Why people don’t buy
Now that we know who are customers are and what messages they will likely connect with, it’s worth learning how and why people buy. Or rather, why they don’t.
You might have a product that you think is amazing, you’ve priced it at what you think is a very reasonable price considering the work that goes into producing it, but you’re struggling to get anyone excited by it. Why can’t they see what you see? Why aren’t they buying?
Every company will find themselves asking this question at some point, and you need to understand the 5 reasons people don’t buy from you so that you can work out which is preventing your sales:
No need – They simply don’t need what you are selling. They might agree that your product is wonderful, but they just don’t need it. Or, maybe you haven’t been successful in convincing them that they do need it. Perhaps they already have something that gives them what they would get from your product and you haven’t been able to convince them that swapping to yours is worth the hassle or cost of changing what they buy.
No desire – They can use and afford your product, they just don’t want it. This might be because of how you are presenting it or it might be because you are only making it in one colour. It might be that you’ve failed to get them excited because you haven’t worked out what real problem they have and how your product will solve that. Or it might just be that your product isn’t a good fit for where they are on their vegan journey.
No money – They would love to be your customer but they can’t afford you. Or perhaps you just haven’t successfully shown them the value of your product, how much they will save by switching to your product (in either time or money) or offered them the right deal to make it seem too good an offer not to buy.
No trust – They would make a perfect customer but they have never heard of you before. The level of trust you need to build with a customer before they give you money depends on just how much money you are asking them to give. If your vegan sweets cost a few pounds they will likely make a purchase from your independent site happy to lose a small amount of money if it never turns up. £50 for your vegan fitness set and they will think twice; they know if they buy through Amazon they will get their money back if the product never arrives or it’s not as described. Or it might be that they just haven’t gotten to know you yet – we assume people will buy from us as soon as they meet us. If they are going to let you into their life as a vegan coach then you need to give them time to get to know you, like you and decide that you can help.
No rush – They might become a customer one day, when they get around to it. This can be the most frustrating reason someone isn’t buying from you, and can sometimes be a combination of all of the above. They’re busy with other things right now. This isn’t their focus. Call me in six months. But this might also be that you simply haven’t found the right value proposition yet, or you haven’t created the right ‘buying environment’ where a special never-to-be-repeated offer would transform them into a customer.
Identifying the reason that someone isn’t buying your product is hugely important – so you need to ask. You will learn just as much from your customers that said no as from those that said yes. I’ve known people find exceptional success in their business by becoming obsessed by the people who said “no thank you” and understanding why. It’s not always the easiest task to get that conversation, because those people may just want to move on and think you are just going to try and resell to them. But there are ways that you can do this. Just like your customer research, you can contact people who showed an interest but never went ahead and frame it truthfully: you don’t want to try and resell to them, but you are trying to grow a vegan business which is helping the vegan cause and, as one vegan to another, would they give you feedback so that you can understand why your product wasn’t for them? Play the ‘small friendly business’ angle, wanting to improve to better serve vegan customers and help bring about a new vegan age. Which, of course, is all true!
