EP390: 5 Ways to Increase Your Online Sales Conversions for Fine + Custom Jewelry

10:59AM Feb 21, 2023

Speakers:

Tracy Matthews

Keywords:

fine jewelry

jewelry

custom

people

website

sales

selling

customers

design

conversation

flourish

market

dial

form

online

company

local seo

phone number

thrive

retail location

The key is that the more selective you can be, with the people coming to you, the more you'll start to magnetize more of the right customers and polarize more of the wrong customers. Welcome to thrive by design, the podcast for ambitious independent jewelry brands, looking to profit from their products, get ready to make more and sell more doing what you love, without spending every single waking minute doing it. Hey, and if you are a creative fashion or product based business, I want to welcome you to the show. I'll be dropping big tips on launching growing and scaling your business. So you could spend more of your precious time using your creativity to make money.

You ready? All right, let's do this. Welcome to the thrive by design podcast. This is Tracy Matthews, if you are a fine or custom jewelry designer, or you're thinking about getting into designing a custom, or one of a kind jewelry for private clients, you are going to love this episode. Today, I'm going to be talking all about how to increase your online conversions for fine and custom jewelry. We get a lot of questions about can you release all fine jewelry online? And the answer is yes. And, and I say yes, and because it really, there's a lot of variables and factors. And one of the things that is required, as a fine jewelry company who is selling jewelry online, is that you need to be able to build trust upfront. And to be able to, you know, build that confidence that you're not going to be going and running off and taking someone's money and not delivering product. And so we're gonna talk all about what this looks like. But first, I want to give you a little background about my passion for doing custom and fine jewelry. Now when I'm recording this, I just gotten off Laying The Foundation focused q&a call that we just had. And one of the things that I talked about is my why in my jewelry company, and when I started my custom jewelry business, you know, is really at the heels of me closing my first company. And part of the reason why I closed the company other than having my sales completely wiped out in 2008 and September when the market crashed, is that I was getting really burnout and I was kind of tired of selling wholesale, I had done it very successfully for a long time, I really wanted to get into the fine jewelry market, fine jewelry trade shows seem like they took forever to convert on the wholesale realm. And it was they were very expensive to do. And they were sucking the resources of the company dry because it takes a long time to convert out the other end to get a store to buy your fine jewelry line. Sometimes they want to look at it five, five or six times before they want to buy it for their store. So I'm like what's an easier way for me to get in front of customers directly. And so as I was like, kind of winding down my company, I was working with my consultant Phil. And Phil, really, like had some hard conversations with me when I was like in those stages of burnout crying in his conference room, like all the things and he's like, What do you love doing and it got me really clear on like, what I loved and why I love doing it. And part of the reason that I really wanted to design fine custom jewelry and redesigned people's heirlooms was because my mother passed away when I just before my 22nd birthday. And I inherited some jewelry from her that I didn't know what to do with. And at the time, I wasn't even designing jewelry yet. And I they just sat in a safe were in a drawer for many, many years before I repurposed it. But it always made me sad because I wanted to keep her with me. And I wanted to, you know, have that connection. And I realized that so many people find this connection to loved ones who are passed through the jewelry that they inherit. But a lot of times they don't like the jewelry that's inherited and they want to have it redesigned. So that kind of was the launching point for my fine jewelry company. And I also was designing a lot of engagement rings of wedding bands, which I loved, because I love being a part of someone's love story. And so all of these things were like really the why and under underlying reasons about why I started my custom jewelry business, which eventually led to it growing super quickly. And me starting Flourish & Thrive Academy and all the things. So I want to talk about a couple of things here because I know that there is a controversy and maybe a disbelief. Can I really sell fine jewelry online and what does that look like? And or how do I build a successful custom jewelry business? So before I dive into that, I just want to mention that we are going to be hosting a custom jewelry accelerator that starts in April. And it's basically going to be a small select group of custom fine jewelry designers who want to work directly with me and my coaching staff. I will be leading this particular program so I'm going to be honest So the calls and working with our support staff and our educators to deliver this program, and it's a short six week stint, or we're going to be talking through and working through how to optimize your custom find joy process. So we'll do everything from websites, all the way down to the sales conversations and how you set up your CRM, and everything in between. So that you're building a successful custom jewelry business that gets referrals, that gets people coming back for a second time at live special moments. And that keeps your business moving forward. So if you're interested in learning more about that, what I'd invite you to do is to get on the waitlist for the custom jewelry accelerator, and head on over to flourish, thrive academy.com, forward slash custom waitlist. And we will reach out to you and give you all the details on that page, we're just going to have a little forum for you to fill out. And we will let you know when enrollment is open, this is going to be limited to a very small group of people. So if you're interested in learning more, I would recommend that you head over there right now and get your name on the list, we will be accepting people in order of priority and we're really excited about it. And we're going to be just curating this small group. So if you want to get into it, we're not going to be talking about it too much. We're not putting a big marketing push behind it. This is really like a you know, if you want in comm reach out, and let's chat, I will also have a link in the show notes. All right, let's talk about five ways to increase your online sales conversions for fine and a custom jewelry. So one of the things that we really pride ourselves in over here at flourish and thrive is that we do work with a lot of independent designers. And so typically, these are a little bit different than people who are selling mass produced or more generic styles of fine jewelry, which ends up being a little bit more of a commoditized product. Because of all the competition out there. Like we have the blue nails of the world, we also now have the brilliant artists of the world. And these bigger companies that have spent a lot of time investing in their time and energy and SEO and all this stuff to capturing sort of like a lower end market of people who are just looking for more generic looking jewelry. That is like a completely different market. And I want to put that to the side, because that's not who this podcast is really going to serve. This podcast is going to serve the independent retailer and the independent designer slash maker who are trying to reach their ideal dream customers online. These are people who attract the kinds of people who want unique products, they're not necessarily interested in jewelry that everyone else has, you know, they want beautiful, well made custom jewelry, that's something that's really unique to them. And so if that's you, you're in the right place, if you're selling manufacture jewelry, these tips are going to also be great for you. But it's a little bit of a different strategy, if you're in that boat. So if you want to increase your online sales conversion, my first tip is that you need to have a phone number on your website and on your contact page. And so a lot of people, especially if you let's say you have a small company, and it's just you and you don't necessarily have a studio or you're working out of your home, or you don't have a retail location, a lot of people don't want to give out their personal phone number. And so what I'd recommend in this case is that you just get a Google Voice number that's in your area code that you can use on your website. And so we have Google Voice numbers that I use that flourish and thrive us uses. I also have one on my jewelry website as well. So that Google Voice number is just basically rings to your phone and you have an app where you can call people through but they people don't have your actual phone number. So if you're starting to get like spam calls and stuff, it goes to your Google Voice number and you don't even really hear about it. So I just want to mention that it doesn't have to be your personal cell phone or your your home number or whatever it is if you don't have a retail location or an office space. Now obviously if you have a retail location, have that number on there. That's great. So the phone number it's proven to increase online conversion because it builds trust. I think in someone's head mentally if they know that they can call you even though they typically don't call you then it makes them more confident that you are a brand to buy from. Now if you are a fine jeweler who also sells point and click fine jewelry on your website, and you have a custom jewelry offer or you're a retail store that sells custom jewelry or you only design one of a kind custom jewelry, this is going to be very important to you. On your website. You need to have a landing page one of the key pages on your website that discuss is the custom jewelry process. So it should walk through the steps. Ideally, maybe it has a video or beautiful imagery that kind of paints the picture of what the process will look like. And then on that page, it also has a custom jewelry form that takes them to a page where they can fill out a form and inquire. So what we're trying to do here is to set the next steps up, so that you are funneling people on your website, and increasing those online sales conversions because they know exactly what to do to get to the next step. And so I just want to be clear here by an online conversion, what I really mean is like the applications, or the inquiries that you're getting for custom jewelry, because what I will tell you, even though this might seem obvious, most custom jewelry is not going to be sold in a point and click fashion, you're gonna have to have a sales conversation with people. So with that being said, the next thing that you need on your website is a really amazing custom jewelry form. Now on that form, you want to make sure that you're including all of the information that you need, that at a glance, you can decide if this person is going to be a right fit for the kind of things that you offer. Or if they're not going to be a right fit. There's nothing worse than you wasting time getting on a bunch of calls with people that you know, have too low of a budget, or they don't really want something in the style that you want, or they're finding images on the internet. And they're trying to look for someone to make a ring that someone else made, because that happens a lot, and so on and so forth. So you want to make sure that you have a custom jewelry form that's asking the right question, couple things that I would include on there are things like, obviously their phone number, and email, but phone number is really important people forget to ask that. Because if you're anything like me, sometimes I don't even see my email half the time, you definitely want your budget range on there. So you want to make sure that you're telling people upfront, basically, the lowest amount that you will, you can do custom work for. So the way that I would do that is like what's your budget, and then start with the lowest end of the budget on that, and have a couple of budget ranges. And then you also want to know a little bit more about that person. So whatever questions that are going to get you the right information about their lifestyle, or about their sense of style, or who they are, as a human being. All of these things, all of these factors, I should say, play a huge role in identifying if this person is going to be someone that you want to work with or not. And then finally, I think it's really always really good to have inspiration images that they can upload, primarily because let's say they're uploading something that is completely out of the realm of your scope of design, or the sense of style that you have, or the kinds of pieces that you design, like, let's say you design vintage inspired pieces, and someone's sending you industrial looking things that aren't yours. Or a lot of times what happens is people might send you a design from a very well known artists that they want you to copy, then you can say like, you know, why don't you just go buy it from that artist type of thing. So there's a lot of reasons why all these things are important. And the key is that the more selective you can be, with the people coming to you, the more you'll start to magnetize more of the right customers and polarize more of the wrong customers. Now the next step of the process, is to have a call booking system and dialed in sales call conversation. So you need a way to once someone fills out a form to elegantly get them on a phone call, if it's the right fit, decline them if it's not the right fit, and have a sales conversation. Now one of the things that I think a lot of people do is they don't know what to say on a sales conversation. Because they're artists, they're not salespeople, and having a dialed in sales conversation, where there's active listening involved, where you are clear and upfront about if this is a good fit, and who you designed for in the process, that you're clear on the steps of the process, and that you have some of my sales ninja techniques that gets them to say yes, right on the phone, so that you're basically selecting them instead of them selecting you. That's the real trick to having a sales conversation is making them feel like it's an honor and a privilege to actually work for you. There's a couple of trade secrets that I have that I'm going to be teaching in the custom jewelry accelerator about this that literally have changed the game for me that get people saying like, Oh no, I'm not looking for anyone else. I definitely want to work with you. And even though the decision is always in their court, the way you position a sales conversation and the way you end it is one of the things that actually gets them to say yes, right there on the call without you having to do massive follow up or worrying about them following up or falling off, etc. So the sales calm restriction is really important. And this also includes a sales follow up. So the things that you do after that sales conversation.

And then finally, my next tip to increase your online sales conversions for finding custom jewelry. And this is a pro tip, I think a lot of people are trying to like reach people in every single market, in every location and all over the world, all over the country, etc. Instead of really dialing in and using their website to land local clients. Now, if you can optimize your website for local SEO, you are 20 steps ahead of every other fine jewelry designer in your area, and custom jewelry designer. And here's the reason why. A lot of times, even though you might never meet people in person, or maybe you will, if you can optimize this, the site your website for a couple of markets in that local area, it makes it easier for people number one to find you. And it makes it easier for them to determine if you're the right fit for them, it makes it easier for them to take that next step and filling out the form, and so on and so forth. And so right now, the two biggest markets that I get customers in our San Francisco, in New York City, and that's because I lived in both of those cities when I was designing jewelry. And so I have a lot of customers that are based in those cities. And then what ends up happening when you optimize for the local SEO in the local area is that you start getting referrals from the customers that you do have in that local area. And I will tell you, that is much better to be a big fish in a small pond than a tiny little fish in the ocean of all these other people out there who are doing the same thing as you, it doesn't mean that you won't sell in other markets. But what it does mean is that you are becoming the go to resource in the area that you live in or wherever your business is hosted. So I highly recommend that it is an often under looked at situation. And this actually works, whether or not you have a retail location. And I highly recommend it for all custom and fine jewelry designers. And so I hope that those few tips were helpful and actionable. And they're things that you can get off the ground right away. So if you haven't done so yet, go out and get yourself a Google Voice number and get that phone number on your website on your contact page. Maybe up in the you know, upper right or left corner and the navbar make sure that you have a fully fleshed out custom landing page that walks everyone through the steps of your custom jewelry process. On that page, you should also have a form for them to fill out using video content on that page that tells the story of your custom jewelry process. Also very helpful, highly recommended. Have a custom jewelry form on your website on multiple places, obviously on the custom jewelry page, but also on your contact page. Make sure that that form has the right questions that you need to decide just by looking at the form if this is going to be a good fit or not. So you're not wasting time on calls. The next thing that I want you to do is to work on that sales conversation, dial in a format for it, create a script for yourself, and make sure that you are closing in a way that gets them to choose you, instead of keeping it open for them to search for other options. This is a really ninja thing, it's really, really important to do. And then finally, optimize your blog and your website for local SEO so that people can find you. So your ability to sell fine jewelry on your website is possible. And we have so many case studies of how it works with our students at flourish and thrive. So whether you're trying to sell your jewelry just off the rack or off the shelf on your website, point and click or you're someone who is building a custom jewelry wing or you're just solely a custom or private jeweler, using these tips are going to really help you optimize your conversions and get more sales. What I do want to say is that with fine jewelry, it is a higher touch sale. And so you can't just expect for people to just wander upon your website not have questions. And that being the end of the day that they're just going to buy if they don't know you yet. And so that there's a very common misconception there. That unless you are really attracting the high high end luxury people who buy like something for $20,000 that is like you know, chump change to them. Most people are going to require some sort of conversation where they are going to want to talk to a human being in some way shape or form, whether it's through direct message on social media, whether it's through phone call, or whether it's through, you know, live chat on your website, a live selling platform or doing video calls like all these things are helpful to increase conversions as well. And I want you to think about that because it's not the same as selling $50 products because There is a bigger investment for most people there and it requires a higher touch level of service. So please keep that in mind as you're going in and going on your fine jewelry journey to selling and attracting more customers using your website and your online presence as a tool. Alright, this is Tracy Matthews, signing off until next time, but before I do, I want to remind you that if you're interested in being a part of our custom jewelry accelerator, it's a six week program that starts mid April, we are going to be working through some amazing content and helping you dial in your custom jewelry process. We're going to be working on your website, we're going to be optimizing your website, your custom jewelry landing page, your custom jewelry form, we're going to be helping you set up your CRM. I'm going to be coaching you on having better sales conversations, and so much more. So if you want to do that, if you're interested in learning more head on over to flourish, thrive academy.com forward slash custom waitlist and get on the waitlist today. Thanks so much. This is Tracy Matthews, signing off until next time,