Hundreds In Ad Spend - ZERO Sales

[Young Money]

Hey guys,

I've been working on an ecommerce store for awhile and I finally launched it on shopify about a month ago.

Well... it has not been going well, to put it mildly. I've spent hundreds of dollars on facebook ads and have not generated a single sale. Not one.

I've tweaked the price, tried targeting different audiences, worked hard on creatives making them visually appealing, I've watched countless youtube videos on how to use facebook ads effectively and nothing is working.

Not sure what to do at this point. I feel very discouraged after putting a lot of time into this "business" and spent a fair bit of money (not in a good spot at all financially) - I wasn't expecting my store to immediately generate a ton of sales, not like I was picking out my Ferrari color already lol but thought if I could do a few hundred dollars even in my first month, I could build off that.

At this point, I'm 50/50 on if I will shutdown my store, I simply can't afford to keep dumping money into ads that are yielding no returns.

Does anyone have any tips on how to market a new store?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

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[Young Money]

I may as well share my business, not too worried about someone copying a zero revenue business anyway lol.

I'm selling Prescription and Non-Prescription Eyewear with a vintage look. I chose the eyewear business because my girlfriend has worked as an optician for 10+ years and knows that industry inside out. The markups on the glasses they sell in her store are absolutely insane. I figured if I could make nice glasses and offer them online for a reasonable price, people would buy them.

I know there is a user on here, I believe his name is Vick and he had tremendous success selling sunglasses online. I read everything he posted and took notes, and am trying to replicate his success and with vintage eyeglasses. I thought the business model follows the CENTS framework pretty well, and would be highly scaleable once I find my target audience, ads that are converting well, and essentially 10X plus my ad spend and scale up fast.

Facebook keeps showing me competitor's ads now; I always click the ads to see what they are doing, and if they make an ad that really appeals to me I take a screenshot so I can implement something similar with my own brand.

I know eyeglasses are not a crazy new innovative product, but so many people need glasses and Luxottica has such absurdly high markups on all their brands, I thought there was still an opportunity to make a stable income from an online eyewear store. I see some unknown brands in this niche with hundreds of reviews so they must be getting sales - and some of their websites suck, so I don't know what they are doing to get all these sales.

I also offer free shipping, and a full 30 day refund guarantee because I know customers might be hesitant to buy from a brand they have never heard of.

The good news is, I'm not sitting on any inventory. I made that mistake with my first amazon fba business and ended up losing so much money from amazon's storage fees. That, combined with amazon's high pay-per-click cost, meant I was in the red even after selling 750 units of my first product. Left a bad taste in my mouth to say the least, so I wanted to be more careful this time, which is why I am selling on my own website (Control), and did not get a bunch of inventory before generating sales.

Any ecomm experts on here know where to go from here? The idea of shutting down really sucks considering how much time and energy I put into it. :/

 

[SEBASTlAN]

What's the LTV of your average customer? If you don't have that number, I wouldn't give up on ads just yet.

 

[MitchC]

Share the actual store

Share some ads you’ve run

What objective are you running on your ads?

What’s the link click ctr

How many clicks have you had

What’s the add to cart etc of your store

Does your store work? Have you tested the checkout?

Why would someone buy your glasses are they different

Who would buy them ? Who are you targeting?

I really don’t know what we can say based on the info you have given

People buy glasses, people buy glasses from Facebook ads, I’ve bought glasses from Facebook ads before

Vick sold heaps on Facebook

There’s no obvious reason that this wouldn’t work but it’s all in the details that you haven’t shared with us

Also since it’s the only detail you did actually mention, free shipping, reviews and a 30 day guarantee are standard

That’s not a point of difference anymore

 

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[Vas87]

I may as well share my business, not too worried about someone copying a zero revenue business anyway lol.

I'm selling Prescription and Non-Prescription Eyewear with a vintage look. I chose the eyewear business because my girlfriend has worked as an optician for 10+ years and knows that industry inside out. The markups on the glasses they sell in her store are absolutely insane. I figured if I could make nice glasses and offer them online for a reasonable price, people would buy them.

I know there is a user on here, I believe his name is Vick and he had tremendous success selling sunglasses online. I read everything he posted and took notes, and am trying to replicate his success and with vintage eyeglasses. I thought the business model follows the CENTS framework pretty well, and would be highly scaleable once I find my target audience, ads that are converting well, and essentially 10X plus my ad spend and scale up fast.

Facebook keeps showing me competitor's ads now; I always click the ads to see what they are doing, and if they make an ad that really appeals to me I take a screenshot so I can implement something similar with my own brand.

I know eyeglasses are not a crazy new innovative product, but so many people need glasses and Luxottica has such absurdly high markups on all their brands, I thought there was still an opportunity to make a stable income from an online eyewear store. I see some unknown brands in this niche with hundreds of reviews so they must be getting sales - and some of their websites suck, so I don't know what they are doing to get all these sales.

I also offer free shipping, and a full 30 day refund guarantee because I know customers might be hesitant to buy from a brand they have never heard of.

The good news is, I'm not sitting on any inventory. I made that mistake with my first amazon fba business and ended up losing so much money from amazon's storage fees. That, combined with amazon's high pay-per-click cost, meant I was in the red even after selling 750 units of my first product. Left a bad taste in my mouth to say the least, so I wanted to be more careful this time, which is why I am selling on my own website (Control), and did not get a bunch of inventory before generating sales.

Any ecomm experts on here know where to go from here? The idea of shutting down really sucks considering how much time and energy I put into it. :/

I'm an optometrist. As I'm sure you're aware glasses fit heads differently, so there are multiple sizes. Even simple thigs like a Caucasian face with a nose bridge and an Asian face with no nose bridge will affect fit immensely.
A lot of companies have ventured into online glasses space (Warby Parker in USA for example) and they all end up pivoting to a brick and mortar business. It is a lot easier to fit a frame to a customer in person.
Now sunglasses are a bit different, as once you find a shape and style you like you can usually just repurchase the same look.

 

[Jeix]

I've had a shopify store for the past year but it's not pure ecommerce because it's an extension of our brick and mortar store (we sell collectible card games mostly). We don't rely on it, not right now anyway, and our efforts are currently spent on the physical side of the business.
What I've found won't necessarily apply to you, but you won't like it.

We generate an average of €500 of sales/mo with zero advertising. How?

I believe the number one factor to be Authority. People associate the website with a real store. This automatically generates trust and makes them buy. I've seen so many one-man websites trying to sell pokemon cards (even for cheaper) that get no sales. People phone us all the time to ask questions and make sure we are the real deal and we are very knowledgeable of our products.

Number two is probably Inventory. We obviously carry our own products, meaning we can ship within a day and it will get there fast. We are also quick in stocking products that people can preorder before release day to have a better idea on how much to buy when the time comes.

Price is usually not the most important aspect.
I know of secondary marketplaces that will sell you the same product for half the price and yet our biggest online competitor thrives on their own website.
Why? It's a matter of timing, of who gets there first, and of holding attention. The secondary marketplace doesn't advertise much and its biggest sellers must be careful sending a user to a product page with hundreds of other sellers on it, so they just don't do it.
Our competitor combines authority, great inventory selection, special deals and advertising to make sure they capture a user's attention and make a sale on their website.

From my observations I've found that a brick and mortar store and an ecommerce store are two separate entities. Two shops each with different needs and customers. The ecommerce is a lot harder to get off the ground because it faces stiff competition, lots of small fish diverting attention and a few big players with inventory and prices you can't beat. Also, customers are always one click away from a better deal.

What can you do in your situation?
I can tell you what you can't do, and that's what we are doing. We pulled our ad spend to zero and are growing our brick and mortar until we have enough inventory and better deals with suppliers to compete online with competitive margins. In the meantime, we sell at full price IRL.
But you can't do that because you have no store and no inventory.

My best advice for you would be to get a job that allows you to put some money into your store every month. Seek partnerships, are there other people like you who are willing to join forces? This isn't exactly my field so I don't have much, I'm sure other people will have more impactful contributions.
Best of luck.

 

[Subsonic]

Hey guys,

I've been working on an ecommerce store for awhile and I finally launched it on shopify about a month ago.

Well... it has not been going well, to put it mildly. I've spent hundreds of dollars on facebook ads and have not generated a single sale. Not one.

I've tweaked the price, tried targeting different audiences, worked hard on creatives making them visually appealing, I've watched countless youtube videos on how to use facebook ads effectively and nothing is working.

Not sure what to do at this point. I feel very discouraged after putting a lot of time into this "business" and spent a fair bit of money (not in a good spot at all financially) - I wasn't expecting my store to immediately generate a ton of sales, not like I was picking out my Ferrari color already lol but thought if I could do a few hundred dollars even in my first month, I could build off that.

At this point, I'm 50/50 on if I will shutdown my store, I simply can't afford to keep dumping money into ads that are yielding no returns.

Does anyone have any tips on how to market a new store?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

Let's be honest, with 400 of ad spent there are probably tens of thousands or more people who saw your ad and were not interested.

If you made that product you sell yourself then maybe give it another shot. If it's just a bunch of crappy whitelabeled products then try something else. Zero sales here means that it likely won't be a winner, even if you get your first sale.

Lastly, for Eyewear you can try ugc tiktok ads. Have a hot girl put on your stuff and then tell her 14 year old followers to buy it.
Tried and true strategy that can get you sales for more or less anything.

 

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[Andy Black]

What about ads on Google? Is anyone running them? Can you start by selling to people already looking to buy?

 

[Vas87]

What about ads on Google? Is anyone running them? Can you start by selling to people already looking to buy?

Would a Performance Max campaign be recommended here or is it better to stick to Search?

 

[MitchC]

Would a Performance Max campaign be recommended here or is it better to stick to Search?

PMax is good for ecommerce but it needs data and budget

This is a new brand and a visual product so I’d probably start with a manual shopping campaign

For other products that aren’t so visual search campaigns definitely work for ecommerce too

Once you have some budget and data you can launch P Max alongside them, they’ll eventually take all the budget from your manual campaigns and then you can scale them

“Hundreds” in ad spend, especially for a product that likely costs $100+, would not be enough to run P Max

 

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[Vas87]

PMax is good for ecommerce but it needs data and budget

This is a new brand and a visual product so I’d probably start with a manual shopping campaign

For other products that aren’t so visual search campaigns definitely work for ecommerce too

Once you have some budget and data you can launch P Max alongside them, they’ll eventually take all the budget from your manual campaigns and then you can scale them

“Hundreds” in ad spend, especially for a product that likely costs $100+, would not be enough to run P Max

I'm in the same boat as OP with trying out ecom, so that was really helpful. Cheers mate.

 

[Andy Black]

Would a Performance Max campaign be recommended here or is it better to stick to Search?

I'd start with search, and based on keywords. Load up keywords, have a low budget, count impressions, analyse and adjust.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/zblktvG2j8k?feature=share

 

[The-J]

Needs more data

 

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[Young Money]

Share the actual store

Share some ads you’ve run

What objective are you running on your ads?

What’s the link click ctr

How many clicks have you had

What’s the add to cart etc of your store

Does your store work? Have you tested the checkout?

Why would someone buy your glasses are they different

Who would buy them ? Who are you targeting?

I really don’t know what we can say based on the info you have given

People buy glasses, people buy glasses from Facebook ads, I’ve bought glasses from Facebook ads before

Vick sold heaps on Facebook

There’s no obvious reason that this wouldn’t work but it’s all in the details that you haven’t shared with us

Also since it’s the only detail you did actually mention, free shipping, reviews and a 30 day guarantee are standard

That’s not a point of difference anymore

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll share more data with everyone.

Brand:

www.whitleyhopps.com

I based my brand off the classic, vintage style of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I like the timeless aesthetic of that era, and I think a lot of people like retro/vintage things. I would be targeting people who like this style, and also people who are more traditional.

I hired a 3d modeling designer on fiverr for my first collection and I obtained samples for my first collection from a factory I had been in contact with in China. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the quality of the frames they sent me, and I got my girlfriend to look at them and she said they were comparable in quality to some of the frames they sell in her store for hundreds of dollars.


Ads:




What objective are you running on your ads?
Mostly been running Traffic ads to accumulate data. I tried Conversions right away but it was expensive and didn't get me very many clicks.

Typically, I would test 3-4 different ads per ad set, and try to appeal to customers in different ways.

Like for example:
Ad 1 - Affordable angle
Ad 2 - Blue Light Blocking Lenses and why they need them
Ad 3 - Vintage/retro design

What’s the link click ctr

Average CTR is 0.66%
Cost per click = $0.69
Clicks = 452
CPM $3.64
Landing page views = 193 total
Ad spend = $264
Zero sales and zero ad to carts.

Does your store work? Have you tested the checkout?

Yes I have tested it and did a fake purchase myself, my store and checkout works.

Maybe with the data I've provided it paints a bit clearer of a picture? Maybe something will stick out as to why my brand is failing.

I appreciate your input.

 

[Young Money]

I'm an optometrist. As I'm sure you're aware glasses fit heads differently, so there are multiple sizes. Even simple thigs like a Caucasian face with a nose bridge and an Asian face with no nose bridge will affect fit immensely.
A lot of companies have ventured into online glasses space (Warby Parker in USA for example) and they all end up pivoting to a brick and mortar business. It is a lot easier to fit a frame to a customer in person.
Now sunglasses are a bit different, as once you find a shape and style you like you can usually just repurchase the same look.

As an optometrist have you ever thought about creating your own eyeglasses line?

Yes, I am aware of asian fit glasses, I don't offer that right now, but planned to in the future. Also planned on selling sunglasses as well... maybe I should have started with that.

I've read all about Warby Parker, essentially did a case study on them, amazing what the founders were able to do with no experience in the eyewear industry.

Brick and Mortar is not something I can consider at this time. The best I could do in terms of in-person sales, is if I can get some stores to agree to take my glasses on as consignment, but even with that my reach would be very limited, which is why I was first focusing on building it online.

 

[Young Money]

Let's be honest, with 400 of ad spent there are probably tens of thousands or more people who saw your ad and were not interested.

If you made that product you sell yourself then maybe give it another shot. If it's just a bunch of crappy whitelabeled products then try something else. Zero sales here means that it likely won't be a winner, even if you get your first sale.

Lastly, for Eyewear you can try ugc tiktok ads. Have a hot girl put on your stuff and then tell her 14 year old followers to buy it.
Tried and true strategy that can get you sales for more or less anything.

I haven't tried tiktok ads yet, I thought it would be best to focus on doing one platform well first (facebook) and then expand to other ones as I grow. But I have thought about tiktok and reaching out to influencers; I would need product to send to them so not able to do that until I've made an order of inventory.

I also had plans to do a cool, retro themed photoshoot with some models to really show off my glasses, but doing so will cost $$thousands so need to get some sales before I am going to make such a big investment.

 

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[Strm]

I also had plans to do a cool, retro themed photoshoot with some models to really show off my glasses, but doing so will cost $$thousands so need to get some sales before I am going to make such a big investment.

Not necessarily. I'm sure you can find an amateur photographer that wants to build his/hers portfolio? At least in my country I see offers for a free photoshoot almost every week. That doesnt mean they wont do a good job. Maybe not as good as pros, but still. Find some photography fb groups and find out. Then you just need some good looking babes haha

 

[Desolation Row]

I'm no expert at all, but it might help: I think the ad you posted doesn't look professional. I would not click on it. I would suggest getting someone on Upwork to design a logo and ad images (Or use Canva - but do yourself a favor and stick to the templates . The top image is actually quite nice, but the font is horrible. I would stick to a fixed price with no discount added. It somehow looks as if you would like to get rid of your frames.

 

[biophase]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll share more data with everyone.

Brand:

www.whitleyhopps.com

I based my brand off the classic, vintage style of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I like the timeless aesthetic of that era, and I think a lot of people like retro/vintage things. I would be targeting people who like this style, and also people who are more traditional.

I hired a 3d modeling designer on fiverr for my first collection and I obtained samples for my first collection from a factory I had been in contact with in China. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the quality of the frames they sent me, and I got my girlfriend to look at them and she said they were comparable in quality to some of the frames they sell in her store for hundreds of dollars.


Ads:
View attachment 50747

View attachment 50748

What objective are you running on your ads?
Mostly been running Traffic ads to accumulate data. I tried Conversions right away but it was expensive and didn't get me very many clicks.

Typically, I would test 3-4 different ads per ad set, and try to appeal to customers in different ways.

Like for example:
Ad 1 - Affordable angle
Ad 2 - Blue Light Blocking Lenses and why they need them
Ad 3 - Vintage/retro design

What’s the link click ctr

Average CTR is 0.66%
Cost per click = $0.69
Clicks = 452
CPM $3.64
Landing page views = 193 total
Ad spend = $264
Zero sales and zero ad to carts.

Does your store work? Have you tested the checkout?

Yes I have tested it and did a fake purchase myself, my store and checkout works.

Maybe with the data I've provided it paints a bit clearer of a picture? Maybe something will stick out as to why my brand is failing.

I appreciate your input.

I think I know what your problem is. You only have eight pairs of glasses on your website. As a person that has ordered over 10 pairs of eyeglasses from zenni in the past year, you just do not have enough selection.

I ordered glasses from zenni because I can get a pair for $20 with no frills lenses. Your glasses come out to over $100 and to me it is just very risky to order them. I have no idea how they will fit or look. What is your return policy?

Honestly, if I was looking for a pair of glasses, and I saw your ad, and then I clicked on it, and only saw four pairs to choose from. I would immediately click away.

Also, you say starting at $67, but that is with no prescription. I don’t know if your target market is somebody looking for fake glasses or someone looking to change their prescription glasses. But I think the starting price is misrepresented if I was looking for a prescription glasses.

 

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[Vas87]

As an optometrist have you ever thought about creating your own eyeglasses line?

Yes, I am aware of asian fit glasses, I don't offer that right now, but planned to in the future. Also planned on selling sunglasses as well... maybe I should have started with that.

I've read all about Warby Parker, essentially did a case study on them, amazing what the founders were able to do with no experience in the eyewear industry.

Brick and Mortar is not something I can consider at this time. The best I could do in terms of in-person sales, is if I can get some stores to agree to take my glasses on as consignment, but even with that my reach would be very limited, which is why I was first focusing on building it online.

I have thought about it but predominantly in sunglasses, aimed at one niche audience. My fashion sense when it comes to normal glasses is atrocious (ask my girlfriend...).

Your website looks good and it may help to have people wearing your glasses so customers can see their fit better.

I'd also make "If they don't fit, send them back for a refund" prominent on the site.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I just needed a break from yelling at my ad team about less-than-acceptable copy and creatives... and here I come to yell at you about your less-than-acceptable copy and creatives (so take my rage with a grain of salt).

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll share more data with everyone.

Brand:

www.whitleyhopps.com

I based my brand off the classic, vintage style of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I like the timeless aesthetic of that era, and I think a lot of people like retro/vintage things. I would be targeting people who like this style, and also people who are more traditional.

@biophase is super right. You're going after a super-sophisticated market. If someone has/is into glasses they've seen every offer in the market. Yours is not unique enough to stand out in any way, shape, or form.

What's the "USP" (unique selling proposition)? Is your USP "Buy one for the price of two!"

Customer acquisition in that field is brutal -- you MUST come up with:

1.) an extremely enticing "first purchase" offer...
2.) an EXTREMELY unique design nobody has (until enough people see it and copy it)...
3.) a strong enough brand that drives emotional purchase regardless of price.

You're charging a lot of money for lower-end glasses and your website looks awful (it creates a HUGE disconnect).

Compare your site to WarbyParker: https://www.warbyparker.com/



Their offer is Pick 5 frames to try on at home FREE.

THAT is why they are dominating. They have a better offer than everyone else. People have started copying them, and now they've up-leveled to the AI-ish "try the frames on virtually" type thing...

But this is what I'm referring to when I say you're going after a super-sophisticated market.

Is there room for you? Absolutely. ONE GUY owns 80% of the glass-wear market still to this day:

Luxottica: How it Enjoys Monopoly in the Eyewear Industry

Explore how Luxottica, the Italian eyewear conglomerate, became the dominant player in the industry and the impact its monopoly has on consumers.

startuptalky.com

That's why there's such a major need for stores like yours. But you can't just charge a lot of money for no reason.

I hired a 3d modeling designer on fiverr for my first collection and I obtained samples for my first collection from a factory I had been in contact with in China. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the quality of the frames they sent me, and I got my girlfriend to look at them and she said they were comparable in quality to some of the frames they sell in her store for hundreds of dollars.


Ads:
View attachment 50747

View attachment 50748

The frames are fine. That's all subjective. But the ads are horrendous. There's a reason most companies hire models to wear their stuff because people want to visualize what it would look like on them -- or DREAM that they could look "that hot" while wearing your stuff.

Nobody cares what their frames look like on a picnic table. The font? The flowers? *Rage increasing!!*

From now on... no text on any of your ad images.

The copy and the creative should support each other. Don't combine them.

Get pictures of your products on models. This is an emotional purchase, not one of necessity. Make them FEEL like they would want to FEEL wearing your glasses. A picture is worth 1,000 words. Do they want to feel sexy? Smart? cute? Do they want something that compliments a dress? a suit? Do they want to feel cool? What feeling are they after and use images that conjure those emotions.

What objective are you running on your ads?
Mostly been running Traffic ads to accumulate data. I tried Conversions right away but it was expensive and didn't get me very many clicks.

Typically, I would test 3-4 different ads per ad set, and try to appeal to customers in different ways.

Like for example:
Ad 1 - Affordable angle
Ad 2 - Blue Light Blocking Lenses and why they need them
Ad 3 - Vintage/retro design

What’s the link click ctr

Average CTR is 0.66%
Cost per click = $0.69
Clicks = 452
CPM $3.64
Landing page views = 193 total
Ad spend = $264
Zero sales and zero ad to carts.

The site is not easy to navigate, very busy, and it's no wonder there are no cart adds.

Your CPC is actually not too bad. But there's just not enough statistical relevancy to see if anything is gonna work. Here's the plus side: if you're getting these numbers with some of the worst images for ads -- it can only improve from here. You might have something.

Clean up the site. Use a super clean Shopify template or something. Get rid of the stock images or pay for some better ones. Use MidJourney, or Leonardo if you must, there's another great ai tool for ecomm called flair (Flair - copilot for marketing collateral).

Check out my INSIDERS's post on how to run ads. You'll get your CPC lower but that ain't gonna help until you make it easy for people to buy on your site.

You can't get to version 2.0 until you get to version 1.0 so good freaking working getting it up and running. Now bust your a$$ to clean this up and make us all proud!!!!

/ rageover

 

[MitchC]

If you ask Facebook for traffic it will give you traffic

If you ask it for purchases it will give you purchases

$200 is not even close to enough

Also the ads look like eBay or Aliexpress or something

You are trying to sell a stylish vintage vibe and your ads look like a discount store

I think you thought this was going to be easy

You are going after a highly competitive market with no real point of difference in your product, you are going to have to do a lot more work and testing than you have

 

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[Subsonic]

I haven't tried tiktok ads yet, I thought it would be best to focus on doing one platform well first (facebook) and then expand to other ones as I grow. But I have thought about tiktok and reaching out to influencers; I would need product to send to them so not able to do that until I've made an order of inventory.

I also had plans to do a cool, retro themed photoshoot with some models to really show off my glasses, but doing so will cost $$thousands so need to get some sales before I am going to make such a big investment.

Firstly, would you buy your glasses upon seeing that ad ?

Have you told everyone you know to check out these glasses because they are so amazing ?

If not then maybe you should fix the product.


Also, I looked at the ad and it just seems to me like some random bad ad that I wouldn't look at twice.
Focus on solving a problem in your copy and make the ad creative a video where a dude puts on the glasses and then girls are attracted to him.

I can't promise what that would do but it would give you more results than what you have now.

Second, fix the landing page. Almost 200 people clicked on the page and didn't buy. That meant at least 100 people considered buying your glasses but were put off by the website.

 

[Muhammad Ibrahim]

Hey guys,

I've been working on an ecommerce store for awhile and I finally launched it on shopify about a month ago.

Well... it has not been going well, to put it mildly. I've spent hundreds of dollars on facebook ads and have not generated a single sale. Not one.

I've tweaked the price, tried targeting different audiences, worked hard on creatives making them visually appealing, I've watched countless youtube videos on how to use facebook ads effectively and nothing is working.

Not sure what to do at this point. I feel very discouraged after putting a lot of time into this "business" and spent a fair bit of money (not in a good spot at all financially) - I wasn't expecting my store to immediately generate a ton of sales, not like I was picking out my Ferrari color already lol but thought if I could do a few hundred dollars even in my first month, I could build off that.

At this point, I'm 50/50 on if I will shutdown my store, I simply can't afford to keep dumping money into ads that are yielding no returns.

Does anyone have any tips on how to market a new store?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

one of the best ways to get to know what people dont like, IS TO ASK THEM.
perhaps run a survey or something in exchange for some sort of incentive in which you can find out what is it that you're doing wrong.
now don't phrase it something like "WHY IS MY STORE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU GUYS"
ask for feedback in different major areas. hopefull you will be able to pinpoint the problem and adust it.
surveys and feedback is like troubleshooting for businesses

 

[Young Money]

I'm no expert at all, but it might help: I think the ad you posted doesn't look professional. I would not click on it. I would suggest getting someone on Upwork to design a logo and ad images (Or use Canva - but do yourself a favor and stick to the templates . The top image is actually quite nice, but the font is horrible. I would stick to a fixed price with no discount added. It somehow looks as if you would like to get rid of your frames.

Valid points, thank you. Ya, I think the discount on the ad itself does make it look cheap especially.

 

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[Young Money]

I think I know what your problem is. You only have eight pairs of glasses on your website. As a person that has ordered over 10 pairs of eyeglasses from zenni in the past year, you just do not have enough selection.

I ordered glasses from zenni because I can get a pair for $20 with no frills lenses. Your glasses come out to over $100 and to me it is just very risky to order them. I have no idea how they will fit or look. What is your return policy?

Honestly, if I was looking for a pair of glasses, and I saw your ad, and then I clicked on it, and only saw four pairs to choose from. I would immediately click away.

Also, you say starting at $67, but that is with no prescription. I don’t know if your target market is somebody looking for fake glasses or someone looking to change their prescription glasses. But I think the starting price is misrepresented if I was looking for a prescription glasses.

I see. I started with 8 as that was the max I could budget for off the start, was going to introduce a second collection later.

But I do agree that is doesn't look the best when you click MENS and it only shows 4 frames...

As for the price, $67 includes blue-light lenses, it would be impossible for me to offer prescription lenses at that price. I know there are $20 frames out there, and on amazon they have tons of cheap glasses; I was trying to make my brand higher quality while still not being too expensive.

Maybe the price is an issue for some people. I had already lowered it to undercut some competitors and offer free international shipping

 

[Young Money]

I just needed a break from yelling at my ad team about less-than-acceptable copy and creatives... and here I come to yell at you about your less-than-acceptable copy and creatives (so take my rage with a grain of salt).



@biophase is super right. You're going after a super-sophisticated market. If someone has/is into glasses they've seen every offer in the market. Yours is not unique enough to stand out in any way, shape, or form.

What's the "USP" (unique selling proposition)? Is your USP "Buy one for the price of two!"

Customer acquisition in that field is brutal -- you MUST come up with:

1.) an extremely enticing "first purchase" offer...
2.) an EXTREMELY unique design nobody has (until enough people see it and copy it)...
3.) a strong enough brand that drives emotional purchase regardless of price.

You're charging a lot of money for lower-end glasses and your website looks awful (it creates a HUGE disconnect).

Compare your site to WarbyParker: https://www.warbyparker.com/

View attachment 50752

Their offer is Pick 5 frames to try on at home FREE.

THAT is why they are dominating. They have a better offer than everyone else. People have started copying them, and now they've up-leveled to the AI-ish "try the frames on virtually" type thing...

But this is what I'm referring to when I say you're going after a super-sophisticated market.

Is there room for you? Absolutely. ONE GUY owns 80% of the glass-wear market still to this day:

Luxottica: How it Enjoys Monopoly in the Eyewear Industry

Explore how Luxottica, the Italian eyewear conglomerate, became the dominant player in the industry and the impact its monopoly has on consumers.

startuptalky.com

That's why there's such a major need for stores like yours. But you can't just charge a lot of money for no reason.



The frames are fine. That's all subjective. But the ads are horrendous. There's a reason most companies hire models to wear their stuff because people want to visualize what it would look like on them -- or DREAM that they could look "that hot" while wearing your stuff.

Nobody cares what their frames look like on a picnic table. The font? The flowers? *Rage increasing!!*

From now on... no text on any of your ad images.

The copy and the creative should support each other. Don't combine them.

Get pictures of your products on models. This is an emotional purchase, not one of necessity. Make them FEEL like they would want to FEEL wearing your glasses. A picture is worth 1,000 words. Do they want to feel sexy? Smart? cute? Do they want something that compliments a dress? a suit? Do they want to feel cool? What feeling are they after and use images that conjure those emotions.




The site is not easy to navigate, very busy, and it's no wonder there are no cart adds.

Your CPC is actually not too bad. But there's just not enough statistical relevancy to see if anything is gonna work. Here's the plus side: if you're getting these numbers with some of the worst images for ads -- it can only improve from here. You might have something.

Clean up the site. Use a super clean Shopify template or something. Get rid of the stock images or pay for some better ones. Use MidJourney, or Leonardo if you must, there's another great ai tool for ecomm called flair (Flair - copilot for marketing collateral).

Check out my INSIDERS's post on how to run ads. You'll get your CPC lower but that ain't gonna help until you make it easy for people to buy on your site.

You can't get to version 2.0 until you get to version 1.0 so good freaking working getting it up and running. Now bust your a$$ to clean this up and make us all proud!!!!

/ rageover

Super helpful comment, thank you! I don't even mind that I'm getting yelled at lol.

Regarding a super enticing first offer, I thought a good discount would achieve that. I see a lot of competitors offer Buy One Get One Free, but I went with a discount instead incase people just wanted one pair. I can afford to go a bit lower in price, but since I am offering Free shipping (and I live in Canada, so shipping for me is super expensive), and if my ad spend gets to high to acquire customers, I'm worried I'll start losing money.

Yeah, warby parkers website looks a lot better than mine lol no doubt. Their try 5 on at home USP was an incredible offer, really took the eyewear industry by storm.

Regarding having models wearing my glasses to sell "the dream", I 100% agree and was always planning to do that. I have so many ideas for a vintage style shoot, there's this photographer I know with rich parents and he's offering a 2 day photo/video shoot at his parents mansion, we can use their classic car too which would be perfect - but he quoted me $3000, so I have to shelve that idea.

But that doesn't mean I can't still do a shoot on a smaller scale with some models I know, and a buddy of mine has a camera. I live in Vancouver so there are tons of beautiful spots to shoot at around here.

"Nobody cares what their frames look like on a picnic table. The font? The flowers? *Rage increasing!!*"
Hahaha everyone hates the font I chose, I thought it looked nice LOL.

"From now on... no text on any of your ad images."
Got it.

"The site is not easy to navigate, very busy, and it's no wonder there are no cart adds.
Copy that.

"Your CPC is actually not too bad. But there's just not enough statistical relevancy to see if anything is gonna work. Here's the plus side: if you're getting these numbers with some of the worst images for ads -- it can only improve from here. You might have something."
That's encouraging, thanks. I will start by cleaning up my site and making better ads.

"Check out my INSIDERS's post on how to run ads. You'll get your CPC lower but that ain't gonna help until you make it easy for people to buy on your site."
I will check that out. Definitely something I need to improve on majorly.

You can't get to version 2.0 until you get to version 1.0 so good freaking working getting it up and running. Now bust your a$$ to clean this up and make us all proud!!!!
I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to share all this feedback and knowledge with me! I will get back on my grind and rework things!

 

[Young Money]

If you ask Facebook for traffic it will give you traffic

If you ask it for purchases it will give you purchases

$200 is not even close to enough

Also the ads look like eBay or Aliexpress or something

You are trying to sell a stylish vintage vibe and your ads look like a discount store

I think you thought this was going to be easy

You are going after a highly competitive market with no real point of difference in your product, you are going to have to do a lot more work and testing than you have

Okay ya, now I really see what everyone's saying about my ads, they definitely do look cheap, especially with the discount right on the image.

I wouldn't say I thought it was going to be easy, I already have first hand experience being burned from an amazon store, I know ecom is hard. My goal was a few hundred in profit my first month to be reinvested into better photos and a sunglasses line.

I'm not going to give up on my brand yet though until I've tried adjusting all the things you guys have pointed out.

 

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[Young Money]

Firstly, would you buy your glasses upon seeing that ad ?

Have you told everyone you know to check out these glasses because they are so amazing ?

If not then maybe you should fix the product.


Also, I looked at the ad and it just seems to me like some random bad ad that I wouldn't look at twice.
Focus on solving a problem in your copy and make the ad creative a video where a dude puts on the glasses and then girls are attracted to him.

I can't promise what that would do but it would give you more results than what you have now.

Second, fix the landing page. Almost 200 people clicked on the page and didn't buy. That meant at least 100 people considered buying your glasses but were put off by the website.

I would buy my glasses but that is because they appeal to me. Obviously I can't separate my bias though because I spent an afternoon on my roof with that beach blanket capturing different angles of my eyewear collection haha.

I have shown friends and colleagues my eyewear and had them try them on. I got a lot of compliments on them (I know, they are my friends so its not like they are gonna say "these are ugly!", but they genuinely looked good on their faces). I'm going to put lenses in one of my pairs so I can wear them around. I don't think the product is the problem, they are actually nice frames and have a timeless look to them.

I will take some photos with models wearing the glasses.

For the landing page, are you referring to the bounce rate? 200 people clicked, only 100 stayed, so that might account for accidental link clicks, slow loading page etc, I am still learning how to make a smooth running website. Despite having barely any apps installed, Shopify says my site is slow on Mobile, so maybe that accounts for the people bouncing?

 

[Ari_18]

I would buy my glasses but that is because they appeal to me. Obviously I can't separate my bias though because I spent an afternoon on my roof with that beach blanket capturing different angles of my eyewear collection haha.

I have shown friends and colleagues my eyewear and had them try them on. I got a lot of compliments on them (I know, they are my friends so its not like they are gonna say "these are ugly!", but they genuinely looked good on their faces). I'm going to put lenses in one of my pairs so I can wear them around. I don't think the product is the problem, they are actually nice frames and have a timeless look to them.

I will take some photos with models wearing the glasses.

For the landing page, are you referring to the bounce rate? 200 people clicked, only 100 stayed, so that might account for accidental link clicks, slow loading page etc, I am still learning how to make a smooth running website. Despite having barely any apps installed, Shopify says my site is slow on Mobile, so maybe that accounts for the people bouncing?

I may as well share my business, not too worried about someone copying a zero revenue business anyway lol.

I'm selling Prescription and Non-Prescription Eyewear with a vintage look. I chose the eyewear business because my girlfriend has worked as an optician for 10+ years and knows that industry inside out. The markups on the glasses they sell in her store are absolutely insane. I figured if I could make nice glasses and offer them online for a reasonable price, people would buy them.

I know there is a user on here, I believe his name is Vick and he had tremendous success selling sunglasses online. I read everything he posted and took notes, and am trying to replicate his success and with vintage eyeglasses. I thought the business model follows the CENTS framework pretty well, and would be highly scaleable once I find my target audience, ads that are converting well, and essentially 10X plus my ad spend and scale up fast.

Facebook keeps showing me competitor's ads now; I always click the ads to see what they are doing, and if they make an ad that really appeals to me I take a screenshot so I can implement something similar with my own brand.

I know eyeglasses are not a crazy new innovative product, but so many people need glasses and Luxottica has such absurdly high markups on all their brands, I thought there was still an opportunity to make a stable income from an online eyewear store. I see some unknown brands in this niche with hundreds of reviews so they must be getting sales - and some of their websites suck, so I don't know what they are doing to get all these sales.

I also offer free shipping, and a full 30 day refund guarantee because I know customers might be hesitant to buy from a brand they have never heard of.

The good news is, I'm not sitting on any inventory. I made that mistake with my first amazon fba business and ended up losing so much money from amazon's storage fees. That, combined with amazon's high pay-per-click cost, meant I was in the red even after selling 750 units of my first product. Left a bad taste in my mouth to say the least, so I wanted to be more careful this time, which is why I am selling on my own website (Control), and did not get a bunch of inventory before generating sales.

Any ecomm experts on here know where to go from here? The idea of shutting down really sucks considering how much time and energy I put into it. :/

Hi there,
No expert here, as I am just getting started in this stuff myself.

Everything looks cheap and amateurish.
The website looks like the cheapest template. What makes it worst is the pictures in it do not have a high resolution/quality, thus immediately diminishing my confidence in the product. If you are selling stylish stuff your website should look top notch stylish.
Like everyone pointed out, you want models to wear the glasses, cute women and handsome men. Definitely dont want to show 2 pictures with a white background, 2 on a picknick table and one on a cheap wood surface (did I say cheap already .
The add, same idea like in the website, needs to be super stylish especially since you are in the fashion game. If Im gonna pay top dollar, it better look like top dollar.

You have got pretty tough competition with websites like zenni selling high quality prescription eyewear for as little as $12 (seriously, thats how much I paid for a pair back when). Now I buy these twenty something dollar eyeglasses that people think are designer..

Of course, just trying to help here, not to talk crap.
Try to take it as learning, instead of getting down on it.

Best of luck!