The 5 biggest reasons your online customer didn't buy

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Precious little can be worse than launching your online store with what you thought was the perfect product, try and market it the best you can, but then no one buys it. Making it this far in the e-commerce business is something to be proud of.

So don't get too disappointed, the fact that you are here looking for solutions to fix your problem is commendable. The Huffington Post reported that 90% of all online startup businesses fail in the first four months. Once you notice your products not selling in the first week or two make sure to do something about it.
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Do not wait for several months stuck in limbo, hoping things will change. You need to be proactive and make the necessary changes to your operation, or it will be too late to remedy the situation.

Optimize your product listing

​Usually, online sellers get too excited about launching their product that they end up rushing their product listing. It is crucial to remember that the online shoppers you are targeting are not online sellers like yourself that just want the necessary technical specifications of the product.

Sure the technical and physical specifications are a must in any product listing but so are several other factors that will make help push your product to sell. Create compelling bullet points about your product.

The bullet point section has to detail the unique features of your product. You can use one bullet to describe the features then the next bullet for the advantages and finally the benefits of owning your specific product.

The last bullet should be a statement of how your product would fill the particular needs of the customer. You need to make the customer aware that they don't need to look any further at any other product and that your product is what they are looking for.

Remember, your product listing is your sales spiel to the shopper. If you mess up your sales spiel, then they will look at other products and will buy from listings that have a better sales spiel than you. Bring your A game when creating your product listing and optimise it to sell.

Bad Reviews

First and foremost you should always make it a point to keep every single customer that buys a product from you satisfied. Use an email autoresponder to communicate with your customers.

Proactively let them know that if there are any problems to just reach out to you directly and you will be more than glad to take care of any concerns they may have. If ever the negative feedback is not warranted and it happens on the Amazon platform then you can contact Amazon.

Submit an Amazon feedback removal request, and if the negative feedback is actually all about the product and not about your service, then Amazon may remove the feedback. Wait patiently for the reply of seller report and coordinate with them.

In case the negative feedback is valid then you can contact the customer. The customer has the power to remove their negative comment. This is one of the main reasons to always proactively provide excellent customer service.

Now, there will be times when a customer will be really difficult to work with and will refuse your attempts to rectify the situation. What you can do is reply to the comment to explain what happened.

List out what you tried to do to resolve their concern and how you offered a free replacement product or if it was a shipping error that it was the mistake of the shipping company. Whatever the case is, be transparent and show that you tried your best to help.

Future customers that stumble on that comment will see your reply and may shrug off the negative feedback of that past customer.

Utilise PPC campaigns effectively

Making use of sponsored listings otherwise known as PPC campaigns either in Facebook or Amazon is generally a good idea.

However, if your product listing is not optimised and you have not taken steps to appease bad reviews on your product page, then your efforts to use PPC will prove futile. Pay per click campaigns can be expensive.

Although there are proven methods to properly manage an efficient PPC campaign, knowing when to use this powerful tool is also very crucial.

You are essentially paying to have potential customers visit your site or product listing, so you need to be sure that these paid visitors get converted into customers to make the investment worthwhile.  

Payment Issues

Customers enjoy hassle-free online shopping. They want a straightforward price posted on the product listing itself. There should not be any discrepancies in the amount from the time they click add to cart all the way to the checkout screen.

There is a good chance that potential customers will just wholly exit the transaction or even close the window in such instances. Customers hate hidden charges if there will be a shipping fee, be transparent and disclose that fact on the product page.

If your e-commerce site appears to have no secure payment options, then that is another deterrent for customers. Online shoppers are aware of credit card fraud horror stories, and they try their best to be wary of where they enter their payment information.

Make sure your site has an SSL certificate that has the corresponding encryption to secure the payment of your customers. Show customers all the different payment options they can use on your site, like visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Amex and so on.

Your products are too expensive

Generally, consumers look for the best deal possible. This is true whether they are shopping in a brick and mortar store or if they are doing their shopping online.

Keep in mind that there are probably hundreds if not thousands of sellers selling a similar or sometimes even the same exact product as you so make it a point to price your products competitively.

Instead of hoping to make a hefty profit on just one sale, remember that more sales that give you a reasonable margin is better and will increase your sales volume. In the long run, more sales equal more profit for your business.

If you offer the premium product choice in your niche, then you need to let the shopper know that the reason for the price is the unparalleled quality of your product. You can do that by optimising your listing.

Conclusion:

Your product listing is your first and only chance to convert a browser into a customer, work on it and optimise it to sell. Prevent bad reviews or handle and pacify any that come your way. Only use PPC once you have a perfect product listing.

Price your product attractively and to make it sell. Provide customer with secure, seamless payment transactions to make buying a breeze. If you do all of the above tasks, get ready for a windfall.

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Author Bio

​Nathan Sharpe is the entrepreneur behind Biznas, a blog where he serves practical business advice and tips to readers. Learning and helping others learn is his passion.