One of our partners called.

She is a Digital Marketing veteran with thousands of amazing client success stories to share.

People LOVE her content on social media and spend a lot of time on her website

Her content is good, she has good offers, but why no sales?

Together we did a 3-step audit of her digital marketing. As a result we were able to find small tweaks to get her sales on track. All was good and revenue started flowing back into the business again.

This actually happens quite often – A small barrier may be stopping people from making that final step towards the purchase. The best way to uncover these roadblocks is to do a step-by-step audit (just like we did for our partner).

If you are wondering why your website visitors are not buying from you, this article may help you identify some low hanging fruit.

Digital Marketing Audit Check # 1 – Connect With Your Audience

Every marketing book tells you to start with the audience. If you are like many of our customers, you already know your ideal customer persona.

But the key mistake I see many business owners make is not connecting with your customers in a way that resonates with them.

Some of the things to check:

Are your social media and website images aligned with your audience?

If you are targeting affluent women 35+, using the images of young models in their early 20s may will push the professional woman away.

Also, Social Media users are burnt out on the generic repetitive images (thanks to many cookie-cutter stock photography websites). People are craving a real behind-the-scenes story. A lower resolution image shot on a phone frequently performs much better than a professional stock picture.

Are you speaking their language?

And no, I do not mean English of Chinese or Greek.

Each target group has their language.

Learn the language your audience is using by reading online forums, reviews, their own social media profiles.

Stay away from using professional, official jargon. Speak in a plain, relatable way. Shorter, more actionable sentences are easier to read and follow. Be real, be you. Do not try to be perfect.

How to Target in Your Facebook Ads – Quick Targeting Guide

Are you reaching the right audience on the right channels?

How many of you still use Clubhouse? But when it just appeared literally EVERYONE was trying to figure out a marketing strategy for it. Rather than chasing a new “shiny object” in online marketing, opt-in for the tried and true channels.

Learn where the magic happens for YOUR customers, and be there with the RIGHT message.

Facebook maybe declining for the younger audience, but it is still the “go-to platform” for the more mature generation.

LinkedIn is reaching a more professional audience vs. Pinterest.

Instagram Stories are consumed for fun, so if you choose Instagram Stories, create content that people will crave. Just think of this dentist with 44 million views on TikTok.

Are you driving enough traffic to your website?

Online sales is a numbers game. Not everyone who makes it to your website will complete the purchase.

Reverse engineer your sales goals to learn how many visitors you need to send to your website to make your revenue numbers.

For example, if you know that every 10th visitor to your website signs up for your offer, then to reach 100 sales, you need to have at least 1000 visitors.

Your next question is to understand what channels will deliver you these visitors at the best possible cost.

Ideally, you will drive traffic via SEO, email, and organic social media. However, if you are looking to achieve scale and create a predictable flow of leads to your website, advertising is the way to go.

Test Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other forms of advertising to see which delivers the best results.

Learn the Top Channels for Generating eCommerce Traffic

Digital Marketing Audit Check # 2 – Think About Your Customer’s Buying Experience

Buying is like dating:

Would you ever ask someone you just met to marry you?

Heck No! Right?!

Same with buying. No matter how hard you try, most customers will not buy your product when they see it for the first time.

A successful online strategy helps people get to know you and fall in love with your product.

Do you deliver value first?

Social Media helps you start a conversation and create initial trust. People need to get to know you (it’s like a first date). You need to give them something they crave and leave them wanting more.

Whether it is a short education video or a blog post or a collection of tips and best practices. Whatever it is, make sure you deliver value, build a tribe of followers, make the first connection.

You can still introduce a Call to Action at this stage (and some people may buy), but do not expect to see a lot of sales.

At least not yet.

Do you show people what the next steps are?

Just like with dating… Not everyone will be a great fit and engage with your posts.

And it is OK. Focus on those who showed interest in you and do not forget to connect with them again.

Facebook retargeting is one of the best ways to continue engaging with your future customers. A couple of things you can do:

A) Create a custom audience from people who engaged with your first post and invite them to click to your offer.

B) Create a custom audience from people who visited your offer but did not buy and show them an ad with a media quote or a testimonial.

Spoiler alert: we tested testimonial ads with a number of clients => these work wonders encouraging people to buy.

C) Drive both audiences to a landing page with video content. Whether it is a webinar or a short video, video is one of the surest ways to build a relationship faster.

Learn How to Create a Successful Digital Marketing Funnel with Ads

Are you following up with people?

People who are interested in you and your offer may still not buy.

Why?

They get distracted, they may be having second thoughts, they may be unsure in the value… and the list goes on.

What this means to you?

You need to keep following up with people (within reason) and inviting them to the next steps.

Create more custom audiences for people who performed actions on your site (viewed content, added to cart, bought the product) and remind them about your brand via Facebook ads.

For example, people who added your product to the cart, but did not buy may have been distracted. If you remind them about the product waiting for them in their cart, they may still complete the purchase.

If you are running an eCommerce store, Dynamic Retargeting is your secret weapon.

Facebook allows you to set up all of your products in the product catalog and then creates automatic campaigns targeting people who viewed specific products.

Do not forget about retargeting your existing customers with upsell offers and additional product launch notifications.

Digital Marketing Audit Check # 3 – Make Sure Your Website Is “Purchase-Friendly”

Even if you are a social media genius bringing thousands of visitors to your website, they will not buy unless you create a seamless buying experience.

Is your website easy to navigate?

Resist the temptation to invest $20,000 into creating a complex website.

Simple layout and clearly laid out offers frequently work better than a more complicated design.

For an eCommerce website, it is important to showcase your products side-by-side with user reviews, shipping options, and sizes. Make it easy to add products to the cart and comparison shop.

3×3 product layouts work best – show several products on the same screen and allow users to customize their views.

Add elements that are critical to incentivizing purchase:

Do not overwhelm buyers with too many options, give them 2-3 different choices at most.

Add social proof.

People love to see other people using or buying your product. A simple plugin that tells users that someone else just purchased your product adds a “peer-pressure” effect and drives conversions up.

If you are selling information products give users an option to sample your product via short informational videos, downloads, webinars.

Testimonials and media quotes are a great way to give others peace of mind.

Limit your menu options to the ones educating your web visitors about your services and products. Everything else can be moved to the bottom of the page.

Are you focused on benefits vs. features?

Do you sell benefits or features?

Even if your product is FREE (FREE trial, FREE consultation, FREE webinar) make sure users clearly understand the benefits this offer delivers to them.

Avoid generic “Sign up for a FREE newsletter”. Try Inviting them to subscribe a newsletter that delivers “Weekly Actionable Ways to Make More Money Online”.

Does Your Website Help Users Navigate to the Next Step in Their Journey

Ok, you are successful in convincing people to click on the Call to Action.

Now what?

Think through what the next logical step is and lead people to that step.

If you take people to a FREE download on your page, do you then show them a Thank you page with an upsell offer?

Do you also have a follow-up sequence in your email or a retargeting sequence via Facebook and Google Ads?

How do you follow up with people 2 days, 5 days, 10 days after they downloaded your products?

Think through the next logical step in your sales process and create an offer for it.

CONCLUSION

Generating online sales is easier than you may think. But they are simple mistakes that are holding people back. Review each part of your Digital Marketing Strategy carefully to identify a missing part. Make small tweaks and test them individually.

Share some of the top ways you increased sales in the comments below or set up a 15-minute call to discuss whether a Digital Marketing Audit is right for your business.

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