I had a conversation with someone on Twitter asking for advice on craft sales. I went to their site and looked at their products. I thought the site was very nice and the products looked nice but I thought the colors were unattractive. Now please don’t misunderstand, this was just my opinion and I don’t claim to know their niche. I wrote back to this crafter and I asked him if he had ever done a test where he made to versions of the same product but in different colors to see which sold best. He responded by telling me how much his customers loved the colors and that they were all natural, etc… So I wrote back and said “But haven’t you ever been undecided on which color to go with and that if he did a test your customers would tell you which they preferred. To this he responded that he didn’t understand my question because his product had been in several magazines and he really wasn’t expecting this type of advice in response.
Are you getting tired yet, there’s more?
So I wrote back that he was missing my point all I was saying is that he should test. I said try it once, if I’m wrong they will both sell the same, if I’m right his customers would tell you what they like best. I didn’t get any other responses.
So this conversation brings up two points:
1. Don’t you think it’s really arrogant to assume you always know exactly what your customers want? That even if it improved your bottom-line you wouldn’t do a simple test because you know best. Seriously do you think Proctor and Gamble comes up with one package design, ships millions of items daily and doesn’t do A/B testing to see if a variation would sell better. It’s a never-ending cycle I can assure you.
2. If your not open minded enough to consider a response to your question ……. don’t ask, it’s a waste of everybody’s time.
That being said, the back and forth banter had a silver lining because it inspired me to write this article. I hope it will inspire you to do some simple testing of your own. Remember you can test all kinds of variables, price, size, fragrances, etc. Use your imagination, test and reap the benefits both financially and with happier customers. Isn’t that’s what it’s all about?