/General Questions
Question
How do you know if your product is the problem vs your store being the problem?
Posted by •11/13/2025
This is the most confusing part for me as a beginner.
When things don't work, I don't know if I should:
- Change product
- Change price
- Change store design
- Change ads
Example:
My current product:
- Kitchen tool, selling for $39.99
Last 7 days:
- Ad spend: $280
- Link clicks: 310
- Add to carts: 15
- Purchases: 1
So it's not **completely dead** (1 sale + some ATC), but it's definitely not working great.
How do you personally decide:
1. “This product is trash, move on”
vs
2. “This product is fine, my store/ad/offer is trash, fix that first”?
I'm scared of endlessly “fixing the store” for a product that would never work anyway, but also scared of switching products too fast.
When things don't work, I don't know if I should:
- Change product
- Change price
- Change store design
- Change ads
Example:
My current product:
- Kitchen tool, selling for $39.99
Last 7 days:
- Ad spend: $280
- Link clicks: 310
- Add to carts: 15
- Purchases: 1
So it's not **completely dead** (1 sale + some ATC), but it's definitely not working great.
How do you personally decide:
1. “This product is trash, move on”
vs
2. “This product is fine, my store/ad/offer is trash, fix that first”?
I'm scared of endlessly “fixing the store” for a product that would never work anyway, but also scared of switching products too fast.
2 Replies
•11/13/2025
I killed my first 3 products way too fast because I thought “no sales = bad product”.
Turned out my store was converting at 0.4% for EVERYTHING.
When I fixed the store (2.1% conversion), one of those “trash” products actually became my main winner.
So now my rule is:
- Fix store and checkout **once** properly
- Then judge products
Not the other way around.
Turned out my store was converting at 0.4% for EVERYTHING.
When I fixed the store (2.1% conversion), one of those “trash” products actually became my main winner.
So now my rule is:
- Fix store and checkout **once** properly
- Then judge products
Not the other way around.
•11/13/2025
Good question. Here’s a rough framework (not perfect, but helpful):
**Step 1 – Check if the ad is doing its job**
Look at:
- CTR (link) – is it at least 1.5–2%?
- CPC – is it under $1–$1.50 for most niches?
If both are terrible, you haven't even tested the product properly yet. Fix creative/targeting first.
**Step 2 – Check mid-funnel (ATC, IC)**
With ~300 clicks you have:
- 15 ATC → ~4.8% ATC rate
That’s not amazing, but not awful either. It means:
- People DO want the product enough to start checkout
- So the product is **probably** okay at a basic level
**Step 3 – Check conversion**
310 clicks → 1 sale = ~0.3% conversion rate.
That's bad.
When:
- ATC is >4–5%
- Conversion is <1%
→ It usually screams **checkout / trust / price** problem, not product problem.
Common issues:
- Surprise shipping cost
- Long shipping time in big red text
- Forced account creation
- Sketchy-looking checkout
- No trust badges / guarantee
**Rule of thumb I use:**
- If I have **0 sales and almost no ATC after 300–400 targeted visitors**:
→ Product / offer is probably weak. Consider moving on.
- If I have **ATC but almost no purchases**:
→ Product has potential. Fix store, checkout, and offer **before** giving up.
In your case:
- I'd do 2–3 serious rounds of:
- Improving product page (benefit-focused, better images)
- Fixing checkout friction
- Testing a slightly different price / offer (bonus, bundle, free shipping)
- THEN re-evaluate after another 300–400 visitors.
If after all that you’re still at 0.3–0.5% conversion, it might be time to move on.
**Step 1 – Check if the ad is doing its job**
Look at:
- CTR (link) – is it at least 1.5–2%?
- CPC – is it under $1–$1.50 for most niches?
If both are terrible, you haven't even tested the product properly yet. Fix creative/targeting first.
**Step 2 – Check mid-funnel (ATC, IC)**
With ~300 clicks you have:
- 15 ATC → ~4.8% ATC rate
That’s not amazing, but not awful either. It means:
- People DO want the product enough to start checkout
- So the product is **probably** okay at a basic level
**Step 3 – Check conversion**
310 clicks → 1 sale = ~0.3% conversion rate.
That's bad.
When:
- ATC is >4–5%
- Conversion is <1%
→ It usually screams **checkout / trust / price** problem, not product problem.
Common issues:
- Surprise shipping cost
- Long shipping time in big red text
- Forced account creation
- Sketchy-looking checkout
- No trust badges / guarantee
**Rule of thumb I use:**
- If I have **0 sales and almost no ATC after 300–400 targeted visitors**:
→ Product / offer is probably weak. Consider moving on.
- If I have **ATC but almost no purchases**:
→ Product has potential. Fix store, checkout, and offer **before** giving up.
In your case:
- I'd do 2–3 serious rounds of:
- Improving product page (benefit-focused, better images)
- Fixing checkout friction
- Testing a slightly different price / offer (bonus, bundle, free shipping)
- THEN re-evaluate after another 300–400 visitors.
If after all that you’re still at 0.3–0.5% conversion, it might be time to move on.