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| Credit: 48HoursLogo.com |
Once you have achieved a lot of visits to your website, you need to convert the visits to sales.
The first thing you need to do is consider your
products. Craft products are more
difficult to sell online than mass manufactured items that are completely
standard and so have known quality.
Is your product suitable for online selling?
·
The general case is that lower priced gift items
are easier to sell than expensive ones.
·
Is delivery expensive relative to the cost of
the item?
·
Do the items have to be sized, e.g., rings?
·
Are the items easy to post safely without
breakage?
·
How much packaging will be necessary?
If the answers are that what you sell is expensive to buy or
deliver, must made to a size, or are difficult to post, you may have
difficulties in generating sales. If you
have items that are likely to sell less well online, consider the other ways
you can sell them – trade events, galleries, shops, wholesale. Also think about making items that are easier
to sell online, but still fall within your style. This approach will help support your more
difficult to deliver or more expensive items that won’t sell well online.
Then
Online selling techniques are not so different from in-person
selling, except that you have to rely on text and images to do the selling. This puts more emphasis on words and images
and getting your personality into those two things.
The basics are:
Get the viewer’s attention
Stimulate their interest
Develop their desire for
the object
Convert these elements into the purchase.
There are many things that can create these three
pre-requisites for a purchase.
Images
The quality of images is extremely important. Photographs must be sharp, focused, and with lots
of light. They must be taken to show the
quality of craftsmanship. Multiple pictures
of the item help to give a better feeling of the object. They should be taken from various angles,
including the unseen backs of items to show the craftsmanship and help promote
the assurance of quality. Lifestyle images bring items to life, but have to be
carefully arranged. This is often done
best by a professional photographer.
Get and maintain interest
What you do must be apparent immediately. Do you have recognisable work or style? Is
your business name memorable? An
explanation of what you do and why it is unique is important to maintain
interest. Links from these explanations
to relevant individual items or product groups are appropriate to keeping
people engaged.
It is important to maintain interest after the initial
contact. Make it easy to find other
relevant items. Use links, buttons, suggestions, etc., liberally.
Keep the site alive with case studies. These can be the
background to your workday, or events in your business life. Inside views of the development of new lines
shows how you progress from idea to finished work. You have interesting ways of working, that
many people are interested in knowing about. Show your working practices, tell
them the story of making.
You need to keep in touch with potential and existing
clients. Direct posts to those you have
contact details for, with information on developments keeps you and what you do
in customers’ minds. These must not be direct
sales pitches. You can ask questions of
these people to keep them engaged. They may also tell others about you and your
work. General posts to targeted
audiences can help spread the word too.
Some paid promotion on social media can help, if targeted to the right
people.
Provide information
Explain the potential questions about each item that client may have. Think about the kinds of questions you ask
about non-glass craft products. Use those approaches in stating and answering
these questions.
Make the explanations personal and consistent with your site
and the glass products you are offering.
In many cases, it is desirable to establish a FAQ section, including
terms and conditions. This can help
maintain confidence of the buyer in your ability to make and supply the work.
Purchase
What’s for sale
You need to overcome any difficulties that the client might
face in coming to the buying decision.
The website should be immediately clear about what you do and for
whom. Price levels need to be clear,
possibly by grouping or sorting. Images need to connect with client
desires. This is where lifestyle images
are useful. Do remember that first
impressions are all important.
Develop trust
Development of, or appearance of trustworthiness is essential to
buying. People buy from those they know,
like and trust. Development of this is
essential for consistent online sales, as well as anywhere else. This can be promoted by your presence on a
group of platforms that you link between. Good descriptions of products and
about yourself are important to maintaining the trust of the client. Testimonials, if you have them, are
useful.
The website must appear professional. Knowledge of your location is important to
developing confidence in your work. Knowing where else your work is available
is also important in validating confidence in your business. Knowledge of where else your work can be
purchased gives creditability to your standing within the craft buying community. This can include your
attendance at craft and trade fairs, as well as any awards or press mentions.
Buying and delivery
Make it easy to purchase.
One-click links can help ease the customer into buying. Use of a known
payment provider increases confidence that the purchased item will be delivered
and that there is a mechanism to get money back if not. Make sure you explain about postage and packaging,
unless you have included it in the in price.
If P&P is included, make sure that you are clear in the text
accompanying the image and description.
If you don’t do that, the price comparisons with those that don’t
include P&P are skewed against you. Include
plain English terms and conditions, to engender trust if something were to go
wrong.
But
Don’t rely exclusively on online sales. There is enormous
competition online, even though it is a means to get your work known to a wide
range of people Importantly, it is a way to get year-round sales rather than
the summer and autumn craft circuit.
Other sources for consistent sales - without you being present all the
time - are galleries, shops and wholesalers.
Think about combining online sales with craft fairs and
other selling events. These face to face
events give you the opportunity of getting direct feedback on your work, which
will help develop what you do. Promote
your attendance at events on the website and tell about your website at
events. Blog about the events before and
after their occurrence on your website and social media. Tell stories from the events on your social
media and in the website, too.
Selling online requires getting attention,
stimulating interest and promoting desire to buy. Some of the things you can do are noted. But do not put all your effort into
online. You can gain a lot of
information by attending face to face selling events.
