Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

I've got an adult toy store that I recently launched. It is converting at a zero rate. I'm not sure what exactly is the problem. Maybe I need a better WordPress theme? Better products? Different pricing?

What should be my troubleshooting process?

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Can you add a link to your site?

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Sure - I didn't know if that was allowed. It's peggingtoys.com

Re: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

First step is to know how they get to you site and why.

Then to match their expectations at all points along the route to your shopping cart (if you're an affiliate, to the product owner's shopping cart).

I.e., we need more info about what you're doing to give you good answers.

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

When I view it on my phone it feels more like an affiliate site then a real e-commerce store. I would invest in a good web designer to give it a going over. Best of luck though man, very interesting niche :-) hehe

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

So I've got a particular niche, "pegging" which I'm going for. This specifically involves women using strap-ons to penetrate men. It seems like it's more of a fem-dom thing, but I'm shoot for a more "mainstream" audience. I've got a collection of quality products which I've sourced from a drop-shipper. I set my prices by doubling the cost, which may not be the best approach.

I ran a bunch of adwords campaigns. I first was more general like "pegging toys", "best sex toys for pegging", "best strap-ons for pegging" that kind of thing. I also tried focusing on the prostate massagers... that seemed like a toy people would be likely to buy also. I got clicks at a reasonable rate, and often the people would dig deeper into the site and click around, but nobody would buy anything.

I realized I was pissing money away on Adwords and needed a different approach, but am not really sure what. I could invest in SEO to drive traffic instead... but that's not worth the time/money if none of the traffic is going to end up buying anything.

I feel like I'm doing something fundamentally wrong if I'm getting literally zero conversions.

Re: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

I almost didn't reply to your request for help, for a specific reason. Not sure if you thought it all the way through? But you're selling anal penetration toys on your website, and your screen name here is toys4tots.

Here in the USA, toys4tots is an organization that delivers toys to under-privileged children at Christmas time. So can you see how the combination of your niche, and your screen name, could come across as just a little creepy?


Anyway...


I agree - I feel like you're doing something fundamentally wrong, by not understanding the mind of your customers.

Think about who your target market is. The articles on your site have titles like...

Getting Started with Pegging: Beginners Welcome!

Introducing the “P Spot”

How to Tell Your Partner You Want to Try Pegging


With titles like these, clearly you're targeting beginners . So lets' get inside the mind of a beginner.

Now, I haven't spent a lot of time researching your market, but off the top of my head, here's the big idea (as I see it)...


A beginner comes to your site because they're curious (even interested).

They read a couple of your articles and discover they're not alone, and it's OK to want to try "pegging."

Your main message is all about "how much fun it is" (Let the games begin)

You have a few interesting items, (but nothing they can't find elsewhere)


So now we're at a crossroad...


They could buy from you (because they're already here)

They could buy from someone else (a more established company)

They can do nothing at all. (which is usually the easiest choice for most people)


Here's the thing...

Right now, your website does not assert "trust us, we're discreet with your information."
Even your privacy policy is minimal, vague, and not very comforting.

Sex is an intimate, and private thing for most people (not all people... but most)

The last thing people want, is to buy from you and then have that purchase made public. It could lead to embarrassment in their work life, and social life (and just in general)

They also don't want to end up on any sex toy, or gay porn, mailing lists.

And most everyone wants to know their payment info will not be compromised.

These fears might be irrational to you, but they can be very real to your potential customer.


So, while right now your "big idea" is all about the fun. I recommend you give equal time to the big idea of "trust and discretion."

Expand your privacy policy, and make the link to it more prominent. Tell people exactly how you protect their information. And make it convincing. Make them believe they can trust you, because without trust...there's no sale.

In this day and age, you cannot over do the concept of protecting peoples information. The more... the better. (especially with an intimate niche like yours)



Or, you can always change up your target market. And start going after a more openly gay audience. Or the fem-dom audience. In which case you'll want to change your articles, and write some new ones that speak to the new target market.

People will still want to know their info is safe with you, so you still need to upgrade your privacy policy. But at least you'll be able to give more real estate to the "fun" aspect of your products.

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Can you give me an idea as to what made you think of it like an affiliate site?? (I'm the web designer :-/ ) I used a WordPress theme and customized from there. I'm a halfway decent designer/developer... but by no means an expert.

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Thank you for that detailed reply. The 'toys4tots' thing is a joke. I guess not a good one!

In my analytics, it doesn't seem like anyone really even opens my Privacy Policy page, so I kind of disregarded it. Maybe the problem is it needs to be more prominent... that makes a lot of sense.

I wondered a lot if I'm simply dealing with the Amazon effect... someone sees something on my shop, and then just goes to Amazon and buys it. I have a "hypothesis" that people don't want to buy sex toys on Amazon because it would be added to their Order History permanently which they may not want (I wouldn't).

Re: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Yes, the Amazon effect is always a huge issue with smaller retailers. Amazon is well known... their prices are hard to beat... and they already have a certain amount of trust and reliability established in the marketplace.

But I agree... I wouldn't want my order to be permanently stored in my Amazon history either. That's part of the reason I believe the "trust and discretion" angle can help you here.

In your privacy policy, you could refer to how large retailers retain their order history. And let people know that while there's nothing to be embarrassed about, you still understand their privacy is a top priority.

So for example: Expand on the part you already have about your customers credit card statement NOT showing the nature of the purchase. And how your checkout uses 128 bit encryption (or whatever it is). And the discreet shipping package, etc.

And you could also add something along the lines of... after 30 days (or whatever time frame you decide) you permanently delete their credit card, and purchase info from your server. And you only keep their email for private follow up communication. And you'll NEVER give their info to any 3rd party. Etc. etc.

This is just an rough example. The wording you choose will be your own, but remember to cover as many privacy concerns regarding the purchase, as possible. It can only help.


Another thing...

I haven't done a ton of comparison shopping here, but at first glance your prices do seem a little high? I don't know, maybe you're competitive with the industry standards? But it's something you might want to research, if you haven't already.

Now, I would NEVER recommend competing on price. That's just a race to the bottom where even the winner, loses.

But if your prices are a little above average, you may want to consider trying a discount coupon for someone's first purchase, or a starter package that costs a little less, just to get them comfortable with buying from you.

I'd also recommend putting some payment option, and security type logos on your site (visa, mastercard, paypal. A lock picture that says secure checkout, etc.?) Even just putting them in the footer can subtly guide people by letting them clearly see this a site where they can make a purchase

It's a little thing, but little things can often make a big difference.


One final thing...

Have you considered advertising on porn sites? The rates are often cheap by comparison (because many people don't want to advertise on them) and it could certainly help you connect with a more targeted audience.

Just a thought.

Re: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Have you tried making the top part smaller, so part of your best seller (1st row shows)?

Me, I'm not your target audience, but when I get to sites set up as yours, I usually leave. There's not enough above the fold to convince me I've landed on the right page... I don't know your site from Adam, so why would I click on either See our latest articles or your Toy Box?

Plus, there's nothing on the homepage that says I can trust you. No testimonials, no anything to assure me that, should I give you my money, you'll give me the toy I want, in good condition.

Take a look at loverslane.com. At the bottom, they have an abridge About us version and Our Guarantee. I know a guarantee is just words, but words convince, if they're there. At least some of the people.

You're new and in niche people are not happy to be publicly buying stuff in. You need extra items to establish yourself as credible.

Plus, your descriptions? I'd really have to have decided that I wanted it before I got to your site.

Take a look at this: Made with pure platinum cured silicone utilizing Blush proprietary dual density... How many of your customers care about Blush proprietary?

The good parts come at the end: Safe and hypoallergenic, cleaning the toy is easy as you simply spritz the dildo with toy cleaner, rinse and leave to dry.

Why do people buy these things? How does buying the one on your site get them that? You're answering badly the first one, not at all the second one.

How are you different from other stores that sell these things?

Do you respect their privacy more? Do you specialize in these things only? Do you have better prices? (By the way, I did not see combos... You know, buy Item 1 and 2 together and instead of paying $100, you're paying $93).

Why is the price the first thing after the image you want me to see?
Try moving the price next to the buy button. (I read a couple of years ago, in kissmetrics, I think about how they moved the price closer (they gave specifics, but it was really close) and that increased conversions by a significant number, all by itself. (In their case, the price was a lot closer to the buy button than in your case.)

Besides distance, if I see the price first, I can vote against your price because of price alone. I might (not that you make a good case for your items) but I might buy, if I first saw that it's easy to clean and has double this or that first.

I got all the way to your shopping cart. You're saying there that you're willing to accept MasterCard and Visa and such but nowhere there do you say that me, giving you my info, puts me at no risk. Who/How do you protect my sensitive info?

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Thanks you for this incredibly valuable feedback. I really am grateful for your willingness to share.

With regards to the privacy policy... I've had a suggestion come from elsewhere that is slightly contradictory that I'd be curious of your take on. I agree with you 100% that discretion is huge, and I will be implementing your ideas. The suggestion someone gave me recently, was to offer a 'free eBook' in exchange for their email address. And then to send them occasional (monthly?) promotional emails. Would you think this would be a bad idea given that this suggests I might be "locking them into" a newsletter of some kind?

Any tips on beginning advertising in the porn world? Haven't looked into that at all. I explored Adwords and then decided I really needed to address this conversion rate issue before investing in advertising anymore.

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Wow - thank you for all of this, this is amazing feedback. It sounds like I really, really need to emphasize the privacy/low-risk attitude. And shifting the price its a big one. I wonder if maybe i can make the images bigger and text bigger so the Add-to-Cart button and price appear below the fold. Maybe that would be bad having the Add button below... but it'd tuck the price away.

I had an erotica writer create the descriptions... which I think is a great idea, but I think she may have tried too hard to be technical rather than actually writing sexy content. That needs to be revisited.

I'd have to look into the coding of how to do product bundles. I'm using WooCommerce... there's gotta be a plugin for that.

Re: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

No, it's not contradictory. I should have been more clear (sorry)...

Having your "own" mailing list is a great idea. When done properly, it's probably one of the best ways you can establish trust and "top of mind awareness" with your audience. (that, and social media)

What I meant by not ending up on any mailing lists, was people wouldn't want to buy from you, and end up getting spammed by 3rd party porn sites because you sold, or shared their information.

So you just need to convince them their info is safe with you.

Again, it all comes down to trust. If you can build your own list, and gain their trust, then absolutely "yes, do it! "

And besides, you're not "locking them into" a newsletter, as long as you give them the option of opting out at any time.

Now, once you build your list, then you need to study the finer arts of email marketing. (but that's a whole other topic)

Unfortunately, I can't help you much with this one. I've never advertised on porn sites, myself. I was just connecting a couple dots for you between your product line, and a potentially high interest market.

RE: Tips for increasing conversion rates on adult toy store? (currently at zero!)
 

Really bad design, looks impersonal and untrustworthy. No images of a human face on there, looks cold, like a web-front for a emotionless warehouse in the middle of nowhere. You need a professional design job. Also, you should start looking to Google Ads to start this kind of business off....it is expensive though...