People love your soap. Friends ask for it, their friends are willing to buy from it, and it gets overall good reviews. So why aren’t you getting any online sales from your soap shop? It could be because your soap isn’t very searchable on Google.
In order to make your soap more searchable, think of key terms and phrases that could apply to your soap. Include some of the ingredients as well. Take those key terms and then apply them to your soap’s listing and description. Over refinement and time, you should be able to find the best keywords that’ll make your soap one of the first things your potential customer sees. For more on this topic and more detailed suggestions, click here:: How to Get Found in Search
After some time analyzing your soap shop’s data, you may see many folks who look at your soaps then move on. In fact, there could circumstances where a person puts some craft soap in their online cart, but then abandons it. So what are the reasons why these people hesitate to buy?
It could be that you do offer a great deal, but it’s not good enough for them. Maybe they wanted to buy, but got distracted in the middle of their online shopping, never to return. Lastly, there could be some payment or technical issues that prevented them from making a purchase. Looking into these possibilities can help you find a solution and potentially get those “maybes” into profit. For more on this topic, please click here:: Reclaiming Non-Buyers After Your Launch
Whenever you go out to buy a car, you’re going to take it for a spin, right? A test-drive is necessary to see if the purchase is worth it and fulfills your needs. So with this in mind, it might be beneficial for you to send out samples of your soap to customers.
While it may seem wasteful, tossing in a small cube of a different soap along with your customer’s order can actually win them over. First, it provides a nice surprise bonus for the customer. It also allows the customer to touch, smell, and feel the soap to get the full experience. If they truly enjoy that small free experience, they’ll definitely buy the full she-bang afterward. For more on using samples to get sales, click here:: Using Higher Value Samples to Push Sales Higher
As your online soap shop or craft shop gains traction over time, you may want to consider getting an endorsement for your craft products. Endorsements can help you gain more customers thanks to a known person or entity talking your product up to them. So what are some ways to obtain an endorsement?
It may sound too simple, but the solution is this: ask. You might get a hard “no” or no reply at all, but it doesn’t hurt to ask a person. In fact, many might be flattered that you thought of him or her to be the voice of your brand. It can be an intimidating step, but it’s surely one you’ll have to take. For more on obtaining endorsements for your craft shop, click here:: Advanced Tips for Getting Endorsements
It’s important to make a soap that people will love to purchase. However, if in order to draw in customers online, you’ll have to be able to have potential buyers come across you on Yahoo, Google, Bing, and other search engines. How can you do that?
First, look at your item and think about its appeal. What is it? Who is it for? What kind of material is it made out of? Is it for a particular season or holiday? Are there possible synonyms that could describe it? The answers to all of these questions can be potential key words for online searches. Implement them in your item’s title or description and you’ll gain more traction. For a full article on this subject, click here:: Brainstorming Keywords for Tags and Titles
You’ve shown your friends and your family that you know how to make quality and original takes on soaps. You can make a quick batch and your neighbors keep coming back for more. In fact, you’ve even opened up your own online soap shop. Now’s the chance to turn this hobby into a full-time career, but you need to take things to the next level.
When you take photos of your soap, make sure they look amazing. The pics reflect your shop, so you’ll want to invest some time in getting your soap’s picture with the best light and angle. When dealing with customers, engage in a rapport. Send a follow-up email after they make a purchase, leave a handwritten thank-you note in packages, or toss in a freebie in order to get good word-of-mouth and repeat business. Lastly, be sure that you do whatever it takes to establish your brand whether it’s with a catchy name, an emblem, or something to distinguish your work from the rest of the pack. For more marketing tips, please click here:: Top 10 Marketing Tips from Full-Time Esty Sellers
Have you ever been complimented on a shirt you’ve worn, a scent they smell on you from a luxurious soap, or an art piece on your mantle? Usually the follow-up question after the compliment is “Where did you get that?” Well, what if you forgot and the shirt had no tag, the soap’s wrapper had no name on it, or the art piece wasn’t signed? You’d have no idea what to tell your friend.
So don’t let that be your shirt. Don’t let that be your soap. Don’t let that be your artwork. Too many craft and soap sellers don’t label their wares and it hurts them. Many miss out on so many word of mouth sales because they didn’t pack in a business card with the package they shipped, they didn’t sign their name somewhere discreet on the artwork, or they didn’t stitch a label with their brand name on their clothing. “Label” isn’t a bad word; it’s a good marketing strategy. For more on the importance of labels, click here:: Label Maker: Don’t Orphan Your Micro Brand
Let’s say that your online craft or soap shop is doing well and word of mouth is spreading. Customers love your wares and want to send a gift to a friend or family member. However, you know that there are people in your life that are IMPOSSIBLE to shop for. That’s where gift certificates come into play.
Offering gift certificates for customers to buy at your online shop allows a great opportunity not only for a sale, but also allows the recipient to browse around your website to see all your wares rather than just receive the single gift from their friend or loved one. Just be sure that you offer an actual, tangible certificate and have methods in place to redeem balances if an item they use the certificate on is less than its worth. It’ll be a win-win for both the prospective buyer and your craft shop. For a full article on this topic, click here:: How to Offer Gift Certificates in Your Etsy Shop
There are many important factors when setting up shop online. There is the obvious need of making sure you have quality craft products and soaps worth selling and have a stock of them. Marketing also needs attention. However, many budding craft shop owners neglect setting up a policy for their shop.
While it isn’t as fun as making soaps and shipping orders, a solid policy is necessary in order to protect yourself along with letting potential customers know what to expect when they place an order with you. Taking the time to write a simple and fair policy for sales and returns that are in line with local laws helps everyone involved. The sooner you do that, the sooner you’re protect, and the sooner you can get back to the fun business of running your shop. For a full article on this topic, click here:: Service Tips for Sellers: Creating Policies That Work
One of the best ways for selling handmade soap is at local public markets or fairs. This article gives a ton of great advice for new soap businesses to help them achieve a successful, stress free booth! If you’re still new to fairs or markets, set up your booth at home so that you can estimate how much time you’ll need to set up, and also so you’ll know how to do it.
Once you’re there, check out the competition, and also bring someone with you for when you need to take a break to do that, or when you have to go to the bathroom. Another piece of advice is to dress for success; look presentable, but also invest in branding like an apron with your logo on it. Consider how you’ll accept payment, do you have a Square reader, or are you cash only?
Don’t forget that customer service is key, and that you can make a sale just by creating a relationship with the customer. Sell to the customer’s needs by asking them open ended questions instead of bombarding them with facts. See the rest of the article for more tips!