Marketing Tip - What Else Can You Put in Your Package to Increase Your Sales?

Always put some kind of additional marketing material in your package. A personal thank you note is nice, business cards if you have them, a post card, or even just your website address or the link to your ABOUT ME page on Ebay on the packing slip.

Always thank the customer and ask them to view your website or auctions again. So many packages I receive have nothing but the item in the package. No packing slip, no letter, card or anything! Does this encourage me to go back and shop with that business or seller again? Nope. It shows me they tossed my item in a box and shipped it out.

Marketing material in the box shows me they want my business again – that they have other things they’d like to sell to me.

A thank you note shows they are appreciative.

A business card shows they wish me to remember who they are and how to locate them again.

A packing slip or receipt shows me they care enough to be organized and efficient.

I’ve discovered just by asking my buyers to return and shop with me again, that many of them do come back. In the package, always give that buyer a way to find you again.

In my packages, I put postcards and business cards advertising a variety of my different businesses. On the front of the postcard are photos of some of my items. On the back is a small paragraph about my items, as well as links to my website.

I don’t address the postcard – I do this on purpose. This way, the buyer can keep the card (which has those visual images of what type of things I sell on it) or the buyer can actually mail the card to a friend or family member and put a personal note on it. This gets the card seen not only by the recipient, but also by every postal worker who handles it in transit. I get my postcards made by Vista Print (see link in the sidebar of this blog). Their prices are very reasonable – they do a great job working right with photos you send them. They are prompt and professional and I’ve been using their products for years. They also offer business cards, brochures, flyers and more.

InJoy,
Jai
Author of Marketing Miracle Phrases

Marketing Tip - Put a packing slip in your package

This is a simple thing to do if you are using Paypal, as they give you an option to print one for every order. If you’re not using Paypal or a software which prints a packing slip for you, then you can make up a slip on your word processor and just change the information each time. But DO include one. A packing slip enables the buyer to make sure the order is correct. It adds to the professionalism.

On your packing slip, have your business name, address, email address, and website address for quick reference should your buyer wish to order from you again. Also, it's a wonderful touch to add a personal, handwritten note on your packing slip. Because of the widespread use of computers for everything, it's easy to forget personal touches. Adding a handwritten "thank you" and signing your name on the packing slip shows your buyer you care about them enough to make that extra effort.

InJoy,
Jai
Author of Marketing Miracle Phrases

Marketing Tip - (for Ebayers) How You Communicate Within Your Listings

This tip is specifically written for those who sell on Ebay, but can apply to other situations as well:

Communicating in a decent manner within your listing and in your terms is just as important as communicating with buyers in a professional, kind and courteous way via email.

Buyers turn away from auctions with words written such as this: I DON’T TAKE PAYPAL SO DON’T EVEN ASK!!!!!!!!! Even such comments as this are taken as rudeness: “DUE TO THE INCREASE OF NON PAYING BIDDERS IF PAYMENT IS NOT RECEIVED IN 10 DAYS, NEGATIVE FEEDBACK WILL BE POSTED AND ITEM RELISTED!!!” Once you become a seasoned seller, you understand that this type of statement makes no difference – if someone is going to be a non-paying bidder, they're going to anyway, whether you said anything about it or not.

I did a search for “non paying bidders” in sellers' description text – can you guess how many listings came up which use those words? Not 1,000 – not 2,000, not even only 3,000 – are you ready for this? In 2002, the search for those words yielded 59,315 items found which included the words "non paying bidders" within the text. A new search performed today yielded 354,539 listings. Phew.

Is it just me, or do others see those words as being a turn-off? It has always been a turn-off for me, and still is. It just puts a negative "taste" into the whole thing.

Now not all of the comments are quite as bold as the one above – and some are actually quite worse! But the point is, it doesn't matter. These people are made aware of the rules when they sign onto Ebay – if they don’t care about it then, they won’t care about it when they get to your auction. The point is, those words and others can turn off potential GOOD bidders. I never, ever, ever bid on any auction where the seller comes across as being nasty.

Basically, if you just state in your terms what you WILL do, and leave out the comments about what you WON’T do (or about how you're going to make their life so miserable if they "disobey" you), you’ll be in fine shape. Save your details about what you do as far as non-payment for your invoice, rather than placing them in your auction listing, and you’ll get more bids. If you insist on putting something in the auction itself regarding non-payment, it can be worded in a very nice way – simple and sweet: “Payment reminders are automatically sent from Ebay on the 8th day if payment has not been received, and we are under no obligation to hold your item for you after that time - however, if there are special circumstances, and you communicate with us, we always try to oblige!”

InJoy,

Jai

Author of Marketing Miracle Phrases

Marketing Tip - How You Communicate Can Improve Your Sales

Paying attention to how you communicate with potential customers who write you with questions can definitely affect the outcome of your sales.

First, use complete sentences in your reply, with your name signed at the bottom of every response. This indicates a professionalism which puts you above John Q. Seller on the next website the customer may visit.

Second, always, always, always be friendly - and always say thank you. It's easy to say thank you when a visitor to our website writes expressing a compliment. However, even if a potential buyer emails you a question, be SURE to tell them “thank you for writing” at the end of your response.

Third, answer all buyer questions, no matter how silly they might seem. I get questions frequently about the measurements of an item, when the measurements are clearly in the ad for the item. This can be frustrating, but in the end it pays to just answer the questions – it shows you are there, online, available and corresponding in a nice way. Many times buyers will write just to see if they'll get a response – they don’t want to deal with someone who is going to disappear next week! They'll write with a small question just to see if and when you will reply. (I've done this myself!)

Fourth, when you do reply to a customer’s question, always include the item link within your reply email…this makes it easy for them to “click and buy” your product or service right away.

InJoy,
Jai
Author of Marketing Miracle Phrases

Web Design Tip - How to run buyers off of your website

Fancy backgrounds. Simply put - leave out fancy backgrounds – these are very distracting. Busy, cluttered backgrounds take away from the images of the item you are selling and the text describing your product or service. Also, leave out music and moving graphics, and forget about those cutesy “cursor” graphics, you know the kind which have butterflies or something that moves around with your mouse? These often can cause a browser crash. It’s a good way to turn off buyers. You want to bring buyers in, and you certainly don’t want some music or moving graphics to crash their browser before they can even LOOK, do you?

These things might be fine for personal pages, but for websites intending to sell a product or service, they can actually hurt your business.

Also, huge fonts and fonts in neon bright colors are hard on the eyes. And red backgrounds...sigh. I've seen at least 5 websites in the last day which had these bright red backgrounds. Red is a high energy color. It's too high energy to be THAT prevelant on the page (as an entire background). It will make your potential customers get up to move around...red creates energy. So if you want them to stay on your site, limit your use of red to a few accents when you want something to stand out.

InJoy,
Jai
Author of Marketing Miracle Phrases

Marketing Tip - Share testimonials about your product/service

Share testimonials about your product or service if you have them. (if you don't have them, ask your customers for feedback!) Ebay sellers have the feedback area which shares customer responses and testimonials. If you're selling on Ebay, it's a good idea to place some testimonials within your listing. If you're selling something from your own website, it's good to place some testimonials in key places throughout your website. It's a known fact, people make decisions based on what others before them have done. If your potential customer sees what others think of your product or service, they feel safer in completing a transaction with you. Reading a testimonial can often get a customer off the fence when they really like what you're offering, but aren't sure whether they're ready to make the ultimate decision to buy.

InJoy,
Jai
Author of Marketing Miracle Phrases

The books are here!

Woohoo! My copies of the print version of my book Marketing Miracle Phrases are now in my hands! I LOVE IT! The book is the perfect size (5.5x8.5) and the spiral binding was the perfect choice for ease of use. It's on my desk and ready to go! There's nothing like this little book out there - and now it can be yours, to assist in writing stellar ads for your product and/or service. Marketing Miracle Phrases will awaken your creativity, create more interest in what you're selling, and make your ads stand out from the millions of others out there. It is a book you will use time and time again, and it's a book that will help those who are short on time but still need to create fabulous ads. See for yourself today - go to http://www.marketingmiraclephrases.com/ to order your personal copy.

Injoy,

Jai

P.S. Marketing Tips will resume being posted on Wed, Dec 26.