How do you bring buyers into your shop?
First you must ask yourself the question, "Why would I buy from that shop?"
Putting yourself in your customers shoes is the first step to becoming a successful seller.
1: A good product.
The first and foremost thing to selling successfully is to have a product everyone wants. Who would buy a product they don't even want?!
2: A good representation of that product.
If your pictures don't do your product justice, it's probably not going to sell very well. Even if your photos are passable, it is always a good idea to keep working on improving your photography. And keep in mind that a good clean background with a prop or too, and some natural diffused light is key to making a good photograph!
3: A good price.
I believe most of us struggle with how to price our products. How the heck do you charge enough to make a decent profit without running your customers off at such a very high price? You need to find a good balance for your product and stick with it, making minor adjustments as you go as the price of materials fluctuate.
If you ever plan on selling wholesale, make sure you are charging enough to make a profit when you slash the prices for your wholesale buyers!
4: Great Customer Service.
All business owners need to have good customer service! This doesn't mean you answer your emails in exactly 2 hours, though that is always nice, it's not always possible.
It does mean, however, that you treat your customers with respect, ship their products in a timely manner, and answer your emails and convos as soon as possible.
It's helpful if you can disclose a timeframe in your policies so customers will know what to expect.
Got a busy life? Make sure you tell them in your policies that you will get back to them within (2?) days, or that orders ship within (3?).
As a customer myself, this kind of information is tremendously helpful when I make a purchase.
5: Customization.
If you are up to it, offer custom services! Let your customers know that they can have a product made especially for them that no one else will have.
Perhaps a customer needs several items that match for a gift for someone, or maybe they need something in a different color, etc.
If you offer custom services, you are bound to attract more business this way.
Summarization:
A good buyer experience!
If your customers are able to get what they need from a great seller, they are bound to walk right in!
Your reputation as a great seller will improve over time, bringing more and more business your way.
Showing posts with label selling online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label selling online. Show all posts
Guide to keeping customers in your shop
How to encourage customers to *stay* in your shop.
The various ways of promoting are all geared to getting more traffic (potential customers) to your shop.
I can guarantee you will have more traffic. I can't guarantee you will get sales.
However, here are a couple of tips which might encourage your visitors to stay in your shop and look at other items you have for sale.
The first idea is called "Price anchoring."
The basic idea is that customers see something expensive in your shop and decide not to buy it, but they will decide to buy something cheaper.
I could go into a long explanation of the psychology of how people get fixed ideas (anchors) of a reasonable price in their minds. Here's an example from Apple, discussing new products for which consumers have no clearly established anchor price.
Ariely’s research shows that anchor pricing for such products is quite fungible (interchangeable), and marketers would do well to avoid inadvertently establishing a low anchor price.
If a higher anchor price can be established, then offers involving lower prices will be attractive to consumers.
Apple’s iPhone marketing has done a good job of using anchor pricing to keep demand strong. When they first released the iPhone, it was at a price of $499 to $599, establishing the initial anchor for what the unique product should cost.
To the chagrin of early adopters, they dropped the price by $200 after only a few months - creating an apparent bargain and stimulating more sales. When they introduced the iPhone 3G, pricing was as low as $199, and they sold a million phones in three days.
So you can see that starting with too LOW a price causes difficulties in our shops.
In the Featured section of our shop, try listing one item at a high price, and have lower, more usual prices, for the other two featured items.
I do this, I have no idea if it works. I also swap my expensive featured item.
The second way of encouraging potential customers to stay in your shop is to add enticing, clickable links at the bottom of each entry.
Here are some of mine:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
See another boat themed card:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_1&listing_id=1...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Check out another doll Greetings card:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28071666
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
See another floral Greetings card:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22447767
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note: whenever you use an etsy link in your listings, it will be clickable!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article was written by Linda, of LindaButterfly.etsy.com. Linda is a retired science teacher, using art to express herself, and enjoying creating the art for her two Etsy shops. She is married with one adult son.
The various ways of promoting are all geared to getting more traffic (potential customers) to your shop.
I can guarantee you will have more traffic. I can't guarantee you will get sales.
However, here are a couple of tips which might encourage your visitors to stay in your shop and look at other items you have for sale.
The first idea is called "Price anchoring."
The basic idea is that customers see something expensive in your shop and decide not to buy it, but they will decide to buy something cheaper.
I could go into a long explanation of the psychology of how people get fixed ideas (anchors) of a reasonable price in their minds. Here's an example from Apple, discussing new products for which consumers have no clearly established anchor price.
Ariely’s research shows that anchor pricing for such products is quite fungible (interchangeable), and marketers would do well to avoid inadvertently establishing a low anchor price.
If a higher anchor price can be established, then offers involving lower prices will be attractive to consumers.
Apple’s iPhone marketing has done a good job of using anchor pricing to keep demand strong. When they first released the iPhone, it was at a price of $499 to $599, establishing the initial anchor for what the unique product should cost.
To the chagrin of early adopters, they dropped the price by $200 after only a few months - creating an apparent bargain and stimulating more sales. When they introduced the iPhone 3G, pricing was as low as $199, and they sold a million phones in three days.
So you can see that starting with too LOW a price causes difficulties in our shops.
In the Featured section of our shop, try listing one item at a high price, and have lower, more usual prices, for the other two featured items.
I do this, I have no idea if it works. I also swap my expensive featured item.
The second way of encouraging potential customers to stay in your shop is to add enticing, clickable links at the bottom of each entry.
Here are some of mine:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
See another boat themed card:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_1&listing_id=1...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Check out another doll Greetings card:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28071666
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
See another floral Greetings card:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22447767
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note: whenever you use an etsy link in your listings, it will be clickable!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article was written by Linda, of LindaButterfly.etsy.com. Linda is a retired science teacher, using art to express herself, and enjoying creating the art for her two Etsy shops. She is married with one adult son.
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