Why am I not making any sales on my online store?

[Openstyles]

Hi! I’m back unfortunately. It’s been a few weeks and I’ve change the design to my store and still no sales. I’m running small ads thru social media and Google but nothing seems to work. I’m hanging literally from a string with this store. Any suggestion? 

[Iris · Accepted solution]

Hi @Openstyles ,

Glad to hear that you're ready to start making sales!

First, let's establish what point you're at now - have you launched your store just recently? If so, take a look at this checklist from our help centre that goes through everything you need to do upon launch, - it serves as a great guide if you're unsure where to start or what you might be missing.

Then it's time to look into how you can get new customers into your store and spread the word. What kind of ads and marketing campaigns have you done before? In case you're unfamiliar with how it works, in Shopify we have integrations with Google and Facebook ads to help you create campaigns and advertise. Below, I have some links that will guide you in getting started with this:

• Shopify Learn Facebook Ads Course
• Facebook Marketing help guide 
• Shopify Learn Google Ads Course 
• Google Channel help guide

After you have set up your campaigns, the next step is to consider how you receive your traffic. In a brand new store, one thing that is very important is building trust with your customers. This can be done even through the little things such as making sure that all of your menu links are working, there is no placeholder/default text left over in any home page sections or pages, and you have a contact us page to make sure that if something goes wrong, they know they can get in touch (this can be set up the following way). 

You will want to see that traffic convert to sales, so it is important that you pay attention to your analytics, see where you're getting the most traffic from and who is actually visiting. Make sure to take time and review our guide on 'Analyzing the success of your marketing campaigns' to see how you can better understand this. 

From here, focus on the needs of those customers and look at ways to encourage them to go through with the checkout. A suggestion is that you set up some discount in the beginning, for example offer free shipping or a percentage off for first time buyers. Here is how you can create discounts in Shopify. 

Finally, check out this really insightful Shopify Blog article on How to get your First Sale in 30 Days - it includes some videos as well in case you prefer that style of help guide. 

I would love to hear a little more about your business to see if I can offer any other help or advice, so please share what you're working on! Also, if you want, share your storefront URL, and we can share some feedback on the store.

[Openstyles]

Thanks for the info. I’ve been here before with this problem. I’ve had my store since July and I’ve received help and info from the Shopify community which I’m very grateful! I’ve done what has been advised and still nothing. I was advised my design needed help and so I got a designer and still nothing. I’ve invested all my savings into this business and it’s my only source of income which I know, TMI but I’m truly lost and afraid of failing. No sales has me stressed! My store is Openstylesunlimited.com. Please pop in and be completely honest with your opinions and ideas or options on improving. Thank you! 

[Rayshuggs]

Hello, here are some general pieces of advice on how you could improve your store in order to get more sales.

1) There should be sections for best sellers and latest arrivals on the homepage. This would help customers to easily identify products that will likely catch their fancy.

2) There should be customer reviews on the homepage. This would help boost the authenticity of your store and build the trust of customers.

3) You should put an add to cart button on each product page. This would help make the purchase process swifter for customers and is likely to lead to an increase in conversion rates in the store. You can download the add to cart button app here https://apps.shopify.com/add-to-cart 

I wish you and your business the best of luck!