Can You Make Things Easier and Quicker?

When it comes to being able to make a purchase and complete a transaction, simpler is better. The easier and quicker you can make it for your customer, the greater the chance they will go through with a purchase.

How much effort do your customers have to go through in order to purchase your handmade items? Take a look at the steps and see which ones can be made easier.

Purchasing – How many steps does someone have to go through in order to make a purchase? Does everyone have to contact you at least once or can the majority of people buy something with just a couple clicks? Do they have to register with your site and set up a password first or can they just put in their payment info?

Choosing options - Can people easily select color and size options on your site or do they have to contact you first? The ideal situation is to have pull down menus with check boxes for each option. A more time consuming but still effective way to do this is to have separate listings for each color or size.

Shipping – Are you offering flat rate or free shipping or does someone have to enter in their zip to get a quote? Make it easy, either include the shipping in the price of your items or have a clear flat rate right next to the price so someone will not have to click away to see what your rates are.

Offer Ready Made Pieces – Even if you build everything to order and mainly want to do custom pieces, offer some items that can be purchased as shown. Many people have trouble visualizing and the majority of people will want to purchase something that is already designed and figured out.

There are also the customers that simply need something right away. Time is more important than the actual design. Not everyone is willing to wait and help to create the perfect design when something you have ready to ship is close enough.

This is also true in the case of seasonal and holiday inspired designs. The majority of people do not plan ahead and will not think to contact you in advance to get something made in time.

There will also be a large number of people that simply do not want to go through a process of going back and forth with you to create a custom design.

Photos – Visualizing the scale of an item, even when the dimensions are listed, can be difficult. Try to include at least one photo of your handmade item either installed, being worn, or hung on the wall in relation to some furnishings. For smaller items, use coins or a ruler in the photo so people can really visualize the true size.

Show the Variations – Showing something in red and then only giving the color swatches for a few other colors is not nearly as effective in making a sale as actually showing a finished item in each of the colors.

Show Finished Pieces – Renditions may work for totally custom pieces, but people will need to see exactly what something looks like in just about every other case. Finished pieces also show and prove the quality of your items. People really need to see very similar examples of how their particular piece will turn out.

Give Ballpark Prices – If possible, give a price range or even a list of added costs when different options are selected. That way people will not have to go through the effort and waiting involved in emailing you just to see if your item is going to be within their budget.

You will also have a greater likelihood of making a sale since you are probably not able to instantly respond to all emails and some people are impatient.

How can you make the process of purchasing your handmade items simpler?

Richard Walker

Tags: photos, pricing, shipping rates, transaction