I’m sure you’ve encountered this before, where people on Instagram say, “Oh my god, I love your work!” but then they don’t buy it and you’re left stuck, wondering what went wrong.

It’s like pouring your heart and soul into your creations only to be met with a wall of admiration but no actual sales.

And you’re right, it’s beyond frustrating. 

The fact is: you’re not in business just for the applause. You’re here to make a living income from your passion.

So when those likes and those comments don’t translate into sales, it’s definitely going to feel discouraging.

So what are you doing wrong? Why aren’t they hitting that buy button?

Well, I experienced this myself just the other day, and I want to share with you my perspective both as the buyer and as a business coach.

So stick around and keep on reading, because I’m about to tell you something that might change the way you do business.

Let’s get into it!

Quick Storytime

Here’s how you can go from loving something one day, to hating it within 24 hours and then of course, not wanting to buy it anymore.

So, a bit of story time so you can see how this happens to all of us, all the time.

Over the weekend, we found ourselves at the mall with some friends.

We were waiting in line to eat at Din Tai Fung. They’re famous for their soup dumplings.

It was a long, 2-hour wait. (Yes, I know, the things I do for food!)

So, to kill time, we walked around the mall and I stopped in at Aritzia.

They have XXS-sized clothing which works for a petite 5’1” lady like me.

And, immediately, this beautiful camel-colored coat catches my eye.

It was a cocoon coat, with some great stitching that gave it structure and made it look different from other boxy cocoon coats.

Everything about it spoke to me. 

I put it on, went to the mirror, and I fell even more in love.

It was so pretty!

I look around for the price tag and see that it’s $328.

Pricey… but that’s the expected price for a wool coat.

So I just took some selfies and put the coat back.

See, when I decide on making big purchases like this, I like to sleep on it first.

If I can’t stop thinking about it for the next few days then I’ll buy it.

Well, the next day, my husband Peter wanted to go to the mall again.

What are the chances!

Since yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about the coat. I really, really wanted it.

And I was ready to buy it.

So I stopped by Aritzia again and put on the coat for good measure before I coughed up a lot of money for it.

I was shocked. Something felt off.

The SAME coat the day before that I loved had lost its spark, just like that.

I was so disappointed!

I couldn’t understand why.

Nothing about the coat changed.

So what did?

It hit me: I was wearing a different outfit that didn’t match the coat.

When I loved it, I was wearing a rust-colored sweater with black jeans. I had a deeper brick-red lipstick on. All of this matched the coat.

The next day, though, I wore a blue floral blouse with blue jeans and no makeup on. And it just didn’t work with it.

So I decided against buying the $328 coat, because it just wasn’t a slam dunk anymore.

I, then, came up with all the reasons why I shouldn’t get the coat to make myself feel a bit better.

Winters in Los Angeles weren’t that cold to justify a wool coat, I wouldn’t wear it that often, it wouldn’t be easy to look good in it. Blah, blah, blah.

I tell this story not because I think you care about my mundane weekends but because this is a perfect example of how framing is EVERYTHING when it comes to selling online.

And why someone can say they love your work but then not buy it in the end.

Framing Your Products

Framing has several synonyms.

To me, it’s the same as “positioning” or “context”.

The context you put your product in matters so much more than people think and we don’t place enough focus on it.

In other words, how you present your product can directly affect the decisions that your customers make about whether or not they should buy your products.

The most common scenario I see is products with a higher price tag displayed on a website that doesn’t look professional or trustworthy.

The product may really be worth the price, but because the website looks not-so-good, it makes you not trust the product by association.

And so customers second-guess their decision and end up not buying it.

So, often, a high-priced product doesn’t sell NOT because of its price tag but because the framing, positioning, or context, isn’t congruent.

Congruency, in other words, is how well everything “matches” or lines up.

Just like how my outfit and makeup weren’t congruent or didn’t match the coat…

Making me see it in a totally different light.

If you have a higher-priced product, everything surrounding the product should elicit the same feeling of a higher-priced experience.

The website, branding, photos and customer service experience should all feel luxurious, exclusive, white glove, and premium.

The reverse is also true.

Finding a product that’s priced so cheaply in what feels like a very high end store, makes the alarm bells go off in your head.

“What’s wrong with the product?”

“Is it defective?”

These innocent questions are enough to make a customer walk away.

They start to get confused or unsure about your product and then they get distracted and leave your shop entirely without buying anything.

One small thing that’s out of place or incongruent in your business is enough of a reason for someone to say that they love your work and they’re going to buy it one day, and then completely change their mind and ghost you the next day even after you send a message and follow up with them.

Getting everything in your store congruent is a fix anyone can apply in their stores to increase sales instantly.

So if you haven’t done this yet, have a look at your store with an objective eye, and see what you can do to get everything to match!

Now, if you’re having trouble doing that, that’s exactly why I’m hosting a free 5-day challenge that’s starting really soon!

Join the FREE Challenge

It’s called the Sell More, Work Less Challenge and it’s designed to help you spot what those incongruencies are in your business.

The more things we can line up in your business, the more sales you’ll make and the easier it’ll feel making them, it’s as simple as that.

Every day, there will be a live interactive session with me.

It’ll be fun with prizes, a free workbook, and easy-to-implement steps you can apply into your business that same day.

And, again, it’s totally free!

So here’s the link to sign up if you’re interested!

What do you think? Are you ready to change your life in just 5 days?