You made a huge step forward and opened an online store for selling your works. Congratulations to you! It's been a long time, but you have not sold almost anything? You don't understand what is the reason and you are ready to give up and close the shop? Do not rush to despair! Pay attention to the mistakes that almost all artisans make and which are the reason of low sales. And try to fix them. I'm sure your brand will soar.
Of course we assume that the quality of your products is high.
So, here are 5 reasons why you can't sell your handmade jewelry.
Reason 1 Poor quality of photos.
In the world of online sales, photos are the most important thing. The customer cannot touch or smell the product that you sell. All they can do is to look at photos and decide if they are interested in the product, read about it and then buy it or not. Photos must attract buyers' attention among thousands of other photos, the buyer must want to click on them and learn more about the product. You have to guide the buyer through all their wishes so that they are ready to buy your product after looking at the last photo.
Always remember that photos are the first thing that draws the buyers' attention to your online store and this is the most useful tool of marketing in online business.
If you can't afford a professional photographer, you can always make great photos even with your smartphone, just follow some simple rules. There is a lot of articles on the Internet about how to take pictures with a smartphone.
Reason 2: Lack of keywords (tags) or their weakness.
Key words and the titles of the listings that you create help buyers to find your product in a huge variety of other shops.
A good strategy is to ask your family and friends what words they would use in a search engine while looking for your product? Then make a list of these answers and look for them in search engines. Thus, you will see the number of queries for these words and a list of similar queries. Use them as additional ideas for your keywords.
The second option is to find a similar product and see what keywords the sellers of these products use to adopt some of them and to use them. They can also give you ideas about your keywords for advertising. Do not copy the keywords of your competitors! It will not give you any advantage. If the system shows this seller in top searches by these keywords, it does not mean that you will get to the top ranks in the search results. The system will rather reduce your rating by these tags or won't show them at all.
Reason 3: Wrong description of your products.
Many sellers do not describe their products. Or they describe only general characteristics such as composition. Actually, the correct description is already half the battle. I will tell you a secret: if clients read the description of your product they are in the process of making the decision to buy it or not. And your job is to make sure that they will buy it. How? Write the description for clients and not for yourself (as you have already done: used materials, how talented you are). Clients are not interested in that. They are only interested in products. What demands does your product meet? Always describe your products, keeping in mind the customer's question "Why should I buy this product?"
I recommend to write a description for your listings answering the questions: "WHAT? WHY? HOW?"
The first paragraph must contain the answer to this question: "What is this product?"
A tip: be sure to add the words "handmade", "made by hand" in the description. If you use these words in a search engine, a potential client immediately will get on sites with handmade works such as Livemaster. And there is your store.
In the second paragraph you must answer the question: Why should I buy this product? You need to be very careful here. You can either sell a product or not sell it. Be sure to write only about the benefits for the BUYER. The clients should try your product, imagine how it will fit in their life, and at the end of the description they mustn't want to part with it. Compare these two descriptions:
"I knitted this scarf using only the highest quality threads and intricate designs. I have been knitting for over 20 years, so I have the best quality scarves with complex patterns that require a special skill."
And the second description: "This scarf has been made for you with love so that you can enjoy its softness and beauty. Wearing it you will always look gorgeous and it can liven up any item in your wardrobe."
Do you feel the difference? In the first description, the seller writes only about themselves and about the material, and the second description contains benefits for the customer.
That's the difference. Writing the description of a product, always remember ABOUT WHOM and FOR WHOM you write. Always imagine your ideal client, for which you make the product.
In the third paragraph, it is better to write about the creation of the product. Here you can write about the process of creating, about the materials you use. The story of this product. When customers look for handmade goods they want to get a thing with a story, something unusual. Otherwise they would have just bought a normal Chinese thing in a store. Tell them the story, encourage them, entice them. And do not even doubt that customers will buy your products and will return to your store again and again.
At the end you should always add a couple of links to similar items in your shop in a different color or links to products that perfectly match it.
Reason 4: You don't use social networks.
The development of effective marketing strategies in social media takes time, but it is an important part of finding fans for your shop.
Build your brand in social networks, promote the creation of certain products, show more process, not the result. Tell about yourself. Remember, people want to buy from people.
Give people what they want and they will come to you again and again. Amaze your customers and they will tell everybody about you, they will share your posts, show your products in social networks. Create a community around your works. And do not present yourself only as the seller of a product, expand your personality, your creative nature in front of your fans.
And remember, people want to buy from people.
Reason 5: You gave up very quickly.
In my opinion, the fifth is the most important reason or mistake. You give up too early and decide that your product is useless. Approximately 85% of the owners of creative online stores, give up very early and quit their job. Yes, I know that the environment affects you. Most likely you constantly hear from your loved ones something like:
- "It has no sense";
- "You will never make money with it";
- "You should rather find a job instead of doing this."
Sounds familiar, right? You are not alone, almost every needlewoman who starts her own business is faced with the fact that the environment does not support her and does not believe in her business. And eventually she stops believing in it, and maybe there is only one step to success.
If you have decided to give up, take another step towards your dream and you will see that it is worth it. Don't throw everything, being so close to making your dream come true. No one knows what success awaits you around the corner. Believe in your job and it will love you back.
With confidence in your success,
Nika Weber
PS: What mistakes did you make while developing your online store? Please share in comments below.