Why Aren't My Customer Buying?
You've launched the product, have the perfect mix of features, done all of your product-market-fit exercises, and crafted marketing copy that makes you stand out, but why are your customers still not buying? Let's take a closer look at some of the reasons.
STARTUP SUCCESSFOR FOUNDERSCUSTOMER OBSESSIONMOST RECENT
9/12/20263 min read
You've released the perfect product, but the customers aren't showing up for it.
What could be the problem? After all, you've already:
Talked with prospects that match your PMF (Product-Market Fit) profile and gotten positive results
Launched the product
Created a bulletproof marketing program
Crafted killer copy to draw your customers in
...and yet, here you are.
A week goes by.
And then another.
And then a month.
You get a few people coming by to look, but no takers. So what's up?
In a lot of these cases, you already have the answers, but let's assume that they aren't obvious.
The first thing to do is the most obvious: check back with the customers you've already interviewed.
It may have been weeks or months since you last spoke, but this is a great place to start. The interviewees have already shown that they're willing to help. That said, where you were when you talked and where you are now may look wildly different. Reiterate goal of the product, but see if it makes sense with your new framing. I was brought into this situation with an e-commerce app. The interview group had been left in the dark. I reached out, got some amazing feedback, re-established the relationship, and then turned one of those conversations into a sale.
Check whether the promises in your marketing match up along the entire path to purchase.
Even when teams are small and efficient, this is where a product can go off the rails.
The marketing campaign focuses on influencers instead of customers. You promise to solve a problem in your Instagram post, but the link to your website just lists the features. The pictures of your product are outdated or inconsistent across platforms.
Customers crave trust, and when you break that trust in some small way, it's just easier for them to look elsewhere rather than ask clarifying questions. Keep that trust, and you're making it easier for them to buy.
And then there's everyone's least favorite topic: Pricing. To which I say: keep it simple, make it visible.
Price is the first thing customers look for, but it's often the item most companies bury.
A product or service is something meant to provide a desired experience to a customer that is easier for them to buy than build themselves.
To be clear, price doesn't need to be front and center in your biggest font... it just needs to be easy to find. It should just be easy to find on the page or via navigation. If you've got a highly complex B2B product, share the factors that go into pricing and give the customer a chance to reach out. Many of the companies I've helped have been on the B2B side. In these cases, burying the buying criteria or use cases seems to be common practice. It shouldn't be. The customers I called were most anxious about being unprepared when talking with a salesperson. For the B2C companies I've worked with where the price points are lower, it's a lot easier to present pricing information up front.
Rather than go through an exhaustive list, start with the three above. The first, in particular, should help you retrace your steps and fill in the blanks to help recognize the things you need to do to get closer to closing that revenue gap.
If you were in a similar situation, where would you start looking for the answers?
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Whether it's your copy, pricing, or putting together a GTM plan that helps customers see your product as exactly what they need to solve their problems, I can help. Let's set up a time to talk it through and discuss what's going on and where I might fit.
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