An interesting observation/theory on Word of Mouth sales

[Chelsea Malibu]

I keep fairly granular statistics on my sales and track customers to what they get and their patterns of preferences as well as the object sales overall.

I was reviewing some reports I ran and found something very interesting.  I have a lot of inventory in my store and I don't have many items that I would call "best sellers" as everything sells pretty much at the same level.  Often an item wont get sold for weeks or even months which is fine since I designed my inventory to accommodate a wide variety of taste and styles.

However, I have observed a very compelling pattern in things I sell.  Often when an item sells, it is followed up briefly by one or two more sales of the same item.  With hundred of things for sale in my store, to have one items randomly sell for a short time then not again for some time, I can only assume that these sales are often followed by a friend of the first buyer, seeing that item where they then come to get one for themselves.

If this is the case, which I believe it is, then the more I have out in the world, the more people will see it and the more "right click" traffic I can generate from that object meaning that my best sales tool is in fact my products when on display somewhere.

I am curious to see if this pattern has been observed by anyone else.

 

[WADE1 Jya]

Yeah Chelsea, I see these same patterns happen too!

I get people contacting me directly from right-clicking something inworld. They see my name on it & wanna know where they can buy it.

Sometimes customers bring it to my attention when they are back for a return shopping visit and they tell me they told some friends about my place, sometimes they have their friends right with them... always I am very grateful for that

I think it can be the service you provide just as much as (or even moreso than) the products that they fall in love with too. Since you are paying such close "granular" attention you are probably catching every little thing you can do to assist your customers.... & they notice that extra effort!

[Chelsea Malibu]

That would actually create a good argument for more copyable products and/or freebies that represent your line well. (not just some garbage freebie that would never sell).  Just to get more products out there for people to see though it's a little hard to find a sim without one of my creations on it somewhere but they often tend to get tucked away.

However, what I do find odd is that my freebies rarely generate return buyers.  I have a few in my store and they are well made items.  I make gifts that I give out to my group as well as good customers when they make large purchases.  I change these often and when I make a new gift, I use my old ones as freebies.

I also track who got those freebies and almost never do they convert to a sale though I do see customers pick up freebies, it's more often than not, after they bought something else.

LOL, this has got my mind reeling now on ideas. :matte-motes-big-grin-wink:

[Catwise Yoshikawa]

Notice same pattern here, but thought was because the "What Customers are Buying Now:" on front page ^^'

[WADE1 Jya]

I was gonna mention that Catwise... I've thought that too a bit & maybe sometimes it is the case -- for the times where several sales come in a rapidfire cluster -- from a product that usually sells rarely, that may be due to "What customers are buying now".

But I think marketplace search has too much amnesia to boost a selling item's popularity for more than a few minutes - if a bump up lasts for days or weeks that probably means you're getting some good word of mouth spread

[Chelsea Malibu]

Yes but, these are my in store sales studies, not the MP.  MP has similar patterns but not as prominent.  However, my in world store outsells my MP store by about 500%.which would give me much more data to work with.

[Madeliefste Oh]

I don't have one best seller either. I have some products that sell all the time, I have some products that sell just now and then, and then like you  I have a range of products that  goes slow for months and then suddenly there is a periode they go as hot buns.

Since my sales comes 80% from the marketplace, I think it has more to do with visibility on the marketplace. Once it gets a certain degree of visibility the selling is growing. And sometimes for undeclarable reasons it sinks back again, and other one becomes temporary more populair.

It might be a bit word of mouth, but in general creators are not very eager to reveal their sources to others. When my objects come in world they are part of a new creation and don't carry my name any longer.  So they don't advertise for me, but for my customers. Thus in my case it can not be what causes this sudden hype for one of the items.


Freebies to stimulate sales have never worked for me, in non of my brands.  What I observe is that shoppers and freebie hunters are different categories of customers. There is just a very small overlap in these groups. The overlap is people who are already shoppers and pick up a good freebie now and then,  people who participate in organised hunts to discover small shops they never have heard of before, and people who are on the edge between freebie buyer and paying customer.

I don't have any hard figures, but my guess is that 99,9 % of the freebie shoppers is never going to spend any dime in SL.  And the 0,1% that becomes a paying customer has hunt so many freebies that your name is already burried in the big pile of presents, and will never pop up again.

From what I have observed from freebie shoppers is that there are two main categories:
One group is starters in SL. Hunting freebies gives people something to do in SL, styling your avatar with freebies is a part of proces of getting used to SL. It can also be a way to make friends, people help each other with hunting, they form couples or small groups.
Some of them might one day become a paying customer (most of the time not your costumer), but the majority of them has left SL before they come to the point to make this decission.

The other group is one who has 'freeb' as lifestyle. They don't have money to spend in SL, or they don't want to spend money in SL (or more in general online), or they are principal against commerce in SL. For them it is a sport to live in SL without spending, and they take pride in their freeb lifestyle. This group will never become your paying customer, no matter how you try to attempt them.

I think you will profit most from the overlap between freebiehunter and paying costumers when  your brand is positioned there on the market to be attractive for the beginning spender. Your brand must be visual attractive, a bit more stylish in its own category then the average shop and offer very affordable prices. 

[Ceera Murakami]

There's that, and there's also the follow-up sales caused by someone with several alts that buys something, likes it, and wants all their alts to have it too. For example, I have several "Ceera" accounts. If I see a dress that I like, and buy it for Ceera Murakami, I am quite likely to come back as Ceera Kitsune and maybe as Ceera Magic rf as 'Ceera Resident' and buy more of the same dress. Or to buy similar items but with different colors.

[Madeliefste Oh]

I'm sure there is another kind of spin-off as well, that is no such much word of mouth, but more 'picture to eye'. For example an avatar very active on Flickr makes a photo shoot of a model in a dress from X. In one of the pictures you see the model in the dress and in the background one of your chandeliers.

Now this Flickr account has 800 followers. One of them asks in the comments by the picture 'where is that lamp from'? Or this picture with your lamp in it is choosen by another Flickr group  as the picture of the week...
Flickr is just one example of how communities gather around visual input and where products can pop up in pictures and cause spin-off in your sales.

[Chelsea Malibu]

I've been to your store and it shows very well and is very laid out. However, I do see where the MP would be better for you as a builder who needs what you have more then likely doesn't want to have to run around and find it.

On the freebies, I will always be perplexed.  I don't advertise freebies and I don't make them obvious. My sim is only me and I have no shared traffic which is always odd when someone pops in, picks up a freebie then leaves without buying anything else.

This is what I love best about SL. Learning the buying patterns of people in the Virtual World.  Don't you feel like we are pioneering into an area that no one knows and in years to come, we will be the experts on this?

[Anaiya Arnold]

Freebie hunting can make a mess of inventories.  I think some people use an alt for going around picking up and trying out freebies, but then might return with their main when it's time to actually buy something.

[Madeliefste Oh]

Thanks for visiting my store, and thanks for the compliment.

I do feel we are pioneering. But I think we are already experts, that is to say in our own little corner of the virtual market. Sometimes I think I have a rather good picture of customer behaviour and marketing in SL, and then sometimes I hear people talking or see things happen and I think: I still have no clue about the secrets of a virtual economy.

But what is a kind of obstacle, of so you will challenge, for becoming an expert is that things often change in SL. For example you did get a lot of expertise on how to make your merchandise visible in search, and search is changed. You find out how to advertise in the most profitale way for your brand on Xstreet, and LL changes the system to the marketplace. And you must start again by trial and error finding the best method to give your brand visibility.
Or you finally have settled your brand on a nice homestead and LL raises the price with an extra ordinary amount.

And every time you must be flexible to these changes. It's often a matter of adept or die.

Those kind of thing will happen in the future as well.
For example the function of in world groups might change with the new network system LL is implementing. People who have invested years in building up a group or groups might find negative effects from this. Then you can have a lot of expertise on 'how to grow my group' but if the system no longer support the current form of groups, you must be flexible to translate your expertise to the new system. Adapt or die. (I don't know enough yet about this new system to predict the influence it will have on SL groups, I was just thinking of an example of something that might happen).

Mesh is a change that will influence the market as well. Some will win customers because of mesh, some will loose customers because of mesh.

I think it is very important to stay informed about changes and to be flexible enough to use the expertise you already have to do what is best for your enterprise in a changing world. Because some knowlegde you have gained can be worthless tomorrow, but other knowledge you have gained will still be usefull in ten years. 

 



[Mylar]

 

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Madeliefste Oh wrote:

Thanks for visiting my store, and thanks for the compliment.

I do feel we are pioneering. But I think we are already experts, that is to say in our own little corner of the virtual market. Sometimes I think I have a rather good picture of customer behaviour and marketing in SL, and then sometimes I hear people talking or see things happen and I think: I still have no clue about the secrets of a virtual economy.

But what is a kind of obstacle, of so you will challenge, for becoming an expert is that things often change in SL. For example you did get a lot of expertise on how to make your merchandise visible in search, and search is changed. You find out how to advertise in the most profitale way for your brand on Xstreet, and LL changes the system to the marketplace. And you must start again by trial and error finding the best method to give your brand visibility.

Or you finally have settled your brand on a nice homestead and LL raises the price with an extra ordinary amount.

And every time you must be flexible to these changes. It's often a matter of adept or die.

Those kind of thing will happen in the future as well.

For example the function of in world groups might change with the new network system LL is implementing. People who have invested years in building up a group or groups might find negative effects from this. Then you can have a lot of expertise on 'how to grow my group' but if the system no longer support the current form of groups, you must be flexible to translate your expertise to the new system. Adapt or die. (I don't know enough yet about this new system to predict the influence it will have on SL groups, I was just thinking of an example of something that might happen).

Mesh is a change that will influence the market as well. Some will win customers because of mesh, some will loose customers because of mesh.

I think it is very important to stay informed about changes and to be flexible enough to use the expertise you already have to do what is best for your enterprise in a changing world. Because some knowlegde you have gained can be worthless tomorrow, but other knowledge you have gained will still be usefull in ten years. 

 

 

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This is why I was so surprised that every one so adamantly dismissed the new profile feed out of hand. Personal feelings about facebook aside, it's a multi million dollar market that LL is trying to tap into. and if they manage it, I plan to snag a piece of that pie

[Paladin Pinion]

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Anaiya Arnold wrote:

Freebie hunting can make a mess of inventories.  I think some people use an alt for going around picking up and trying out freebies, but then might return with their main when it's time to actually buy something.

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I do that.

I've only done a few hunts, but most of what I got was junk. But there was one place where the freebie was not something I wanted, but the entire sim was so well done and the merchandise so well-made that I did go back as my main and purchase a few things.

[Marianne Little]

I think it's a third group of freebie hunters that keep an eye for quality freebies, even if they purchase §L.

I count myself as one of them, but I don't do whole hunts. I use bloggers who post pictures of freebies and hunt gifts as a source. I buy 10-20 K monthly, and I use that on appearance only since I don't have land atm. Most of the blogs I read, use freebies they like with things that cost money.

In a hunt, after the first of my avatar finds the hidden box, the rest just march in and grab it. The same way, if I see a freebie blogged, I will go in and get it. Sometimes the blog include a slurl to the location. Sometimes I have to find it, but the next of my avatars just walk up to it.

I am always looking for things like skins without too special makeup, shoes and boots in neutral colors and things that will suit just that avatar. 

Sometimes just one of my avatars will buy something in that store.  

[Madeliefste Oh]

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Marianne Little wrote:

I think it's a third group of freebie hunters that keep an eye for quality freebies, even if they purchase §L.

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Oh maybe I was not so clear in my text. I too see a thrid group. That is what I call the 'overlap', people who are both buying customers but still pick up freebies.

But what I find interesting to read is that several people say they use alts for freebieshopping, or do it both with a main account and alt.

So a merchant must not conclude too soon that people who pick up freebies never come back to make a purchase. It can be that the person has several accounts and just uses one for the freebies, and she is a paying customer with another of several other accounts.

Thanks for the info, ladies.