When you start creating with resin, you’re in the flow, you’re letting your creativity run wild. You start to create better and better items and then one day have the guts to start your own resin business.
We’ve written guidance for you on how to start your own resin business, we’ve written about marketing your resin business, and also about how to make additional earnings alongside your resin business.
Now it’s time to talk about the customer experience.
What do we mean by the customer experience?
We mean the experience a customer has from start to finish of shopping through your epoxy resin business.
If you give your customers a great customer experience then you are more likely to keep those customers and even get repeat sales. It’s always harder to get a new customer than it is to keep a repeat customer, so it’s important to look into the experience you create for your customers and give them the best experience possible.
So how can you do this?
We’d like to share some ways that you can make the customer experience better, feel free to action any of these ideas in your own resin business if you think they’d help:
Covering the basics:
Do you have all of the information available at the click of a button for your customers and how is that information presented?
Offering a great customer experience starts as soon as a customer shows any interest in your resin creations. Whether they are walking into a shop where your work is displayed, or if they’re online looking at your work.
What do they see when they look around your work?
If it’s in person selling your work in a shop, then what is the shop like? What else has it got in there? Is it tidy, clean, is it in a desirable area? Does your work fit with the other items it’s selling?
If you’re selling online, what does your virtual shop look like? This can be your own website, an Etsy page, and even your Instagram feed depending on where virtually you’re selling your work.
Does the platform your using look clean, tidy, user friendly, does it align with your brand, would they type of people who like your work visit it, would they like it aesthetically?
First impressions count, it takes about 3 seconds for the human brain to determine if it likes something or not - You have under 3 seconds to get your customers to enter your store or not.
Once they’re in:
Once your customer is past the initial phase and they are in your shop, or on your website, what experience do they have?
Do you have the capabilities to be on hand to answer any questions they may have? Or if you’re busy at work during the day and you work your resin business in the evenings, do your customers at least get an automatic message letting them know your business hours and when you will be able to reply to them?
If you click on a message during the day, but you can’t respond, do you forget to message back altogether by the time you get home?
A simple tip to not do this is to open and read the message, but then come back out of it, hold over the message and then mark it as unread. This then keeps the message highlighted so that you notice it again when you get home and have time to respond.
Your customers don’t always send a message and expect an instant response, but they do expect a response and you’d be surprised how many small businesses do miss a response. Always messaging your customers back helps to give them a good customer experience, they will feel heard and valued by you.
Also offering this in a shop location is important, its a fine line between welcoming a customer in your shop, and following them around asking if they’d like to buy yet! But it’s a fine line that needs to be met.
Notice they have entered and acknowledge them, say hi, ask them if they need a hand at all or if they’re ok just browsing, then let them know you’re here if they need you.
Don’t just hide in a corner, shy, not saying anything, it’s weird, and not a great customer experience vibe to give out.
Once they’ve picked up an item to buy:
So they’ve either picked up an item to buy, or they virtually have it in their cart. How easy is it for them to add anymore to their cart/shopping basket? Do you have anything else at the till/online checkout that would be of benefit to them that they might also like and want to add to their basket?
If for example they have put in a set of resin coasters to their basket, do you also have a matching tray displayed in person/online they might also like that will finish off their set?
Match items up by need, coasters sometimes need a tray, a cake stand sometimes need a serving platter etc. Having items easily to hand/click for customers shows them that you have thought about their needs.
This is another fine line to master, you don’t want to bombard people with items they don’t need, you simply want to let them know you have other items that may help them to hand, a gentle reminder that you can offer them what they are looking for.
The items in their cart and they’ve clicked/swiped their card to buy:
How easy is it for them to buy? You want the systems in place to be running as efficiently as possible, people can and will click/walk out of a shop at this point if things aren’t easy for them.
Is it one click on your website and then they have the item, does your payment system allow for lots of different cards to be taken so it will definitely accept the one they have, do you offer finance options for larger purchases, does your website crash or work effortlessly through the sales process?
Can they easily enter their details, can they add in a special note for the delivery company? Can they pick a date and time for delivery?
Can they get their item gift wrapped for a special someone in their lives?
All of these small and seemingly insignificant details are what makes a customers experience either good or bad. Every little step adds up to their overall experience, the more effortless you can make the experience for them the better.
After they’ve purchased:
They have paid for their item from you, now how are you going to present it to them if your in a shop situation? Can you neatly wrap it in tissue paper and gently place in a beautiful paper gift bag for them?
If you’re selling online how do you send the item to the customer? Does it come in a beautiful branded box, or a plain eco box with a branded sticker on it?
Is it padded to protect it? Would it withstand the postal service? How is it likely to arrive to the customer?
Did they get a thank you? Can you add in a thank you card, a note of thanks. Maybe even some instructions that explains how to care for your item over time to get the most use from it?
Can you add in a special extra gift, maybe a small make that you also create from resin, or a small chocolate with thanks on the packaging?
Look at your packaging and try to stand out from the crowd, this is a vital impression of your business that they will get when your parcel arrives. This is what they first see which helps them form an idea of who they have just bought from. Think about how your parcel comes across and think how can I make my customer smile when this comes through their door.
Remember you can personalise things, you’re not a massive chain that reproduces items then ships them out in the cheapest packaging, you’re a bespoke choice they have made. Create a bespoke packaging service to match and make them go wow when they open your parcel.
Follow ups:
Once the customer has bought, you might well have collected some of their details, maybe an email address for example. You’re going to want to start a collection, a database of these email addresses to keep in touch with them. If they have given you their details and you have asked them if it’s ok to stay in touch about future products, offerings etc, then this is their permission to do just that.
Always ask their permission, this is part of the customer experience! If you can have a tick box that they can opt into marketing, then this is perfect. If you’re in a shop you can ask them if they’d like to join your mailing list and ask for their email.
If they say no, it’s not a personal rejection, people get millions of emails every day, they’re probably just emailed out, it’s ok for them to say no. let them know it's ok and thank them for their custom and wish them a great day.
Social proof:
Recruit your customers as part of your advertising team!
Obviously you’re not going to run a recruiting campaign at this point, nor are you going to ask them to join your advertising team!
But what you can do is ask them to share their purchase on their social media channels and tag you in, you can then re-share to yours. After replying on their post/stories a thoughtful thank you comment or appreciation.
Kindness and thank you’s go a long way, if they feel valued when they share your work, they are more likely to shout about you from the rooftops and create lots more free advertising for you when they purchase more down the line.
You get your brand further, they get to feel valued, its’ a win win.
This is what you want to create for all customers, mutually beneficial outcomes, with lots of extra giving to them along the way in whatever way you can.
Not all of this is absolutely essential to have in place, you can start a resin business with the very basics and you’ll build up what works for you and your customers over time.
But along the way look at and evaluate the systems you have in place at every step of the customer journey. Take into account, think about and look at:
How can I improve this step for my customers?
How can I overdeliver on this step for my customers?
How can I make my customers smile today?
We’d love to hear what you guys do to give your customers the best experience. Please share if there’s any specific ways in which you make your customer experience better in the comments below this blog.
Team Craft Resin
