The ONE THING newbie business owners think they must do. But which GUARANTEES FAILURE in record time.

By the end of this post, you’ll know how to torch your sports e-commerce business faster than lightning striking a barn. (Hint: Don't do it!)

But first, a few ways to test whether you’re targeting the right market.

What are your mailing list stats?

Good open rates, click-through rates, and few people unsubscribing? You’re on the right track. Emails unopened, no clicks and a lot of opt-outs? Your targeting is garbage. For reference, average open rate across all industries is 21.33%. The click-through rate stands at 2.62%.

Unsubscriptions? If you’re under 2%, you’re sound. Anything higher requires investigation. You can use click-through rates to measure your Google ads, too. 6.3% is the average across all industries. Average conversion rate, 7.26%.

Good traffic but few sales?

Something is going wrong. It’s hard to suggest what traffic you should be getting as it's dependent on your business. If you sell low cost items, your traffic should be high. Higher cost, lower traffic. Kinda like how a convenience store needs more footfall than a car wholesaler. It's the percentage of them converting which you should focus on.

Use your data!

Are you targeting your mailing list emails and Google ads at the right demographics? There’s no point advertising workout equipment for women to men. In fact, it’ll result in high unsubscriptions. Segment properly.

What is your qualified lead to sales ratio?

The average across all industries is 13%. Less than this and you need to revisit your qualified leads generation. Be more selective. For example, only including men aged 20-30 as leads if this is your market.

And that ONE THING?

Don't target everybody.

No successful business sells products which appeal to everyone. So don’t try!

And before you say “but but but Ebay, Amazon, AliExpress…” How many luxury buyers do you think shop there?

Trying to target everybody means you target nobody. You end up confusing your prospects. And confused minds don’t buy.

It also makes you appear needy and desperate. Making you less popular than the guy who broke wind during a job interview.