If you could make one tutorial....

[Tiffy Vella]

Imagine you are a merchant, and have the chance to make one tutorial for your customers. What key information would you want your customers to have? What would help to make them happiest...or get the most value from their purchases? What would make your life easier, and their life better?

And customers can answer this too, of course, as customers, if they like :) What have you learnt that you think has been most useful?

[Aveline Stein]

A tutorial that educates customers on how to compare the display weight of mesh clothing and accessories for themselves. There are some very heavy meshes (60000 display weight for rather simple objects) out there in shops already because the creators took shortcuts or didnt optimze the meshes at all.

Mesh has the potential to reduce lag on the grid, but that will only happen if customers are educated enough to make informed choices. For as long as the super heavy meshes are being bought, creators will keep making them i am afraid.

[Pamela Galli]

"How to Send an IM instead of a Notecard"

[Madeliefste Oh]

When I first started selling sculpties with Photoshop files I thought that my objects would be mainly be bought by beginning Photoshopper or Gimpers. But the skills of my customers turned out te be very different, there are customers who have more experience with Photoshop then me, and there are customers who have never touched any graphical program at all.

For the latest group I made a basic Gimp tutorial, that is available on our website. If I could do just one tutorial I would make this one again.

[Tiffy Vella]

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Aveline Stein wrote:

A tutorial that educates customers on how to compare the display weight of mesh clothing and accessories for themselves. There are some very heavy meshes (60000 display weight for rather simple objects) out there in shops already because the creators took shortcuts or didnt optimze the meshes at all.

Mesh has the potential to reduce lag on the grid, but that will only happen if customers are educated enough to make informed choices. For as long as the super heavy meshes are being bought, creators will keep making them i am afraid.

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I have no idea how to do this myself, yet, and know there's lots of catching up to be done on my side. You are right, and I've seen this happen before. Customers become more savvy, and demand that creators do things more efficiently for the grid. Look what's happened with scripts. The result is better for all. It's good stuff.

[Tiffy Vella]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

"How to Send an IM instead of a Notecard"

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Agree. I love IMs, and often answer customers without logging in. Even just to reassure them that I have their message, and will be logging in to help them in X number of hours. I think people have been mis-educated for a long time by profiles proudly claiming how capped they are. They wouldn't be capped if they had IMs going to email.

[Tiffy Vella]

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Madeliefste Oh wrote:

When I first started selling sculpties with Photoshop files I thought that my objects would be mainly be bought by beginning Photoshopper or Gimpers. But the skills of my customers turned out te be very different, there are customers who have more experience with Photoshop then me, and there are customers who have never touched any graphical program at all.

For the latest group I made a basic Gimp tutorial, that is available on our website. If I could do just one tutorial I would make this one again.

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You are good to know your customers so well. Wish I could say the same, but I bump into some in the store, then run away slowly as I don't want to freak them out. You are also good to have a proactive tutorial already available

[Pamela Galli]

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Tiffy Vella wrote:

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Pamela Galli wrote:

"How to Send an IM instead of a Notecard"

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Agree. I love IMs, and often answer customers without logging in. Even just to reassure them that I have their message, and will be logging in to help them in X number of hours. I think people have been mis-educated for a long time by profiles proudly claiming how capped they are. They wouldn't be capped if they had IMs going to email.

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I have thought about renaming my store No Notecards Please. 

[Madeliefste Oh]

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Tiffy Vella wrote:

You are good to know your customers so well. Wish I could say the same, but I bump into some in the store, then run away slowly as I don't want to freak them out. You are also good to have a proactive tutorial already available

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It is very different when you sell to the general shopping public then when you sell to creators. I have a curtain shop and a ladies fashion shop as well. I don't know the customers that buy the products from these shops neither very well. Now and then someone lets you know they love your products and now and then someone complains about a product, but that is only once in a blue moon.

I don't produce anymore for these brands, and I rarely visit the shops, but in the time I was there much more  I was often in doubt about should I let the customers alone to shop, or should I interact with them. Since I as a shopper like to shop on my own without any

interference from the merchant, I often choose for that strategy. I also had periods that I welcomed people in the shop and asked if they were looking for something specific. Some customers really love this personal attention, others tp away as soon as you start talking to them.

In the five years I have these both brands I never got a clear image of who my customers are.

I think its the nature of the products that makes this proces of learning who you customers are a lot more easier for my current brand. My end product is the begin of a new creative proces by other creators, and it happens a lot that I get questions from customers about products. It can be all kind of things from "what font did you use for the jewelry box" to "I want to make an earring from your lantern, is there a nano version available?" Those questions often lead to sponteanous talks, that are both pleasant and bring me a lot of knowledge about my customers.

When I find myself explaining for the fourth or fifth time the same thing to a different customer, it is about time to write a tutorial about the subject. Specially in cases where it is more easy to explain by showing in pictures then explaining inwords. It costs a bit of time to make a tut, but in the long run it saves time, and it is a good service to offer to your customers.

[Ry0ta Exonar]

For me the most frequently asked question by customers is how to get RGB values from the skin for their bits, so I put that info in my pics.

[Pamela Galli]

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Madeliefste Oh wrote:

 

When I find myself explaining for the fourth or fifth time the same thing to a different customer, it is about time to write a tutorial about the subject. Specially in cases where it is more easy to explain by showing in pictures then explaining inwords. It costs a bit of time to make a tut, but in the long run it saves time, and it is a good service to offer to your customers.

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I made a bunch of mini tutorials on basic skills and info, and put them on notecards and in my Picks, but then transferred all this plus Torely vids and pics to my blog.  Now, several times a day I give ppl links to that.

[Sassy Romano]

I would make... A tutorial that shows how get to all the web and video tutorials that I already have available for people to use.

 

 

[Tiffy Vella]

No reinventing the wheel for you!