How to Use Your Website to Encourage Custom Orders (and How to Get Your Customers There From Your Shop)

Most of my clients have extensive product lines, but they all really want to know one thing…

Lollipop Trees Autumn by Eloise Renouf

…how to get more custom orders.

Some clients are inspired by making custom jewelry sets for brides, while others want to be making shirts with squids on them. Some of them just want to be able to sell bigger paintings, and feel like using a third party shop sets an unspoken price limit.

If any of this sounds like you, read on! Today I’m going to give you some tips to encourage people to make customer orders, and help explain why someone does or doesn’t go the custom route.

1. Third party store sites (like Etsy, Artfire, etc) are a great traffic funnel.

Marketers (and copywriters) talk about funnels all the time. This sounds really nasty but is really just a shorthand way of talking about getting internet traffic from point A to point B. I’ve talked about creating pathways here before, and this is just a bigger extension of that. Your store can be the start of a larger pathway, and as the customer moves down the path, they are more likely to make custom orders or spend larger amounts of money on your stuff.

2. But, you really need your own website too.

This is because many people are wary of buying from someone they don’t know, or just Etsy sellers in general. Getting your own website (even if it’s a basic one page website) makes you look like you have a larger structure supporting your business.

In addition to reassuring people, most third party store sites aren’t set up well for things like custom orders. Most custom orders come from the seller and the buyer getting to know each other and communicating extensively, and that just can’t happen in a convo on Etsy very well. On your own website, you can provide phone numbers, answer frequently asked questions, and even post friendly looking pictures of your dog lounging in your workshop on your blog. All of these make people more likely to ask you to make them a custom piece.

3. Your own website can simplify the final transaction.

This past Christmas, my mom wanted to buy me a vintage dress from Etsy. She tried to do it, but she just couldn’t. Etsy wouldn’t confirm her credit card (she’d made an account in the past and didn’t remember it), and the process was just too hard for someone who was scared of technology anyway. She ended up giving me a check so I could buy it myself.

A fair amount of your customers will be like my mother. If you can, make a page on your site and explain the process of making a custom order. Tell them what buttons to push and when, and let them know what to expect throughout the entire process. Tell them what page they will go to when they click the buy button so they know they are in the right place. These steps will help everyone get through the transaction successfully, and your customers will appreciate the fact that you were thinking of them before they bought from you.

If you don’t know whether your e-commerce system or your store is easy to use, find a friend or relative who isn’t as good with the Internet and ask them to go through the process. See where they get stuck, and find out where they would have given up on the transaction. This will help you simplify your sales process.

4. Show off your past custom orders.

Your blog is a great place to do this. You can put up a series of pictures that show the process you went through to make the item and weave in a testimonial from your happy new customer. This works especially well if you’re looking to get into something that is a little more out there, like squid paintings.

However you decide to show off your work, make sure that your blog and your website are in the same place. When people leave your store site, they will want to stay and look around your personal site. Unfortunately, if you have a blog at yet a third URL, they probably won’t make the leap to get there. This means that you’re losing out on a big marketing opportunity by not merging your blog and your website.

If you’ve got any more questions about how to promote custom orders, leave them in the comments! I’ll come back through and answer them.

Holly Jackson is the owner of Cottage Copy, a copywriting boutique.  She lives in Mississippi with an artist, two dogs, and a whole bunch of mystery novels.

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