My Gumtre ad - What am I doing wrong?

[debandfabshop]

Hi

I have put an ad on Gumtree.
It has been on for 4 days and viewed 44 times but no email, question or anything?
What am I doing wrong that is scaring them to contact me?

[debandfabshop]

That's the link to the ad:
http://www.gumtree.com/p/business-services/garden-sheds-and-products-free-delivery-to-birmingham-area/83760335

[RBS]

Garden shed is not a bread or milk, chill :D 44 viewings is nothing. You might get 2000, but zero calls or emails. Also Gumtree doesn`t have high response rate.

[Richie N]

RBS is right, gumtree doesn't have a high response rate, even more so recently.

[I Love Spreadsheets]

I think the response rate is low on Gumtree because people surfing it dont tend be looking for anything too specific. Hence you had 44 people land on your advert that were looking to do something with the garden that weekend but didnt know what yet. (That made sense as I typed it, hope it makes sense when you read it)

The other thing (and this is just an opinion) is that people surfing through Gumtree tend to be looking for bargains at rock bottom prices. Your products look fantastic and I certainly wouldnt say no to having one in my garden, but at the same time they look very high quality and as a result very expensive. This is further reflected with the referral offer - I read that and I think I'm paying £5-£300 too much for my shed because I'm paying someone's referral fee (might be worth leaving that for the brochure)

So my tips would be

1. If your prices are low add them to the images so I can see a shed of this style costs £xxx upwards

2. You have 3 paragraphs on your referral scheme. Reduce that to one line and stick it at the end. If I have clicked on your advert it is because I want to read about your products/services.

3. Rejig the 3rd para. Go heavy on the family business and drop/reduce the standards part. To 9 out of 10 people a list of standards wont mean anything. A quick line to say everything is built to the relevant standards is enough for me. If I'm interested in hearing about the standards I will ask for more info or look in the brochure.

4. With all the space you have freed up doing the above, use it to sell the benefits. Instead of saying something bland like "This childs play house is protected against the elements for x years" say something like "You and your family will get 10 years enjoyment and more from this childs house". Sell the hole not the drill.

Hope they help

[fisicx]

TL;DR

Most gumtree adds are short and to the point. Most won't get past the first paragraph. If they do get to paragraph 3 and decide they don't want a shed then they won't read any further.

If they do want a shed they will go to B&Q or the local garden centre to test drive a shed.

[debandfabshop]

Hope they help

They do. They will even more if I get enquiries.
I will try to apply them asap.

By the way, I wrote Free delivery in Birmingham because Gumtree is city centralised but it's free to all minland UK addresses if anyone is interested.

[fisicx]

Still needs to be short. People don't read they scan so keep it down to a few sentences.

Consider as well that a really good conversion rate is likely to be under 1% for gumtree. That means less 1 in every visitor to the advert will respond. Of those who do respond conversion is going to be around 1% as well. So that means 1 shed sold for every 10,000 people who see the advert. Even if you increase your conversions to 10% that still only 1 sale for every 1000 impressions.

[I Love Spreadsheets]

The only way I could get Gumtree to work for me was to place a new but slightly different advert each day. The easiest way I found to do this was to advertise a different service each day - perhaps you could advertise a different product each day - a play house on day one, a shed on day two etc. It allows you to give specific information on each product whilst keeping the number of words to a minimum.

[MH1]

Make it a simple sales advert as suggested, then put another version for referral agents in the opportunities section.

[Richard Glynn]

A lot of superfluous info in the ad. as mentioned.

But, just asking the question, is Gumtree the website where people wanting to buy sheds visit?

Best place to start is by talking to current and recent customers who have bought sheds from you. How did they find out about you?

Then use targeted marketing to encourage more of it to happen.

[debandfabshop]

A lot of superfluous info in the ad. as mentioned.

But, just asking the question, is Gumtree the website where people wanting to buy sheds visit?

Best place to start is by talking to current and recent customers who have bought sheds from you. How did they find out about you?

Then use targeted marketing to encourage more of it to happen.

Just for info I am just starting up, so sales=0 at the moment.

[debandfabshop]

Also Gumtree doesn`t have high response rate.

Any suggestion of other advertising websites that could have a better response rate?

[fisicx]

Set up your own website and pay for google ads and banners on all the gardening sites.

Sell on eBay and amazon.

Do a deal with all the local garden centres.

The days of cheap advertising online are long gone. If you want to sell your products you need to pay to be seen, especially with a product like yours. People don't buy a shed on a whim, it's a considered purchase so you will need a lot of impressions before making a sale. Even for cheap desirable products, conversion rates aren't that good.

BTW, there's a chap in the retail forum looking for a shed supplier - 46 potential customers

[Gavin Harris]

One of the key things with advertising is one message. But your ad has two totally different messages. Are you trying to sell me a shed, or are you trying to get me to sign up to your referral scheme?

I lose trust in businesses that seem to rely on referral schemes - they come across as a MLM "opportunity" rather than a quality product.

Remove the referral scheme references and stick to one core message - that you are an established company selling high quality garden sheds/furniture etc.

[sitandstay]

I use Gumtree quite often and it has worked great for us.

You do need to add your adds very frequently as other people ad there ads and yours will soon get lower and lower down the list.

Try adding your add every couple of days, but change the content a little.

Hope thats os some help :)

[extremeld]

Its too long and wordy - I did not read the whole thing.

If you are trying to hook someone into a sale, you want to give them enough information to then ask for more and make contact with you, then you can give them chapter and verse.


I would keep it very short and sweet

Garden sheds - Great quality / Great history and Great prices, starting at only £X contact me now for further info - click today

I would suggest you run a seperate ad for agents - or keep this part of it to a minimum, also you should not mention the actual numbers - all you need is a teaser -

[fisicx]

There has been a lot of good advice in this thread, but the advert hasn't changed. That's a bit sad as I thought the op was quite responsive to suggestions.

[JElder]

Slightly off topic - do those of you that do use Gumtree just post manually on the sit, or do you use some sort of management tool?

[sitandstay]

Slightly off topic - do those of you that do use Gumtree just post manually on the sit, or do you use some sort of management tool?

Manually post each one.....

[hollym]

Yes I too have manually posted. The previous advice of changing the ad slightly every day is excellent and I myself shall give that a go. Have you considered affiliate marketing? Or did someone allready mention that? Sorry if they did.

[debandfabshop]

There has been a lot of good advice in this thread, but the advert hasn't changed. That's a bit sad as I thought the op was quite responsive to suggestions.

I am VERY responsive to suggestions. I just haven't had chance to do anything yet.

[fisicx]

Apologies I offence was caused. I've used gumtree for all sorts of things and it does take a lot of time and effort to keep it effective just like running ppc.

So if you are serious about selling sheds you need to allow at lease an hour a day to update and refine your online marketing. When I wrote my first gumtree ads i spend hours editing and adjusting. Everyday I tested loads of new adverts until it clicked and I began getting orders.

However, I still think that gumtree isn't the best medium fog your products. Advertising on the gardening and diy forums, blogs and related websites would be far more effective.

[Jenni384]

Is there a link to your website on the ad? I couldn't see it.

If I'm buying a shed I don't want to send you a message, I want to click through to your website and see what you've got and how much it costs. :)

[debandfabshop]

Is there a link to your website on the ad? I couldn't see it.

If I'm buying a shed I don't want to send you a message, I want to click through to your website and see what you've got and how much it costs. :)

That's a very good point and I am working on a website, I am doing this part time and haven't got as much time as I would like to put into that business.

[WorldofBooks]

I wouldn't even mention the referral scheme, no one is going to buy a shed on the strength of that alone.

Get some shed prices on there!

[cgwpublishing]

I agree with the advice about Gumtree being the online equivalent of the cards in the newsagent's window. "Ford Fiesta, 10 months MOT, £3,000 ONO"

I've also spotted a problem with the wording of your ad:

We are an independent retailer for Rowlinson Garden Products.
We supply and deliver Rowlinson Products at discounted price.

We sell high quality ranges of garden structures, buildings, and furnitures furnitures. All of our products are delivered free of charge to the Birmingham area.

The problem is that I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!!!

I want to quickly see what you can do for me. Maybe something like:

Bad winter - shed roof leaking again?

Spring is coming - thinking about treating yourself to a new shed?

And so on.

[debandfabshop]

I know CGW. Priority on benefits not features

[dvitendi]

Gumtree is fairly good for selling anything in your immediate locale, providing you haven't too much competition and that you keep your ads "hook worthy." I've got rid of lots of TV's using Gumtree, but not actually sold regular stuff using it. :)

The main thing with Gumtree is that you advert gets pushed down as new adverts come on, and the only way to stay at the top all the time is to pay. If I was looking for cheap sheds for sale (http://www.cheapshedsforsale.co.uk) I'd find myself checking Gumtree, Bargain Pages, Friday Ad and even eBay.

Hope that helps!