7 Reasons No One Is Buying your Digital Products + Services (and how to fix it!)

Imagine…

What you never had to chase for the next sale…

What if you had a ready pool of repeat buyers to tap into…

Buyers who are clamoring to get their hands on ‘your next thing’…

People who are sold on whatever you sell because it’s from you and they want it….

You deliver more than a product to them.

What they’re buying into is the experience they know they’ll get out of purchasing from you.

Sounds like a pipe dream?

Something you’ll never be able to achieve…think that’s only for the bigger online names?

Maybe you’re thinking…Why would I bother about repeat subscribers when I’m struggling to get even a few sales?

I get it.

But sometimes no sales or no repeat business is often a symptom of a deeper problem at hand.

Getting repeat sales or business is not based on one single thing…

It’s not like a tap that you can just turn on.

It’s a cumulation of things that result in repeat business.

If you’re struggling to build a royal tribe of repeat customers or clients, this post will highlight the mistakes that you may be unknowingly making…

It’ll help you uncover the gaps in your business which lets readers and customers slip right through.

Interested in diving deeper?

Then grab a sample chapter of my next Amazon Book ‘Your First 100 – How to Get Your First 100 Repeat Customers (and Loyal, Raving Fans) Buying Your Digital Products Without Sleazy Marketing or Selling Your Soul’.

Mistake #1 You think of email and content marketing as magic bullets

I’m a huge fan of email marketing.

Yet, I don’t think it’s a magic bullet.

You can’t show up one fine day, write an email and expect to rake in sales.

Maybe this was possible years ago.

Likewise, you can’t depend on magic launch formulas to mysteriously bring in thousands of dollars in sales.  These work only if you’ve been working on being top of mind.

you can’t depend on magic launch formulas to mysteriously bring in thousands of dollars in sales. These work only if you’ve been working on being top of mind.Click To Tweet

If you continue to show that you are there even if they’re not ready to buy – yet.

According to Brian Carroll, Author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale,¹³ almost 95% of your audience or subscribers are not ready to buy. But 70% of them will eventually buy from you or your competitors.

Here’s an email I received recently:

What this means: Keep selling me this. I’m not ready now. But I will be one day. 

This is where content comes into play.

You score with your content marketing if that 70% think of you and come to you when they’re ready.

You score with your content marketing if that 70% think of you and come to you when they’re readyClick To Tweet

Email and content marketing aren’t like single knocks on the door anymore.

You need to keep tapping on their minds with content.

You need to make an effort to be top of mind. But how do you do this?

By being consistent and showing up.

Mistake #2 You’re for everybody

You can’t be for everybody…

Because once you. are…you’re for nobody. You don’t sell your products to everybody.

Of course, you’re free to do so.

But you don’t actively attract everyone.

You only need to spend your time and resources attracting your ideal customer.

This person is someone whom you love to work with and serve.

If you had a “poster boy or girl” for your brand, this would be them. Often, it’s your style that attracts these people.

What type of person would you absolutely love to serve?

Who would benefit the most from what you offer?

And whom would you love to see represent your brand’s ideal customer?

Keep these people at the center and focus your efforts here so you attract more of them.

#3 You put the spotlight on your product/service, not your ideal customer 

Selling when done right, is a win-win.

A launch when done right enriches your audience, educates and empowers them even if they don’t buy from you.

People love to buy things and shop because that puts them in control.

But being sold to?

Not quite.

You may have encountered salespeople who have cornered you and made you feel icky and uncomfortable while trying to get you to buy.

In situations like these, you retreat and the first thing you want to do is leave the store, right?

The best buying experiences you’ve had are probably with salespeople who made you feel happy and comfortable with your purchase.

There’s no pressure or hard selling involved. You and your needs are put in the center.

The same goes for an online business.

Your ideal customer doesn’t like to be sold to. So don’t inadvertently become the very salesperson you despise.

Don’t ask yourself: Will this product idea sell?

That’s the wrong question to be asking. The question focuses on the product, not the offer.

Better questions to ask are

• What other things does my ideal customer want to buy?
• What can I offer that’ll help them get rid of this problem?

You don’t have to apologize for selling or wanting to make a living.

People need to know you’re in business too. But always put the spotlight on your ideal customer, not your product.

Because if you do, you’ll never have to sell your offers again.

#4 You lack a brand strategy

I bet you’ve seen one of those questions…

The ones that ask if a particular logo or color palette is nice…

And then 153 people chime in on the color and shade and font…

But you know what’s missing from the conversation…

A huge key element: Your brand strategy

The biggest branding sin is thinking about your colors and fonts without thinking about what you want to be for your reader….

But that’s just one of it…

The tone you use in your emails can’t be girly or snarky when your brand is supposed to be empathetic and professional.

You can’t say your brand is minimalist, budget conscious, or frugal when the affiliate products you promote send a different message.

You decide how you want to lead your brand and then you infuse this into every single touch point a reader or subscriber has with your brand.

You decide how you want to lead your brand and then you infuse this into every single touch point a reader or subscriber has with your brandClick To Tweet

#5 You don’t consider the experience someone gets from your brand

The most underrated thing that helps you build a standout online brand?

Wondering what that is?

It’s brand experience.

Just because you’re doing business online doesn’t mean you neglect experience from your brand equation.

Just because you’re doing business online doesn’t mean you neglect experience from your brand equationClick To Tweet

But what creates a brand experience?

It’s your touchpoints.

Your emails, your content, your products…every point of interaction a reader or subscriber has with your brand is a touchpoint.

In my book  ‘Your First 100’, I refer to this as the 5P Touch framework.

When you have gaps or lapses in any of your touchpoints…or if they create contradictory experiences from what you say your brand is…your readers and subscribers lose trust.

Compare your business against these 5 touchpoints.

Where are you missing out?

#6 You create buyer resistance

There are a few ways you are responsible for buyer resistance:

1. You don’t create sufficient content to counter buyer’s objection. 
You need content along every stage of the buyer’s journey from awareness to consideration to action. Each of those content pieces plays a role in turning buyer objections to YES’s.

2. You don’t have a small, low-risk offer where they can taste your paid content

These low risk, micro-commitments are called loss leaders or trip wires.

These are small-ticket items that you offer your subscriber usually upon opt-in or early on in your email sequence.

The idea isn’t to profit from that product but to quickly turn a subscriber into a buyer. Because people are more likely to open their wallets and purses for you a second time if they’ve already crossed that first sale hurdle.

3. You don’t ask for the sale
You feel icky about selling and this hesitation (as woo and weird as it sounds) shows up in your words, in your emails and sales pages. You introduce more doubts into the minds of your reader or subscriber.

4. Your products can’t be easily found
A funnel isn’t a magic bullet – just like email isn’t either. Just because you have a funnel doesn’t mean your products are going to sell themselves.

How will your audience find or get into that sequence? How many pathways into the sequence are there? The more you create, the more subscribers you will have heading toward that end goal.

A funnel isn't a magic bullet - just like email isn't either. Just because you have a funnel doesn't mean your products are going to sell themselves.Click To Tweet

#7 People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist

Getting your audience to KNOW you starts with being visible. When you’re trying to grow your business, being seen matters.

I was chatting with a friend of mine who also runs an online business and she said, “Meera, you’re everywhere. I need to take a course from you on visibility.”

I was able to get noticed when I was brand new to the online space because I was featured on podcasts, summits, and interviews. I also guest posted for sites like Smart Blogger, MarketingProfs, Addicted2Success, and several others.

When you get featured on a platform bigger than yours, with more social proof and a bigger audience, some of that rubs off on you. Your credibility quotient skyrockets and people start to take notice.

Even if you already have an existing audience, are you actively seeking out opportunities to get visible? Because people can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist.

People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you existClick To Tweet

Itching to build a business of repeat customers and loyal raving fans?

When people know what they can expect from you…they are more likely to do business with you.

Familiarity and consistency breed repeat business.

Familiarity and consistency breed repeat businessClick To Tweet

You can create contradictory experiences when expectations fail…

When you stop showing up with your emails…

When your offers promise more and deliver less…

When your support is non-existent…

This is when your audience starts to lose trust in your brand.

This is when you repel people who have the potential to become repeat customers and fans in the first place.

Want to dive deeper?

Your first 100 will introduce you to a system of ideas and questions you need to think about, ask yourself and apply to your online business in 5 key areas.

These core areas are

• Brand
• Content
• Email Marketing
• Digital Products (and Offers)
• Selling Practices

It’s these core areas which anchor and impact your touch points.

How you deal with them determines whether your business has the capacity to attract repeat customers and loyal, raving fans.

Brand loyalty isn’t just for the big brands. Your First 100 will show you how to tap into it the exact loyalty recipe as an online business and brand.

Grab a sample of the book below.