Why People Aren't Buying From You (And How to Fix It)
Let’s be honest. Most people who visit your online store are nervous.
They aren’t nervous about your products—they’re nervous about you. They’re wondering: "Is this a real business or a scam?" "Will the product actually look like the photo?" "If it breaks, will they answer the phone?" "Are these guys even in Australia?"
In a physical shop in Chermside or Indooroopilly, a customer can look you in the eye, touch the fabric, and see other people browsing. Online, that’s gone. You have to replace that "gut feeling" with something else.
In the marketing world, they call this "social proof." I call it "not being the only person at the party."
If you walk past a restaurant in South Bank and it’s empty, you keep walking. If there’s a queue out the door, you want to know what’s on the menu. Your website needs to look like that busy restaurant.
I’ve seen dozens of Brisbane businesses spend thousands on ads, only for visitors to leave because the site looked like a ghost town. This guide is about how to fix that, build massive trust, and ultimately, put more money in your bank account.
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The Power of the "Real Person" Endorsement
I recently talked to a bloke running a premium BBQ charcoal business out in Ipswich. He had a great website, professional photos, and a solid product. But his sales were flat.
We looked at his product pages. They were perfect—too perfect. They looked like stock photos from a corporate catalogue.
We changed one thing: We started showing photos of real customers in their backyards, beer in hand, showing off their brisket. We added a section where people could see ready-to-buy shoppers were actually choosing his brand over the hardware store stuff.
Sales went up by 40% in two months.
Why? Because shoppers didn’t want to hear from the owner; they wanted to hear from other backyard BBQ legends.
1. Customer Reviews: The Bread and Butter
If you don’t have reviews on your site, you are losing money every single day. Full stop.Most business owners tell me, "I don't want to nag my customers."
Here’s the reality: Your happy customers want to help you, they’re just busy. You need to make it easy for them.
What works: Star ratings: People scan for those yellow stars. They don’t even read the words half the time. Photos in reviews: A blurry photo of your product on someone’s kitchen bench is worth ten professional studio shots. It proves the item exists in the real world. The "Negative" Review: Don’t panic if you get a 4-star or even a 3-star review. If every single review is 5.0 stars and sounds like it was written by your mum, people get suspicious. A few honest critiques make the glowing reviews look real.
What's a waste of money: Buying fake reviews. Google is smart, and your customers are smarter. If you get caught, your reputation in Brisbane is cooked. It’s not worth the risk.
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Case Study: The Morningside Furniture Maker
We worked with a local furniture maker who builds high-end outdoor tables. These aren’t cheap—we’re talking $3,000+ per piece.
When you’re asking someone to drop three grand online, a simple "Great product!" review isn't enough. We needed to show that he was a trusted local expert.
We implemented three specific tactics:
Tactic A: The "As Seen In" Bar
He had been featured in a local lifestyle magazine and a morning news segment once. We put those logos (Channel 7, Courier Mail, etc.) right under the "Add to Cart" button.It tells the customer: "If these big names trust this guy, I can too."
Tactic B: Real-Time Activity Squawks
You’ve seen those little pop-ups that say "John from Ascot just bought a Dining Set."Some people find them annoying, but they work. It creates a sense of movement. For this furniture maker, it showed that even though it’s a big purchase, people are making it regularly. It’s a great way to make more from current customers by showing what's popular right now.
Tactic C: Video Testimonials
We didn't need a film crew. We just asked three past customers to record a 30-second video on their iPhone saying how much they loved their new deck setup.We put those videos on the checkout page. Abandoned carts dropped by 15%.
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Making it Work Without Spending a Fortune
You don’t need a $10,000 marketing budget to do this. You just need a system.
Step 1: Automate the Ask
If you’re manually emailing every customer to ask for a review, you’ll stop doing it by Tuesday week.You need your website to automatically send an email 7 days after the product arrives. Ask them: "How did we do?" and give them a direct link to leave a review.
Step 2: Incentivise (Carefully)
Offer a $10 discount on their next order if they leave a review with a photo. This does two things: 1. It gets you that valuable photo. 2. It brings them back to buy again.Focusing on repeat sales is much cheaper than constantly paying for Facebook ads to find new people.
Step 3: Use Your Face
If you’re a local Brisbane business, show it! Put a photo of yourself and your team on the "About Us" page. Show your warehouse in Geebung or your shop in Bulimba.People like buying from people. If they see a real person behind the website, their "scam radar" turns off.
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Common Mistakes Most Brisbane Businesses Make
I see the same errors over and over again. Avoid these, and you’re already ahead of 90% of your competitors.
1. Hiding reviews on a separate page: Nobody clicks on a page titled "Testimonials." You need the reviews right there on the product page, where the "Buy" button is. 2. Ignoring bad reviews: If someone complains, reply publicly. Be polite. Offer to fix it. Other shoppers will see your reply and think, "At least if something goes wrong, they’ll take care of me." 3. Using jargon: Don't tell me your product has "optimised ergonomic utility." Tell me "it won't hurt your back when you're gardening." Use the same language your customers use in their reviews.
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How Long Until You See Results?
This isn't an overnight fix like turning on an ad. It takes time to collect reviews.
1 month: You’ll have your first dozen reviews. You might notice people staying on your site a little longer. 3 months: You’ll have enough "social proof" to see a noticeable bump in your sales-to-visitor ratio. 6 months: Your reviews start showing up in Google search results (those gold stars again!), which means more people click on your site instead of the guy next door.
What Should You Do First?
If you do nothing else after reading this, do this:
Go to your three best-selling products. Find three customers who bought them and loved them. Call them or email them personally. Ask them for a two-sentence blurb and a photo of the product in use. Put those on your website today.
It’ll cost you zero dollars and about an hour of your time.
The Bottom Line
Marketing isn't about fancy tricks or "hacking the system." It’s about building trust.
In Brisbane, we value a fair dinkum approach. If you can show potential customers that people just like them are buying your products and loving them, you’ve won more than half the battle.
Stop trying to be the loudest person in the room with expensive ads. Start being the most trusted person in the room by letting your customers do the talking for you.
Need help setting this up?
At Local Marketing Group, we help Brisbane small businesses turn their websites into sales machines. We don't do fluff, and we don't do jargon. We just focus on what gets your phone ringing and your shop busy.
If you want to grow your business without the headache, get in touch with us here.