At launch, how should a premium D2C brand decide whether slow initial sales are a pricing problem or a value-communication problem, and what signals would you look for before touching price?
Hello Zanoogo, thank you for your question, that’s a great one. My name is Emmanuel from FeedArmy and I will be guiding you through.
So the first thing I would look at is cart abandonment, are the consumers adding the product in the cart and not purchasing, might what they see in the checkout, such as trust signals, shipping costs, return policy clarity.
So in this case ensure your shipping costs are balanced, maybe test and give free shipping. For trust signals ensure you have a clean checkout, no funky background, just add your business logo. And for policy clarity, ensure everything is added linked in the footer of the checkout and that it’s easy to read.
We also need to look at bounce rate, are they going on the page and then immediately exiting, could be caused by price shock or wrong targeting. However with Google Shopping, bounce rate is expected to be around 60% to 80%, so don’t be alarmed if that is the case with you.
Check your search terms and ensure all search terms are relevant.
If the issue is the price, then usually consumers will exit within 10 seconds upon entering the product landing page, especially if you have a high CTR.
Check your competitors to see if they are pricing there products at a much lower price point.
What you could do is create an exit intent survey, asking consumers what stopped them from making a purchase, is it too expensive, wasn’t sure about quality, needed more information, didn’t trust the brand, etc. Test this for 4 to 6 weeks.
Hi Emmanuel,
Thanks, that’s helpful from a CRO perspective once there’s consistent traffic and add-to-cart behaviour.
To clarify my original question, I’m specifically thinking about the very early launch phase, where traffic and conversions are still low and traditional signals like abandonment rates are statistically thin.
In that context, what indicators would you personally rely on to distinguish between a pricing issue and a value or positioning issue before adjusting price? For example, patterns in engagement, repeat visits, product saves, or qualitative feedback.
I’m keen to avoid touching price prematurely when the real issue may be communication or audience alignment.
Many thanks,
Clive
If you don’t have much data, then at the moment making or analyzing data is rather impossible.
To ensure you can make educated decisions, consider increasing traffic acquisition.
With respect, you have missed or misunderstood my point entirely.
Obviously, I realise that without much data you can’t optimise in the usual way, which is why my original question wasn’t about optimisation or testing. It was about judgement at launch.
When a premium D2C brand has low early sales, before scaling traffic, how do you tell whether:
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people like the product but don’t yet see enough value to justify the price, or
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people simply think the price is wrong
In other words, what practical signs would you look for before deciding to lower your prices, rather than first improving how the product’s value is explained?
That’s the distinction I’m trying to understand.
Thanks,
Clive
Thank you for the clarification. While I think I have addressed things that I would do, it seems that maybe your question is beyond the scope of what I do for clients. In other words, I don’t know exactly what you are asking. As I assist mainly established businesses I have not encountered what you are asking. So my answers are always, it has to be statisical. If no statistics exists, then I don’t know how to answer your question.
So unfortunately I am not able to answer your question.
Try asking your question on reddit, maybe you will find some useful tips.
Well, that’s interesting because my original question was submitted following the notification of the live (by text) event, that invited ‘any questions at all’. In the end, I could not figure out how to get involved with the live event, but my question obviously remained there. I wasn’t expecting it to be answered, let alone by someone who specialises in something I clearly don’t yet need.
It’s early days for my business, and I’m not in the mass-market game, so obviously traffic is low and is my main priority. It’s just interesting that literally everywhere you look are people offering to improve every aspect of your Shopify website, from selling techniques to customer service, but all of this assumes you already have a thriving business. For those of us who don’t yet, there is little help, other than to use social media, paid ads, PR, etc. My question wasn’t really about that as it’s obvious that eyeballs are required for every business to work. My question was about the nuance of appearances and signalling.
Buy hey, I appreciate you taking the time to respond, and for that I am very grateful 
All the best,
Clive
I understand, it seems a misunderstanding in this Shopify AMA which is for Google Shopping and Google Ads questions. While your question was outside the scope.
I am sure if you ask your question in the right place, that the right person can answer you.
Have you considered taking up some courses with regards to business management, maybe the topic you are looking for is covered in these courses.