Advice On My Physical Product eCommerce Site.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Recently I've designed an iPhone case, niche market, validated the idea with unbounce. Created the product on photoshop, set up a landing page, put a "buy $9.99" button with email address. Spent 100 dollars on facebook PPC, 15% conversion rate on the page, average cost per click was .27 cents. First question for you guys, are these numbers average, good or not so good? Anyway, learned how to use autocad, designed the case, have prototype, took pictures, made ecommerce site with big commerce. Manufacturing costs could run me 3k-7k, I really want to validate this product/ecommerce site.

I have two options: #1. Take preorders or #2. Set up store as if product is ready to ship, then immediately refund payments. I suppose my big question is, will I see a big conversion rate difference with preorders as opposed to having the order ready to ship? I'm really just trying to justify/validate investing in the project further. What would you suggest?

Thanks, I really appreciate your time,

-Alec

I haven't had much experiences with the current predicament you are in, but I would work out how many pre-orders it would take to cover the cost and then take that into a number of sales over a realistic period, and start with pre-orders. Then refund if you don't take as many orders as you was anticipating. You could always have them opt-in when they register and then if it all falls through, you have their email to have another shot at securing a deal with them again.

Hope this helps, and hopefully someone can pick apart what I have said and give it some constructive criticism to help the OP and me.

Here is where you need to be careful. Launching a product that is not fully ready can hurt your products reputation and will
ruin your second launch. Refunding money after someone has paid will not only inconvenience people and make them upset but it will
cause companies like paypal and 2checkout to question your business practices. Pre-ordering is better than letting them actually buy
and then refunding.

GG

GigaGorilla said:

Here is where you need to be careful. Launching a product that is not fully ready can hurt your products reputation and will
ruin your second launch. Refunding money after someone has paid will not only inconvenience people and make them upset but it will
cause companies like paypal and 2checkout to question your business practices. Pre-ordering is better than letting them actually buy
and then refunding.

GG

Click to expand...

Great advice.


Good Luck OP

I decided to take preorders, got one but wouldnt have been profitable with PPC. I went to 3 stores and got 2 retailers out of the trip, good sign. I just need to validate investing in this idea. I dont think selling 500-1000 units should be impossible. Maybe better luck with ebay starting out? Amazon? I suppose either way I can find retailers manually.

Thanks for the tips guys.