[Progress] Sanctus Nutrition - Supplement Company (and first real entrepreneurial pursuit)

[JoshM]

Hey Josh - really appreciate you taking the time to give your feedback!

Few questions

1. Re: reducing menu items. I've been told a few times I need to do something to improve social proof, especially since I currently only sell one product. I figured adding menu sections for things like "Find a Retailer" and "Meet Our Athletes" would improve the social proof aspect by showing 1) we are stocked in retail locations and 2) real-life people are actively using our product. I've reduced this menu to 6 items - Home, Supplements, Meet Our Athletes, Find A Retailer, Our Story, and Blog. Do you think this is still too many?
2. All products now grouped under "Supplements"
3. I can reduce the header image size, but then it screws up the image on desktop - it either cuts out the product or cuts off the head of the model. Re-sizing makes the image look...odd. It looks fine on mobile. My traffic split is about 60/40 mobile/desktop.
4. All buttons are supposed to be red (like the "subscribe" button) but CTA buttons appearing on images are white, for some reason. I have no idea why.
5. Changed copy to "CLAIM YOUR FREE SAMPLE!" - lets see how it goes!
6. Re: Message Us/live chat software. Do you have any free recommendations? I have Messenger installed on my phone and have the "typically responds instantly" badge on Facebook.

#3 and #4 can possibly be solved by contacting Shopify support. Let me see what I can do!

Looking good my friend!

1. I'd nix the 'Home' button too. I've watched thousands of user session recordings (HotJar.com) on various e-commerce websites that I have worked on, and users seem to have an expectation that the logo brings them to the homepage. I believe it's safe to say that it's a best practice at this point, unless you are selling to a much older, less savvy crowd. Plus, the homepage is the absolute top of your funnel and the idea is to capture their attention and get them further into the funnel as quickly as possible. That should free up some room in the navigation.
2. This looks solid as well. I'd recommend adding a sub-menu that presents those products when you hover over "Supplements." Shortens the number of steps a user has to take to get to your product pages.
3. This is where having a developer may help-- you can change the background image size to cater to difference device breakpoints (mobile/tablet/desktop) so that it looks solid on each device. This can be done with CSS.
4. For changing the button colors, this line in the theme.scss.css file (your theme's stylesheet):
   .hero__btn {
   
   background-color: #fff;
   color: #000;
   margin-top: 27.5px;​
   }
   Should be changed to:
   .hero__btn {
   
   background-color: #b8442a;
   color: #fff;
   margin-top: 27.5px;​
   }
5. Looks good! Hopefully it gets a few more free sample conversions for you.
6. I like Drift the best, followed by Chatra and Olark. All three should have a free tier.
7. Additional Idea: Consider adding a "Free Samples" button in the navigation, now that you have extra room (assuming that you remove the "Home" button).
8. Additional Idea: Add HotJar to your website so you can look at heatmaps and recordings. This will help you identify areas for improvement, website issues, and potential obstacles your shoppers face. You can also launch polls and surveys to get real, actionable feedback and insights from users/customers. It also has a free plan that should be suitable at this stage in the game.

 

[Brewer07]

Not a problem! Now, for another idea:

That image you have further down the page? It fits perfectly with the copy at the top. See image above. Perhaps it's a more suitable image for the homepage header section?

Another question for you -- Have you gotten any free samples sent out lately, and if so, do those free sample orders tend to convert?

Glad you asked re: free samples. I was logging on to make a post about those...

HUGE pain point/source of frustration: free samples.

1. They are not converting as well as I want them to.
2. The majority of people who receive a free sample do not reply to my follow-up emails seeking feedback. I email each customer 3 times seeking feedback.
Example email:
"Hey ____! Checking in to see if you tried the Focal Force sample we sent you. How did it go? I would love to hear any feedback from you, good or bad.

Thank you!

Alex Brewer, PharmD
Founder - Sanctus Nutrition
sanctusnutrition.com"

3. Perhaps the most frustrating part - people who DO reply and indicate they like/love their sample still don't buy a full bottle. We got a variety of excuses in December - "no money due to holidays, I'll buy in January" kind of stuff. We reach back out in January - silence. People who like the sample and I offer the 30% off deal? Silence.

Example exchange:
Me:
"Hey ____! Checking in to see if you tried the Focal Force sample we sent you. How did it go? I would love to hear any feedback from you, good or bad.

Thank you!

Alex Brewer, PharmD
Founder - Sanctus Nutrition
sanctusnutrition.com"

Customer:
"Hey!
I loved it! Most preworkouts that I have tried have made me get the ‘tingly’ feeling, and this did not at all!

Thanks so much!"

Me: "I'm so happy to hear that! Because you loved your sample, I wanted to make sure you knew we offer 30% off your first purchase of a full bottle. I've set up a draft order for you below - just click and finish checking out. We'll have Focal Force in your hands ASAP!" (the email is a Shopify draft order, with the 30% discount pre-applied, making it as easy as possible for them to checkout and get 30% off).

Customer: silence.

I have countless stories like this.

I've removed all links and mentions of the samples on the website, for now. They simply are not performing.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm at a loss.

 

[Brewer07]

Hey @Brewer07,

This is my feedback.

Part 1. The Website

1. The copy is bad. There's no personality. Just scientific jargon about clinically this and that. Talk with me as a friend, not my chemistry teacher (I hated chemistry lol)

2. The image should be different. Emphasize more focus on your bottle. All the attention is on the female.

3. This is a bad button. What does I want better supplements mean? First, you need to add color to the button for contrast. Next, change the text to something more friendly. Try grab yours now, for example.

1. This is bad copy. It's just a bunch of jargon telling me I deserve better supplements. Why do I deserve better supplements? What's in it for me? Add more life and personality to your copy. Instead of the above, try: Our drink turns you from geek to all-star. Stop training like a wimp and start training like a UFC champion. Conor McGregor agrees.
(This is really bad, but I'm trying to get my point across that adding real life to your copy will be beneficial.)

Part 2. Examples of a Successful Brand

1. When I land on G FUEL's site, there's personality. Look above at their copy. It is brilliant. They're using DJ Khaled favorite line: you smart, you loyal, to persuade the reader. It's funny, resonates with the young crowd, and it converts.

2. When I check out their about page, it's organized. The "our story" tells us in a few sentences about the creation of their product. It has personality, it resonates with the target market, evokes emotion.

3. Your about us section has no life, sorry. It just talks about jargon, 300 mg of ginger, etc. Spark life into your copy, share your story on how your product was created in a fun story-telling way that evokes emotion. It should resonate with your visitor. Instead, it doesn't and scares them away.

4. G FUEL does a great job at executing in a few sentences what the product can do for their customer. On your site, I can't say the same. The main idea on your site is how natural your ingredient is. Remember, what's in it for the customer?

5. G FUEL does an excellent job with their CTA. Notice how the box is border red as if we entered the wrong email. I suggest adding a CTA to your site to collect emails. In exchange, your readers can read your newsletter.

Part 3. Conclusion

1. I know it's not fair to compare a mega brand like G FUEL with yours, since you're just starting out. But, take some notes on what they're doing. I bet it will work.

2. Currently, your does not resonate. Go back to your buyer persona, and find out what they like to do for fun, what music they listen to, who are their favorite celebrities. Then incorporate that into your site.

3. For example, g fuel caters to the gaming community in a fun way. With Focal Force, try to be fun and engage with your target market who say stuff like cross fit is life, do you lift bro, etc. I really don't know because I'm not sure who focal force is for.

4. Your website can be a huge success, I believe in it and I love your progress. But it's going to be an uphill battle. You need to reimagine your product in a fun, exiting way that resonates with your customers. I honestly believe the problem is your copy. There's no life to it, just numbers and ingredients on how great of a supplement it is.

5. You can still make this work. I think instead of building up sales at the moment, focus more on your content marketing. Build more awareness through your social media. Also, create a twitter page. I tried searching but couldn't find a twitter page. Engage your market with stories, pictures on how to's, etc. Look around at successful brands and see how they're doing it. Take some of their ideas and create your own for Sanctus.

6. I'm not writing this feedback to be mean. Im writing this feedback from a consumer perspective. I know you and g fuel are different but take some ideas from big brands and try to incorporate their "formula" into your own. I genuinely hope this can help spark some ideas and get things rolling. After all, take this advice with a grain of salt.

P.S. I wrote this really quick, sorry in advance for any mistakes or inaccuracies.

This is great feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to put a good amount of thought into that. Feel free to be "mean", my feelings won't be hurt. I know I'm shit at writing copy.

I won't get super deep here but I struggle at relating/resonating with other people on a deep/personal level, and I think that's showing in the copy I write.

 

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[Lucious]

Nice progress. Maybe link some studies in your blogs to back up your claims.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Awesome, I like it, thanks for the suggestion! I've used Kit on Shopify to run re-targeting ads but that's the extent of my FB marketing knowledge. Do you have any good resources I can read to become more familiar with it, or would you suggest just doing it and learning from mistakes as I go? I'm blocking out 3 hours Wednesday AM to focus solely on FB marketing. May not be enough time to get my first campaign going but should get me started at least.

There are tons of online courses but in all honesty you want to take a look at a basic course just to get a feel for the platform. The real learning on PPC comes from testing. And testing = money so you want to keep your daily budget small and increase incrementally. I did $5/day for a few days.

I learned a few things from this video.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_QK6XbNtHA

He's mainly an affiliate marketer but the general concepts for someone who doesn't know much about FB still applies. Couple days of testing at a small budget targeting different groups somewhat broad. Kill campaigns that don't work after 3-5 day. Try to keep it as cheap as possible. He recommended running Engagement ads before Conversion campaigns (you can choose in FB what your campaign objective is) to see if there is any interest at a cheaper cost.

Have you looked at other distribution channels? Your product is of high interest to me, but as a lifter who doesn't mess much with social media, I'd never have found you if you're not on Amazon or Bodybuilding<dot>com.

Also, as a very health conscious lifter(your target audience I presume), a nutrition label would have allayed any fears I might have about buying your brand, because I'd see in a very concise format what I'm getting. I couldn't find one on your site.

Nutrition label definitely a requirement. I'm sure the packaging has it but I think it might be a FDA requirement.

If you're on Facebook, he could market to you if you liked the bodybuilding.com page or some other page like T-nation. But it would be great if he got into bodybuilding.com in general as they have a huge user base.

 

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[RedKiteKid]

I dont have anything specific to add to your thread but just wanted to jump on and congratulate you on some top notch execution. Way to make things happen! Keep on grinding!

 

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[Sully1994]

Alright @smpaq (and others), I brainstormed some tag-lines similar to Buckley's "it tastes awful and it works". I wrote down literally everything that came to mind as soon as it came to mind, so please don't hold back on critique.

• Tastes like eh. Works like DAMN.
  
  
• Tastes like shit. Works like DAMN.
  
  
• Unusual taste. Unusual results.
  
  
• Choke it down. Rev it up.
  
  
• Tastes different than the rest because it works better than the rest.
  
  
• We tried to hide the taste. You won’t hide the results.
  
  
• Forgettable taste. Unforgettable results.
  
  
• Forgettable taste. Unforgettable workouts.
  
  
• With a taste like this, you know it works.
  
  
• Different taste. Different supplements. Different results.
  
  
• Different taste. Different pre-workout. Different results.
  
  
• Unique taste. Unique pre-workout. Unique results.
  
  
• Unique taste. Unique supplements. Unique results.
  
  
• It tastes like that because it works.
  
  
• Suck up the taste. Bask in the gains.
  
  
• Trade taste for real supplements.
  
  
• Trade taste for supplements that work.
  
  
• Weird taste? That’s how you know it works.
  
  
• You know it works as soon as you taste it.
  
  
• Doesn’t taste great. But you’ll look amazing.
  
  
• Trade in flavor for supplements that work.
  
  
• Strong taste. Strong lifts.
  
  
• Strong taste. Strong gains.
  
  
• Strong taste. Strong muscles.
  
  
• Workouts so good, you’ll survive the taste.
  
  
• Workouts so intense, you’ll survive the taste.
  
  
• Workouts so good, you’ll forget about the taste.
  
  
• Workouts so intense, you’ll forget about the taste.
  
  
• What the hell is that taste? The glory of quad-busting squats.
  
  
• Why does it taste like that? Because it works.
  
  
• “Why does it taste weird?” “Shut up and lift.” (I envision this as two people, with the response coming from a much more ripped individual)
  
  
• Get over the taste. The results are worth it.
  
  
• Get past the taste to get past your bench plateau.
  
  
• Crappy taste. Happy body.
  
  
• Want insane strength? Give up the blue razzberry pre-workout and try the real stuff.
  
  
• Real men don’t need blue cotton candy pre-workout. Real men use Focal Force.
  
  
• Drop your pansy cotton-candy pre-workout. Try something heavier.
  
  
• It’s like 190-proof pre-workout. You’ll know it works from the first sip.

These are hilarious! Love it. You're a really solid writer.

I think the millennial generation would love " tastes like eh, works like DAMN"

 

[Millenial_Kid5K1]

Facebook Ad results are in. Not pretty.

I ran three separate ads from July 2 - July 5 (ended this morning @ 9 am).

1. Ad Set 1: ages 25-30, both genders, interest in nutraceutical pages.
   1. Reach: 1,657 (79% women, 20% men)
   2. Link clicks: 15 (87% women, 13% men); 0.87% result rate.
   3. Sales: 0
2. Ad Set 2: ages 25-30, both genders, interest in bodybuilding.
   1. Reach: 3,718 (67% men, 33% women)
   2. Link clicks: 18 (68% men, 32% women); 0.44% result rate.
   3. Sales: 0
3. Ad Set 3: ages 25-30, both genders, interest in Crossfit.
   1. Reach: 2,087 (66% men, 33% women)
   2. Link clicks: 20 (65% men, 35% women); 0.87% result rate.
   3. Sales: 0

The copy & CTA for all three was the same. 3 different pictures were used across all the ads.

1. Picture 1 result rate: 0.67% (4,489 reach, 32 link clicks). Performed best with the Crossfit Ad Set (1.20% result rate).
2. Picture 2 result rate: 0.64% (2,515 reach, 17 link clicks). Performed best with the Nutraceutical Ad Set (1.94% result rate).
3. Picture 3 result rate: 0.52% (751 reach, 4 link clicks) - turns out this was NOT used for Ad Set 2 (bodybuilding).

Here are the 3 pictures used:
Picture 1: [GALLERY=media, 42]Facebook Ad Test #1 - Picture 1 by Brewer07 posted Jul 5, 2017 at 12:05 PM[/GALLERY]
Picture 2: [GALLERY=media, 43]Facebook Ad Test #1 - Picture 2 by Brewer07 posted Jul 5, 2017 at 12:05 PM[/GALLERY]
Picture 3: [GALLERY=media, 44]Facebook Ad Test #1 - Picture 3 by Brewer07 posted Jul 5, 2017 at 12:05 PM[/GALLERY]

This was in conjunction with running a 20% off sale with no coupon code required - prices were marked down. Zero sales.

Lessons learned:

1. If Facebook marketing was as easy as throwing together a campaign, spending $60, and making a lot of money, everyone would do it. I'm keeping that in mind because I get down on myself very easily and I'm pretty bummed I made $0 during this campaign + across the 4th of July holiday sale.
2. Men responded slightly better to the shirtless vs. shirt pictures compared to women, in terms of result rate.
3. Response rate was lowest amongst those with interest in bodybuilding and related areas. This isn't really surprising.

Next steps:
I am open to advice! Also, if there are additional metrics that would help you advise me, let me know and I'll post them.
I'll be exploring Google Adwords today and aiming to have my first campaign up and running.

I wouldn't get discouraged, you already knew you were in a highly competitive space.

I would imagine social proof to be highly important for any consumable. This means positive comments, reviews, 'likes', or even "quotes" from people who have used it. This is just speculation, but as you gain momentum your conversion ratio might dramatically increase.

Also, I would at least wonder whether no artificial ingredients or dyes is itself a benefit, or if it's a feature. It might be worth having "A pre-workout that's actually healthy!" somewhere in one of the ads you try.

Re: model. My friend has a girlfriend with a professional-level camera and volunteered to take product shots for free. So I worked with what I've got. Should I brighten up the pictures I do have and re-use? I can find stock pictures with much better models but it won't have the product in it. Do you think these would work better? Or is it a matter of finding someone locally with a better physique to pose with the product?
EDIT - another option is just using a product shot with no model. Intuition tells me that a image with a model+product would work better, but I could be wrong - any insight here?

If you can, I'd try getting at least one female model. Given that the attitudes towards working out are HEAVILY split along gender lines, it is possible that women will be bigger buyers of this product. The common wisdom is that men are more often interested in just getting big, where women are more often interested in overall looks/health/staying skinny while getting strong.

Try testing product only shots. There's two benefits to this:

1) you can use product mock ups instead of photos of the actual thing. Now you don't have to worry about bad lighting. Thanks Photoshop!

2) it's pretty tough to not alienate one side of your audience when your model is half naked, (regardless of gender).

I noticed your gender click ratio swung heavily towards the female side.

Let's reverse things. Guys commonly click on pictures of hot women advertising female oriented products. Why? Because they're hot. They're not interested in the product being advertised .

It's possible that we have a similar situation going on here- just from the female perspective.

Food for thought!

I don't see that at all. If that were the case, I'd think women would respond better to the shirtless ad.

What I've seen from other advertising is that when somebody is marketing to exclusively men, they tend to have a shirtless bodybuilder with big muscles. When somebody is marketing exclusively to women, they use an attractive, toned woman in workout clothes. When people are advertising to both, they usually have a man and a woman in shot, both wearing gym clothes(the man is often in a cutoff tee)

• Tastes different than the rest because it works better than the rest.
  
  
• Drop your pansy cotton-candy pre-workout. Try something heavier.

I love both of these. The former is clumsy, maybe shorten it as "Tastes different because it works better", or "Tastes different. Puts you on a different level."


Take whatever I say with a grain of salt, as usual.

 

[Brewer07]

Hey,

Couple of things that you don't really talk much about. I'd love to hear more about your manufacturing and bottling process. What kind of lab are these products being made in? Believe it or not, the facility that they are made in is a HUGE deal. I actually was in this field and did a marketing campaign for USP Labs, Xyience, Zevia, AI Sports Nutrition, BSN, Dream Water, EBoost, Power Crunch Bars, to name a few. This market is so big, it's hard not to find customers. Have you done any private labeling?

Honestly; if I was in this market, I would create a brand that people recognize as the one on the shelf that they don't ever have to worry about reading labels. Let's face it, 80% of the people putting supplements in their body really don't know what they are reading. If you can build a brand that says hey we are the "safe bet" or "we are the good guys," you'll win.

Perfect example: The Honest Company

Good luck

My manufacturer is SDC Nutrition. I have not done private labeling - my approach, thus far, has been to focus on ONE product and selling it successfully before expanding into other products. What are your thoughts here?

I'll look into The Honest Company. Have not heard of them - thanks for the rec!

First of all, props for your massive execution!



I like these. Prefer the 2 sentences over 1 or 3.

The bolded I think suits best for your product. Because you target the benefit (insane strenght), say that you don't sell crap (blue razzberry) and actually sell a good product (real stuff).

It says to me: "I've got to know more, what is this real stuff?"

And then you can tell about the clean/pure stuff on your website.

Thank you! I'll get some FB ads going and see how they work.

These are hilarious! Love it. You're a really solid writer.

I think the millennial generation would love " tastes like eh, works like DAMN"

Thank you! I'll give that a shot on FB as well.

I'd be careful with the taste thing.

Whenever I'm looking at sup reviews NOBODY comments on the results because it is so subjective and almost impossible to attribute any gains to the actual supplement. However EVERYONE comments on the taste, and for a lot of people, taste is the deal breaker.

They take the sup because the health mags tell them it's required, not because one brand gives better results than the other. And therefore taste is high on the list.

Out of those lines I would probably opt for something like "Forget your cotton candy pre-work out. This is for the real lifters"

Plays on the mind without drawing too much attention to the taste (or lack of)

Thanks for reading & for the advice. I have also noticed that many reviews/comments are on taste. The hard part to execute here has been finding the people who look past or don't care about taste. Ex: my first affiliate I signed on told me he just throws the powder in his mouth and washes it down with a swig of water, so taste is irrelevant to him.

I should note - my product doesn't taste terrible, IMO, and from the people who have sampled it. The most common feedback I get, and the way I describe it, is - "it works". It's doable, not a dealbreaker, etc.

I'd agree if he was targeting the mass market audience.

But his market is more of the committed, health-conscious crowd. They want to be fit AND healthy. Personally, I don't think he should focus on taste at all. I would just focus on the science backed benefits.

I fall right into his market and one product that comes to mind is Leucine. When you read the reviews on amazon the first thing that pops out is taste. Leucine tastes AWFUL. It's like drinking chalky water and the taste stays in your mouth for 5-20 minutes...

But I kept using it and eventually bought an even bigger package next time. Because I didn't care about the taste, I just wanted the science-backed results.

The people that are truly committed, his market, won't care about taste as much as they care about health and results.

With that said, I'd still keep trying to improve the taste as much as you can. Not everyone is as crazy as me.

---

Side note: @Brewer07 I'd check out Legion Athletics. They're a company in your space that I've bought from in the past. They use citations to back up their claims, mention specific clinically effective doses and have an FAQ section which explains even further ingredients used in the product. You may already know of them, but if not, I'm sure there's a lot to learn.

Thanks for the comment! Spot on - BCAA's taste absolutely terrible. Actually, I remember reading a review for a BCAA product I bought several years back - the reviewer commented "you know it's the real stuff because this tastes awful".

Like I said above - taste isn't awful, definitely not as bad as pure leucine. Ginger + monk fruit is enough to cover the tartness of large amount of L-citrulline.

Good call on Legion - I have come across them before but never took the time to study them like I should. Their product pages have a lot I can study and learn from. I also need to add a money-back guarantee similar to their "It's On Us" offer. Definitely going to dig in on this and compare our pages.

I see they like to sell the whole "natural" aspect of their products, while using "natural flavors" in their products. "Natural flavors" are almost always NOT natural - or, at best, it's a vague term and you have no clue what those "natural flavors" actually are - which is why I'm avoiding them. Any advice on how I can use this to my advantage?

 

[startinup]

Any advice on how I can use this to my advantage?

That's a tough question...

First you need to know: Does your market actually care about the misuse of the word "natural"?

If they care then you can definitely use it in marketing by pointing out your lack of natural flavors. But if they don't care, it won't help you unless you spend money to educate them about the problems with "natural" flavors.

Either way, a good idea would be to look at the fitness forums or subreddits where your market likes to hang out. See if they care about natural flavors. Or even start a thread asking if they know of any supplements without natural flavors and seeing if they're enthusiastic or indifferent.

 

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[Brewer07]

Seeking feedback and insight on two things:

1. My product page: Focal Force Premium Pre-workout
   1. My thoughts:
      1. It's a lot of text. When I compare to other product pages (here, here, here, here, here), I see a large amount of text, but it's graphically more appealing. IMO.
      2. I feel like this page could be re-designed to convert better, and I'm seeking outside opinions on areas to improve.
2. Should my ads direct to my product page, or home page?
   1. All ads run thus far go directly to my product page. Current CTR's are abysmal and have resulted in zero sales. Should I be directing traffic to the home page, or another page? I'll have another ad update posted soon, likely Monday after my current tests finish and I have time to analyze.

 

[Brewer07]

That product page is more like an article. I would cut that right down to the core benefits of using your product. IF they want more info after that? They can research it (hopefully on your website).

Ads, in my opinion, should follow through to a page entirely relevant to the ad itself.

If I see an ad which says "Get pumped with XYZ pre-workout" I want to be taken to the page with that product and a big old buy button. I wanna get pumped!

Thank you! I agree. I think the page is way too long. I'd love to have the same amount of information distilled into four "sections" you can click through, rather than having to scroll through the page - the way Legion has their page set for "Pulse". I have no clue how to do this on Shopify, though.

I would consider moving the section that says "we'll never use harmful ingredients like......" higher up the page.

Putting a benefit and information right up top for buyers to see early on. Maybe somewhere near the ingredients backed by science section.

Good point. I think the entire page could be re-organized into better sections, instead of a hodgepodge of text the way it currently is. See comment above re: sorting into organized sections.

I would try a few things:

1. Can you move the most important benefits above the add to cart button?

2. I would change the color of the add to cart button to something more obvious. It's your most important button on the page (call to action) and it's nearly invisible. If you decide to make it red, then maybe you should write your copy in black so it pops out more.

3. Since this is a presale with expected shipping date aug-3 potential customers may prefer to wait or come back later. Can you offer them an early bird discount?


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

1. I would love to do that but have no idea how to do it on Shopify.
2. Small but super obvious thing I overlooked. Thank you! Add to cart button is now nice & bright.
3. I've been running numerous sales throughout June & July highlighting savings for pre-orders. I added more text on the page to make it super obvious and added a "compare to" price which shows what it will retail for come August 3rd. Check out the updates and let me know what you think.

4. Change the title of your product so to include your most important benefit. 100% natural pre-workout explosion. Or something like that


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"Focal Force Premium Clean Pre-workout". Done. Let's see how it performs!

 

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[Scot]

Awesome progress thus far. If you haven't already heard of him (I suspect you would) check out Dr. Jim Stoppani's brand JYM. He's got a very similar mission to yours. All of his stuff is backed by science and clinical info. I'd definitely recommend checking out how he does things, might give you a few ideas.

http://jymsupplementscience.com/

Also, do you have your PharmD? Wouldn't hurt throwing the word Doctor around on your copy.

Rep++ for massive action.

Following this thread for sure.

 

[Brewer07]

Awesome progress thus far. If you haven't already heard of him (I suspect you would) check out Dr. Jim Stoppani's brand JYM. He's got a very similar mission to yours. All of his stuff is backed by science and clinical info. I'd definitely recommend checking out how he does things, might give you a few ideas.

http://jymsupplementscience.com/

Also, do you have your PharmD? Wouldn't hurt throwing the word Doctor around on your copy.

Rep++ for massive action.

Following this thread for sure.

Yes, definitely heard of Stoppani and have studied JYM extensively.

I have my PharmD. I sign off as "Alex Brewer, PharmD" on the "About Us" page and in emails. Nothing on the product page though - think I should squeeze that in somewhere?

 

[Brewer07]

I sell a consumable product. Some things that have worked well for me:

- I concentrate on direct to consumer sales via my site and Amazon. I've found retailers to be expensive, time consuming, low margin, energy drains.

- I make sure the product has strong differentiation and I put that front and center. This has allowed me to get away with weak packaging / branding when I want to test new flavors, products, etc. with my core audience.

- I use as much social proof as I can muster. Customer pics, customer videos, reviews, etc.

- I never discount the product, only the shipping. There is only 1 time you get a discount - the first order. 50% off to try the product out, plus a guarantee. This reduces purchase friction and gets the product in customers hands, but doesn't devalue the product.

Thanks for the input!

1. I want to be on Amazon, but they currently won't allow me to sell my first product. For some reason, they have idebenone on their "prohibited substances" list, even though it's legal to purchase. Trying to solve this, although I've heard Amazon doesn't budge.
2. Good point. I'm currently analyzing the copy on my product page and think there's a lot that could be improved.
3. This is a big point I'm lacking on. I need more social proof. I have a running list of IG "influencers" I've reached out to. All want to try the product before endorsing, so I'm in a bit of a hold until the product comes in and I get samples shipped out.
4. I'm adopting this same strategy once the product is out - only discount will be the first purchase. Running pre-order discounts has been helpful for validating but I agree it devalues the product long-term.

This is what I would think. If I'm buying something to put in my body, the more 5-star reviews the better.

Agreed. I've got a couple of 5-star reviews posted from friends who sampled the product. Looking to get more once the first manufacturing run is available.

 

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[Kwikbitz]

Hi Brwer07

Stumbled upon this as I was about to start my 'progress journey' here. Now all I can say is your is one of the most 'open and comprehensive' 'thread's I have seen here, from where I sit - totally unknowledgeable about your market all I can see is 'proper professionalism' and it's a great credit to you.

Your story to date is an (or should be ) an inspiration to others, and this thread is also a really good progress read.

I seriously wish you and Santcus all the best and look forward to seeing how it all works out (no pun) for you

 

[SYK]

I haven’t tried any more subsequent tests. I’m at a bit of a loss for what step to take next here.

Have you studied FB ads/taken any courses? Those numbers look like an unoptimzed campaign. Which isn't gonna give you any valuable data.

Sure, best way of learning FB is doing it. But getting some grounding first is the way to go. Check out Kingpinning. Tons of free info and a super active FB group.

 

[Brewer07]

1. How can you improve it from there? Ex. lower the cost, having even higher CTR%?

2. Yes, got that from Tim Ferriss. He had used that and saw his sales tripled.

He said that if people don't return it anyway, you know it's a good product. So you might want to go exeptional and offer such a win-win situation for your customer.

If after you tested that, the return% stays the same, you can leave it on, while your sales still increase.

1. No clue how to improve it. I'm a complete rookie at internet marketing.
2. Love it. Do you have a link to a blog post or case study where he discusses it? I'm curious as to how he executed it. Did he specifically make the 110% guarantee front and center and advertise it heavily? Or was it just a feature somewhere on the sales page?

 

[SYK]

I have 11 tubs mailing out this AM. Collectively, the eleven have an IG reach of over 55,000

That's only 5k per influencer. Seems kinda low. Did you intentionally only target this size? Or these just the ones who agreed?

 

[Rieper]

Hi. Great thread. Your execution is really inspiring. I wish you all the success you deserve. Rep +.

Just quickly checked your website and I kind of got confused at first on the About page. The text colors feel odd, maybe you should make the titles orange and the text black, instead of the opposite.

Also, have you thought about targeting the "casual lifters" ? By that, I mean those who just want to get healthy, not massive nor strong. Instead of advertising on how your supplement help strength gains, you would talk about how it improves health : heart pulse, blood flow, joint health etc. without the unhealthy ingredients of the mainstream supplements.
Maybe this market is worth exploring, as they would probably care more about the ingredients than bodybuilders and powerlifters.

 

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[Caramel]

Is this Beeketing thing on your website real-time? If that's the case, you're selling a lot by now!

 

[Iammelissamoore]

Also, have you thought about targeting the "casual lifters" ? By that, I mean those who just want to get healthy, not massive nor strong. Instead of advertising on how your supplement help strength gains, you would talk about how it improves health : heart pulse, blood flow, joint health etc. without the unhealthy ingredients of the mainstream supplements.
Maybe this market is worth exploring, as they would probably care more about the ingredients than bodybuilders and powerlifters.

This will work nicely in your promotional video, it will broaden your target audience to generally everyone who is looking to being healthy, whether by simply eating healthier and incorporating this into their regime for energy and additional health benefits etc.; athletes, who require the additional boost of strength prior to playing/competing in their sports and bodybuilders/powerlifters prior to their workout. - Just a thought.

Major congratulations on your journey thus far, you are definitely pushing this huge, and the great thing about it is that it is 100% healthy with no crazy, harmful or harsh ingredients. Keep up the great work.

 

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[Brewer07]

Have you tried an angle highlighting the "fear factor" of dyes, etc. that your product does not have? Obviously you can't be too "scary" for Facebook, but:

1) Headline/video ad highlighting a major long term issue from consuming these ingredients which are in typical supplements --> key here is getting FB users to click the ad

2) Presale (landing page) of a *true* story of the problems you or someone else had from the ingredients that your products do not contain, and how you solved it with these supplements highlighting all *benefits*. Headline of this page should be congruent with step 1) above.

3) CTA on Presale linked to your product page with an exclusive first time order discount off shipping of XX% like someone else in this thread suggested. For "readers only".

link--> fitlife(DOT) tv/these-pre-workout-ingredients-could-be-poisoning-you-original/

"These dyes have been linked to everything from cancer to tumors to ADHD."

Maybe you already tried something like this

This is GOLD.

I started on a PDF highlighting concerns of dyes/colorings/artificial sweeteners, with plans of offering it for free in exchange for an email address. But I stalled on it around June and haven't touched it since. I think video is a MUCH better medium. Might have a steeper learning curve, but luckily my life should be slowing down this week and I'll have time to dig into it (along with the other video recommendations I've received in this thread).

I do plan on releasing the book chapters I've written as blog posts - they can also serve as the scripts for the videos, with minor edits.

 

[MarekvBeek]

Whoohooh. You're doing very nice! I love the clips.

Congratz on your $1K month!!!

Keep up the good work man.

 

[Captain Jack]

@Brewer07

Great thread!

I'm also a health care professional (specialist physician assistant) and identified a supplement need in my particular field. I was not in the market for creating a supplement, but this almost literally fell into my lap.

I'm in the early stages of creation (just finishing a design label and working with manufacturers on my formulation).

Here's my question:

We are health care professionals so I feel like we will be considered to have more liability than a layman that creates a supplement company. Obviously, creating an LLC will alleviate this risk somewhat, but I was wondering if you had a lawyer draw up a confidential trust so that people can't easily search you out and try to sue you (and, thus, ruining your professional career along with your supplement product).

It's possible I'm just being paranoid here and thinking too far in terms of 'CYA'. What are your thoughts?

 

[MoreVolume]

1. Would you use the videos I posted?
2. If not, what are 2-3 things you would change?

What I'm considering and where your advice would help me: I can use those videos w/revisions, or I can shoot one on my laptop, explaining my story & why I started the company.

Or, both of those options are wrong and there's another route to take..

I think you should stay in the shadows. At least for now.
It gives off the impression that you're bigger than what you are, which is only a positive in this industry.
There are supplement company CEOs out there who do interviews, podcasts, etc. But the difference between them and guys like us, is that they have corporate office buildings, large staffs, large budgets, etc.

I feel like all that "My Story" stuff is overrated. As long as people know that the supplements are safe to take, they're not going to care why you started your company.
Let them know that your stuff is produced under strict quality control, and they won't suffer any side effects. Then move on to whats important

In all honestly
I don't think that you're at the stage where people should know that there's only one guy behind the operation. No matter what your credentials are. They shouldn't even know that you have a 3rd party manufacturer tbh.

I'm not saying that this is your issue, but one thing I notice in the supplement industry, is that too many people try to be too "by the book". That ultimately holds them back from taking that next step

 

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[Brewer07]

What would go through my head seeing your ads:

• Do I GAF about the taste? No... I'm a full-grown man and things I eat don't need to taste like sweets or ice-cream. Why are you even talking about how it tastes? Does it do what it says on the tin?

I've been thinking on this one a lot. After reading your "Paid Advertising Crash Course" & listening to your radio interview, here are my thoughts on addressing this:

I started the company because I too don't GAF about taste. I don't know when people decided pre-workout should taste like gummy worms or cotton candy (both are real examples), but it's gotten ridiculous. I just chug pre-workout anyway - I'll take the health benefits of avoiding all the BS that makes those flavors any day.

I've struggled figuring out how to market to people who think this way.

From your posts, here's the strategy I think will work in identifying and targeting health-conscious people who don't care about taste:

1. Research other products, across industries, that bill themselves as healthy options without artificial sweeteners, food dyes, etc. Identify large brands and products.
2. Use SpyFU & SimilarWeb to gather keyword research & other useful search data on brands and products found in step 1 above.
3. Combine results from step #2 with targeting people who have already expressed interest (ex: "liking" a brand/product page on Facebook) or visited said websites found in step #1.
4. Combine research from steps 1 - 3 with demographic data I've already gathered about my customers to target ads at health-conscious consumers.

This will allow me to display ads specifically to people who have already expressed interest in a product that does not contain artificial sweeteners, food dyes, etc. and have shown an interest in working out.

Let me know what you think!

 

[RoadTrip]

From your posts, here's the strategy I think will work in identifying and targeting health-conscious people who don't care about taste:

1. Research other products, across industries, that bill themselves as healthy options without artificial sweeteners, food dyes, etc. Identify large brands and products.

I'm would consider myself quite health conscious due to an auto-immune disease and the fact that I'm selling a natural supplement blend. In case you wonder: finding a solution to my problem resulted in the business I'm currently running.

So what people who are health conscious usually interest:

• Paleo
• Vegan
• Superfoods: quinoa, spirulina, turmeric, etc.
• Ayurveda / yoga / meditation
• Any auto-immune disease
• Oat meal
• Smoothies
• Organic food
• Probiotics

If you combine this with interests of people who like to lift and use pre-workout shakes, you should be able to narrow down targetting to find your target market. These people are generally less concerned about taste and more about the health aspect.

It would be interesting to know how many people fall into the two groups at the same time (pre-workout + the above interests). You can use Facebook Audience Stats in your facebook ads account to get an idea of how many people fall into this group. And you can try running ads to them. Due to my experience with FB ads I don't know of any better platform to accomplish this than Facebook, but maybe other people can chime in and share their experience (Blogs, Instagram, etc.).

 

[Raoul Duke]

Also, I can't message you, so I'll put it here - thank you for the INSIDERS threads (that I can now access, another thanks there ) the book recommendation, for taking time out of your day to drop in and share your advice. I really appreciate it! I'll comment back once I've gone through everything and tag you in my takeaways

Yeah, I have my private messages turned off. I can only PM people. I really like your progress. I think you'll benefit from having a INSIDERS subscription. Keep up the hard work!

 

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[MoreVolume]

If you can sponsor someone with a discount code, that would be a way to increase social exposure. Most of the biggest supplement companies sponsor athletes and give them a discount code. If that code is used on the website for the product, the sponsored athlete gets a small kickback portion of the sale.
Good luck, you're doing well so far.

listen to this man
coupon codes are key
im not sure how often you offer discounts, but sales really started to pick up for my brand when I started offering discount codes
and like he stated, if you find someone to endorse your brand, the coupon code will be an easy way to track their effectiveness

one form of advertising you should consider is having a few guys make Review videos for Youtube
Doesnt matter if they are legit or not, just have some guy sit in front of his webcam or phone and say a few words about your brand. it will go a long way, and add some more passivity (is that a word?) to your business, as people will stumble on to the videos for years to come