I just released a new product that I was sure would be an instant hit. Turns out I was a little optimistic as usual. Right from the start I lost $200 in advertising, but instead of giving up, I decided to fight.
You see this is a new type of product for me, I know it’s selling well because of how competitive it is but I’ve never made this type of product before. The main difference is all my competitors sell with very short copy, which tells me that’s what the market is buying. I’m used to long copy so it has been a little bit of a challenge for me.
Bad News: My sure thing started off unprofitable.
Good News: I did make a few sales
The fact that I made a few sales is what’s important here, if I can make at least some sales, even at a loss, I can usually find a way to make something profitable. It’s just a matter of tweaking the advertising and copy.
This fight is ongoing so I can’t tell you a winner yet, however I have turned the tide in my favor and just made a change a few minutes ago that should (optimistic again?) finish it.
The Moral here is to not give up so easily when something doesn’t work out the way you had planned. If you release a product and it’s unprofitable, that’s ok. Fight it and do everything you can to make it profitable. At the same time you also need to know when to cut your losses.
One thing I did to help boost the conversion of my newest product was to add “Scarcity” which means a limited quantity or time. A believable Deadline or Limit almost always boosts conversion rates. The more believable it is the more powerful it will be.
Another thing I did was sharpen my PPC Targeting (keywords). You don’t want to sell Bicycles to people in Wheelchairs so make sure the people who see your ad will be interested in buying your product. That also gave me a little boost.
The final move is a combination of Qualifying and Strategy.
Qualifying is another way of targeting your ads. The idea is that only people who are looking to buy will click my PPC ad. That way I will spend less for advertising while still making roughly the same amount of sales.
I’ve seen other people use this method of qualifying but I never have so I’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.
I’m confident that I will make it profitable within a few days, it’s just a matter of how profitable. I expected $500-$1000 per week in sales from this product, but it’s looking more like $200-$500. Luckily, my next product should not only do well on it’s own but will also be a perfect backend for this one.
Alright… Back to the fight…
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April 23rd, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Update: This product has been profitable for many months. It took some work but the product is making a profit of $100-$200 per week. Not much, but I’ll take it.