Custom Jewelry Marketing Strategies
Episode #259 – “Strategies for Marketing Custom Jewelry”
In Episode #259, we’ll delve into the strategies for marketing custom jewelry. Whether you handcraft unique pieces or deal in mass-produced items, the term “custom” can range from entirely bespoke creations to personalized versions of pre-existing designs. Given today’s consumers’ desire for unique experiences and personalized possessions, providing a tailored jewelry experience can significantly boost your jewelry brand’s potential.
As the holidays approach, emphasizing custom jewelry offerings becomes more important than ever. In a season that celebrates individuality, love, and heartfelt giving, personalized pieces hold a unique allure. Custom jewelry not only offers a one-of-a-kind gift, but it also carries an intimate sentiment, showcasing the thought and effort invested into selecting the perfect piece. This period also provides jewelers with a prime opportunity to educate customers about the intricacies of the custom process and the importance of adhering to custom deadlines to ensure timely holiday delivery. In a market inundated with generic gifts, a tailored creation stands out, resonating deeply with both the giver’s intentions and the recipient’s appreciation. Furthermore, in an age where consumers are actively seeking more meaningful and personalized shopping experiences, offering custom options can significantly enhance brand engagement and loyalty during this pivotal shopping season.
We’ll be looking at this topic through the lens of Hilary Finck Jewelry, who we’ve been spotlighting as a jewelry brand case study. For those joining our podcast series for the first time this season, I’d suggest starting with Episode #252. Doing so will introduce you to Hilary and allow you to follow this narrative from its inception.
Before jumping into our chat with Hilary, I’ll talk about the nuances of defining custom jewelry, the rising consumer trend towards personalized experiences, effective marketing strategies for unique jewelry offerings, and how custom offerings can elevate a jewelry brand’s potential in today’s market.
Links From the Episode:
https://hilaryfinck.com/
https://www.instagram.com/hilaryfinckjewelry/
Check out the transcript below.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 0:00
Ready to break free from algorithms, vanity PR, and money-sucking ads? My name’s Laryssa Wirstiuk, and I’ve learned in 7 years of jewelry marketing that content is the crown jewel. My agency Joy Joya takes a holistic approach, leading with laser-focused storytelling, impactful content creation, and strategic content distribution. This method has worked for the solopreneur as well as the multi-million-dollar company, and now I’m sharing these systems and tactics with you. Here’s to standing out in the Sea of Sparkle.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 0:34
In Episode #259, we’ll delve into the strategies for marketing custom jewelry. Whether you handcraft unique pieces or deal in mass-produced items, the term “custom” can range from entirely bespoke creations to personalized versions of pre-existing designs. Given today’s consumers’ desire for unique experiences and personalized possessions, providing a tailored jewelry experience can significantly boost your jewelry brand’s potential. As the holidays approach, emphasizing custom jewelry offerings becomes more important than ever. In a season that celebrates individuality, love, and heartfelt giving, personalized pieces hold a unique allure. Custom jewelry not only offers a one-of-a-kind gift, but it also carries an intimate sentiment, showcasing the thought and effort invested into selecting the perfect piece. This period also provides jewelers with a prime opportunity to educate customers about the intricacies of the custom process and the importance of adhering to custom deadlines to ensure timely holiday delivery. In a market inundated with generic gifts, a tailored creation stands out, resonating deeply with both the giver’s intentions and the recipient’s appreciation. Furthermore, in an age where consumers are actively seeking more meaningful and personalized shopping experiences, offering custom options can significantly enhance brand engagement and loyalty during this pivotal shopping season. We’ll be looking at this topic through the lens of Hilary Finck Jewelry, who we’ve been spotlighting as a jewelry brand case study. For those joining our podcast series for the first time this season, I’d suggest starting with Episode #252. Doing so will introduce you to Hilary and allow you to follow this narrative from its inception. Before jumping into our chat with Hilary, I’ll talk about the nuances of defining custom jewelry, the rising consumer trend towards personalized experiences, effective marketing strategies for unique jewelry offerings, and how custom offerings can elevate a jewelry brand’s potential in today’s market.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 3:31
But before we get to the solid gold, I’d like to take a moment to remind you that this podcast has both audio and video – so you can either listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube by searching “Joy Joya”. You can support the podcast for free by taking the time not only to subscribe but also to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. If you leave a review, I might read it on a future episode – please let me know what you think about this episode or about any other major takeaways you’ve had recently.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 3:54
Okay, let’s get into today’s episode, my Sparklers! This one’s all about custom jewelry offerings and how to market them effectively. So first, before we even jump into all of that, I want to define custom jewelry because there really is a spectrum from those entirely bespoke pieces to even just personalized tweaks on existing designs or giving customers the chance to choose personalized elements. So of course there’s entirely bespoke pieces, so this is when the jewelry is created entirely from scratch based on the customer’s specific desires and ideas. And that would be say, a customer approaches your brand with a vision to create like a one of a kind engagement ring. So there are sketches involved. There are specs regarding the type of metal, the cut of the gemstone, the type of the gemstone, additional design elements and engraving, sizing, etc. So it’s a completely original piece. And I think when I use the word custom, that’s what most people are familiar with.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 3:55
But there’s also like semi bespoke or made to order pieces. So in this scenario, a customer would select a basic design from your collection. And then maybe they’re customizing certain elements like the type of metal, the gemstone, maybe they’re adding details, they’re adding an engraving, or what have you, there are so many different ways to like semi-customize a piece to suit their preferences. So that could be like someone chooses a necklace design from your brand, but they want it with rose gold instead of yellow gold, and they want an emerald instead of like a diamond. And they get a personalized engraving. Again, that makes the piece feel very special and unique to them. But it also cuts down on some of the honestly, the labor and the difficulty a customer may have creating a piece from scratch that can be really hard for some customers, they don’t even know what’s possible. So they prefer to kind of just tweak an existing design.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 6:19
And that brings us to the next type of customization, where it’s like very small modifications to existing products that you offer. So maybe it’s just that it’s personalized. Or maybe there’s like a special size that’s outside of your normal in stock products. Or maybe they get to choose the type of chain they want. And they get like three options for chains. So that is when a very small modification or customization is made. And it’s usually from options that are pre presented to the customer, rather than the customer reaching out to you with a request to kind of change that product to their preferences.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 7:05
So in terms of how different jewelry brands use customization to their benefit, I think there’s a lot of different models and approaches and reasons for it. So it could be for brand engagement. It can be for direct profit potential. It can even be your core business. So for example, in jewelry, there’s a brand called Maya Brenner, where customization is basically the core business. I think a lot of the jewelry is targeted toward moms or women with just a part of family. So like aunts, grandmas, whatever, they want jewelry that represents their loved ones, and they can get initials, and other types of meaningful jewelry. So that’s an example where it’s like the core business. And then even looking outside the jewelry industry. There are so many examples like in luxury handbags, footwear, especially, there’s so much customization going on. So one brand I found that I really like their custom offerings and how they present them is Longchamp, which is a handbag brand, and they have a whole section of their e commerce website called My Pliage that allows customers to self design tote bags, and it’s within a limited scope. So they present different size options, different color options, hardware, colors, etc. People can add like their initials or a word to the bag. But it’s a really cool way to not only increase direct profit potential, but allow people to engage with the brand and have a true experience with the brand as well. If you’re a jewelry brand that’s interested in offering customization, it doesn’t have to be complex necessarily, you can offer limited options to maintain simplicity on your end and also prevent your customers from having decision fatigue. So like in footwear especially there are so many examples of this. Brands might restrict choices to like seven to 10 design features that are desirable to customers, but also easy for the footwear brand to implement. So let’s talk a little bit about consumer trends in customization. So why are today’s customers gravitating so much toward unique, tailored experiences? And not only that, but how can you as a brand and by offering tailored jewelry experiences? How can you differentiate yourself from competitors and drive business growth in the marketplace today?
Laryssa Wirstiuk 9:55
So there’s definitely a research around this I found some awesome read search from Bain and CO. And first of all customers who do this process, who customize what they buy, they are just more engaged with brands in general. And this engagement can lead to increased brand loyalty, and the best part, repeat purchases. So they can really feel more connected to the brand, and come back again and again, and even refer the experience and the brand to their friends. The other great part about this is customers are willing to pay 20% more for customized products than their standard equivalents. So if you offer custom or semi-custom products, you can tap into a premium market segment and charge more because it’s giving someone something more one of a kind, more bespoke, more of an experience beyond just the product. And it positions it as a luxury or premium choice of all the offerings that the brand has. If you especially cater to a millennial target customer, you should know that they definitely want more individualized products, they don’t want that one size fits all cookie-cutter thing. So if you cater to these preferences, you can capture a significant market segment that is known for its purchasing power. And it helps you remain relevant for millennials and even upcoming Gen Z. The other thing is, and I think this kind of addresses a problem that I see a lot with jewelry brands that have a lot of made to order products in general, customers who are used to ordering custom products, they have more patience in general with waiting longer for product delivery. If you’re someone for example, who orders on Amazon all the time, like that’s where you get all your home goods, your food, your snacks, your clothes, you’re gonna expect like one to two day shipping for pretty much everything, even if you’re not ordering on Amazon. But if you’re the type of customer who prefers a more bespoke custom, personalized experience, then you kind of offer more leeway. And can you have the patience to wait for something longer. So if this is a concern of yours as a jewelry brand, then attracting attracting the customers who aren’t afraid, they don’t, they don’t mind waiting for something that can definitely be potential for you and solve that problem of those customers who demand things like right away basically.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 12:57
And the other great thing is customers really love to share their custom designs, and sharing is free advertising for you. It can promote organic brand growth. So if you want your customers to share their user generated content, to show off their products, to share their enthusiasm with their own networks, custom design could potentially be a good way to encourage that. Alright, so let’s talk about what you really want to know the marketing strategies. So what are the effective techniques to promote custom jewelry? How can you target the right audience and highlight the uniqueness of each piece? Let’s go through the different categories of the custom and how you can best market it. So if you’re a brand that sells currently or wants to sell entirely bespoke pieces, content marketing is an awesome opportunity for you sharing the journey of a bespoke piece from start to finish. You can do that through blog posts through video content. And that way potential clients can really visualize the process and really value the craftsmanship. And that’s so important. Social proof is going to be vital for you. So featuring testimonials from your satisfied customers highlighting their stories, really emphasizing the emotional connection they have with their jewelry. I also love interactive tools, if you are able to invest in them and kind of set them up on your digital storefront if you have some kind of tool where users can virtually design their piece playing with different materials and designs. Even if you can’t do that, making the consultation process very seamless and non intimidating by using like a calendar scheduling tool by setting the expectations very clearly upfront. that’s going to be so important for you. Also posting before and after images showing the sketch or the concept in the final piece, all of these things are going to help you build trust.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 15:11
So if you sell semi bespoke or made to order pieces, then there are a lot of ways that you can market them. So on your product pages, make sure that you’re clearly displaying the customization options, you can use drop down menus, interactive visuals, anything you can do to help the customer envision that final product is going to be so important. It just makes me think of I like to watch a lot of like home shows, especially like House Hunters, I don’t know if you guys are familiar with that, where like the person or people buying the house go in, and maybe the house doesn’t necessarily look exactly like what they hope for. But they have a lot of trouble visualizing what can be done, like they can’t even see, oh, I can paint this wall. Instead, they just say oh, I don’t like the wall color, I don’t want to move into this house kind of thing. It’s the same with your jewelry. I think it’s hard for most people, when they’re presented with a visual of something, to see that there is something beyond that or to get them to try to imagine a different color or a different detail is very difficult. So the most you can do to help someone see what their final product will look like, will serve you very well in your marketing. So you can also use social media to promote limited time customization options. So this goes back to like the drops episode that I talked about last week, maybe the same way that you do a drop with customization, you only have a certain custom offering for a certain period of time. And that can create a sense of urgency. Another thing you can do on social media is utilized polls. So asking your audience about their preferred customizations or new options they’d like to see and make that part of the conversation as well as your evolution as a brand. And if you’re a business that offers like existing designs, but gives customers the chance to just make some personalized tweaks. This is an opportunity for you to play on upsells. So maybe a customer selects a pre designed piece from your online store. And then as they move through the checkout process, you can suggest some popular personal tweaks, like for example, add an engraving or like add a second charm or add this option, whatever it makes sense to you. That’s a way to increase your average order value. And just to get customers to engage with you more in purchase more user generated content is important for this and any type of customization offering you have. Really encourage your customers to share photos of their personalized pieces on social media during the holidays.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:20
The holidays is an awesome time to promote engraving services, or other personal tweaks. People love to make their gifts feel more personal. And make sure that you have an FAQ section or a tutorial or educational section on your website, so that you can detail common tweaks the process behind them, perhaps offer short videos on how your customers can take their piece from standard to extra, and I mean extra in the best way possible.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 18:54
In our upcoming interview with Hilary, we’ll delve into the art and business of custom jewelry. Discover how bespoke pieces shape her brand’s personal connection with clients, the unique stories behind each creation, and the evolving trends in custom designs. Learn about her marketing strategies, the unexpected dynamics of holiday sales, and the sentimental value embedded in family heirlooms and engagement rings. Stay tuned for a deep dive into the world of personalized jewelry craftsmanship!
Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:32
Hi, Hilary. I’m very excited to talk to you about your custom jewelry services today.
Hilary Finck 19:37
Hi, Laryssa. Great to see you. Good to see you also.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:41
So let’s talk about custom. First, I want to know yeah, in your overall like business model. Where does custom fall in and how much did they contribute typically to your overall revenue?
Hilary Finck 19:56
So we’re actually it’s been about a quarter of my annual revenue So it’s a really important part of my business. And it’s something that I love to do. And I just think it’s, it’s an important thing, especially with jewelry. Because jewelry can be so meaningful. So it’s a great way for my clients to get the pieces that are really special to them. And it’s a great way for me to connect to my clients.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 20:24
that kind of makes me wonder so with your customers, do they typically find you through like your ready made designs? Or do they first approach you for custom? Like, how does that circle work?
Hilary Finck 20:38
I guess kind of a bit of both, I have some people that reach out to me via email, and probably through my contact page, I’m guessing on my website, and they are just reaching out about custom. And I’ve never, you know how to sail with them. But then there’s also a lot of my like, repeat collectors who they vote, they buy the pieces that I’ve already made. And then they also send me either, you know, some of their stones, or they want to see some of my stones and make a piece together that way. So it’s, it’s really all over the place.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 21:14
So when it comes to custom, do you find there are like common client requests? Are they all unique? Like what are some things people are asking you for?
Hilary Finck 21:23
It’s always, almost always the Captured pieces. So it’s, it’s usually something with a stone. Like, it’s usually somebody with a stone that they already have that’s meaningful, or, like I have a really good luck with like tourmaline. So I always try to buy a nice little stash of some really pretty tourmaline. And I’ll know that if I post something on Instagram, like an example of a terminalling ring I’ve made in the past, I’ll probably get a couple of custom pieces. If I say hey, I have some tourmalines is anyone interesting, I’ll get a couple of custom pieces off of that. But and then lately, I’ve been getting customer requests for my rivet and ring bangles which I which I love, because it’s one of my very first designs, and I wear mine every day. And people have been asking to customize the links. So having like one link gold and the rest of silver or to gold to silver, what have you. There’s the client that I’m working with right now where she has some family diamonds from a ring that she wants to take it apart. And I think we’re going to do a new because she already has two custom ribbon ring bangles for me now she wants a third. And we’re going to set diamonds randomly around the links. So it’s been really fun to customize those pieces.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 22:43
It’s very cool to me how I mean that design is pretty minimalist and simple. And I like that even your clients are able to like give you new ideas for how to make it feel like their own piece.
Hilary Finck 22:55
Yeah, I can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like with a diamond. So I hope I hope it works out, I’m sure.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 23:01
So in the past, you kind of touched upon like how people find you. But do you find that there are certain marketing channels that have been better for you in terms of getting those custom clients?
Hilary Finck 23:12
I’m guessing it’s through Instagram, mostly. And in the past? I’ll send out some newsletters to my you know, my subscribers. And it’s hard for me to know, I mean, I guess if it’s someone who, you know, clearly isn’t on my list, sometimes I also don’t know if it’s someone on my list, because there are some people that are on my list, or it’s just their first name and email, I guess I haven’t cross checked it to be honest with you. But I think most of it comes through Instagram, I’m guessing.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 23:43
And then so for these clients who are coming to you, what’s the typical budget that they have for custom? And then let me ask you also do you have a minimum spend that you’ve require for someone to work with you on a custom project,
Hilary Finck 23:55
I don’t really have a minimum spend, but there’s really no way they can get out of doing a custom piece with me, that’s, I mean, usually less than 500, maybe 450. And those are usually silver pieces. And I’ll do I will do silver custom pieces because I want people to not everyone has a huge budget, right, and people should be able to have nice jewelry regardless of whether they can afford 1000s of dollars. So I will I don’t really have a minimum and my custom pieces range anywhere from, you know, 450 or 500 all the way up to you know, 5000 or more for obviously for like wedding rings and stuff like that. But I just I just I like the idea of making sure that everyone can have a piece that’s meaningful to them if they want to so yeah, but it’s rare that they can get out of custom for.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 24:51
Yeah, just the metal alone. I mean, you can only do so much.
Hilary Finck 24:56
It’s the time. It’s especially if it’s silver. It’s really just the time communicating, communicating really takes a lot of time. And I’ve tossed around the idea of doing, like a consultation fee just upfront. And I just, I’ve never done it I’ve, I’ve said that I was going to, and it just seems like, in the end, all of my multipliers just ended up being enough for me. I feel like I don’t want to do a consultation fee necessarily. And some clients are really fast and easy. And some clients definitely take a lot more communication. So it really, it’s it I think it just kind of averages out.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 25:39
Yeah, I was just gonna say it all balances out in the end.
Hilary Finck 25:41
Yeah, I think so.
Hilary Finck 25:45
So I’m curious with the holiday season, coming up quickly, in the past with custom, have you done any sort of special marketing for that in anticipation of like gifting or just like highlighting that more as the season approaches?
Hilary Finck 26:01
Not so much, because I’ve no noticed that custom just really isn’t something that pops up in the holidays, so much custom is really just a year round thing for me. And I may have mentioned some deadlines. I think usually in the past, I’ve mentioned deadlines for Made to Order pieces, and maybe have kind of thrown in customs as well. But it’s really not not been something that I’ve pushed in the past. I probably should have been.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 26:33
Yeah. If you do mention deadlines, or if you have before, do you find that that moves the needle at all, or it just hasn’t been like frequent enough to notice.
Hilary Finck 26:42
It doesn’t seem to move the needle. It’s funny my clients are, it’s almost like I’ve trained them to purchase when I put out new collections. And so deadlines just haven’t really meant a whole lot to them. Because I think they know I’m probably going to put out like another collection and then another clip before Christmas. So it’s interesting, I still do it because I know that it’s it’s a nice, it’s also a nice touch point, it’s a nice reminder that the holidays are coming that Hillary thing jewelry is here to be gifted, but I’ve never really noticed it move the needle in the past.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 27:21
So you did mention in this conversation, a few examples of clients who have come back to you for more projects, do you find that that’s more of the norm that the custom clients come back again? And again? Or do you have more like one off custom clients?
Hilary Finck 27:35
It’s probably about half and half. I was looking through some of my custom images in my pictures folder the other day, and I was like, oh, right, I did make that one. And I’ve not heard from that person again about anything else you know, and then there’s clearly somewhere there my definitely my collectors and own you know, 10 or more pieces but it’s, it’s interesting, there’s just some people they just have like a stone that they’ve they fell in love with one time when they went to Tucson and then they get in touch with me and we make a piece and then that’s that’s kind of it.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 28:09
Now, as someone who makes custom jewelry, I know there, there must be people listening to this podcast that have custom jewelry as a service. Do you have any advice from your own experience doing this for people listening or watching or anything that you think you could share that might benefit others?
Hilary Finck 28:27
Well, if you really like to do custom, you should, you should express that in Instagram and newsletters, show off as many pictures as you can. I know a lot of designers who really don’t like doing custom. And so that’s something that you have to figure out. If you find that you don’t like doing custom. Don’t push it. You know, don’t don’t mention it unless it’s a really critical revenue stream for your business. It’s not for everyone. Another thing that I find helps is to show off the stones like the just the loose stones that you have, from time to time to remind people that hey, you know, let’s set up a custom consultation. Look at all these great stones I have or I like to work I don’t mind working with clients stones. I know there’s a lot of designers out there who don’t work with clients stones just because of liability but I always explain the liability to them upfront. But I always like to show off the pieces that I’ve made with clients stones because I think with my captured setting, it really lends itself to really unique stones. And there’s something about that captured setting where people who love that setting, they’re usually gem collectors and Rock Hounds. They already have a pretty awesome collection of gemstones and to me it’s like wow, I get to make this piece with this gorgeous stone from from my clients collection and I think there’s some of my best piece This are pieces from my clients collections.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 30:02
Yeah, that feels like it would be such a privilege to do that.
Hilary Finck 30:06
It definitely is. And it’s, I always find it interesting to see what people are attracted to. But yeah, I say just, you know, push it on Instagram, take pretty pictures and put it up on Instagram, people people will understand.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 30:23
So more for my own curiosity, I kind of just want to know if there are any real, really special stories behind any of the custom pieces or anything that’s like really stuck with you.
Hilary Finck 30:32
Definitely, I find that the most meaningful pieces are the jewelry or the stones that come from jewelry, that it’s like a family heirloom. So I have people send me you know, rings that have the stone set in them. And I have to cut off the stones and things like that. And I have had a couple looks, there’s two different stories. So a really good friend of mine, her mother passed away suddenly, and her wedding ring had this very beautiful diamond in it. So she gave me the ring. And I’m sitting there cutting out this diamond from this ring. And it’s just got, you know, in the setting, it just has like the life of this woman, you know, she touched she wore this ring on her hand every day. And so just little bits of her life were coming out in like, you know, the setting. And I got really emotional when I was doing that. And then I just made it into like some earrings or pendant for her. And it was really lovely. And then some other people they’ll give me like their mom and dad’s wedding rings. So I have another set of friends, their sisters. And when their father passed away, their mom gave them her engagement ring, her wedding band in their dad’s wedding band, and then some other family diamonds. And so what I did was I used all the metal from their parents wedding bands, melted it down, divided it in half, then melted it again into little like melted buttons that kind of look like little like asteroids or meteors. And then we took the diamonds from the family jewelry and then slush, set them into those little buttons and then made each of them a ring. So like in this ring, they have their parents wedding rings, and then family diamonds. And so like those pieces that are just so they’re just so meaningful to make. And it’s such an honor to be trusted with those pieces. Anytime I get stones like family, family jewels. It’s such an honor to make those pieces.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:42
I can’t imagine how emotional that would be even if it’s not your own family. I mean, you can understand the connection.
Hilary Finck 32:49
Absolutely. Yeah, most definitely.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:52
Well, thank you, Hillary for sharing your thoughts about custom and how it fits into your business. I really appreciate chatting today.
Hilary Finck 32:59
You’re so welcome.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 33:02
What did you think about the interview? Are you excited to follow Hilary on this journey? I highly encourage you to check out Hilary’s website hilaryfinck.com and follow her on Instagram @hilaryfinckjewelry. Link in the show notes as well. Let me know in a podcast review or YouTube comment what you think about this new journey. Okay, let’s get into THE GOLD MINE.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 33:22
Welcome to another edition of THE GOLD MINE – a segment where I get personal and share insights on entrepreneurship, mindset, success, growth, and all things business. THE GOLD MINE allows me to share topics and insights close to my heart. Let’s get into this week’s GOLD MINE! I want to talk about celebrating your custom customers, even if they just choose an option with a different gem or metal color, something small. When a customer empowers themselves by choosing a piece of jewelry that’s special for them, it really does feel like an event. Imagine how great you would feel if you picked out an outfit for a day, and a renowned fashion designer (that you’re wearing some of their items) stopped you on the street to compliment you about how amazing you look and how great you styled the items. And then even asked to take a photo with you to post on their Instagram! You’d likely be over the moon excited! Alright, let’s dive into one of my favorite parts of the show, the GOLD MINE segment. Today, we’re chatting about showing some love to our custom customers. You know, it doesn’t matter if they’ve just swapped out a gem or picked a different shade of gold; these custom choices deserve a spotlight. Think about it like this: You’re rocking a new outfit, and out of the blue, that mega-famous designer whose shirt you’re wearing stops to rave about your style. And, get this, they even want a quick selfie with you for their Instagram! I mean, come on, who wouldn’t be flying high after that? As a jewelry designer, you can really do the same thing for your custom clients. Whether they order something completely custom or even something that’s just personalized, you want to take the extra time to reach out to those clients and congratulate them on their decisions and compliment them on their taste. Hopefully you’re genuine!! Even if you don’t personally like what they’ve chosen, you can likely find something positive about it. This followup can come in a semi-personalized automated email or even a personal handwritten note or email. You never know when that customer will come back to order more items, even more expensive items or refer you to their friends! When I used to work at Macy’s back in the day, one thing I really remember learning was to congratulate someone on their purchase. So if they were buying shoes in a color you really loved, you could say, “Wow, what a great color choice! So unique.” Even when I shopped at Macy’s and knew the sales associates were trained to say these things, I still really enjoyed the interaction and engagement. I’ve had interactions with custom jewelry projects where I never heard from the jewelry brand/designer again, and this is probably not even close to true, but it made me feel like the person/business kind of didn’t enjoy working on my project or felt it was a waste of their effort and time. As I mentioned earlier in the episode, custom jewelry customers are willing to spend more and they typically have higher customer loyalty because they’re kind of gotten vulnerable with you and now there’s a level of trust between you and them. Honor that trust and privilege and celebrate it. Keep in more regular touch with those customers and make them feel like they’re superstar jewelry shoppers in their own right. What did you think? Let me know in an Instagram DM, podcast review or YouTube comment.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 38:25
Did you have any questions about today’s episode? You can always email me Laryssa at laryssa@joyjoya.com. If you loved this podcast, please share it with a friend who’d appreciate it. And don’t forget to subscribe as well as leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you’re completely new to digital marketing, then you’ll want to purchase and read a copy of my book JEWELRY MARKETING JOY. Visit joyjoya.com/book for more information.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai