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3 Dietary Supplement Marketing Mistakes

dietary supplement marketing mistakes

Avoid These Dietary Supplement Marketing Mistakes for Increased Profits.

Are you missing out on making more money because of these blunders?

If you’re a savvy natural health supplement marketer you’ve probably already tapped into the emotional triggers of your audience.

But even the smartest marketer makes these mistakes and lose a ton of sales and new customers because of these.

I see these same mistakes over and over again in even the savviest of marketers.

Don’t miss out on the additional revenue that’s right at your fingertips.

Once you correct these 3 big nutritional health supplement marketing mistakes your profits will soar.

Dietary Supplement Marketing Mistake #1

Overlooking The Thinking Stage Of The Visitor

In the world of dietary supplement marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of making sales.

Marketers often focus their efforts on crafting compelling sales pages, optimizing product listings, and implementing various conversion strategies.

However, what many marketers tend to overlook is that not every visitor who lands on their website is ready to make a purchase right away.

This is where the “thinking stage” of the visitor comes into play.

During this phase, potential customers are in the process of making a decision.

They might need more information. Or they want to do some additional research. Or simply require time to feel comfortable with your brand and products.

They are, in essence, contemplating whether or not to proceed with a purchase.

Failing to cater to the needs of visitors in this thinking stage is a missed opportunity.

When the only option presented is to buy immediately or leave, you can lose a significant portion of potential customers.

Smart nutritional marketers do things to maximize purchases but even the savviest often forget the thinking stage.

But not every visitor that comes to your website is ready to buy. And no matter how compelling your copy is some visitors just can’t decide right then and there.

They need to do a bit more research, think it over or just need to feel comfortable with you before they whip out their wallet.

This stage of “not yet buyers” are in is called the thinking stage or research stage.

They are literally thinking it over. The best time to capitalize on this stage is while they are on your site. After they leave and go back to a Google searches is too late, no matter how good your SEO is.

The mistake nutritional health supplement marketers make here is not having anything for the thinking stage visitor to do.

The only option on the sales page is to buy or leave.

The remedy for this mistake is to provide something valuable for these “not yet buyers” to do.

This can be achieved by offering an incentive for them to stay engaged.

For example, encourage them to give their email address in exchange for a digital piece of content that delivers immediate value.

This establishes a connection and opens the door for further communication.

By capturing their email addresses, you gain permission to engage with them through a well-optimized email sequence.

This allows you to nurture the relationship, build trust, and educate them about your brand and products.

Over time, you can guide them towards a purchase decision. This will ensure that when they’re ready to buy, your brand is at the forefront of their minds.

In essence, recognizing and addressing the thinking stage is vital to converting visitors into paying customers.

Because, not every visitor is a ready buyer on their first visit.

By providing the right steps to guide them through their decision-making process you have a better chance of success.

This strategy can result in increased sales and a stronger, more loyal customer base in the long run.

Here are more little know ideas that can help increase your sales. In another article I wrote.

Dietary Supplement Marketing Mistake #2

Ignoring The Data

One of the most significant mistakes that dietary supplement marketers can make is failing to tap into the wealth of data available to them.

In an era driven by digital marketing, where data is abundant and accessible, overlooking this valuable resource can lead to missed opportunities and suboptimal decision-making.

The first place to look for data is your web analytics.

Web analytics provides invaluable insights into how visitors interact with your site.

It reveals information about where visitors go on your site, how they navigate through it, and which pages they tend to drop off from.

This data is crucial in identifying potential issues in your sales funnel, such as where visitors are abandoning their carts or bouncing from your site.

This will give you a great overview of where visitors are going, how they are flowing through your site and what pages they are dropping off from, which could indicate a problem.

A simple place to start is to look at how many unique visitors are adding your product to the cart. This is your add to cart rate. Take the number of cart views and divide that by the number of product detail page views to get your add to cart rate.

Next look at what the data tells you for the next step. Your cart to checkout rate. This is the number of people that made it to the car that checkout or go to the checkout page, where they enter their credit card info. Take the number of visitors that get to the checkout page and divide that by the number of people that got to the cart. or added a product to the cart.

Finally calculate your checkout to completion rate. This is the number of people who placed an order. Divide the orders by the number of visitors to the checkout.

e-Commerce Checkout Benchmark Metrics

Here are some benchmarks for these data point to measure your dietary supplement e-commerce site against to see how well you’re doing and where you need improvement.

  • A good Add to Cart Rate is 11%)
  • A good Cart to Checkout Rate is 55% (of the 11% of add to cart)
  • A good Checkout to Order Rate is 84% (of the 55% of basket to checkout)

Another good analytics metric to keep an eye on is your bounce rate.

Is Your Bounce Rate Too High?

Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who land on a webpage and then leave the site without taking any further actions or interacting with other pages on the website.

In other words, a high bounce rate indicates that a significant portion of your website visitors are “bouncing” away after viewing only the initial page they landed on.

A high bounce rate can be a cause for concern because it may suggest that visitors are not finding what they expected or that the content on the landing page is not engaging enough to encourage them to explore further.

This can be an indication of various issues, including:

Relevance: The landing page may not be relevant to the visitor’s query or expectations, leading them to leave immediately.

User Experience: Slow-loading pages, poor design, or confusing navigation can drive visitors away.

Bounce Rate Benchmark Metrics

Here are some benchmarks to measure your dietary supplemnt e-commerce site against for bounce rate.

  • Total Site Wide Bounce Rate (less than 40% site wide on average)
    • Overall Desktop Bounce Rate (less than 30% site wide)
    • Overall Tablet & Mobile Bounce Rate (less than 50% she wide)
    • Overall Home Page Bounce Rate (less than 25%)
    • Overall Category Pages Bounce Rate (less than 50%)
    • Overall Product Detail Page Bounce Rate (less than 60%)

Leveraging Customer Service Data

The next place to get data is your customer service department.

Customer interactions with your brand provide another layer of data. This type of data is harder to decipher and can be found in the form of emails, or just from talking to some customer service reps.

These interactions can be in the form of emails, conversations with customer service representatives, or feedback left by customers.

Analyzing this data can help you understand customer pain points, concerns, and frequently asked questions. It’s an opportunity to gain deeper insights into what your customers are looking for and what might be holding them back from making a purchase.

There is an abundance of data you just need to know where to look and how to interpret it.

The mistake that most marketers make is ignoring the data. This leads to making decisions based on ego or opinion. Which is usually always wrong, and never leads to maximizing profit.

The reason why it’s not a good idea to ignore the data is that it gives you a better understanding  of the behaviors of your market. Once you grasp this you can learn how they buy. And can test different things to see which sells more.

Marketers who recognize the value of data and learn to interpret it effectively gain a competitive advantage.

Data-driven decision-making not only allows for better marketing strategies but also enables the optimization of campaigns, leading to improved sales and customer satisfaction.

Which leads us to the final big mistake every smart online nutritional health supplement marketer makes.

Dietary Supplement Marketing Mistake #3

A/B Testing The Wrong Way (Or Worse Not At All)

A/B testing is not just about changing elements on a webpage and hoping for the best.

It literally eliminates all subjectivity and opinion and lets your visitors vote with their wallets for which web page sells more.

It’s a methodical, data-driven process that, when conducted correctly, provides invaluable insights into customer behavior, informs marketing strategies, and boosts sales.

It allows marketers to fine-tune their strategies, optimize web pages, and enhance conversion rates.

By splitting the traffic and testing an alternative web page rather than making changes and hoping for the best.

If you’re a smart marketer, you’re likely already doing A/B testing but many, even the most savviest of people out there are doing it the wrong way.

There are common pitfalls associated with A/B testing, and it’s crucial to avoid them to ensure its effectiveness.

There are many ways to do A/B testing wrong. Here are just a few mistakes I see over and over again.

1.) Starting Without a Meaningful Hypothesis

A common mistake in A/B testing is rushing into experiments without a clear hypothesis.

Marketers sometimes throw multiple ideas into testing without a structured approach.

This approach is akin to taking shots in the dark and hoping for a positive outcome.

Effective A/B testing should always start with a well-defined hypothesis.

A hypothesis is a statement that outlines the expected outcome of the test.

It should be based on data, insights, and a clear understanding of your audience’s behavior.

Starting with a hypothesis provides direction and purpose for the test.

Most marketers throw up a bunch of ideas to test and hope for the best.

They think just because they are testing things that they will see an improvement.

This is akin to just guessing and where you need to go back and leverage your data to develop each test.

2.) Not Learning from Each Test

Another significant mistake is failing to extract valuable insights from A/B tests, whether they are successful or not.

Every A/B test, regardless of the outcome, should teach you something about your audience’s preferences, behaviors, and what influences their buying decisions.

These insights are essential for reining your marketing strategies and making informed decisions.

Else, you’ll waste a lot of time testing if you’re just guessing.

When A/B testing is done correctly, it’s a learning process that continually informs your marketing efforts.

By not learning from tests, you miss out on opportunities to optimize your strategies and improve your bottom line.

Effective testing should provide insights that you can apply to future experiments, shortening the testing cycle and maximizing impact.

Avoiding these A/B testing mistakes ensures that you maximize the potential of this technique in your dietary supplement marketing efforts.

In Conclusion

Recognizing and rectifying these three dietary supplement marketing mistakes can significantly impact your success in the industry.

By engaging visitors in the “thinking stage,” using data, and A/B testing, you can boost profits.

Not all visitors buy immediately; offering options to researchers can build trust and create loyal customers.

Data is a treasure of insights that guide effective audience targeting.

A/B testing is your secret weapon, allowing you to eliminate guesswork and optimize your web pages for maximum conversion.

Avoid these mistakes to be a savvy marketer in the dietary supplement industry.

This will ensure a healthier bottom line and long-term success for your business.

So, seize the opportunity to make these positive changes and watch your profits soar.

By Bobby Hewitt

Bobby Hewitt is the founder of Creative Thirst. A conversion rate optimization agency for health and wellness companies with a specialized focus in dietary supplements. We’ve helped health clients profitably scale using our four framework growth model validated through A/B testing. Bobby has over 17 years of experience in web design and Internet marketing and holds a bachelors degree in Marketing from Rutgers University. He is also certified in Online Testing and Landing Page Optimization and won the Jim Novo Award of Academic Excellence for Web Analytics. As well as a public speaker and contributing author to “Google Analytics Breakthrough: From Zero to Business Impact, published by Wiley.