Trying to increase sales from 6-8K per month to 20K.. Any practical tips?

[lantonio90]

Hey all,

I currently run an e-com business in the supplement industry. It has been live over 2 years now (it took a further two years of R&D before launch), and grown to reliable month incomes of c.£8,000. We do seem to be stuck at this level though.

Plans to execute: We have a new subscription service launching in September to automate cashflow and help save customers time and money. We are also increasing our value proposition to give away more freebies with each sale (shaker, t-shirt, ebook etc.), improved our postal service and released a half price product variation to open up revenue streams to more price sensitive customers. There is also a new web front end and UI launching in September, again with the objective of improving customer journey ad conversion rates based on feedback and reporting. Oh and we've also released an app on the app store as another free resource for prospective customers.

Our marketing strategies include referral schemes (automated), social media marketing, SEO (blogs,forms), digital media marketing, search engine marketing all closely micromanaged, A-B tested and fed incremental/exponential budgets dependent on performance. We also have a club partnership scheme to centre on direct marketing to prospective customers.

Any ideas on if these strategies will work to help the business take the next jump up in revenue fastlaners? Or any suggestions from your own experience for us to implement?

 

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[Marty Foley]

Hi lantonio90,

There are two primary keys to online business success, regardless of the niche or industry:

1. Increase Targeted Traffic.

You not only need more traffic to scale up, but more targeted traffic that converts better, and at a lower avg. cost per conversion.

2. Improve Conversion Rates.

Your original post touched on it, where it mentions "A-B tested."

That phrase is in past tense. However, you should have a serious ongoing program of conversion rate optimization.

Consider some benefits of higher conversion rates:

• The more you can afford to pay for traffic.
• The more you profit from existing traffic, regardless of its source (as long as it's relevant).
• The more your affiliates/partners benefit from promoting you.
• As word gets around, the more affiliates/partners will want to promote you (and continue promoting you).
• Even your competitors can make more money promoting you, vs. their own stuff (yes, it happens).

~ Marty Foley

 

[The-J]

You don't seem to be doing much paid traffic.

It's one of the simplest ways to grow. However, it's very competitive and you'll need to have a killer offer to make it work at scale. If your supplements aren't compliant with the big platforms, then you'll have an even bigger uphill battle.

If your current paid traffic efforts aren't able to get you the scale you need, take a look at your offer and your market, and figure out what kind of sales journey you can take a prospect through that will make him more likely to buy.

 

[MoreVolume]

I'm in the supplement industry, and have been active for a little over 2 years as well.
In my experience, you have to expand your marketing reach. Try to find new audiences. My main methods of advertising were social media and adult streaming sites.

But 2 months ago I purchased an ad spot on a popular sports podcast. A usual month on our website is similar to yours. $6-9K

The next 3 weeks, we pulled in over $12K in sales from that ad spot. We are able to track sales with the unique coupon code. We are still getting sales from that episode as well.

I've been where you are man. It's kinda like purgatory. You know things could be alot worse, but things could be so much greater.

Another thing that works for me is paid ad space on social media. Plenty of popular accounts on Twitter and IG offer promo posts for cheap prices. It's another way to get a steady stream of new eyes on your advertisements.

You've most likely done this, but make sure you're on Amazon, EBay and Bonanza, in addition to selling on your site. I've been on Amazon for a few months, and the monthly sales figures mirror the numbers from the website.

 

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[ZCP]

Get more customers. (Create customer profiles and determine where they are and who they get advice from)
Get them to buy more per trip. (Add ons. What need does your product create?)
Get them to buy more often. (Subscription. Follow ups. Change the size / amount / offering.)

Take a good bit of time to brainstorm ideas / channels. Now work on all three above and find the one that gives the best growth. Then put 50% into that one and 25% into each of the others.