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Missing Something - Need Your Perspective

SamboNZ

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...

If nobody is buying what you sell, then you clearly have a product-market fit problem. The people you think want your product actually don't. Several reasons for this: maybe the competition is more attractive, or maybe your offer doesn't suit their needs, or maybe your offer doesn't seem to be worth the cost, or maybe you're targeting the wrong people. There are a million and one reasons why people say no, but only one reason why they say yes. People say yes because they believe they need what you have to offer.

And no, $250 is nowhere near enough to test a product. If you're gonna test a product on Facebook, test it with a bigger budget on several audiences with several different appeals and see which ones work best. And test it direct. Don't spend your first tests on complicated funnel tactics: just see if people actually want what you have to offer!

Thanks @The-J, that's useful advice.
 
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From what you've written it seems to me that you've created a product first and now you're trying to figure out how to sell it to people.

You have no idea why people aren't buying it, even though you think your product is the bees knees.

You've put the cart before the horse.

Find the customers first, figure out exactly what they want and then deliver value with a product that's tailored to their needs.
This.
You don't have marketing problem, you have product problem.

It can take you some time until you'll learn it on your own, or you can listen to this now and skip a learning curve.
 

SamboNZ

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This.
You don't have marketing problem, you have product problem.

It can take you some time until you'll learn it on your own, or you can listen to this now and skip a learning curve.

Oh, I'm listening, that's why I asked :)

The issue I have is that I know there is significant demand for the product, I've just had trouble narrowing down exactly what the optimal demographic is and what drives them.

However, the suggestions here so far have given me some ideas about how to proceed with that.
 

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I never stated that I was working exclusively on my supplements business; I work 60-70hrs per week on my various ECommerce ventures.

I worked on the supplements business full time (60-70hrs per week) for 12 months, but ran out of funds to continue advertising at the end of 2019. Since then I have been trying to get some kind of semi-reliable income going so that I can put the funds back into my supplement business.

I started this thread because my previous attempts to generate income with supplements were ineffective and I see no point in throwing more money at it until I can work out why and how to fix it.

Oh I get it. I just question the hours work vs. results. Because you are clearly doing something wrong if you put in that work and are still struggling. But it also sounds like the work put in involves spending money on marketing.

"My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?"

I think that all these reasons are incorrect. As others have mentioned you have a product problem or a communication problem.

If you truly had a product that helped someone, people would be lining up to buy it from you. So ask yourself if you truly had a product like that. If you did, then it was your failure to communicate it to the people who needed it.

"I put over 1500 leads through this system but made no sales. "

Ask yourself why this happened? Was it the 1500 leads were bad? Were they good leads, but your offer was bad? There are simple answers to your problems if you ask the right questions.

"FB ad and opt-in rate was pretty good ($1 leads & 45% opt-in rate) and email engagement was also very good (~45% initial, down to ~25% for emails in the first week or so).
So good stats, not good sales."

To me, this is all pointing to a shitty product. Or maybe the product is great, but your brand, packaging and pricing is shitty.

What do you think the issue is/was?

"In any case, I'm more interested in building a business with long term potential, building loyalty and trust with a customer base who buy from me regularly and also buy other related products from me; not flitting between multiple 'hot' products which are just a flash in the pan with little to no opportunities for repeat purchases.

I want to create long term value."

What if you gave your product away for free and made money on the return purchases after a month or two? Do you truly believe in your product enough to do that?
 
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sparechange

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Here's a free idea for you or anyone reading since you want to go the supplement route (imo is just money chasing)

How about an energy bar or energy drink without sugar? This is actually a big problem for me and millions of people around the globe, next time you are at the gas station or store try to find a healthy option. My stores are filled with chocolate bars, Coke/Pepsi/Redbull and other baddy bad bads. Cliff bars are probably the best option or peanuts but even the Cliff bars have a ton of sugar (fun fact they are a multi hundred million dollar company created from a kitchen)

People that are constantly on the road like Police/Ems/Fire and similar careers would greatly benefit from a company that finally stands up and creates a healthy snack that doesn't cost triple the price, seriously the protein bars out there are a complete rip off. Or a vegan friendly option bar/drink, I really think the whole vegan fad is destined to make millionaires and billionaires within the next few decades. That and creating robots that will eventually take over the world :rofl:

I always see Police and EMS sitting in drive thrus getting a quick snack/drink, what if you could create some type of product for them to consume rather than waiting around in a busy fast food restaurant?
 

SamboNZ

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Oh I get it. I just question the hours work vs. results. Because you are clearly doing something wrong if you put in that work and are still struggling. But it also sounds like the work put in involves spending money on marketing.
Correct.

I think that all these reasons are incorrect. As others have mentioned you have a product problem or a communication problem.
...
Ask yourself why this happened? Was it the 1500 leads were bad? Were they good leads, but your offer was bad? There are simple answers to your problems if you ask the right questions.
...
To me, this is all pointing to a shitty product. Or maybe the product is great, but your brand, packaging and pricing is shitty.

What do you think the issue is/was?
...
What if you gave your product away for free and made money on the return purchases after a month or two? Do you truly believe in your product enough to do that?

This is my main issue; how can I 'test' to eliminate variables and discover the root of the problem.

There are a number of factors at play here:
1) Product
2) Demographics
3) Marketing (Incl; offer, copy, sales model, pricing...)

The efficacy of the product is quite difficult to pin down as everyone responds differently.
For me personally, the product definitely helps, and as it is a white-labelled product I have evidence from other sellers that the feedback is good (eg; 4/5 stars on Amazon).
Whether it is effective for certain demographics and not others is more difficult to determine.
As far as I can see; the only way to really test this is to get it into people's hands and get their feedback about it.

The demographics are another issue I have struggled with. I started with some hypotheses about 3 different demographics which may have been interested in the product, however, after getting some actual data, a 4th demographic appeared as the winner.

I have since undertaken to adjust my marketing to focus on the winning demographic, but have as yet not been able to send a lot of traffic through the modified marketing due to finance constraints.

As previously mentioned, my marketing game needs to improve, but I think I've managed to do a reasonable job of what I have to date; certainly enough that I should have got at least 1 sale out of ~750 people who engaged in some way with the marketing. But, maybe I'm wrong. Again, I'm not sure of the best way to test this.


Based on these reflections and the feedback from replies in this thread I feel like the best way forward from here is:
1) Interact with the leads in my winning demographic to learn more about the specifics of their problems, needs and desires.
2a) Adjust my marketing to reflect the new information gained from step 1
or
2b) Adjust the product to reflect new information gained from step 1
3) Run more traffic through my marketing funnels to gain more data and assess the effectiveness of my changes

What do you guys think of that approach?


The other question I have is whether using free information products to warm traffic for a $50 supplement is the best approach or whether I should just send cold traffic to the product page?
 

SamboNZ

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Here's a free idea for you or anyone reading since you want to go the supplement route (imo is just money chasing)
How do you define 'money chasing'?

How about an energy bar or energy drink without sugar?
Good idea. These seem to exist already, but you may have identified an under-exploited market.
 
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StillGrindin'

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Here's a free idea for you or anyone reading since you want to go the supplement route (imo is just money chasing)

How about an energy bar or energy drink without sugar? This is actually a big problem for me and millions of people around the globe, next time you are at the gas station or store try to find a healthy option. My stores are filled with chocolate bars, Coke/Pepsi/Redbull and other baddy bad bads. Cliff bars are probably the best option or peanuts but even the Cliff bars have a ton of sugar (fun fact they are a multi hundred million dollar company created from a kitchen)

People that are constantly on the road like Police/Ems/Fire and similar careers would greatly benefit from a company that finally stands up and creates a healthy snack that doesn't cost triple the price, seriously the protein bars out there are a complete rip off. Or a vegan friendly option bar/drink, I really think the whole vegan fad is destined to make millionaires and billionaires within the next few decades. That and creating robots that will eventually take over the world :rofl:

I always see Police and EMS sitting in drive thrus getting a quick snack/drink, what if you could create some type of product for them to consume rather than waiting around in a busy fast food restaurant?

Has been done for ages though.

Rockstar Pure Zero. Maybe around 2014 they had a Rockstar Energy Juice that failed, but they've relaunched with a sparkling water variant. XD Thermo is their latest run at it. They also have their sugar free tea variants in Rockstar Recovery. Red Bull has zero sugar alternatives, Monster has their their Zero sugar and tea variants. The energy drink realm has evolved and is highly competitive, especially trying to break in on the lifestyle front. It takes serious capital.

Case in point. Maybe 10 years ago there was a local skater/ snowboarder, well known in the scene. He was in with the right crew (Villian), knew people in the car lifestyle scene that was popping locally at the time (Union Auto), had radio ads, but didn't have the capital to compete with the big boys (Monster and Red Bull). Monster and Red Bull sponsor everything that is cool in the world, and the only way someone could compete with that in my eyes, is if they were close with major influencers on a Casey Neistat type level. As soon as you're coming up, Red Bull and Monster will just throw money at whatever life style you try and influence through to essentially blackball your a$$. They will outspend and bury, and that is really hard to get around. That's the real reason why they sponsor so much, to essentially create a significant barrier to entry for the competition.
 

sparechange

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How do you define 'money chasing'?


Good idea. These seem to exist already, but you may have identified an under-exploited market.

Man noone needs another supplement , they are everywhere. @StillGrindin' sugar free redbull is far from healthy, I'm talking about a health drink or bar (that doesn't taste like dirt and isn't marked up 3x)
 

SamboNZ

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Man noone needs another supplement , they are everywhere.

Well, I think I've found a supplement niche which is under-served, but time will tell :)

@StillGrindin' sugar free redbull is far from healthy, I'm talking about a health drink or bar (that doesn't taste like dirt and isn't marked up 3x)

I think that might be a catch-22 though; without sugar it tastes like dirt, hahaha.
 
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sparechange

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Well, I think I've found a supplement niche which is under-served, but time will tell :)



I think that might be a catch-22 though; without sugar it tastes like dirt, hahaha.

Solve that problem and send me a few million for the idea :cool:
 

MJ DeMarco

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Productocracy...

Duh, what's that?

Money-chasing...

Don't know what that is...

Grind, grind, grind. Tweak tweak tweak.

I love threads which demonstrate a clear product problem (with no value skew), and yet, they think marketing can solve it. If only there were books on such a subject...

Good marketing only makes a bad products fail slower...
 

Black_Dragon43

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I love threads which demonstrate a clear product problem (with no value skew), and yet, they think marketing can solve it.
Hmm, but marketing itself can be a value skew. Marketing has to do with how the product is perceived, and as you explain it's perceived value that matters. So the right positioning could just give it sufficient value skew to push it over the edge...

Think about say the iPod. The first portable mp3 player was invented by a Singapore based company, Creative Technology Ltd. who were specialised in audio technology. The iPod appeared 22 months after. But of course, we don't remember Creative, but we do remember Apple.

Why?

Was it because Apple had a better product?
Was it because Apple was more qualified?

Clearly not - Apple was not an audio or music player company. They were a computer biz.

The difference came from marketing. Apple said "1000 songs in your pocket". Creative said "5GB mp3 player".

So the value skew came from the marketing itself - from communicating to users how to be successful with the device. Use it to carry 1000 songs in your pocket. So simple, so clear, so elegant, so powerful.

If you use your marketing to teach people how to be successful with your product, you create power users, who do turn it into a productocracy as you'd call it by getting the word of mouth started. And the reason they do that is precisely because they become power users - they want to show others how GREAT THEY ARE because of your product! Again, it's because THEY are great, not that your product is.

Hey Guys,

I need some outside perspective from those who have had success and have 'been there and succeeded' before.

Background:
- I have been doing ECom for over 2 years (1.5 years full time)
- I am dedicated, typically putting in 60-70+hrs per week
- I have put serious effort into 3 different businesses
- I'm a tech guy so learning platforms / systems is not a problem for me
- I feel that I am lacking in knowledge about marketing, a problem which I am currently in the process of correcting
- I believe in learning from those with superior knowledge to me and have invested in training in the past

Current Issues:
- While I believe I now have a reasonable grasp of most ECom concepts, strategies and methods, other than one short burst of success for a couple of months (with DropShipping early in the COVID pandemic), I have not been able to consistently make profitable sales.
- I feel like there's something missing in my knowledge / approach which will tie everything together and allow me to be successful; the 'glue' which makes it al work, but I can't see what it is.
- I don't know what the optimal marketing approach is for a given product (eg; lead/traffic warming vs cold ads)
- I'm feeling quite lost and directionless right now; unsure how to proceed further

My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?

I realize that this may not be enough info to work with; please ask me if you need more detail.

All constructive input greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Sam.
I've read through the thread, and you're making a couple of serious mistakes, which is why I believe you're not successful. I do have a course on this that you may want to check out, but I will give you some free pointers here that should be more than enough to get you to start making some money consistently.

If you look at your past success, you've succeeded when the MARKET made you succeed. In this thread which you should read before you read the rest of my post, I go over the 3 BIG FORCES you'll encounter in any business, and how to manage them. The MARKET is one of them. And it's the most powerful one too.

When you are dropshipping, you want to sell a product that is hot. A product that is already selling. A product with a huge demand. Choosing this type of product is 1000x more important than your marketing or sales effort.

A good book you may look into is Gary Halbert's Boron Letters - you will learn from it that Gary himself would REFUSE to work with any client unless he got to PICK THE PRODUCT. And the product choice was the single most important factor to his success, and he was the greatest copywriter of all time.

So,

Step 1: Sell products that other people are already selling successfully.

How do you find them? On Aliexpress look by the number of orders. On Google, you just research for the products you're interested in or the pain-points. Then grab the names and/or images of those most ordered products and start searching for them online. If you find a business selling them, and they have a Facebook page use this link to discover what ads they are running on their Facebook page, and how long they're running for.

You want to see that they are running ads for at least 2 weeks to that product. Then check the landing page. Buy the product, and check their email sequence. Add the product to cart, and don't purchase it with a different email, and check their abandoned cart sequences.

Once you have done this, I want you to COPY THE EXACT FUNNEL.

And I really mean COPY IT. Don't try to be smart. Dropshipping is a stupid man's business, and you have to be stupid if you want to succeed. This is where most people FAIL - so pay close attention!!

Step 2: Copy the exact funnel structure - the same TYPE of ad, the same pain-points, the same type of landing page, the same email sequence, in the same order. Obviously change your copy and wording and stuff - not just copy/paste, but you get the idea.


Once you have done all this, start running traffic to your funnel. You should start making the $$.

Now you will be testing to improve your funnel and add more value. Ask yourself how you can add more value, and start with your ads. Can you target the pain-point better? Can you inflame the pain-point more? Can you perhaps do video ads, if your competitors are doing image ads?

You will need to gradually A/B test each element, one by one. In my course, I actually go over a specific way to do this that we've used quite successfully in my agency.

Then go on and do the same for your landing page. And for your email sequences. Ask yourself HOW CAN I MAKE THE USERS OF THIS PRODUCT MORE SUCCESSFUL? Because if you can do that, you'll start getting word of mouth advertising too.

Step 3: A/B Test and improve your funnel (differentiate from the competition)

Once you start doing this, you'll be gradually turning a generic dropshipping biz in something that is different from the competition, and that you can scale into a much bigger, fastlane business over time, by getting your own warehouse space, branding your products, and so on so forth.

Step 4: Create a brand & stop being a dropshipper.

That's enough for now.
 
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StillGrindin'

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Think about say the iPod. The first portable mp3 player was invented by a Singapore based company, Creative Technology Ltd. who were specialised in audio technology. The iPod appeared 22 months after. But of course, we don't remember Creative, but we do remember Apple.

Why?

Was it because Apple had a better product?
Was it because Apple was more qualified?

Clearly not - Apple was not an audio or music player company. They were a computer biz.

The difference came from marketing. Apple said "1000 songs in your pocket". Creative said "5GB mp3 player".

So the value skew came from the marketing itself - from communicating to users how to be successful with the device. Use it to carry 1000 songs in your pocket. So simple, so clear, so elegant, so powerful.

Would like to expound on this a little. Creative specialized in audio technology, notably famous for their Soundblaster audio cards. Both the Creative Zen and the Microsoft Zune were vastly superior MP3 players (I had both), and the Apple Ipod sounded like a$$ in comparison. Moreover, syncing songs with the Ipod was a pain in the a$$ because you had to use Itunes, whereas with Microsoft and Creative's products you could just click and drag, create folders, etc. The user experience on the Ipod paled in comparison. I can't think of one single plus the Ipod actually had on the Zune or the Zen aside from brand power.It was inferior in every single conceivable way to its main competitors, but still came out on top due to their marketing and brand position in the market.
 

MJ DeMarco

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but marketing itself can be a value skew.

Absolutely yes, and it needs to be a value skew when your product sucks or is just like everyone else.

That is what sounds like this dude is on the hunt for. My product is just like everyone else... how do I become a master marketer?
 

SamboNZ

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Perhaps I have insufficiently explained my situation. I actually started by creating a brand but because of my lack of success (& cash), I've 'gone backwards' into dropshipping to earn some cash to put into my 'real' business, and to feed my family.

TO BE CLEAR; I am NOT interested in dropshipping and chasing the latest 'hot' product as a long term business. I am simply doing so to survive and channel cash into longer term projects.

My supplement business IS my brand and what I see the most potential in going forward.
However, even with that I'm somewhat constrained at the moment.

I have a custom formula which I paid a real expert to create for me to achieve some specific goals in terms of functionality and avoidance of negative side effects and issues experienced with existing products. However, I don't currently have the cash to manufacture my custom product and I have yet to fully test and validate it, so I'm starting with a white labelled product which I know works (based on the data available to me) and which will allow me to validate the gap in the market I have identified, refine my target demographic, build a customer base, give me some valuable feedback from real users of these types of supplements and also to generate some cash.

After gaining knowledge and capital I can branch out into my own product(s) and really get my teeth into the market, but I have to start somewhere and I don't have a large wad of cash to invest into it at the moment.

Given my situation, is there a way that I could have done this better / more efficiently / faster? No doubt. But I started from a place of minimal knowledge and resources so my options were somewhat limited.

So what I'm asking is for you guys to put yourselves in my shoes, apply your more advanced knowledge and tell me how you would approach the situation given the constraints I'm currently under.

I really appreciate the constructive input that I have received from many of you to date and I am open-minded, ready to learn and absolutely prepared to do a 180° turn if my current approach is proven to lack sufficient merit.

However, I came here to humbly seek answers because I believed that this forum was created to be a place where I could get genuine help from those with more advanced knowledge and experience to my own.

While it might feel good to some of you to belittle and mock me for my lack of experience and understanding, I have been nothing other than courteous, respectful and genuine in my interactions with you all, even in the face of ridicule, so I would appreciate it if you would at least return the favor.

If in fact the purpose of this forum is so that the 'big boys' can harass the 'new guy', then tell me now because I want no part of it.

FYI:
- I am currently up to Chapter 38 of Millionaire FastLane
- My supplements business meets the CENTS requirements
 
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sparechange

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There is over 6k potential products for a customer to choose from. Why bother fighting with all the other money chasing monkeys over chump change? Start a real business that doesn't needs heavy advertising as MJ mentioned and stop being a stubborn sally.

You have already been receiving market echos, the market doesn't want your stuff. (I'm not sure how many people is a good indicator) Curious myself actually.... but 1,500 seems like a decent number to go off. At 0 sales it's quite clear your offer sucks.

Here's a good video from the man himself.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTveImPn0WE


 

Black_Dragon43

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View attachment 34487

There is over 6k potential products for a customer to choose from. Why bother fighting with all the other money chasing monkeys over chump change? Start a real business that doesn't needs heavy advertising as MJ mentioned and stop being a stubborn sally.

You have already been receiving market echos, the market doesn't want your stuff. (I'm not sure how many people is a good indicator) Curious myself actually.... but 1,500 seems like a decent number to go off. At 0 sales it's quite clear your offer sucks.

Here's a good video from the man himself.
The video is great, but learning the value of solid marketing execution is important. People get overly obsessed about the product, but most often it's not the product that causes the success. Rather it's a combination of market demand and marketing.

Look at Tesla. SUCKS as a car. The finishes are horrible. They're not even close to a Ferrari, Lambo, or even BMW. The car is buggy as hell. But people are buying it. Clearly it's not the product. It's the futuristic perception that Tesla has created about their cars, not through advertising, but through PR campaigns, conferences, and so on.

Marketing is not just pushing out ads. Truly effective marketing is becoming known in a certain field. Participating in conferences, events, and so on.
 

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...the market doesn't want your stuff.

Ok, interesting theory.
So you're basing that hypothesis purely on the results of my marketing campaign? Or were you going on other supporting data as well?

Here's the data I'm working from:

34488

34489

Percentage of supplement consumers who take a supplement to solve the problem that I'm targeting:
34491

So doing some napkin math here, there are over 150 million US consumers who use dietary supplements to address the issues that I'm focused on.

Also, let's take your ~6000 supplements number and double it, hell let's quadruple it to 24000 and then divide the total market size for 2020 ($41.4B) by the total number of supplements.
The answer is $1,725,000 per supplement, per year, on average.
Chump change? Maybe to some, but I'll take that as a pretty decent starting point. :)

In addition, the niche I'm focusing on only has a handful of major players who are doing a half-decent job of marketing their product AND almost all of them are totally bypassing the demographic I've discovered who is interested in this product. There appears to be a gap in the market I can exploit here.

Like I said; I'm open-minded and happy to change my direction if my approach is proven to be deficient, but I make my decisions based on data, not theory.
 
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biophase

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So I wrote: Ask yourself why this happened? Was it the 1500 leads were bad? Were they good leads, but your offer was bad? There are simple answers to your problems if you ask the right questions.

And you answered.

This is my main issue; how can I 'test' to eliminate variables and discover the root of the problem.

There are a number of factors at play here:
1) Product
2) Demographics
3) Marketing (Incl; offer, copy, sales model, pricing...)

The efficacy of the product is quite difficult to pin down as everyone responds differently.
For me personally, the product definitely helps, and as it is a white-labelled product I have evidence from other sellers that the feedback is good (eg; 4/5 stars on Amazon).
Whether it is effective for certain demographics and not others is more difficult to determine.

But I think you aren't being true to your business.

I'm going to assume that what you say about your product is true. You have a white label supplement that other people on Amazon are killing it with. Say you are selling Vitamin D pills. Everyone buys those, so why aren't people buying yours?

When I ask if your 1500 leads were bad? You counter with the answer that you aren't sure of your demographic. Is your product that narrow that if you do a general ad to all females/males that it makes a huge difference on your ROI? Or is this not a demographic issue and a product issue?

If I'm selling a special protein powder, and I think only men 40-50 or 30-40 with Ferraris will buy it, is this a demographic mystery or a product niche issue? Based on what you having been saying, I'm thinking its not a niche issue.

I'm going to lean towards, "Were they good leads, but your offer was bad?"

If I have the best protein powder in the world, but each jar costs $1000. I probably have an offer problem.

But what if I sell the same protein powder as everyone else on Amazon, but my brand is called Yummy Butt Protein and my label is neon green brown lettering and my logo is a turd. Then you probably have a branding problem.

Ok, what if I sell the same protein powder as everyone else on Amazon, and my brand is called Max Gains Protein and my label is black with gold lettering. But my product listing just says, Max Gains protein will give you max gains. Buy it! Then you probably have a marketing problem.

Have some friends look at your labeling and branding. Only you can answer this as we don't know your product.
 

biophase

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In addition, the niche I'm focusing on only has a handful of major players who are doing a half-decent job of marketing their product AND almost all of them are totally bypassing the demographic I've discovered who is interested in this product.

There appears to be a gap in the market I can exploit here.

Read what you just wrote. The major players are bypassing the demographic that you discovered.

If this were true, then why aren't your targeted ads working towards that demographic?

Is it true that there is a gap in the market that you can exploit? Because based on your results, your statement is not true.

Are you being honest to yourself with your assumptions?
 

SamboNZ

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Thanks Biophase, those are all good, thought-provoking questions.

When I ask if your 1500 leads were bad? You counter with the answer that you aren't sure of your demographic. Is your product that narrow that if you do a general ad to all females/males that it makes a huge difference on your ROI? Or is this not a demographic issue and a product issue?

I'm going to lean towards, "Were they good leads, but your offer was bad?"

The demographics for this product are not confirmed.

Here's what I did:
- Ran traffic to my initial 3 demographic groups based on my original hypothesis
- Collected 1500 leads
- Collected the most engaged of these leads and used them to create a custom audience in FB
- Analyzed the new audience to see which demographic was most strongly represented
- Found the 4th, previously unforeseen demographic

As yet I have not run a significant amount of traffic to the new demographic.

As for whether my offer is bad; other than A/B testing, I don't know how to determine this. How would you go about diagnosing this?


Read what you just wrote. The major players are bypassing the demographic that you discovered.

If this were true, then why aren't your targeted ads working towards that demographic?

Is it true that there is a gap in the market that you can exploit? Because based on your results, your statement is not true.

Are you being honest to yourself with your assumptions?

At this point all these things are largely theories with minimal data to back them up, which is why I think I need more data to really prove / disprove what is currently being indicated.

My targeted ads to get traffic to my landing page / lead magnet work well, so the problem isn't there, but converting the traffic / leads into sales. The problem could well be my funnel / emails etc however. Why is another question entirely and again, one I'm unsure how to diagnose other than A/B testing. Suggestions on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!
 
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sparechange

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Thanks Biophase, those are all good, thought-provoking questions.



The demographics for this product are not confirmed.

Here's what I did:
- Ran traffic to my initial 3 demographic groups based on my original hypothesis
- Collected 1500 leads
- Collected the most engaged of these leads and used them to create a custom audience in FB
- Analyzed the new audience to see which demographic was most strongly represented
- Found the 4th, previously unforeseen demographic

As yet I have not run a significant amount of traffic to the new demographic.

As for whether my offer is bad; other than A/B testing, I don't know how to determine this. How would you go about diagnosing this?




At this point all these things are largely theories with minimal data to back them up, which is why I think I need more data to really prove / disprove what is currently being indicated.

My targeted ads to get traffic to my landing page / lead magnet work well, so the problem isn't there, but converting the traffic / leads into sales. The problem could well be my funnel / emails etc however. Why is another question entirely and again, one I'm unsure how to diagnose other than A/B testing. Suggestions on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!

Give out a few like bio said and see if they re-order it. If your product sucks, they wont.

If they do congrats, pre order a new Lamborghini and post a picture of it to let us know we were wrong all along.
 

Mac

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I think there's a few problems with your strategy.

You said you ran out of funds near the end of 2019, worked on generating more cash-flow, then hopped back into selling your own products.

Do you know what your break-even CPA is? Your break-even ROAS? Your minimum viable conversion rate? Before marketing on any platform, for any product, you must know this to the last decimal point.

At the beginning of the pandemic you sold $100K+ of health products... and it died. This is normal on Facebook. I'm guessing you had one creative that you scaled to this amount of sales?

If your conversion rate started to plummet and ads became unprofitable, all you would need to do is create an advertorial or landing page to offer bundles of the product to increase your AOV. Try running the same creative to a new landing page or advertorial. It may work wonders.

Or... if it was your creative, go to Fiverr and get some guys on there to make 3 videos with 3 different hooks/intros and try them to your original product page. Try all 3 of these, and I guarantee you will probably resurrect that product from the dead.

When it comes to selling supplements on Facebook, the competition is very low in my opinion. You don't need to run people to an opt-in page, that's the reason why it's not working. Just run them to a product page or landing page or advertorial where they can directly purchase from you.

Make sure you use a mixture of video ads / photo ads, and try out different angles for your product. Test out offers like buy one, get one 50% off or buy one get one free if your margins allow. If you try all of these, I guarantee you will see some momentum. The question is whether your price point / margin will allow you to scale.
 

SamboNZ

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Thank you for your input Mac, I really appreciate it.

Do you know what your break-even CPA is? Your break-even ROAS? Your minimum viable conversion rate? Before marketing on any platform, for any product, you must know this to the last decimal point.
Break-Even CPA: $35
Target CPA: $25-
Break-Even ROAS: 1.43
Target ROAS: 2.00+
Minimum Viable Conversion Rate: 2.86%
Target Conversion Rate: 4.00%+

At the beginning of the pandemic you sold $100K+ of health products... and it died. This is normal on Facebook. I'm guessing you had one creative that you scaled to this amount of sales?
I was not advertising my DS health products on FB, that was on Google Shopping which is a bit of a different animal; more in line with a marketplace type site.
Sales have dropped in line with demand.

When it comes to selling supplements on Facebook, the competition is very low in my opinion. You don't need to run people to an opt-in page, that's the reason why it's not working. Just run them to a product page or landing page or advertorial where they can directly purchase from you.
Thanks for the advice.
I am wary of the sensitivities of advertising health related products on FB which is one reason why I went for a more indirect route. Do you have any tips on how I can avoid FB jail / bans when directly advertising supplements on FB?
 
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biophase

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My targeted ads to get traffic to my landing page / lead magnet work well, so the problem isn't there, but converting the traffic / leads into sales. The problem could well be my funnel / emails etc however. Why is another question entirely and again, one I'm unsure how to diagnose other than A/B testing. Suggestions on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!

So the problem is converting leads into sales. So this tells me that you have a product problem. The leads get there and then don't want your product.

Are your ads solving the same problem as your product. Maybe there is a disconnect.

For example, you may talk about sleeping better... but they come to you website and it's all about getting calmer and relaxing instead.

Maybe your product page isn't convincing enough. Something is making them not purchasing. Could it be social proof, something shady in your copy, is your price too high?

Or...

You haven't identified a real problem to solve. The issue just isn't painful enough for someone to purchase the product.
 

Gravy South

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As others have said, this is a product problem. Your product is probably way too similar to your established competitors, without any reviews whatsoever you are not going to take sales away from them.

Think of ways to differentiate your product is the key, you are simply wasting too much time on the marketing stuff and it will get you nowhere.
 
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