Okay, I’ll be the first to admit my recent advertised attempt at a sales funnel flunked like a repeatedly truant high school student.
Only difference is, I was gutted.
Nothing can be more depressing than putting a lot of time and effort into a product funnel and have the campaign fail. I am not alone there. I know this.
And my friends certainly knows this!
Perhaps you are in a similar situation where your goal is to build up your list and become acquainted with a market who is willing to hear you out, and learn from you. You run some Facebook ads to a landing page only to have them fail miserably.
Well, rather than sulk in my misery, I thought I’d be proactive and consider some of the reasons why people drop out of a funnel, and why they did it this early on in mine.
But before I release my ideas, I want you to consider whether this has happened to you and why you think people didn’t sign up to your list.
Do you think it was the product?
Was it perhaps the marketing?
Was it that you were trying to “put lipstick on a pig”. This is a favourite saying in the marketing world meaning your product is still ugly even with great marketing and hype. I guess unless you are Kermot the Frog, you’d agree.
Now let’s get on with my reasons why I think I failed.
Firstly, I spent about $12.75 on Facebook ads, got a good click through rate. I think I ended up with 40+ clicks. And not one optin.
I’m going to reveal the top 7 reasons I think I flunked it…and this comes from my own “should have known better” book of marketing.
Reason #1: You need to give reasonable value beforehand
I just sent them to a squeeze page and bang! Asked for their email address straight up, with a little copy for good measure. The one thing I should have taken note of is the customer journey.
The customer journey is a sequence of steps people go from becoming aware of you and your solution, to become an advocate of your brand.
I was basically asking for an email address and giving nothing in return. This might work if the customer journey started with a warm prospect – somebody who’d known me previously. But I very much doubt it’s as effective with a stranger.
Reason #2: The target audience was wrong
Maybe my offer was viable. Valid. Yada yada. But maybe I targeted the wrong people on Facebook. I’m no expert in FB ads, but I am quickly learning. I was hasty in my targeting. I was eager to get out my ad. So I neglected the important attributes like “hangout places” in favour of raw demographics.
Reason #3: Timing was wrong
It is possible the time of day and day of week was all messed up. I was so eager to get my ad out that I run it on a weekend. It’s been said that people just want to relax on the weekend and not think of work.
While this is a possibility, I don’t think it is the factor alone.
Reason #4: Copy was too weak
Maybe I hit the jackpot with this possibility. I just used rather generic sales copy on my optin page. To be frank, my copy skills had gotten rusty and not long after seeing these poor results, I attended a copywriting seminar. Boy was that an eye opener!
Reason #5: Proof was too weak
Remember how I mentioned I went to a copywriting seminar? Well I learned that proof was extremely important. I’m not the one who likes to blow my own trumpet and I naturally keep things low key. Big mistake online. You have to show people why you are the best choice.
Reason #6: No Familiarity
Obviously I’m not Richard Branson, but then again, I don’t even come close to being recognisable in the bigger marketing space. If you are experiencing similar issues, I’d suggest you get more publicity.
I’m going to start hosting a few guest webinars and write on other’s blogs in order to get my name around. So watch out…
Reason #7: No Product Image
People are visual. I didn’t give them much to go on. Sure, it’s a virtual download, but people still buy from a mock image. You can judge a book by its cover.
I am a testimony to this because I’ve bought products based on imagery alone!
So there you have it – 7 Reasons why my product may have flunked. I could tackle by a process of elimination and change one thing at a time. If I was to do that, I think I’d start with improving the copy and adding proof.
Yes, those are two reasons but they are both part of the same vein.
But I’m not going to do that. I think I’m going to take some time for reflection and work out my strengths while building these core skills up some more.
Thanks for listening to my little rant and feel free to share any successes, failures or words of wisdom with me. Comment below.
