Here’s the uncomfortable truth about your ideal customer avatar.
You are not clear enough on who your ideal customer is.
This is true for almost every single online store owner I talk to. Let me explain why this is a problem and what you can do about it to sell more on your online store.
What is an ideal customer avatar?
An Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) is a single person that you use as a true north to direct all your marketing efforts towards.
You get so super specific that this person has a name and even a profile photo.
You imagine you are talking to this person whenever we are creating anything for our business. This includes your home page, product descriptions, emails, social media or facebook ads.
Why you are not clear enough on who your ideal customer is
The simple answer is FOMO. You are worried about missing out on a sale if you market to a super specific target market.
For example, let’s say you sell women’s fashion.
You might say your ideal customer avatar is:
“Busy mums with kids”.
But this is way too broad and vague. I want you to get super specific. I want you to narrow it down to something like:
“Busy single mums who work full time, who have primary school aged kids and who are ready to start dating again”.
Now, I can hear you arguing with me saying, “but married mums can buy my clothes too…” or “but some of my dresses are nursing-friendly and I don’t want to exclude them from buying from me…” or “but women who don’t have kids would also look great in my jeans…” or whatever the equivalent in your business is.
And I get it. But here’s the thing. You are not blocking them from buying from you. You can still take their money.
You need to niche down and here’s why
Most online store owners I talk to have a massive case of FOMO when it comes to narrowing down their ideal customer avatar but if you try to be everything to everyone you will be nothing to noone.
By niching down and getting so super specific around who your ideal customer avatar is, your marketing can be so much more engaging, magnetic and unique.
When you display genuine understanding and empathy for your ideal customer avatars situation you create a sense of belonging and trust.
You want your ideal customer to read your marketing and go “OMG that’s me! You’re reading my mind, I trust you and this is exactly what I’ve been looking for”.
You want your ideal customer to trust that you understand her needs and that your products can help her.
The risk of not niching down
If you try to include everyone in your messaging you will ultimately have messaging that is too weak, too diluted and just won’t resonate with anyone.
Not only do you risk not attracting anyone – but you also risk attracting the wrong people, and ultimately people who won’t love your product.
My challenge to you
So, no matter how niched you think you are, I challenge you to narrow down your audience just a little bit more. This is going to make your messaging, content, email and paid media so much easier… and when it comes to paid traffic, cheaper because you aren’t wasting your money on eyeballs who aren’t your ideal customer.
