How to build a brand.

[woken]

Hi guys,

This is my progress thread for my ecommerce brand launching 2.04.2021
*I am not dropshipping.*

I started working on this at the beginning of February and most of it was done by the end of that month, so I’ve wasted a lot of time since then not knowing what else to do.
Leads are accumulating and anticipation is building but I’m not sure a 2 months prelaunch campaign has been the greatest idea.

Things I’ve done so far

• Built website (includes everything from pixel setup to custom editing, removing buy buttons, product photography, copywriting, the lot.)
• Built a referral campaign and collected 5k leads. ( bring 25 friends and get 1 free) I’m giving away +-100 pieces total. In hindsight, I should’ve went with a higher number and less time. I gave people a month and a half.
• Automated email flows for everything such as abandoned carts, returning customers, etc. (spent some time here thinking about the endless possibilities with ifs and buts)
• Fb and insta posts everyday.
• Influencers campaign 5 posts so far with minor impact, 5 to go on launch day with bigger influencers(300k+)
• Fb ads funnel ready to go.(lookalikes, custom audiences, retargeting, the lot)
• Created 5-6 Instagram template stories that I can easily edit for everyday use.
• Created individual discount codes for the guys that completed the referral campaign. When they reached the threshold an automatic email was sent with a code but by now it should be shared so I’m not taking chances( for the 100% discount)
• Integrate the reviews app right before launch. Since it’s not free, I didn’t want to use it until the site is live

Things I need to do short term
A/B test different popups (email capture) and maybe integrate “Wheel of Fortune” app for the same purpose


Things I need to do long term:

• Grow both Insta and Fb presence
  • Anything over 10k followers should help build trust.
• A/B testing free shipping vs cheaper with paid shipping(current)
  • Mixed thoughts about this, only assumptions. I see successful brands doing both so I need the a/b data
• Improve packaging
  • As I was rushing with the packaging part of the business, I overlooked some better packaging designs that I could get for the same cost, but will improve overall the experience. I’ve already contacted the suppliers and supplied(haha) my needs, they’re waiting for the okay.
• Improve conversion rate.
  • How do I know it needs improving you ask? Well, conversion rate can always be improved.
• Design 5 timeless pieces to create a 100% original collection
  • By original I mean a founding collection, something that I would like to keep on the website forever. More on that as we get there.
• Get the brand to £10K revenue/ month.
  • While my lifelong goal has been to earn £10k/ month after taxes, I’m happy with my brand doing that. At the 10k/month level I can afford to pay my monthly expenses without impacting the brand as much. I only need £2k/ month which will stay the same for the foreseeable future. You might argue 20% is a lot at the 10k level but the percentage will drop as revenue increases.

​

Launching :
I will refrain from expectations.

The 5k leads I have acquired at £0.25/lead( does not factor in products shipped).
There’s 7k leads total but the software I use automatically excludes leads from sweepstake websites, duplicate IP, etc.
I’m aware a percentage of my leads joined just for the free products, or signed up and gave up. This category, I’ll say, 50%?, of total leads. Again, no precedents so I’m not sure what to factor here.
While they were targeted and warmed up for the duration of the referral campaign, I’m not sure what to expect.
I get around 50% email open rate( not sure it’s sustainable since I only sent 10 emails throughout the campaign)

All said and done, I would consider a 1% conversion rate a success. Expensive, but it’s a start.


Mindset:
I am positive about the whole journey and really keen to learn. One concern I'll be tackling is Shiny Objects Syndrome which I'm sure can be cured by implementing smaller goals and sticking to them.
I'm not sure if I'm setting myself a ceiling by aiming for £10k a month for my business, but that's something I feel I can do. Once I get there I can then work on that.

Thank you for reading this !

I'm sure there’s tons I missed but I’m here to learn and document the journey. If you do have any suggestions let me know.

 

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[woken]

1 MONTH REVIEW

I Hit the £1k/month goal

• Improve packaging- this can wait, at the moment the packaging is what you’d call ‘standard’. I want to create a better unboxing experience. Eventually I will do this as I have the suppliers ready to make them.
• tested paid vs free shipping, figured out what works.
• Conversion rate needs improving but it was expected since I tested a lot of traffic sources.
• Designed 10 pieces, will produce only 2 extra at the moment.
• The influencers I have partnered with brought in a total 0 sales. Will refrain from this type of marketing for a while.
• Optimized fb ads and this is the result

Had an influx of orders in the last 24 hours I have done 7 times the average.

All profits all reinvested.


Figured out the following:

I need approx. £2000/month for my expenses(house,bills,etc)

I won’t take any money out of this until it hits £10k/ month.

At that level, 20% should not affect as much. Of course, the goal is to reduce this percentage as much as possible.


I had two returns total. Customer service is funny. I try not to get mad, but will build tolerance as it progresses. It’s part of every business.

Revenue:

• £189 in person sales
• £ 432 etsy
• £610 main website
  Total £1231
  
  Overall I’m very happy I have a viable business.

I enjoy the process. From figuring out what works and what doesn’t, packaging every item, printing labels, going to the post office, I love every moment of it.

What I also do and customers love:
I send the items out within a maximum of 1h of placing the order. Every single one.
I know I could go only once per day to the post office but this way customers are more likely to leave a positive review/recommend the products.

I also delivered an item myself to a customer that lives close enough to me, within 30 minutes of ordering.
He was shook!
TAKE THAT AMAZON!

I learn a lot in the past month.
Knowledge cannot be taken away, by anyone.

I’m trying to get to the point where the execution of the basics is done really really well. Then scaling is inevitable.

 

[woken]

I’ve updated the thread and moved some
things from “short term” to “done”.

The launch is tomorrow.


When you don’t know, you think you’ve done everything there was to be done.

what would you do differently?

Here I am, a little nervous for a 1% conversion rate.

And yes, 1% is extremely low for launch day but it’s intentional so that I can reach it lol.

COSTS
Manufacturing : £2500

Fb ads + influencers - £1700

Rewards campaign platform 2 months - £215

Email marketing - £70/m

Website £25/month

Packaging(for 500 orders) : £75

• I managed to save here by buying wholesale and doing the branding myself ( i own a heat press and a silhouette vinyl cutter) and by getting getting freebies from Ups& royal mail( free labels, etc)

Thermal label printer £129

• Saves A LOT OF TIME.

Total : £4717
Drop in the ocean compared to my previous £50k failure that made £300.



Edit: there will be some orders from people that won rewards in the referral campagin for sure ( they have fml discounts) which I’m hoping would generate positive reviews.

 

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[sparechange]

Great thread, good luck!

You've proved you can get leads, and .25 is fairly cheap, keep doubling and tripling down on it. That way when you are reaching hundreds of thousands of people you increase your chances of getting those sales.

Don't focus on growing followings, focus on the leads, sales & rinse repeating. 1M followers on Instagram doesn't mean as much as 1,000 sales for example.

 

[woken]

Sales slowly coming in.
Shiny objects syndrome slowly creeping in.
I’ve designed 9 more products for the brand.
I won’t manufacture all at once, I’ve learnt my lessons.
I won’t manufacture anything out of pocket anymore. If I sell what I have, I’ve got money for better products, if not, I have to wait until the sales come in.
As I’m writing this I realize that me designing 9 more products is still shiny objects syndrome. Still running after something else, thinking other products will sell better because they’re more unique.( aren’t they all,haha).

I realize this is a bad spot to be in mentally. I honestly didn’t see it this way until I put it down here. I see the pattern, this is where I stop.

I need to improve the conversion rate. No more spending money on other products until I sell what I have. Others are selling about the same thing for more and are killing it.

Boys and girls, the shiny objects syndrome is real and most of the times you’re not even aware.

 

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[woken]

New Year, New me?

Not really.

I’ve debated for a while wether to post about this or not and I finally decided that there’s no good reason why I should not. There’s also no point to create another thread just for this. This is about a hobby of mine. One I’ve started out of need, but it turned out to be rather fun.

As mentioned numerous times, I have started a clothing brand some time ago. Because of not enough capital and bad allocation, I couldn’t bring to the market the full collection. I was using high end materials for the clothes, including Swarovski crystals. As you can imagine, I was left with quite a few crystals.

One random afternoon I was scratching my head for birthday gift ideas for my uncle’s life-long friend. He loves apples.

So, what could I get him? My choices were a bit limited. Apple cider? Apple vinegar? Apple juice? Plain apples?
Well, you get the point.

I wanted to gift him something that he would keep forever, not something perishable.

That’s when it hit me. I could make him an apple covered in Swarovski crystals.

Obviously, I had to outsource the apple itself, which is made out of porcelain. A couple of red porcelain paint that I made sure matched the colour of the stones, and voila. I had a red, porcelain apple. All that was left was to cover it in stones.

For my clothes I was creating templates. Sure, it involves work, but you don’t place every stone by hand.

After countless days of setting over 5500 stones by hand, it was done. (Phone cameras don’t do justice to the way it sparkles. )





Over the coming months, I’ve also made a panther.
A chess horse.( I don’t have any finished pictures and I’m not at home currently)
This piece is the first out of a very long project I embarked on in my spare time. In the end, I want to have a large, full chess board.


And more recently, for my girlfriend’s uncle & aunt, which are dentists, this tooth.


I find it amazing how in the beginning I‘m always thinking :
“Will I ever finish this?“ and once I start focusing on setting each stone perfectly my mindset shifts to:
”This looks amazing and it will be done soon.“


I have never wanted to sell these, as my previous experience taught me that I need a rather large budget to get in front of the right people. And also, I consider these pretty high ticket, which I have no idea how to sell.

Just as an idea:
The apple itself was a mere £20.
Paint & Swarovski Crystals - £300
Hours worked - 50. If I was to pay myself the new UK minimum wage, that would amount to £475
Total costs to make - £795



This is my progress thread and I figured I could share a bit more about myself here. Am I wasting my time? Not really, as I have gifted people something they will have for life.
Also, a lot could be improved in the way of stone setting. I always try to follow the natural curves of the object itself. If you ever need an everlasting gift, let me know. I am not charging anything apart from the materials.

Video links for convenience:

https://imgur.com/a/faITuaT

View: https://imgur.com/a/faITuaT

https://imgur.com/a/qm5GFYn

View: https://imgur.com/a/qm5GFYn

https://imgur.com/a/jDrBxNd

View: https://imgur.com/a/jDrBxNd


Edit : This is not my main project, just a hobby.

 

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[MitchC]

That panther is sick. I could see Kanye buying it or it being an album cover.

 

[woken]

Hi, good stuff! Your referral campaign, you asked for 25 friends. Was this just “give me the email of 25 people”, or did you have additional validation?

I’m spitballing the idea of “free month/product/bonus/etc” when x friends enroll or open an account. Not necessarily requiring purchase, but that could definitely vet your leads for you. Curious how much thought a customer will give to *who* they refer if quality matter, as opposed to just sending you their first fifty contacts.

It’s better to have 10 people ready to purchase than 10k emails that you’re not sure what they want.
The platform I used made sure they rejected leads from duplicate emails, people from sweepstakes websites, etc.
I’ve warmed up the leads throught automated email flows but I think I should’ve just started earlier, without leads, since the product was ready long before.

When giving away products or services that are once and done, you’ll attract a lot of “cmon man give me some too” people.

once their in your list, they’ll open any email, boost up your numbers, anything to get their free thing.

after completing several courses worth thousands, I’m amazed by how people manage to generate 100k revenue at launch without being famous or the products innovative at all. ( branded coffee cups for example)

People say social numbers don’t matter and that sales do, but social numbers are what drive those sales( social proof).

i had people in my campaign that when through the whole process, and at launch bounced because they had to pay £3.99 for shipping(for a £70 product given free) And leaving comments like: idk if this is real,the page has only 200 likes.

Wtf?

i know what i’m typing is random but I don’t feel like organising anymore for now.

Google harry’s referral campaign. I’ve done something similar.

 

[woken]

Update:

At the moment I am trying to get at least 100 events such as add to cart so I can make some lal audiences.

I'm out of interests idea to target.

The more events you have the better your ads will deliver.


edit :

Atm trying to break even on the ad spend. If I break even it means my pixel will optimize for free, so that's the goal right now.

 

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[woken]

Funny thing happens when you complain.

converted 1 person via email.
Now that’s a start, haha.

Planning on rebuilding all Email Marketing emails with better flows.
I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. I was going for the quick sale, also not sending enough information.

happy with the journey so far, I’m about one sale away from my £1k/ first month initial goal.
Overall, I love the process of figuring out what works/what doesn’t.
I will be updating soon with revenue pics.

 

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[woken]

I’ve gifted myself a treadmill and couldn’t be more excited.

In London you can never be sure of the weather. Now it’s sunny and ten minutes later seems like the end of the world is coming. Rinse and repeat on a loop.


Not really a gym guy, but I’ve always been fit.

The reason I bought one is because I’m always thinking how the perfect life would be for me and trying to implement that as much as I can.


Business wise things are a bit slower, trying to make the website better and fighting facebook ads everyday.

Some limitations appear because of lacking the knowledge I need.
I can outsource a lot of things but the budget won’t allow for now.

Example:

I’d like to implement a 3d interactive model for all my products.
I tried to do it myself but for some reason the software won’t work.
I can outsource this but I’m pretty sure a good looking, interactive 3D Model is expensive. When you do that for x21 products, it’s way out of budget.


Got 2 more products fully custom made for the brand, which are manufactured now.

 

[Tony100]

I’ve gifted myself a treadmill and couldn’t be more excited.

In London you can never be sure of the weather. Now it’s sunny and ten minutes later seems like the end of the world is coming. Rinse and repeat on a loop.


Not really a gym guy, but I’ve always been fit.

The reason I bought one is because I’m always thinking how the perfect life would be for me and trying to implement that as much as I can.


Business wise things are a bit slower, trying to make the website better and fighting facebook ads everyday.

Some limitations appear because of lacking the knowledge I need.
I can outsource a lot of things but the budget won’t allow for now.

Example:

I’d like to implement a 3d interactive model for all my products.
I tried to do it myself but for some reason the software won’t work.
I can outsource this but I’m pretty sure a good looking, interactive 3D Model is expensive. When you do that for x21 products, it’s way out of budget.


Got 2 more products fully custom made for the brand, which are manufactured now.

Congrats on your progress and accomplishments so far mate. Also just read your intro post. Good stuff.

Your title here is 'building a brand' but you haven't talked much about branding or building an audience? I'm not talking about numbers but in terms of what your brand stands for, how you connect to your customers values and building that fan base around your brand.

It's not criticism but actually a regret of mine. I started my B2B online shop a few years ago. Now I wish I had focused more on building a loyal fan base because we now have lots of competitors - our products, customer service and general values are almost identical. My customers are happy but will go to a competitor if they're cheaper. If you can build that fan base /brand, they will choose your shop everytime.

Rather than analysing ads I would investigate customer retention, engagement on Instagram posts, what else do your target customers buy online, what do your target customers value when making a purchase - ethics, delivery speed, aesthetics, price, what country goods are made? What is important to them? Are you testing new products on customers before making them in batch? Make the customer your focus and sales will follow.

You have brought in sales quickly since launching though so you must be onto something good. Keep it up mate

 

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[woken]

Small update.
Everything is going good and I’m still at Facebook’s hand, only spending a maximum of £36/day. I’d be way ahead of where I am, but yeah..

Waiting on two more products that I designed that are in the making since May.

Not getting discouraged, but I feel like I could map out a plan for any other business apart from mine and my niche.

It always looks easier from outside.


Definitely a lot of shiny objects syndrome ruling my days, weeks and months. Not actually pursuing anything else. But since my actual orders are pretty much the same day, I pack them, ship them out and that’s that. Not really working on the business itself and ways to grow since the only way of bringing sales( that I can navigate )only lets me spend £36/day.

The “infatuation” period is over. Scroll above and see how I was excited to pack each and every order. Well, that feels like a chore now because of the routine.

Again, every other business I look at I can map out a progress plan for. When it comes to mine, I’m like a 4 year old trying to write a book on quantum physics.

As mentioned in earlier posts, a lack of guidance is what I miss. Even though it seems silly and straightforward( spend more on ads, make more sales) I reached a mental block.

I appreciate any replies !

 

[JustPawel]

What's the progress woken? I've just finished reading your updates and I am pretty curious if you managed to push forward mentally and in business.

 

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[Johnny boy]

If you could accomplish 1/50th of dollar shave club's success you'd have an exit worth 20 million. I would not throw too much shade on their marketing campaign lol. And I wouldn't pay any attention to anything DSC did after selling the company to Unilever. In my opinion, it's like when Cuban sold broadcast.com to yahoo. Big giant boomers buying a hot company from a very very intelligent founder. They always screw it up. 2016 revenue: around 250m, 2020 revenue: 100m

DSC's marketing strategy would not work 100% as well but it would still work. It just needs tweaking for success in 2021-2022.

If your business model doesn't fit this style of marketing then find something that fits better. Different industries/products/services are best sold in different ways.

Usually fb ads for products is like this <10% are profitable and it's because of an EXCELLENT campaign, along with a highly profitable product with broad appeal and manufactured by the same company doing the advertising and then 90% is people who are testing out their ads to find that they aren't making much money.

It's not 2008 anymore. Easy money from fb ads is GONE.

 

[Johnny boy]

Although it looks like it, I’m just trying to understand what is going on with their socials.

I think I found my answer. Went a bit deeper and found socials looking dead is a common thing with Unilever brands. I guess it doesn’t matter if you have top of mind awareness anyway.

Thanks @Andy Black @Johnny boy

Well, another day another lesson.

For Unilever, they are so big that before any competitor gets a shot to be in Safeway or any big store, I'm sure someone gets a call and it goes like
"Hey Unilever c-suite guy, this company that's selling shampoos wants to get into our stores"
"hahaha F*ck them. Tell them to kick rocks. Thanks for the call Dave, you wanna go golfing later?"

They don't need to care about their instagram page.

 

[TedM]

Thanks for sharing your journey. I know you've got other things going, and eventually you'll find the right mix to meet your needs.

I feel that this thread, and many others like it, are the initial efforts most of us need to go through to get to the results that will eventually meet goals. I've tried, failed, tried some more... I firmly believe the only ones who truly fail are the ones who give up.

This time, I'm being modest in my goals, in my spend, and just trying to do at least 1 thing every day for my product....

Just soldier on....

 

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[woken]

Very nice.
How much does it cost and what is the average retail price of a purchase? Does your cost / profit ratio support this easily?

It costs about £5 without shipping fees.
That might be a lot for a £120 product, but I’m willing to pay the price for the long term growth of the company. Just as @100k said, I am trying to wow them from day 1.

Things are coming along nicely. I need to set aside some funds for the campaign and that should take me around a month or so.

I have a clear path to follow. Excited excited excited.

A good launch takes time and I am willing to fail, if that’s the case. But it won’t be because I didn’t go all out / done everything I could.

Expecting to launch during the summer.( just as a notice if you guys are curious)

Thank you everyone for your input.

Stay healthy & hungry!

 

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[woken]

After 26 calls today only, I got someone to see me.

They done incredible things as they’ve shown me. It’s an established family owned tailor shop. Got there, the guy understood exactly what I wanted.

Product can also be manufactured there so most probably will go with him since the quote was spot on.

It pays to be open minded.

Excited to get to the next phase.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Haven’t updated in a while.

I see last update was back in March. I picked up the product then slowly lost faith in the project as time passed and things didn’t progressed my way. I started spiralling down with health anxiety, daily panic attacks and only got better towards the beginning of September. I still have my ups and downs, but I’m trying to manage the best I can.

I would like to thank @Black_Dragon43 for the support and tips over PMs. That alone helped massively. Once again it is proved that a lot of value is in the PMs and connections you make on the forum.

I don’t know what I would’ve done without the passive streams of income. They’re not much, but took care of expenses while I could not really think of much.

Looking through my post history and even through this thread it’s like I’m reading about a different person. I lost a lot of my drive. I am very dissatisfied with my business experiences. I’ve suffered mentally so much over health anxiety that I feel my tolerance is way lower now, and by not trying anymore I would somehow keep myself safe.

Lost 32kg in total, down to 72kg( been here for a few months now).

I’m even considering getting back into the rat race, maybe finding a sales position somewhere or doing a law degree. Really confused at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to make a good product and go through the process like in TGRRE , but I would also like to see some F*cking progress from time to time.

I realised now this thread should be named How Not to Build a Brand .


I know I sound like I’m complaining a lot, but I wanted to provide an update to this thread as I felt pressured to do so

I’ve always said the Fastlane isn’t for everyone so maybe it’s time I take my own advice.

Glad to hear I could help a little brother…

Here’s what I’d say… the current approach is obviously not sustainable and not working. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on the Fastlane.

Making a successful product is imo the HARD way to get rich. Most rich people are not product creators, they are marketers of products (and the second richest are service providers).

You’re not seeing much progress because what you’re trying to do is inherently very difficult and you’re missing a lot of the steps along the way.

I believe one of the most valuable thing a young person can do is get really really good at a high value skill… something like copywriting, audience building, programming and so on.

With a high value skill you can earn right away, and you can turn it into a business by hiring others and building it into an agency. It’s what I’ve done, and now I teach others how to do the same. It’s awesome because you know you’ll never be without money.

If my current consulting business were to fail, it wouldn’t be a big deal to me. I can always go back to being a direct response copywriter and with my background have 10+ clients lined up outside my door waiting to hire me. I’d be making $10K+/mo even if I just worked on Upwork and chilled… and why would I work outside of Upwork as a freelancer? Guys come knock on your door there if you’re good and all you have to do is let them in and take the money…

It will take you 2 years of hardship and struggle to build a high value skill from scratch. Less if you have money and can get mentorship. But it will keep paying for the rest of your life.

The alternative to this is doing some ecommerce/affiliate marketing kind of business. It can work much faster, but requires capital and bigger risks. With a skill you pretty much can’t fail, because it all depends on your own ability to perform.

 

[woken]

Great thread, good luck!

You've proved you can get leads, and .25 is fairly cheap, keep doubling and tripling down on it. That way when you are reaching hundreds of thousands of people you increase your chances of getting those sales.

Don't focus on growing followings, focus on the leads, sales & rinse repeating. 1M followers on Instagram doesn't mean as much as 1,000 sales for example.

I’m sure it does help building trust. Not focusing on a large following though.
Sure thing, sales and growth are the focus here.

thanks for the reply.

 

[woken]

Update:

Had some orders from the leads.

I was doing some extra ads and fb banned my ads account. They wouldn’t say why, of course.
Submitted the documentation required...
This is why you should be in control.

I don’t know google ads, and based on SEO alone I don’t know if there’ll be any significant growth.

Will update as it progresses.

 

[woken]

This is an inspiring thread. I need to do much of this myself. Best of luck.



Now this may prove a wonderful lesson for us... only when you're ready to share the story!

Here's another excellent read: EXECUTION - What I learned spending $40k and one year launching my app.

Thanks for your reply !

Quick update;

made another ad account, business manager, etc.
biggest fear would be them being linked but I don’t think that would be a problem since this won’t violate any policies.

i won’t be burning through the ad budget anymore and only be running top funnel ads, until I can make lookalike audiences(100 events).
Right now I’m waiting for the initial review for the ads. Up and down and up and down we go

Edit: all pixel data could’ve been transferred if I had an older business manager . Apparently you cannot share pixel data with new business managers. It takes “ several weeks of following policies”. Lesson learnt there.

 

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[woken]

12 Days since Launch Update.
Revenue - £560.

-Got lots of content.
-Optimised website.
-Testing fb ads continuously, can’t really do much bc of the limit.
Got about half of the month left to hit the £1K goal.
can’t scale much further from here until fb decides to increase my limit.

 

[woken]

I’m considering scrapping email marketing altogether. I’ve tried everything, I’ve warmed them up, tested different flows, different offers to the point where I’ve offered buy one get one free to the hottest audience, and they still won’t convert.

is there anyone here willing to give some tips?

this is my main frustration at the moment, and that facebook didn’t up my daily spend yet.

Edit: i know I need email marketing, abandoned checkouts flows, browsing flows, but I’m saying I don’t see the results, nor do I know how to improve it.

 

[woken]

Funny thing happens when you complain.

converted 1 person via email.
Now that’s a start, haha.

 

[woken]

you haven't talked much about branding or building an audience? I'm not talking about numbers but in terms of what your brand stands for, how you connect to your customers values and building that fan base around your brand.

I think I left some details here and there but you’re right.

our products, customer service and general values are almost identical. My customers are happy but will go to a competitor if they're cheaper.

This is more or less in the same boat. They won’t find my products cheaper though. But I’ve encountered that. My customers would pay more for the same thing from established brands.
So I’m not really in a position to talk a lot about that, I’m trying to learn myself as I go.

It always seems easier when you think of other products.


So far I’ve been focusing on customer service. Every order ships out within 30 mins of purchase during business hours.Arrives next day in the UK, when customer expects 2-3 days transit.
Good follow up after purchases, engagement, but no further sales.

And I’m pretty sure it’s not a product problem.
My products are not exactly a repeat purchase apart from some customers here and there purchasing again as gifts for friends etc.
What would generate repeat sales is introducing another category of products that go with what I currently have. But at the moment I’ve decided I’m not spending any more of my money on this.( trying the other way as opposed to spending £50k on multiple products as discussed in my intro post)

Other categories will be added as it progresses, and that’s the main goal.

One thing I didn’t mention here before is that I actually value my work lesser than other’s people work.

I’ll give you an example.

Mike takes a photo of a tree.
I take the same exact photo but in my mind, mine is less valuable/worse.

Even though they’re identical.



My posts here are more of a journal for me to look back on and track progress. I’m not claiming to know anything, but rather I’m trying to figure things out.

Rather than analysing ads

Without proper ads I have no traffic. No traffic = no customers.
I can’t rely on SEO for a two month old website so I say I do have to analyse and understand them to make them better.


At the moment it goes against the CENTS since I don’t own the traffic nor do I optimize for emails, but rather go straight for the sale.

I might just change the strategy here.
I think I’ll optimise for email address and then funnel customers down through email marketing. It sounds cheaper when I think of it now.
What I don’t have right now is an incentive for email addresses( apart from the 10% off discount popup)

Any ideas ?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[woken]

I gave some thought to the above and decided to pursue it.

So far via Fb Ads I’ve been going directly for the sale, with mediocre results.

I will continue to use fb ads to get emails and do most of the marketing via email.

The new strategy, as opposed to the “direct to the sale” will be
get email -> deliver value, value, value and then ASK.


It’s more common for services or something you’d see on higher priced items or courses, but I am willing to give it a try.

I will implement, test and come back with the results.

 

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[MitchC]

Conversion rate can definitely hit 6% if you know what you are doing.

It might be easier to increase your aov, maybe offer a deal for buying 2 until you have more products.

influencers should not be used to generate sales, instead use them to generate content and use that content as ad creatives.

combine a better conversion rate, a higher aov and better ad creatives and you’ll be on your way. Stay away from shiny objects until then.

 

[woken]

What's the progress woken? I've just finished reading your updates and I am pretty curious if you managed to push forward mentally and in business.

Done £3k last month, looking forward for the same or better.

I’m currently 1 month in my 2 month holiday and only focusing on designing new products/ talking to my manufacturer.

Since I’m away from the UK, I arranged for somebody to pack & ship the orders.

Funny enough, I stopped posting that often on Instagram but I get more sales.


My main focus now is getting ready the new products.

I know it’s counterintuitive taking a holiday a few months in after starting a business, but I’m not trying to change the world.


Since I’m on holiday, my shiny objects syndrome is all over the place. Ideas flowing everyday. I do keep track of them.

I’m starting to believe this might be a blessing in disguise and will eventually cure itself once I have something running at the level I want. Since I can’t stop thinking about pursuing new ideas, although bad, I’m devising a plan on how to act on them fast without affecting my day to day business activities. I can afford that because this current business doesn’t take too much of my time.

The less it takes to launch a new business, the better.

I might not end up with a single
business doing £10k/ month, but I can definitely take 10 businesses to £1k/ month.

We’ll see. I will post again from time to time once I have my plan.