Pamela Galli
-
Posts
13,061 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Content Type
Forums
Blogs
Knowledge Base
Posts posted by Pamela Galli
-
-
Okey dokey will try that, thanks! :robothappy:
-
I can't figure out what on earth "relevance" can be based on. Certainly not sales. Things that have not sold in ages are much higher than my regular, best sellers. It is really disconcerting because it makes my storefront look like such a hodgepodge.
-
Absolutely! As the article says:
Customer Service
This one thing is priceless. If your customer(s) have a problem, make it right. Replace broken items, represent your product honestly, don’t gouge, make it easy for customers to contact you. It’s an old saying but it’s very true: take care of your customers, and they’ll take care of you. There really is no promotional tool quite like a solid reputation.
So if you can get people through your doors, offer a quality product that’s well presented, and keep your customers happy, you’ll be on your way to more Ls coming in for your shop.
-
@ Darrius -- oh I get it, she thought I wrote the article linked! Wondered which Pamela she was replying to.
@ Luna -- will just post Suella's reply on the other thread, she explains it so well:
"That graph is one small part of a huge set of articles which include many excellent tips for marketing, and the author even points out that it is a paradoy, but she used it to highlight a point. An important point - always look at the quality of your items first. It's also probably true that a substantial proportion of businesses fail becuase of the quality of their prodcts (by no means all, but a good proportion). That's not meant to be mean. It's meant to make people stop and think about their products before they blindly plough all their money into marketing.
There are, of course, some great creators out there who make great products but struggle with marketing, and they would definitely benefit from reading those articles too in my opinion. I'd like to think that, because they do make great products, they'd have the good sense to recognise the point about looking at quality first and agreeing with it. They would then go on to read all the other great advise about marketing.
Of course, it's entirely up to the reader if they study and take heed of those articles or not. Some will probably disagree with some or all of it, as is their prerogative. I'm still more than happy to point people at those articles if they want marketing advice though and let them make up their own minds. **Only uploaded images may be used in postings**://secondlife.i.lithium.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" border="0" alt=":smileyhappy:" title="Smiley Happy" />"
-
As stated, it was supposed to be a funny way to make this point: If your stuff is not selling, the first thing to consider is the quality of the merchandise, because all the other stuff is fluff.
And no one is calling "other peoples" stuff crap. I have been creating things for over three years. If I do not look at my things critically and notice that they have indeed become dated (ie crap) over time, then I will not update them, and then my store will be full of crap. MY stuff. I am not concerned with other ppl's stuff or why other ppl are not selling, and I doubt anyone else is either.
The advice is the best I have seen. Take it or leave it.
-
Agree with Trilo -- we have been waiting for restored, and even the promised increased, functionality and reporting tools for a long time. I don't need help marketing my merchandise; I need data. The only way I can tell if an enhancement is even working is if I cancel them all -- right now I would say they do almost nothing, but how would I know?
My #1 problem (even ahead of search) is the MP being used as a fencing operation. Not only for copybotted merchandise but for reselling full perm creators' items full perm -- but at a lower price. It is deeply unfair for someone to spend hours creating something that someone else will buy and add to their store for resale with the same perms but a lower price.
-
I don't know. I think some must have been shown because I have heard about his "powers" before, but I may be thinking of YouTube.
-
It was Derrin Brown.
-
@ Alaska -- 100% of my discounts and freebies are for my group (but they do have to come to the store to pick them up). Here is a secret you probably already know very well (but don't tell anyone else): if you take really good care of your customers, they tell and bring others! Word of mouth is still king, rl or sl.
-
@ Luna -- did you read the article Luna? Right under the graph it says:
"The graph may have been intended as a parody, but it’s still not that far off from the truth. You can hype the hell out of your product, get people through the doors in droves, but if your product isn’t good it won’t stay."
It is making a point by being funny. No one has taken an actual survey of ppl's failing businesses to see if their stuff is crap or not.
-
I agree it would be good to show how many of something has been sold -- some of my best selling items, things that I've sold hundreds of times have NO reviews, so it looks like no one is buying them.
Of course, # of sales can be gamed as easily as reviews are now.
-
If you return a broken item (I presume it is transfer if it is no copy) and the merchant sends a new one, how can that be a scam? If a customer's chair gets broken, or she breaks it, regardless of how, trade her for a new one. I do it every day. Takes 3 minutes.
I certainly would not make the customer wait until the next day to get a replacement chair.
I am glad you are happy with the service you received, but my customers often remark that I give the fastest service they have ever received, and are very happy with that.
-
Thank you! You are the go-to girl for stuff like this.
I agree that the stickies are problematic. They need to be separated out better or something. But at least now when ppl give authoritative-sounding bad advice they can be referred to the real deal.
-
The redelivery IS the service. When an item such as a chair malfunctions:
1) You tell the customer to send it back (and how to do that if they don't know how).
2) You pull out your copy and test it to make sure it is functioning properly.
3) If it is, you send that one to them.
4) If yours is also not functioning properly, you fix it and send it to them.
5) If the item works on your sim but not on theirs, you ask for a tp to check out why. (Usually they have scripts off.)
Additionally, you check the floor model that they bought and see if it is functioning properly and replace it if it is not.
There are times when the description of the problem requires a visit to see what is wrong, of course. But this is for complicated items, not a chair.
This is if your object is to get a properly functioning item to your customer as quickly as possible. A home visit to look at their chair and verify that their script is malfunctioning only delays this, and serves no purpose because they have already reported that it is malfunctioning; you can take their word for it that it is. You just need to give them one that works.
-
Not what you usually hear. (And I did not write it.)
-
thank you! Now, go use your special powers and get that page stickied! Then when ppl start these threads where they share their dubious pearls of wisdom about business we can gently refer ppl to this page of actual useful advice.
-
@Pamela,
I would hand her the chair in person to make sure it worked right.
Often, the error is with the way the customer sets the product up.
Handing them another one without support may be faster, but it won't solve the problem and if they set it up wrong again, they won't be coming back to you for anything.
_______________________________________________________
I know when I need to tp out to a customer and when I don't. I don't need to hand someone a chair in person to make sure it works right. I pull it out of inventory, sit on it, and if it is fine, I send it. If they still have a problem, then I go check out their land settings to see if scripts are working. (And my chairs don't require "setting up".)
My goal is to take care of problems as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is my full time job and I treat it that way.
-
Suella, do you know where that business advice is in some wiki, by Clover I think?
I hear lots of bad advice here on how to run a business (including "slash prices") but hers was completely spot on. I looked around and could not find it.
The commerce team is a software team. They are not successful business owners, and could benefit from reading her advice -- as could many others who are serious about building a business.
-
It is typical when doing surveys to limit the # of responses, maybe according to type of sales, # of sales, whatever, so not everyone may have been sent one.
In any case, I have a pretty effective marketing strategy, and it does not include slashing prices except for new releases announced only to my group -- who are also told where to find each week's free items. I get plenty of word of mouth traction from these to attract new customers -- and not only those who are looking for cheap deals.
What we need help with is search. Period. Search.
-
I do not understand why someone who steals my stuff is given the opportunity to steal X more times before he is banned. What is the purpose of this? It was not something done accidentally. Not an oopsie. He stole it, made a nice box for it, and listed it on the MP with his company name.
And that doesn't even include the pages and pages of items being resold full perm. Yes, everyone, feel free to take everything you have ever bought full perm and open up a store with it. Won't that be interesting?
-
My sales (of all general items) have continued to be steady since the early March slump, so I do think that maturity ratings are affecting Adult things.
As far as irregular sales -- some days everyone seems in a mad rush to buy, some days they are off picnicking, and it's always been that way for me.
As for search -- my greatest fear with the new MP was that all my stuff that had gained front page ranking would disappear, which they did.
I will repeat again what needs to be done about search, and evidently it must be technologically extremely difficult:
1) GIVE MAXIMUM WEIGHT TO THE TITLES! LESS TO KEYWORDS!
2) RED SHOE SHOULD RETURN ONLY ITEMS WITH BOTH RED AND SHOE!
Of secondary importance:
3) HIGHER PRICED ITEMS SHOULD GET SOME BOOST OR THE FIRST PAGES FILL UP WITH CHEAPIES (AT LEAS THEY GOT THE FREEBIES OFF THE FRONT PAGES).
4) CONSIDER REDUCING THE WEIGHT OF STARS SINCE THIS IS BEING SO HEAVILY GAMED WITH rWARDER.
5) CONSIDER SALES DATA FOR MORE THAN THE PREVIOUS DAY OR SO.
-
It's not all the MLP, and not all the sits, and not all the things that rez. Just some of them.
And weird stuff like this: Yesterday the sit on a customer's chaise got messed up, even though she said the one in the store had worked. So I tested the one in inventory and sent that one, and it was fine for her. Now today the same one in the store is broken, AND the one in inventory is broken.
No ryhme or reason and I can't reproduce it, so no jira. Just wondering if it was my sims, which have always tended to be wonky.
-
Thanks Celestiall -- no, have not filed a ticket. Might as well. I just wonder if it is LL's policy to remove copiers or leave them to copy again. First time for me.
-
I filed the DMCA, I filed an AR three times, I have a copy of the copybotted item with the copybotter's name as creator on every prim -- and he is still here. Why is this now? Whose side is LL on?
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
Flickr
April Marketplace Update/User Group Topics
in Merchants
Posted
Ohhhh that possibility never even occurred to me.
JUST SHOOT ME NOW! :womansurprised: