[Music]
hey guys welcome back to marketing food
online it's Damien and then again again
you guys are having a great day I do
hope I know that I am I want to get into
eight eight reasons why your Etsy shop
may not be selling products and what you
can do to fix that specifically here on
marketing food online we discuss product
development for food products but of
course many of these techniques and
information can be applied to any type
of product and let's get started
[Music]
alright guys so here we go so I'm gonna
go over eight reasons I'm gonna go eight
different things that you really need to
address it potentially could be holding
you back from making sales on your Etsy
store just a little rundown I've been on
Etsy myself for 11 years have sold over
150 plus thousand dollars worth of baked
goods and candies that my wife and I do
make in our commercially licensed
facility we ship all over the world we
have been fortunate enough to ship to 15
countries and Counting just on Etsy
alone we have six stores online and we
have created nearly 400 handmade items
that we produce out of our shop and we
ship everywhere so I want to get into
what I've learned kind of over the years
when I first started I knew nothing
about Etsy I didn't know much of
anything about tips and tricks and such
it was really just a hit or miss and
kind of learn as you go and I've learned
as an entrepreneur that that's really
the best way to be you need to just
simply make a decision go with it and
then see where it falls and then pick up
from there and find another better way
of doing it or stick to the way you are
doing it if it is working for you so I
started marketing foot online with the
idea of basically helping those who are
looking to get into the food business if
it happens to be locally in the cottage
food business I can explain to you how
that works and getting into how you can
get online and of course selling on
Amazon Etsy eBay and all the big sites
as well as creating your own website and
getting your food out there so I'm gonna
go over really quick these eight topics
these eight different things and as
always if you guys have questions or any
any anything that pumps to mind you want
to ask me let me know you can always
email me of course at marketing food
online at yahoo.com or check us out of
course on our YouTube channel and let's
get into it now this is one I'm going to
start off with what of course this is
just a my own opinion the number one
most important thing and I know that
there's a lot of sellers on all kinds of
platforms no matter where it may be but
more specifically about Etsy that they
don't I don't want to say they don't
take it seriously but they don't take it
in a sense of professionalism then
setting up a store policy page okay when
you lay out a really
good refund and return policy let's say
as part of your store policies most of
the consumers or customers will come to
your shop will feel more comfortable
buying a product from you when you have
an established return policy that's like
first and foremost front and center one
of the best ways to attract a customer
and to get them to trust you because
that's is the biggest challenge with
e-commerce of any kind no matter what
you're selling is actually getting the
trust of the customer to therefore move
move forward and make a purchase with
you and pay you for a product or service
is always getting them to trust you so
establishing a policy and you know you
don't have to you don't necessarily need
to make it like you know a 400 page
documentary of any kind just simply
explain to them hey at the end of the
day we make our stuff to order if it's a
handmade product or if it happens to be
something that you're reselling we stand
by what we what we will be make and what
we sell and for any reason hey you know
what you're not happy just return it to
us and we'll refund it or we can
substitute it and give you another item
in its place at the end of the day we
want you to be happy with the purchase
and the product and that's what we do
that's why we are in business and that's
that's honestly the gist of it if you
want to keep it short and sweet and make
it as powerful as you can and as strong
as you can by just doing that just say
look what we stand by what we do if you
don't like it for any reason or if it
happens to arrive damage will be happy
to resend another one or we give you a
refund plain and simple
a lot of you'll notice a lot of the
big-box retailers pretty much have a
return policy the same now of course
they are much bigger and of course they
can return millions of transactions a
week because they have those types of
funds available of course and they're a
huge huge huge business I understand
that but if you are a small startup and
let's say you had 20 transactions in a
week and you had to return two of them
by chance or even one don't look at that
as a problem look at it as a way that
you could build trust with that customer
I personally have had customers over the
years we've done hundreds of thousands
of transactions and the the two or three
transactions here were there that get
damaged or I have to refund I don't
hesitate
I don't even blink an eye I just refund
the money and say look I'd be more than
happy to I'm looking to make the
customer happy
so they can come back in another time in
and buy some more products from us and
that's the way you need to look at it
and because it's gonna happen it's not
something that you can get around or
it's never gonna you're never going to
encounter that that's not how it works
being on ecommerce is something that
you're gonna have just very similar
situations as you do in retail
brick-and-mortar and not every customer
is gonna be happy with the product or
not every customer is gonna get it and
it's not damaged things happen just make
it right and move on don't sweat it
really so the other thing is the payment
options now when you open up your Etsy
shop there's a lot of different ways
that you can accept payments okay and
that's up to you to determine when you
establish your shop is to make sure that
you have as many possible payment
options that are given to you by Etsy
for your customer to buy the the product
from make sure that you're signed up for
each and every one of them of course
PayPal one of them they quit too
accepting credit cards and such direct
checkout as it's called the direct
payment options make sure that all of
those that are possible that are
available that could possibly be used
are being used because the more more
variety you give your customer in
regards to checkout it makes it easier
for them to choose and pick figure out
what's best for them at that very moment
and that is what you really really want
you want as many options as possible and
you want your customer to be back if
they know that they have the ability to
pay with a lot of different ways okay
all right other thing is yes so youyou
may not you may or may not know but
email lists are huge have become very
powerful over the past several years
because of email marketing and the
ability to keep in touch with the
customers who come to you because if
they come to you the first time and they
buy something then they're there for a
reason okay so what you're looking to do
is you want to accumulate an email list
because that is going to give you an
opportunity to email those customers on
a regular basis
and let them know hey you know what I
got a new a new sale going on it's only
for a week or two take advantage of it
I've got some new products coming out
they're gonna be out let's say August
10th you know to two or three days from
now they're gonna be available you know
that that constant communication
staying connected to your existing
customers builds lifelong brand
following customers who will be back for
your product or service over and over
and over and that's what you really want
it's great to attract new customers but
it's better to maintain the customers
that you have and have them come back
over and over because those are gonna be
the ones by the way just from experience
again they're gonna be the ones who tell
their friends and their friends are
gonna be like they're gonna email you
and say oh my gosh I had these that my
friend who bought these from me we had a
party there fantastic I would love to
know where can I get some so maintaining
an email list is is crucial it's just
it's just at the end of the day it's
like it's like the blood the the
lifeblood of any business aside from
cash flow to make sure that you've got
you have a list that you can keep in
constant connection with okay so another
one is going to be this is always a
challenge when you're when you're just
starting out this has always been a
challenge and I noticed this whenever I
first started getting reviews getting
your customers to review your product
and of course you're looking to have a
positive interaction but that doesn't
happen all the time
I can attest that does not happen all
the time but customer reviews are really
crucial for your business to grow why
are they important because the future
purchasers or the future customers who
purchase products from you are going to
look to those reviews if they've never
bought from you if they've never tasted
anything they've never had anything
they're going to be the ones who look
you know what 5 star 2 star 3 star 1
star why did they get the stars that
they did get and they're gonna take a
look at the reviews so and I know
there's a lot of kind of I don't say
shady ways but there are certain ways
that you can when you first start out
you can get family and friends to buy
things from you and and do that type of
thing and and kind of help you along the
way in a sense I actually never did use
that I actually personally just opened
my shop and the first couple of
customers who bought stuff from me I
went like above and beyond I just maxed
out my service to them I had the product
arrive on time I did everything I could
to make sure to ride perfectly and if
there was a problem I hopped on that
complaint immediately resolved it and
took care of the customer and then moved
on so that is really the best way to do
what I would not recommend necessarily
bribing people are getting people to
leave your reviews it's not a way to
really honestly do your business but
down the road you'll definitely get your
reviews and you can get up and running
but it's always of course tricky excuse
me
tricky at first to get those first
couple or even those first few reviews
now the next thing maybe kind of odd
this is kind of odd in the sense that
you may may be thinking well I'm in
business to make money
why would this be an issue prices are
too low okay
sometimes people set their prices too
low and there's a psychological effect
to this this is a this is a psychology
issue it's really when a customer comes
to your shop and I'll explain if they
see that you offer a product that's
similar to other items and let's just do
a hypothetical that you have across the
board it's a thirty dollar item
everybody else that sells something
similar is selling it for 30 but you're
selling it for 15 okay your prices can
lead to a customer assuming that the
quality of the product is it may be the
same product it may be similar but the
quality of it is something that if the
guys selling it for 15 bucks there's got
to be something wrong with it that type
of thinking if you're looking to sell a
product and there's multiple people
selling it okay exactly the same thing
right and it's very good likelihood your
supplier is probably going to be the
same as the others I would recommend if
you had it as a hypothetical we had a
$30 product I would go to $27.99 okay
keep your price point if you want to and
you can afford it I mean in a sense that
you don't want to cut into your margins
but if you can afford to put it just a
couple of dollars below your competitors
to get the ball rolling at least to get
people buying and getting your feedback
you get to get up things up and running
just go a couple dollars below you don't
need to cut it in half you don't need to
do something dramatic just go a little
bit below because the psychology of
added thinking of the consumer is gonna
be like wow this guy's got the same
product as everybody else but I could
save a couple bucks on this and he's got
free shipping well that's fantastic you
know what I'm gonna go with this one and
I'm gonna buy it
that's how most consumers do it I could
say you're working in retail the
brick-and-mortar business I was in there
for 27 years 28 years
and I was a supervisor at a retail
establishment for quite some time I can
tell you that customers think that way
if prices are way too too low people are
gonna be skeptical they're not gonna
want to put their money down even if
it's exact same product it's kind of odd
but it's just how it is okay so next
moving on to the next one
photos and I'm going to talk a little
bit right here about specifically about
why when you're selling food photography
is I've always stressed this is of the
utmost important now good photography
for any product is important my own
opinion when it comes to food you gotta
have close-up really almost I want to
say delicious looking images the reason
why I say that is that anybody could
take a picture of a USB cable or a
laptop it's boring you put it on a table
you make the lighting you take a photo
it is what it is in the description you
explain that it's got this processor
this such memory blah blah blah blah
well when it comes to food if you wanted
to distinguish yourself you want to set
yourself apart from other people's food
products that may be similar to yours or
if you're on Etsy you know and you're
trying to sell let's say chocolate chip
cookies and there's a hundred people
selling them if that's your thing if
that's what you want to sell make those
pictures create the customer almost
salivating and can't wait to buy your
product close-up images images that show
texture that show the the flavor in a
sense visually those are images that you
need to have you need to get up on the
product you close to it don't distract
it with a whole bunch of stuff around if
it happens to be cookies take a picture
of the cookies nobody needs to see all
the counter space the shelving in the
back they don't want to see your oven
none of that stuff just take a picture
of the product and that way it's gonna
allow the customer to see what they're
getting then also take a picture of how
it's packaged
how is it actually going to be shipped
why is this important I can again tell
you from experience I learned this
pretty fast
when I started out is that when I
shipped the product out I didn't have
initially had pictures of the packaging
some people wanted to get the product as
a gift so they thought they thought they
assumed that it was dressed up in fancy
when it really wasn't so that created
some issues so basically spell it out
visually for your customer
from beginning to end what is the
product looked like how is it packaged
and and then fill up as many no matter
what platform you're on fill up as many
possible images as you can okay if
you're allowed ten images put ten images
if you have to even duplicate some of
the images and post them twice on there
do it do it why that's a that is an
issue for SEO and search engine
optimization and a whole bunch other
things which I'm not gonna get into now
so lastly let me see what else we got
here and losing track I'm checking to
look at my notes we also lastly when we
want to look at is your descriptions
okay specific descriptions with words
that can drive a customer again to
salivate over your food product words
that are like crunchy salty sweet filled
with gooey caramel bursting with flavor
these are the types of words you need to
do you need to spell out for your
customer not every consumer has a great
imagination and that's fine you need to
fill that imagination with the words
that you put in the description okay
can't just say chocolate chip cookies
you get 12 of them it's fantastic you
want to tell them it made with brown
sugar melts in your mouth
chewy delicious and gooey chocolate chip
you see what I'm saying you can go
through something like that where you're
very descriptive because that along with
those images I just told you about are
going to sell your product so with that
being said I'm gonna wrap it up really
quick here if this was helpful as always
please do give me a big thumbs up if you
have any questions let me know I
definitely appreciate you guys taking
the time to listen and let me know down
below in the description if you guys
want to talk about anything else on this
topic I've got a handful of new videos
also that are gonna talk to you about
different platforms of aside from Etsy
in regards to getting your food product
out there so I will see you guys on the
next podcast
take care
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