Thoughts:
“Seven out of ten people who almost bought from you… still want to. You just stopped showing up.”
“Trust is built in 8 seconds online. Everything on your page is either building it or destroying it. There is no middle ground.”
“The ecommerce owners who win are not the ones with the lowest price. They are the ones who made the buyer feel safest.”
You keep dropping your price.
You run another promo. You slash 20%. You add “limited time.” You beg people to buy.
And still… nothing.
Let me tell you what’s actually happening.
Most ecommerce owners think the problem is price. So they give discount. Then discount again.
Then they’re stuck selling at almost cost price, wondering why they’re working so hard and still broke.
But here’s the mindset shift that changed everything for me:
Buyers don’t ghost you because you’re expensive.
They ghost you because they don’t trust you yet.
Think about it.
You walk into Balogun market. You see the same shirt at three different stalls. One seller is loud, aggressive, and keeps reducing price.
Another seller is calm, has plenty of customers around, and doesn’t budge on price.
Who do you buy from?
The second guy. Every time.
Not because he’s cheaper. Because his shop LOOKS like people trust him.
That’s the whole game. Trust. Not price.
When you keep discounting, you’re not solving the trust problem. You’re just signaling panic. And panicked sellers don’t get buyers. They get bargain hunters who return everything.
Stop solving a trust problem with a price solution.
Here’s What To Do Instead
1. Your Page Is Lying To You (And Your Customers Know It)
Most ecommerce product pages in Nigeria look like this: multiple blurry / ai photo, a price, and “BUY NOW”.
Sometimes the photo is stolen from AliExpress with chinese words on it.
Sometimes the description is copy-pasted from the supplier.
Customers see this and think… “Is this person even real?”
Here’s the thing about trust: it’s built in seconds.
A customer lands on your page.
In 8 seconds (that’s less time than it takes to rewind a voice note), they decide: “Do I trust this person enough to give them my money?”
If your page looks rough, that answer is no. No matter how low your price is.
So what does a trusted page look like?
Real photos.
Not just product shots, but lifestyle photos. Show the product being USED. Show it from four angles. Show the packaging.
If you sell wigs, show a real customer wearing it, not just a mannequin with perfect lighting.
Real reviews.
Not “Great product! 5 stars.” Those look fake because they usually are.
Real reviews say things like “The delivery was late but the quality made up for it.” Imperfect reviews are MORE convincing than perfect ones.
Think of your product page like a shop in Lekki.
You’d arrange it nicely. You’d have your prices visible. You’d look presentable. Do the same online.
One tweak to your product page can double your conversion without changing your price once.
But fixing your page is only half the battle. The real money is hiding somewhere most sellers completely ignore…
2. The Inquiry Is Serious, You Just Don’t Have A System To Close Sales
Someone placed an order or message you to buy your product.
They were literally about to buy. Then they disappeared.
This happens to almost every ecommerce store.
Industry data shows that about 70% of people who add to cart never complete the purchase. Seven out of ten.
Most Nigerian sellers see this and move on. “They no buy, forget them.”
That’s leaving serious money on the table.
Here’s the secret: most of those people WANT to buy. They just got distracted. Their data finished. Their boss called. Their NEPA took light. Life happened.
So what do you do?
You follow up. Gently. Not like a debt collector.
A simple message 2 hours later: “Hey, you left something behind.” No pressure. Just a reminder.
Then another one the next day: “Still available for you. Let me know if you have any questions.”
That’s it. No discount. No begging.
Stores that do this recover 10-15% of abandoned carts.
On a store doing 2,000,000 Naira a month in sales, that’s an extra 200-300k doing nothing but sending messages.
The customer already showed interest. You just need to show up.
You can set this up in almost every ecommerce business in under 30 minutes and give it to your staff to execute. And once it’s set up, it runs by itself or without you.
Now that you’re recovering lost sales… here’s what separates the stores that grow from the ones that plateau.
3. You’re Hunting New Customers While Your Old Ones Are Sitting Right There
Getting a new customer costs 5 times more than keeping an existing one.
Read that again.
Five times more.
Yet most ecommerce owners spend 90% of their marketing budget chasing new people.
Meanwhile, people who already bought from them, people who already trust them, are just sitting there, waiting to buy again.
This is like Shoprite running ads to find new customers while ignoring people with loyalty cards in their wallets.
Your past buyers are your warmest audience.
They know you. They already paid you once. They’re the easiest people in the world to sell to again.
So reach back. Send them something. “Hey, we just restocked the product you bought. Plus something new you might like.”
You don’t need a big customer list. Even 50 past customers is a goldmine if you know how to talk to them.
One message to past buyers can generate more sales than two weeks of running ads to strangers.
These three things: your page, your abandoned carts, your past buyers… they’re not separate tactics. They’re one system.
Fix your page so people trust you enough to buy.
Recover the ones who almost bought.
Bring back the ones who already did.
That’s how you grow without spending more on ads. Without more discounts. Without burning yourself out.
Want Help Implementing This In Your Business?
Book a free call with us at ecomwing.com/call. We’ll look at your business together and show you exactly where the money is hiding.
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