Friday, January 25, 2008

TOPIC TALK #1: Packaging and Creative Ways to Good Customer Service



I have been poking around in the forums a bit recently, while at the same time wondering why my Rainbow Heart Crayons had not sold after a week of listing them (the basic shape has been my most sold item). After a shopping trip and several impulse purchases, I found the perfect way to add to these listings without charging a penny more!

I found these wonderful pink and red mailboxes and some cute tissue paper to package with the crayons and voila! I had four sales of Rainbow Crayons today!
This got me thinking... with a little more effort, a lot of sellers items could really take off. Many shops package their items with precision and care, adding that "finishing touch." I was then on my way to discover shops that offered me a little more...

My main inspiration for this article comes from Etsian, Raisinlike, who gives other sellers the opportunity to send her promo items and business cards and coupons to include in a Promo Pack she ships with some of her larger orders. What a cool idea is this?! It is going to be my goal soon to make my business cards and send her samples of my Rainbow Crayons to include!

I then decided to post in the "Crafting and Business" forum asking to see shops who package things in a special way. Here are some of the unique and eye-catching things that I found...

Coonies has special handmade boxes with fun cards.

SarahsSky posted this thread about "New Packaging Photos" and was great to read! She posted a stained glass pendant that had a picture of the box it came with. The silver name plate on the box was a great touch!
Shayaaron promotes their shop through Raisinlike's promo pack with these rings and Moo's.

More Promo Packs...
Stonesandstarling packages her jewelry in these very cute boxes.

Gigglinggoldfish packages her pendants in cute containers, then in a brown box with a label and ribbon. Very well put together in my opinion. The containers for the pendants match the pendants too!

SmellsandBells wraps her soaps individually with cute paper, clearly labeled information, and a unique ribbon tie. 

Sweetgracieforme carries a variety of bath and body products in her shop. This is a sample of her packaging!

MyBotique has new packaging for her products! Sobenarts created the logo and pixelbypixel created the stickers.

Check out these suppliers and Etsy Shops as well!
The Mayberry Sparrow (custom stamps) ETSY
Trails of Paper (Wonderful selection of envelopes, tags, and papers) ETSY

These are all very inspiring to me and I will be posting more as I find them in my hunt. Please add links to your items in the "comments" section if you have a picture or listing to share that might be a great example! I would love to hear feedback as well on what you think about these items I have listed and if you think nice things that "complete" the order are a good thing or a bad thing.

***Thanks to ANORIGINALJEWELRY for her forum thread today. Many of these tips and links were found because of the response.

8 comments:

K said...

Wow....great packaging! My worry till now has always been more like "please don't break" :) but i have to think about something better! These are just great :)

ara133photography said...

These are fabulous ideas!!! Great advice, thank you so much!! I love your crayons :)

Mama Mayborne... said...

I LOVE the pink mailbox. Great idea!!

Jaime said...

What a great read! Thanks for doing a post about it :) Here is what I like to do: I get tons of catalogs in the mail almost every day, and most have pages with beautiful colors and very little or no writing (for example, Restoration Hardware). Before throwing these into the recycling bin, I flip through and tear out the pages that are "pretty." I save them in a box in my shipping area, and then when I'm ready to ship out, I use these sheets as wrapping paper. Also, you know those catalogs that sell linens and towels in pretty colors and they show a picture with all the towels folded up in a big pile (to let you choose the color)? Well, I cut those in strips and use them as a kind of "ribbon" on my catalog wrapping paper. I can't tell you how many people have mentioned the packaging in my feedback! I'm definitely planning to do some kind of promo pack soon - I just LOVE the idea! Maybe we could swap? I think I'm going to order some Moo cards soon (with pictures of my I Spy Bags), and my little "treasure" that I send out will be a sample of the vintage-look stickers I sell.

Oh, and I love your crayons, too. My mom got some for me (for my kids) before I was even an Etsy member!

The Bookish Life said...

the mailbox packaging is great and I love the crayons!

Graceful Babies said...

nice ideas! I have been toying with an idea to send my packages but your is wonderful!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome information - thanks!!!

artangel said...

Great post Nicole! Your pink packaging is very pretty - am sure your customers are delighted to receive your parcels!
Angie

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