I once helped a company who couldn't give away free beer.

Their whole business was: Customers install the app, go to a pub, show a QR code, get free beer. (Their revenue came from pubs paying for new customers.)

The only problem – people wouldn’t take the free beer. Crazy, right?

We suggested their Head of Marketing, Hannah Parvaz, talk to some customers:​​​​​

• “Free beer? What’s the catch?”

• “Is it some weird new microbrew?”

• “When someone offers to buy me a drink… he expects something in return.”

Once she understood the problem, the fix was easy – just tell people: “Local pubs are buying the first round to bring in new customers.”

That worked, and totally unlocked their growth.

Why am I telling you this?

Because whatever you sell is probably more expensive than “free” and harder to explain than “beer.” And you might think that if your price were lower and your value clearer… happy days!

But there’s another piece to the equation – trust.

There's a specific reason people aren't buying your product, and it's usually a simple misunderstanding. Before you lower your price or add features, find the actual blocker and address it directly.

Three ways to find your blocker:

1. Ask a better question on your website: Change the live chat pop-up on your website to ask, “Did you find what you were looking for?” Track the most common questions.

   
   

2. Test your first impression: Run 5-second tests on your landing page or app store listing to see what prospects think you do, and what questions they have.

   
   

3. Talk to recent customers: Ask what made them almost not buy.

Remember – for Hannah and her team, it was just free beer. Everyone knows what it is; it costs nothing, no sales cycle, integration, stakeholders or budget sign-off… it should be the easiest thing in the world to sell. If your product is harder to sell than free beer… this matters even more.

Don’t make changes until you have a plausible answer to “why aren’t people buying in the first place?”

I hope this helps!