Healthy traffic, but no conversions. Any advice?

[Traveller]

Hello,

We have recently launched our online shop at www.maezu.com.

Using a mix of Google & Bing Ads, SEO and Affiliates, we send a healthy amount of traffic to the site. However, conversion rate has been terrible and below 0.005%.

We're sending most traffic to product pages, such as https://www.maezu.com/shop/cufflinks/clockwork-gold-cufflinks/

Customers don't seem to stay on the page for too long and just exit it after a few seconds without browsing other products.

I was hoping to get some advice from the community to see if there's something fundamentally wrong with our site and what we can improve?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks so much!

[DeepakIqlect]

Hi Treveller,

First you need to check the relevancy of your ads. Are your ads speaking the same language as landing pages. Relevancy is very important in advertising. When a user clicks on the ads he/she has certain expectation to the landing page. If that expectations can be met at the landing page then only user will proceed further. 

Second thing you need to check the performance of your webpages. Are they loading fast enough. According to a survey most of the users leave a webpages without interacting further if it loads in more than 3 seconds. 

You also need to check the pricing of your products. Are they cost effective when compare to competitors? Are you transparent in your shiping cost or any additional costs? These things are really important and it engage or make customers go away.  

[notboringagency]

I think is the matter of brand. Your product is not cheap but if people don't know you they are scared to buy something expensive from you.

Did you try to run remarketing ads?

Can you tell us more how your ads look like in Google and Facebook? What image do you use, what copy?

Thanks!

[AdamBlend]

Hi - Adam Pearce here from Blend Commerce. Having taken a look at your products, I feel it would be worthwhile testing out the use of boosted posts and chatbots for your ads. Some basic ideas for a post would be:

- Looking for a new style? Let our team provide you with a tailored style guide.

- Heading to a wedding this summer? Work with our style bot now to create the perfect outfit.

By boosting these posts to either previously engaged audiences or new audiences with relevant characteristics, a chat bot using manychat could be used to ask as series of questions to the user. Based on responses, a 'style guide' can be sent via email (collated from bot), thus opening up further opportunities to retarget and market. 

Hope this helps.

[Traveller]

First of all, thank you all so much for your insight – it’s really appreciated!  Taking the different points in turn:

Ad Relevancy:  @Deepak, Agreed that we might need to adjust our ad text.  Currently most of the traffic is driven by display ads, rather than search ads, so people might just be curious and click on the image without any intention to browse or buy.  A copy of our ad would read like this:

Gold Clockwork Cufflinks | MAEZU

Elegant, high-quality cufflinks by MAEZU starting from $40 with eco-friendly gift box.  Curated just for you: Shop our premium collection of selected men's accessories now!

Link:  https://www.maezu.com/shop/cufflinks/clockwork-gold-cufflinks/

Site Speed:  I’ve run it in Google Speedtest and it scores average – I think it takes about 2-3 seconds to load, depending on location.  The thing is, I can check on Hotjar that people are actually loading the site, but then leave after 10 seconds or so without much interaction, hence I wanted to see if there’s a fundamental problem with our site.

Pricing:  That’s a very good point. @notboringagency, it’s interesting that you perceive it as not cheap, whereas some people told me it’s not expensive.  We do free shipping and have lowered our margins substantially already, but perhaps we need to do further price cuts…

Chatbots: @AdamBlendThanks for the idea, it’s a creative approach and we do like the idea of a style guide, so will look into it.  However, my main concern remains that the conversion rate is 10x lower than the market average…not sure if other people have come across this phenomenon and what was done to resolve it?

Thank you all,

Marcus

[EmmaWilson]

Have you tried remarketing campaign to remind your customer about the viewed products or the abandoned cart?

Also, you can send emails to your clients about abandoned carts.

Use social sharing, offer discounts and provide useful contents to keep them stay on site longer.

For further, you still need to get insight into your customers, so that you can make a brilliant marketing plan.

[DeepakIqlect]

---

@Traveller wrote:

Ad Relevancy:  @Deepak, Agreed that we might need to adjust our ad text.  Currently most of the traffic is driven by display ads, rather than search ads, so people might just be curious and click on the image without any intention to browse or buy.  A copy of our ad would read like this:

Gold Clockwork Cufflinks | MAEZU

Elegant, high-quality cufflinks by MAEZU starting from $40 with eco-friendly gift box.  Curated just for you: Shop our premium collection of selected men's accessories now!

Link:  https://www.maezu.com/shop/cufflinks/clockwork-gold-cufflinks/

Site Speed:  I’ve run it in Google Speedtest and it scores average – I think it takes about 2-3 seconds to load, depending on location.  The thing is, I can check on Hotjar that people are actually loading the site, but then leave after 10 seconds or so without much interaction, hence I wanted to see if there’s a fundamental problem with our site.

Thank you all,

Marcus

---

HI Marcus, Your ads for cufflinks is looking good. But you need to add the 25% off and free shipping in the messaging as well. And the place your ads are seen is also very important as you told. 

For page speed you need to make your website as good as possible. Follow the suggestions given by Page Speed Insights and you'll be fine. 

Best of luck for your sales. 

Best,

Deepak Pal 

[Traveller]

Hi George, I appreciate the brutally honest feedback, thank you.  Yes, you are right, it is a niche market with lower demand than high volume products, but at the same time there is also less competition out there.   

I did think that my advertising wasn't good enough, that's why I paid for a membership with ShareASale, hoping that more experienced marketing experts would be able to drive the right traffic to my site, but it's been nearly 3 weeks since my sign-up and nada...

I take your comment that we might be targeting the wrong group of people, but do you have suggestions as to what other channels we should  explore? As of now, we're doing search & display ads, re-marketing, affiliates and soft Instagram advertising.

[Traveller]

Thanks again Deepak for browsing our site!  I will add another ad variation with the promo and free delivery.

On site speed, I think we maxed out what we can do - I am loading a number of analytics tools using scripts, hence it might increase the loading script (but it shouldn't be unbearable, unless you felt otherwise?)

[_Ash_]

Hello, there!

I would echo what some of the other posters have mentioned about your ad relevancy. It's really important to make sure your ads match up with the landing pages so that visitors are confused by what they land on when the click. 

Something else I noticed is that your Instagram feed shows a lot content from other sources. Consider posting more original content showcasing your own products. It might also be a good idea to find some influencers who can help increase your followers and build trust. We have an excellent post about content marketing here you may find very helpful to learn how to create engaging content.

I'm not sure if you're aware that Shopify has an Instagram channel. With it you can tag your products in your Instagram posts and link them to your checkout. It might be something you'd like to consider for the future if you decide to move away from your current platform.

[Convergent7]

Hi Traveller,

IMO you need to look at your analytics...the answer is understanding what your data is telling you.  Here's how I would approach it:

• Review your Google Analytics:
  • Break it down by marketing channel, look where the sales are coming from
  • They're not buying, but are they simply bouncing and leaving?
  • How far in the funnel are they getting?  Do they add the product to the cart?  Looking at upsell or related items?
• Install a tool like CrazyEgg where you can see where they're looking and see if any issues appear
• Install a screen recording tool like Inspectlet, watch how they use your page and look for issues
• When using PPC, you should always be testing your landing pages...different messaging, different CTAs...constantly A/B testing.  Use a tool like Unbounce Landing Page Software.
• I'd add a survey (like Qeryz), put it on both sides of the transaction.  That is, before they buy (on the product page) and after they buy (on your thank you page).  You should ask some questions that will help you understand who's on the other side of the computer.  For example:
  • Is this a gift or for you?
  • What type of occasion is this for? (give them choices: wedding, party, event, business, casual, other).
  • Age range
  • Etc...keep it short
• Analyze the survey data...do you notice a difference between the prospect and the customer?  Are there some consistencies in your customers' answers?  Use that knowledge and insight to make changes to your messaging.  You don't need a ton of traffic...you only need the right traffic.
• Remember, people buy a product like this with emotion.  The page is cold, no people (when you first land on the page you can't see the man using the cuffs).  How will they feel when they put these on?  Reach out to past customers, interview them, listen to the adjectives they use and bake them into your content.

You are sitting on all kinds of data...use it to figure out what's working and what isn't.

Hope this helps!

Erik

Convergent7

[LimeSpotGuru]

Hi Traveller,

LimeSpot Personalizer App could be useful in helping customers to stay on the page longer. It uses AI to recommend different products based on user's profiles and browsing history.

Our recommendation box conversion rates are 3 to 5 times higher than standard navigation and we are the #1 App for increasing basket size in Shopify platform.

We offer 14 days free trial and do not charge anything until we actually drive sales for you. Let me know if you're interested? I can help you with the installation and setup. 🙂

Cheers,

LimeSpot Team

[Traveller]

Thanks Erik for all the useful tips.  Especially the part about emotions is quite true... need to add more photos with the products being actually used...

[Karan_Jassar]

The BEST Part about this questions is that you are a Woo Commerce merchant asking for help in a Shopify Forum.. 🤣🤣I LOVE the hustle 👍🏼

I feel like with that hustle, you can't fail so I'm rooting for you 🙂

You've already gotten so much advice. I'm adding a few more points to consider:

1.  As Ash pointed out, your IG - though very well curated, doesn't feel genuine and that can lead to a lack of trust. Use more of your product's lifestyle shots.

2. Where is the site traffic coming from? Are you sure about the quality of your cold traffic? Are they really your potential buyers? If you are advertising, then one thing to try is to tweak is your ads targeting. Perhaps the traffic isn't your potential buyers at all. 

3. Whats the objective of the campaign you used in FB? Always use 'Purchase' and not link clicks or even ATC. FB uses AI to send you the traffic you asked for. If you ask for link clicks then that's what you'll get and not purchases. 

4. Do you have any past sales data of at least over 100 customers? Try making a lookalike audience from that. The more data you feed FB, the better the results.

5. Pay special attention to creatives. Make sure they are well designed and rotated often. No one should see the same ad twice.

6. Make sure your pixel is setup correctly and all the events line up.

7. If pixel is ok, the setup some basic retargeting. Use designed catalogs instead of plain catalogs to convey important information like discounts and coupon codes. My company https://socioh.com does just that. It's free to setup ads and make a designed catalog. Take a look and lmk if you need help. Here's a sample creative that showcases discounts made using Socioh:

8. Run some valentine's campaigns targeted at women. Your products will make good gifts for men. We recently wrote this blog for Valentines' campaign ideas. Take a look.

All the best.

[DianaI]

Hi Maeuz Team,

We are a Chicago-based company working with Shopify stores to lift their Conversion rate. Let's chat! You can reach me at dilut@askwhai.com.  

Diana 

[Traveller]

Hi Karan,

I believed this forum was meant for any ecommerce marketing queries, independent of the platform being used.  However, if this is not the case, I welcome and administrator to clarify this.  From my viewpoint and advice provided here is applicable to any ecommerce shop and potentially helpful for other users, regardless if they’re using Shopify, Woocommerce or any other platform.

Other than that, thanks for your feedback.  I am working on it as follows:

1.  Agreed: We lack the manpower, financial resources to hire models, expensive studios etc.  however, we will be mixing more product shots in our IG account going forward
2. Most of the traffic is from Display Ads which don’t seem to be converting.  I will try out other traffic sources, mainly via SEO and potentially Google Shopping.  Affiliate traffic has been low and non-performing.
3. We have stopped FB ads – doesn’t seem our target market buy via FB
4. No.. sales have been disappointing and we are below 10 sales, let alone 100
5. Agreed, will dedicate more time to changing ads ever so often.
6. FB Pixel: I removed it since I wasn’t using FB ads anymore – is there any other purpose for implementing the Pixel?
7. Linked to above
8. Yep, we’ll be preparing some Valentine’s Day Creatives shortly!

Thank you all again for your help – still tweaking bits and pieces and hope we will get traction at some point…

Have a good Sunday everyone!

[Karan_Jassar]

Don't worry about the platform. That was just a small joke 🙂 This community here is helpful regardless of the the platform you are on so you are most welcome here.

1. You don't need models. Just get a friend/family member to model and a nice cell phone will do the trick. 

2. I agree, you need to find traffic that will convert. If the top of the funnel (your cold traffic) wont convert then it's less likely that your retargeting will work well. This, in my opinion, is your #1 challenge to focus on.

3. Don't stop FB ads - in your case, they may be a better alternative than search. Mostly because it's a lifestyle product and most of the times people aren't searching on google for things like cufflinks. 

4. Pixel - Please please don't remove it. It costs nothing and has tons of value. You can get better analytics from the Pixel now as compared to to Google analytics. You'll have the data in pixel incase you do decide to advertise at a later date.

All the best.

[DeepakIqlect]

---

@Traveller wrote:

Thanks again Deepak for browsing our site!  I will add another ad variation with the promo and free delivery.

On site speed, I think we maxed out what we can do - I am loading a number of analytics tools using scripts, hence it might increase the loading script (but it shouldn't be unbearable, unless you felt otherwise?)

---

Hi Traveller,

I think working on ads content will surely help your cause. 

On site speed I was just suggesting to optimize it up to the brim. If you are thinking that you have optimized the load speed enough and there are nothing to add in to the stack then it is completely fine. For scripts you can't do much but make sure to use only those which are really necessary for your business.

I have also observed that your website is running on WooCommerce. It would be great if you can switch the platform to Shopify. It will give you added advantage to optimize the store. 

[LimeSpotGuru]

Hi @Traveller,

Great to see that you are actually on WooCommerce and you are simply looking for more advice through the Shopify forum. I have taken a look at your store and it seems like you are selling a lot of high quality products that would benefit from more visible recommendations on certain pages. I'd like to offer you my suggestions that could be improved with our AI app:

1. Home Page: It's great to see that you have a "Latest Products" section on your home page already. As this is the first page that a user would see when they come to your store, it's important to grab the customers' attention by displaying relevant products that would interest them. For our best practices, we recommend having a "Most Popular in Your Best Selling Collection" box, which can showcase your sales collection. Another powerful AI enabled recommendation box is "You May Like", which takes into account real time data based on what the user viewed on your store.
2. Product Page: You can also add some recommendation boxes to all the product pages right below the product description. "Frequently Bought Together" uses your sales history to track items that are bought together often. "Related Products (or Complete the Look)" which is powered by multiple algorithms in the back end, goes after this and finally a “Recently Viewed” box.
3. Product Category/Collection Pages: Adding a "Most Popular in This Collection" box for each product category/collection on the top of your collection page is the best use of real-estate.
4. Cart Page: This is your last chance of converting a customer and adding to basket size so it's important to have some recommendation boxes on this page for those last minute buys. Our app offers both Upsell and Cross-sell recommendations to maximize the conversion rate.

We have recently integrated with WooCommerce and would love to give you a risk free offer to help you with your conversion problem. We can start off with 45 days free service and extend that if needed. LimeSpot Personalizer increases store revenue by 28% on average. We will also be happy to customize it to its best performance for your store. Let me know if this interests you.

Best,

Michelle

LimeSpot Team

[Amit_Roznak1]

I went through your store and it looks very Great! 

Of course there will always be things to improve, however, I don't believe that the issues of not getting sales are related to your actual store. 

It might be that you're not advertising enough or not doing that correctly. I think generating relevant traffic is the number ONE problem for every new Ecommerce store. It's quite a complex mission to create good advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook if you're not familiar enough with the options available or the relevant audience for your store.

You might want to try AdScale to help you with your advertising campaigns. It's a Shopify app that automatically creates and manage advertising campaigns for your store, using advanced AI technology.

What's unique about this app is that it use insights from millions of active campaigns in order to create a very accurate audience targeting that is tailored to your store and products.

You can learn more about it in this link: ecom.adscale.com

You can also watch the video below to understand how it works:

Hope it helps!