Using Claude to Fix My Zero-Sales Problem (Week 1 Results)

The Harsh Reality Check

Let’s start with the uncomfortable truth: It’s been 6 weeks since I launched my digital products on Gumroad, Etsy, and Redbubble.

Total sales: Still zero.

Not “almost zero” or “just a few.” Actual zero. As in, nobody has bought my 50-page books on mental health and personal finance, my todo lists, or anything else I’ve created.

But instead of wallowing in disappointment, I decided to treat this as the perfect test case for Claude. Can AI actually help turn zero sales into… well, at least one sale?

The Claude Consultation

I approached this like a real business consultation. I fed Claude all the details:

• My current products and their descriptions
• The platforms I’m using
• My pricing strategy (or lack thereof)
• My marketing efforts (spoiler: minimal)

My exact prompt: “I’ve had digital products listed for 6 weeks with zero sales. Here are my current listings [inserted descriptions]. What am I doing wrong, and what would you change first?”

Claude’s Brutal Honest Assessment

Claude didn’t sugarcoat anything. Here’s what it identified:

Problem #1: My Titles Were Boring

• Old title: “Personal Finance Guide: Money Management Tips”
• Claude’s suggestion: “Broke at 30: How I Finally Stopped Sabotaging My Own Money”

Problem #2: Descriptions Focused on Features, Not Problems My original description talked about “50 pages of financial advice” instead of “finally stop living paycheck to paycheck.”

Problem #3: No Social Proof or Personal Story I wasn’t leading with my actual experience—the messy, relatable stuff that makes people trust you.

Problem #4: Pricing in No-Man’s Land My books were priced at $12—too expensive for impulse buys, too cheap to seem valuable. Claude suggested either $5 for quick wins or $25+ with more content.

The Real-Time Experiment

Instead of just talking theory, I decided to implement Claude’s suggestions immediately and document what happens.

Week 1 Changes Made:

New Product Titles:

• “The Anxiety Toolkit That Actually Worked for Me” (mental health book)
• “How I Went from Broke to Building an Emergency Fund” (finance book)

Rewritten Descriptions: Instead of listing what’s in the books, I led with the problems they solve and my personal story. Claude helped me write descriptions that sounded like I was talking to a friend, not giving a corporate presentation.

New Pricing Strategy: Dropped everything to $5 to test Claude’s “impulse buy” theory.

Added Urgency (Claude’s Idea): “Written by someone still figuring it out, not someone who’s forgotten what struggle feels like.”

The Results After 7 Days

Sales: Still zero, BUT…

Traffic: 3x more views on Gumroad (from basically none to… slightly more than none, but still progress)

Engagement: First comments/questions on Etsy in 6 weeks

Email Signups: 2 people signed up for my blog updates (okay, it’s small, but it’s something!)

What I Learned (The Hard Way)

Lesson #1: Better copy doesn’t guarantee instant sales Claude’s suggestions improved everything, but selling digital products is harder than just having good descriptions.

Lesson #2: Platform matters more than I thought Gumroad, Etsy, and Redbubble have different audiences. My personal experience angle might work better on platforms where I can tell more of the story.

Lesson #3: I need to drive my own traffic Even with better titles and descriptions, nobody sees them if I’m not actively promoting them. Claude pointed this out, but I was hoping the platforms would do the work.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here’s what Claude helped me realize: My zero-sales problem isn’t just about product descriptions. It’s about not having an audience yet.

I’ve been trying to sell to strangers who don’t know me, haven’t heard my story, and have no reason to trust that my “personal experience” is worth $5.

That’s why I started this blog series. I’m building an audience first, sharing my actual journey, and letting people get to know me before trying to sell them anything.

Next Week’s Experiment

Claude suggested something that scared me a little: Give away one of my products for free to get reviews and build credibility.

So I’m going to offer my mental health book as a free download to blog subscribers and see what feedback I get. Real feedback from real people who actually read it.

The Theory: Better to have 20 people read it and give feedback than zero people buy it.

The Bigger Picture

This experiment taught me that AI is incredibly helpful for improving what you have, but it can’t solve the fundamental business challenge of finding people who want what you’re selling.

Claude made my products better. But I still need to do the work of building relationships, creating trust, and proving that my “learning as I go” approach actually provides value.

That’s exactly what this blog series is doing.

What Would You Do?

If you were in my shoes—6 weeks, zero sales, but some early signs of improvement—what would you try next?

Should I:

• Keep tweaking the products based on Claude’s suggestions?
• Focus entirely on building an audience first?
• Try completely different platforms?
• Give everything away free to get feedback and testimonials?

Drop a comment and let me know what you think. I’m genuinely curious about your take on this.

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P.S. – If you want to see the exact prompts I used with Claude for this analysis, or get a free copy of my mental health book to help with my feedback experiment, sign up for my blog updates. I share everything—the good, the bad, and the zero-sales ugly.