Remember – reviewers are potential customers too

I’ve debated about writing this post for several months now, but I figured that it just might help someone, so here goes.

I review a lot of products for Sarah’s Surprises and Mystical Beauty’s Musings.

Most of the time I purchase the products myself, but sometimes companies will contact me and ask me if I’d like to review their products.

Sometimes I say yes, and sometimes I say no, and sometimes I ignore them, especially if it’s clear that it’s a mass mailing for a product that has nothing to do with my blog.

Remember I said I have two blogs – I also have two different email addresses for the blog, so if I get the same email at both blogs … I know someone hasn’t done their homework.

I do feel fortunate that I get to review things, but it can cause problems.

Although some bloggers do contact companies and ask them if they can review certain products, I don’t unless the company has stated that they are looking for bloggers to review products that would fit in with my blogs, or unless they’ve emailed me personally with press release information and offered samples.

With that said, I’ve had several companies contact me and ask me to review their products, and then I never hear from them again.

Although this is frustrating to me as a blogger, a few of these companies have been companies that I liked, and was considering purchasing from.

Shoot, I’ve even had some items all picked out from the latest company who said they wanted me to do a review, and then never contacted me again, and I was just waiting until I had enough money in my paypal account to afford it.

As a blogger who lives in the Midwest, and who has pictures of an unbroken backyard thermometer showing -40F, it’s important for me to know when I’m expecting packages.

Delivery people often don’t ring the doorbell or knock, so even if I’m home I don’t always know there is a package outside, so I like to have an idea of when things should be arriving so I can listen out for it.

I’ve actually gotten products to review, and I’ve had to wait for them to thaw out before I could use them.

You never really know if being frozen has affected the product, so I can’t be sure that I’m giving an accurate review for those products either.

I’ve also had at least one package that was lost in the mail, so if someone says that they will send something, then I don’t hear that they’ve sent it, I’m not sure if they’re expecting a review for a product that’s been lost in the mail, or if they’ve just decided that they don’t want a review and forgotten to tell me.

And I hate emailing people to ask them if they sent me something, because I don’t want to sound greedy.

I also always eagerly await all my packages because I love to see what’s in them.

Isn’t that the most fun part of getting something new – opening up the package and finally being able to see and touch the stuff?

Most of the time when I’m asked to review a product, and then I never hear from the company again it’s a small business, who’s asking for a review here on Sarah’s Surprises.

That makes things a little bit more confusing for me as a customer, because I want to support small businesses, but at the same time, if the owner of the company doesn’t have the courtesy or the time to email me and let me know that she’s no longer interested in me doing a review, after she’s contacted me and asked me to do a review, how does that translate to how she treats her customers?

In some cases I do get the feeling that people have only contacted me and asked for a review because they want free publicity – and hey, if you want free publicity and you’re products fit in here, all you have to do is fill out the form at Feature Me! or Interview Me! and I’ll feature you if I think it’s appropriate.

So to make a longer story even longer, remember that reviewers are potential customers too – they might even be actual customers if they have an anonymous blog, or if they use separate email addresses.

Treat them with respect, let them know that you will or won’t be sending them something to review, and check with them to see if it’s ok if they need to sign for it – although I’ve never had to sign for anything.

If somone asks me to review a product, then decides that my blog isn’t a fit for them, or something comes up and they can’t focus on their business, or don’t have time to focus on anything other than packaging orders and making products, that’s fine with me.

All I ask is that you let me know that you won’t be sending me anything, so I won’t be wandering three months from now what happened, and if you’re still expecting me to review a product that you sent and I never got.

And in case you’re wondering – yes, I have purchased items from companies that I only learned about because they asked me to review them.

Have you had your products reviewed on a blog?

How did it go?

Would you purchase from an etailer who had great products, but whom you’d had a problem with in a non-business related way?

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When your customers get their package, do they know who you are, and where to find you?

When your customers get their package, do they know who you are, and where to find you?

I recently bought or received items from several Etsy sellers.

Out of the 4 packages, only one of them had information about the seller and the shop.

The rest of them didn’t have any information at all – and when I say no information, I mean they had the items and the wrapping paper and that’s it.

There was nothing to say who the items were from, there was no invoice to say what the items were, and there was no cute little note saying “Thank you for your purchase.”

I’ll admit, expecting a note is a bit much, but I’ve been spoiled so far when I’ve ordered from etailers – the majority of them have sent me some kind of note saying thank you, even when they didn’t know that I was a blogger.

Since all of the items I bought and received were gifts, the lack of paperwork in the package was very surprising to me.

My husband didn’t tell the seller that the items he bought me were a gift, so she really had no reason to know that they wouldn’t be going to the person who bought them.

Even with that, it would have been nice to have an invoice or something with a web address so that he could find the site again if he wanted to – or so that he could share the card with me or all of the people who saw the plates he bought me and said “How cute!”

I bought three items to send to my mother from three different sellers, and I included a note saying that these were a gift for my mom to each seller.

One of the three sellers asked me if I’d like to include a note to my mom, and double checked to make sure the shipping address that I’d written in Etsy was correct since it was different then my Paypal address. She also told me that she had another item similar to the one I purchased, in case I was interested in it later.

I did not hear from the other two sellers at all, so I was worried that they’d send the packages to me, instead of sending them to my mom, and I breathed a sigh of relief when she called to ask if I’d sent her something.

Since the three items I sent to my mom were housewarming/Mother’s Day gifts, I did tell my mom and dad to be expecting something in the mail, but I didn’t tell them what I was sending them, or where it was from – after all, that would have ruined the surprise.

When my mom got the first package, she called and said, “Did you send me a strawberry trivet? We got one in the mail today, and we’ve been trying to figure out where it came from all day long.”

I felt bad that I caused my parents to worry unnecessarily, but they do love the trivet.

Mom said she’d looked up the name of the person who shipped the trivet, but she couldn’t find any information about her at all – including her Etsy address.

Since I got these items because my Mom was having trouble finding strawberry stuff to go in her new kitchen, and since most people have more than one trivet in their kitchen, the seller really lost a chance to make another sale by not including contact information or repurchasing information in the package.

After the first call Mom figured out that the second mystery item was from me.

She was impressed with the package that included a note from me – she said that made it a lot more special.

To be perfectly honest, my mom didn’t remember which Etsy seller sent their card with the package, so I don’t even know that.

I do think that it would be a great idea to at least send a note out saying thank you for your order, and including a web address on the note if you don’t have a business card.

Although I’m not a huge fan of business cards with ads on them, I think they are definitely better than nothing.

If you can’t afford to help promote your business to people who are already willing to buy from you by spending $15-$20 on business cards, then at least spend the $6 shipping to get free ones, even if it does result in endless calls and emails asking you to buy more.

If you don’t know who I’m talking about leave a comment or email me and I’ll tell you. Like I said, I’m not a fan :-).

If you do have a business card, remember to include it! Even a prewritten “Thank you” in the back of the card is an added personal touch.

Although I’d rather not wait an extra week to get a handwritten note from the owner of the company in my order, I do like the personalized attention when I get a note, and I think most other people do too.

Are you an etailer? If you are do people know who you are and where to find you when they get their package, even if they weren’t the ones who placed the order?

Do you include business cards, an invoice, or a thank you note with your orders?

If you use business cards how have they affected your sales?

Customers, what do you think about packages that don’t come with an invoice or any information?

Leave a comment and let us know.

Why list a web site on your business cards if you don’t have a web site?

As you can imagine, I like going to arts and crafts fairs.

I love to see what different vendors have, and to look at the variety of things there are to offer.

It drives my husband crazy when he goes with me, because I have to stop and look at all the jewelry, and the bath and body products, although I don’t know how much sniffing I’ll be able to do now that I’m pregnant.

In fact, just this weekend, I was asking my husband when the Fargo Street Fair is, so I could figure out how big I’ll be during the fair.

I also like to get ideas for sites and products to feature on Sarah’s Surprises, so I pick up a lot of business cards.

I’m pretty particular about the quality of the web sites that I feature on the blog, and I’m shy, and the jewelry booths are usually pretty busy, so I don’t normally talk to vendors about Sarah’s Surprises until I’m sure they meet my qualifications.

I’ve been surprised at not only how many people don’t have web sites, but at how many people have web addresses listed on their business cards, but don’t really have the site set up.

I found a fabulous artist that I was planning on featuring this weekend, but when I typed in her url – nothing.

There’s no web site.

I couldn’t find her if I tried, and if I was a customer, then she’d lost a sale.

It’s not that difficult to set up a message giving a little information about your store and your products and giving a way for people to contact you if you already have a web site, which I’m assuming you do if you’ve got the site listed on your business cards.

If something’s happened and the site is on your business cards, but there is no site – make a note of it on the card.

That way people who are looking for the site to order, or to share with their friends won’t be disappointed.

I did look up several variations of the url and the business owner’s name for the business I was looking for, and although I found several similarly named businesses, I wasn’t sure if any of them is the one I’m looking for – mainly because the one that was a closest match didn’t have a name or a location for the business, or the business owner, either or which could have helped me decide if this was the right place.

How important is a web site when you are deciding to buy something?

Do you look for specific information, such as shipping and handling prices, and return policies before you purchase?

If you were planning to purchase from online from someone you’d met in real life, who had an incomplete or unprofessional web site, would that affect your decision to buy stuff from them?

Are you more comfortable purchasing from some sites than others?