You can blame your failures on competitors who dump the market, leads who don’t understand what they are missing by refusing to buy, the crisis or Mercury Retrograde. But if you are constantly faced with rejections or the level of sales got stuck in one place, it’s time to figure out what the reason is.

We have collected seven common reasons on the part of marketing and sales departments that make people avoid your products or cancel the purchase at the last stages. 

1.You try to sell to everyone at once

    How carefully do you approach targeting? Are you working with an audience that really needs your product and can afford it? Or are you just trying to sell to anyone who has shown even the slightest interest?  According to research, at least 50% of leads do not correspond to the target audience. Narrowing the focus of the audience can be very effective, because effective sales are built on quality, not quantity. 

2.You do not know how to work with objections

    According to Marketing Donut, a British community of small business owners, 92% of salespeople give up after four rejections from potential customers. At the same time, 80% of buyers often say “yes” only to the fifth offer of the sales manager. Learn to distinguish real objections. For example, a buyer may be ashamed to admit that your prices are too high for him. In this case, he will rather say that he is not satisfied with the payment format or the color of the fabric. If you understand the real motives of the refusal, the chances of selling will increase: you can find convincing arguments, close the “pains” of the potential buyer and successfully sell him a product or service.

3.You do not offer convenient online payment options

    Many companies have already realized that pandemics are not an obstacle to sales if they are rebuilt in time and correctly. Businesses are moving their activities online, because that is where most buyers now “live”. The main selection criterion is the minimum amount of commission and the ability of the buyer to choose a convenient payment method. According to a study by the American fintech company Blackhawk Network, 76% of buyers cite ease of payment as one of the reasons for their loyalty to the brand. After placing an order, the customer needs to be offered a way to make an online payment. Here are the most common options for implementing the functionality:
  1. Form on the site. It looks like a “pay” button – this is the best option for a landing page. After clicking on the button, the client fills in the widget and chooses the method of money transfer.
  2. Integration with payment services. A popular option for online stores. The customer can proceed to payment after adding the product to the cart. After placing an order in the cart, a payment button appears in front of the customer. By clicking it, the customer will see the composition and amount of the order. After the payment is made, the customer is returned to the cart page, receives a message that the transaction has been completed, and the owner of the online store sees the status of the order in the admin area of the site.
  3. Generation of payment links. The seller can generate a link to pay for the order and send it to the customer in any convenient way. When clicking this link, the customer gets to the page with the “pay” button, which displays the composition and amount of the order. Convenient payment method in case of messengers.
For example, Revolut Pay provides a perfect checkout experience. Customers can pay in different currencies by credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and other methods. The advanced payment security and fraud detection system helps Revolut Pay to safely conduct money transactions. The Revolut card can be used anywhere in the European Economic Area (EEA). More than 20 million users already use the application to manage the company’s finances.

4.You do not create a sense of urgency to buy

    If a person sees no reason to buy now, the deal will most likely never happen. “Hot offer – the discount expires in 24 hours!”, “This collection is limited, only 32 products left!”, “Free shipping – the offer is valid for only 12 hours!”, “One size left!” – this is FOMO-marketing in action. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a psychological phenomenon that marketers play on to “hurry” the consumer and make him think that there will be no second chance to buy a product profitably. The first study on FOMO was published in 2004 by financier and Wall Street investor Patrick McGinnis. In his study, he analyzed the behavior of millennials and concluded that they are afraid to miss events attended by their friends – parties, concerts, conferences, etc. In addition, young people do not miss the opportunity to be in trend. Now adult millennials have become active consumers. They are driven by two motives – to buy urgently and to buy with profit. The latest FOMO trends are evidenced by OptinMonster and TrustPulse data:
  • 60% of millennials make a purchase decision under the influence of FOMO – usually within 24 hours. 
  • It is social media users who actively interact with FOMO – 56%.
  • In 72% of cases, brands use Facebook for FOMO marketing campaigns, Instagram – in 14%, Twitter – in 11% and Pinterest – in 8% of cases.
  • FOMO is more often experienced by online users with an annual family income of more than $75 thousand.
For example, Starbucks launches seasonal offers and “happy Mondays” – promotions with a limited validity period. Every Monday, visitors to the chain’s coffee shops can get a discount on menu items, and during the Christmas and New Year period – order exclusive drinks: spicy pumpkin latte or gingerbread coffee.

5.You do not sell the value of the product

    Do not try to sell technical characteristics: most of the time the client knows about them. Be a consultant for a person: help them understand how your solution will make their life easier, better and more comfortable. Look for ways to implement your product in the client’s business, deliver value. For example, not “A laptop with 32 GB of RAM”, but “A large amount of RAM in the PC will ensure fast work even under high loads”. When Starbucks entered the Chinese market, the emphasis was that the value of the brand was in the experience. The brand advertising said: “We know what you’re missing. Life and the love of life. Enjoy life, your space, Starbucks”. The price of a cup of coffee became a payment for access to the experience that the visitor received in the coffee shop. And it was high: Chinese Starbucks is almost twice as expensive as the American one and belongs to the premium class. Despite this, the company has more than 4.7 thousand coffee shops in China – a country where the market for tea drinks before the arrival of Starbucks was twice as big as coffee. And today, every 15 hours for five years, at least one new establishment of the network is launched here.

6.You do not take into account the context of the situation

    You can increase sales even during the crisis, but you need to take into account the psychology of the consumer. In times of economy and turbulence, it changes greatly: products with simple functionality are in demand, customer needs are reduced to Maslow’s pyramid, and making a purchase decision takes more time. In addition, new trends are emerging.  For example, in the United States, during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter of 2020, consumer lifestyles have changed. New sales prospects have emerged – mobile homes, which have become a trend for people who could not work in offices or are used to traveling constantly due to lockdown. Thus, during the covid, sales of motorhomes increased by more than 600% compared to previous years.

7.You do not adapt the product to new markets

    For effective sales in a new market, even a successful product often has to be adapted to the needs of customers. An important rule in this case is to focus on cultural differences. For example, IKEA produces 72 regional versions of its product catalog. And although most of the content is repeated, the Swedish brand changes the details taking into account the cultural differences of the countries. The company conducts ethnographic mini-research in the market, studying the traditions of housing arrangement in each region. This helps to understand how potential customers live, which products they like and which ones will definitely not fit into everyday life. Thus, Chinese catalogs are dominated by small kitchens with ergonomic furniture, and in the Israeli one you can see a table setting for Shabbat. In Japan, they value authenticity and references to national symbols. Knowing this, Kit Kat relied on traditional Japanese preferences, rather than classic and popular all over the world. The country is dominated by bars with the taste of Hokkaido melon and matcha green tea. We publish more news and articles about business systematization, cases and business insights for entrepreneurs, as well as a selection of useful books about marketing on the Clickmagic blog. And since 2019, we have been increasing sales and profits of our clients by developing and implementing a marketing strategy, effectively and comprehensively solving any marketing tasks for businesses in Ukraine and abroad. You don’t want, don’t have time, or don’t know how to manage pages, set up ads, and supervise a team of freelancers? Contact us to start increasing your business profits.