Why Nobody Buys Your Amazing Product

What if you're selling something you know people will want, but it takes some explaining? As founder Jamie Mitri learned, you must find customers who are ready to listen.

- FRANCES DODDS

Jamie Mitri had an amazing product, almost zero sales, and no idea what was wrong.

This was 2021, and she’d just launched her brand, Moss Pure. It makes indoor moss walls—those trendy, earthy installations you see in corporate lobbies. But hers was distinct: Most moss walls are actually made from dead moss preserved with chemicals, making them stinky and in need of annual replacement. But drawing on her experience as a chemical and environmental engineer, Mitri was able to create a moss wall that’s actually alive, requires no chemicals, smells nice, and functions as an air purifier.

She thought the product would sell itself, and hired a marketing agency to run online ads. But nothing happened. She began to see the problem: Her product is more expensive because it’s the real thing. But competitors were advertising their moss walls as “live,” so customers didn’t appreciate the difference.

So Mitri set about a new way to pitch her company—and now, five years later, she’s sold tens of thousands of moss walls, and grew 300% in the past year. Here’s how she did it.