy part:

      1. I don't cast a wide net with keywords.

      2. Google Shopping catalog ads, Bing/Yahoo Shopping catalog ads or dynamic Facebook ads with images bring in the visitors. They see the product image, they click on it and they land on product pages. I only have negative keywords like "around here", "in town", " near me", "how to", or "making ..." Google knows what the product category is, what age and gender it is for, what color the product is... The title/description contain keywords obviously but the only people who actually visit the store are those who see and click on the product images.

      3. Facebook retargeting ads show similar products to the same people (visitors). So if they click and visit again, again it's because they saw the product and were interested in it.

      Out of 2000 visitors, half are resellers and just random people I guess. But out of the rest:
      110-230 came from Google Shopping
      140 came from Bing/Yahoo
      250 came from FB ads
      100 came back with FB retargeting ads

      Depending on how you look at it, at least 500-600 people came knowing the product they were going to see.

      The person
      (1) searches for a "wedding shoulder necklace" on Google/Bing. Finds our product page for one of those. Navigates away.

      (2) Sees more wedding shoulder necklaces from our store on a carousel ad on Facebook. Clicks on it to come back to our store. Navigates away.

      or
      The person
      (1) Fits the audience definition we have for a facebook ad and sees a wedding shoulder necklaces on our carousel ad. Clicks on the image and finds our product page for it. Navigates away.

      (2) Sees more wedding shoulder necklaces from our store on a carousel ad on Facebook. Clicks on it to come back to our store. Navigates away.

      Here are some heatmaps:

      They seem to click on ALL ITEMS or SHOP NOW as intended. Which takes them here:

      Then they click on tag based collections and browse the products they are interested in. But most actually land on individual product pages.

      Bounce rate is around 65%. Most check the product they clicked for and move on, but not all.

      Around 40% of the visitors are on a mobile phone with a screen around 360x640. The bounce rate is much higher and the average session duration is much lower with those. That seems to be the only problem I can think of atm.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSammon512
    Korhan! I checked out the site. Ironically enough, I went to OU too! It's always good to help another Bobcat out.

    I love the new addition of the bigger buy now button. I think that will help tremendously moving forward.

    You may have more luck targeting individuals on Facebook via targeted FB advertising (expecially the recently engaged audience). This article has a great infographic on how you can target people on FB: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2...ns-infographic

    I would also recommend having a call to action to drive people to subscribe to your email list. While someone may not be interested in the product right away to buy, they may come back to buy at some point. You can also remarket to people too.
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    • Profile picture of the author Korhan Uran
      Go Bobcats!
      I used FB ads with engaged shoppers in the audience filters.
      Lately:
      110-230 came from Google Shopping
      140 came from Bing/Yahoo
      250 came from FB ads with a specific audience
      100 came back with FB retargeting ads

      That's why I'm puzzled.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by Korhan Uran View Post

    Obviously I'm a newbie here... so any helpful advice would be valuable. Especially when it comes to increasing conversion. My understanding is that our progress has got us to a point where ads are showing up, with the right keywords, people are clicking, retargeting brings them back to other products they might be into yet sale numbers are not what they should be.

    I can't figure out what the problem is.

    1. It's not shipping because
    - We are located in the US,
    - We ship from US,
    - With free shipping to US

    2. It's not the products because
    - These are unique handmade products
    - The artisans making them have good online sales on Etsy
    - So we know the product sells

    3. It's not the price because
    - We get a discount from the artisans
    - We sell for the same price as the artisans
    - So we know it's the price these items sell for already
    - Prices seem to be normal market prices for the items

    4. It's not finding the right visitors because
    - On Google Shopping ads, the viewer searches for the product, sees it, clicks with the intention of buying it
    - Same thing on Bing/Yahoo network
    - Our dynamic retargeting ads on Facebook target visitors and show them other products they might be interested in
    - So it's not like we're using keywords to cast a wide net and hoping the visitors will be interested in the product by luck. Only those who already know they are interested in the product visit the store. Landing pages for visitors are product pages, not the main store page.


    5. I don't think it's the website itself because
    - We have trust badges that show a secure checkout is provided
    - PayPal is supported, so it's not like they need to give us their credit card information or anything
    - The trust rate looks good on scamadvisor
    - About us, Contact us, Shipping Policy, Return Policy pages are all there.
    - The photos are good (definitely good enough for the artisan to sell the product)
    - It's Shopify based with the Brooklyn theme, making it a familiar and good looking store with enough customization to give it character
    - The discount on catalog pages are in percentage (thus a larger number than if it was in $).
    - Only some products are on sale (no faking)
    - There are no annoying pop-ups or anything
    - We did try to induce a sense of urgency by offering a discount code that was only good until mothers days
    - We have "related products", "most popular" etc showing up to help with the bounce rate
    - You can checkout without becoming a member (membership optional)
    - The announcement bar at the top of every page screams "Free shipping to US!"


    Out of 2000 unique visitors, not a single sale this month. I did have one sale more than a month ago and if it wasn't for that one, I'd say our payment provider must be set up wrong or something.

    I know there are things we can improve like focusing on benefit more (vs feature) on the product description but this conversion rate is a mind bender to me.

    What do you think I'm doing wrong?
    Hello there,

    Maybe I am missing something but I am not really understanding. What products are you trying to sell? Are these your own products? or affiliate products? etc?

    Also, for the site, is it your site? What type of site is it? Niche? etc? how much traffic does it get?

    Also - where does the traffic come from? how are you targeting? etc? the more info you can provide, the more we can help!

    Best of luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Korhan Uran
      The products are artisan made items, mostly handmade jewelry or hand knit apparel around $48.

      Lately:
      110-230 came from Google Shopping
      140 came from Bing/Yahoo Catalog ads
      250 came from FB ads with a specific audience
      100 came back with FB retargeting ads
      0 sales

      These are all people who saw the product and clicked on the image to become visitors. That's why I'm puzzled.
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  • Profile picture of the author Korhan Uran
    Ok, I actually had a few sales since I posted this. If it helps anybody: my CPC was lower on Bing/Yahoo network, so I scaled it up there instead of Google or FB. That's where the sales came from.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    When the humans click, are they well aware of you, your brand and is their trust factor through the roof? If folks come in cold, conversions die. But if you have helped them through your blog, or through videos, they know that you know your stuff in the niche, click through and buy. All about gaining trust to gain sales and offering free, helpful content through a range of platforms is one such way to earn trust.
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    Ryan Biddulph helps you to be a successful blogger with his courses, manuals and blog at Blogging From Paradise
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