Do your customers constantly hound you about updates on their order?

[Jess Jones]

Hi everyone,

Because I do custom orders for my belts, I have a 10 week wait time. This causes lots of customers to constantly ask me throughout the process (several times before estimated time has been reached) to ask for updates on where they are on the list? 

I understand people are excited, but how do you address this? Do you have a wait time and if so, what is it? Do you also have this problem and how do you deal with it? Your help would be great to hear! Thanks!

 

 

Edited April 25, 2016 by Jess Jones

[treyman]

Be proactive and send weekly updates to those on the list. Maybe start with those that are 5 weeks in. best would be figure out a way to shorten the time. 10 weeks for a belt seems like a long time. 

[Thor]

If I were you I would make that a positive thing. Add an extra page to your website with a customer login. Having a table (or numbered list) on it with first names and first letter of last name plus city. At the end of each line you'll add the prospected shipping date and once shipped it should show that date as well. I'm pretty sure that this can be automated and that such a script is already existing.

This way they see that you're working on many orders and see that you're shitting them if you're saying it's a 10 weeks wait time.

While they are on your page/site re-visiting they will see additional advertisement of your products and they just might make another order.

[veedub3]

All the time!!!!!  I tell them when they purchase the order, when the expected ship date is, and they totally understand, yet a few days after payment, I will get an email asking how things are coming along. I have even had buyers request status photos during the making of their item. I usually respond with some generic reply letting them know how happy I am to be working with them on this project, and that they will be more than pleased with the finished product, and that usually will get them to calm down. I am so used to it now, that It no longer bothers me, but in the beginning it irked me to no end.

People are spending good money in my shop, and I never want to rub anyone the wrong way, so I always take a minute (actually hours) before I respond to ensure that I come off just as enthusiastic about their purchase as they are. I am entirely too busy to take progress photos of their item, so I just gloss on pass that request, but the generic response usually does the trick.

 

Karina

 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

7 hours ago, Thor said:

If I were you I would make that a positive thing. Add an extra page to your website with a customer login. Having a table (or numbered list) on it with first names and first letter of last name plus city. At the end of each line you'll add the prospected shipping date and once shipped it should show that date as well. I'm pretty sure that this can be automated and that such a script is already existing.

This way they see that you're working on many orders and see that you're shitting them if you're saying it's a 10 weeks wait time.

While they are on your page/site re-visiting they will see additional advertisement of your products and they just might make another order.

Thor, that is a fantastic idea!  Being computer illiterate, it is not within my capabilities to set that up, but it's still a great idea. Of course, once set up, the hard part for me would be keeping it current. Maybe I'd get my kid to do that. . . And the idea of clients visiting the website repeatedly to check on their projects and possibly  ordering more products, well that's just a super idea. You get my vote for tip of the day!

 

[JLSleather]

I just tell them when their order will be shipped.  A few times, I've slipped behind a bit.  Nobody had a problem with that as long as you contact them to let them know it will be a bit later. 

But I wouldn't wait until they contact me to tell them I'm not "on schedule".

But then I wouldn't wait 10 weeks for a plain belt, either.  Using drum-dyed leather and a sewing machine, I can't imagine a belt takes more than a couple of days to make.  

 

[Jess Jones]

Thanks for the great ideas! I do give updates and rarely ship late but it kills productivity. My thinking is that I wanted to see if others (like you) had the same frustrations as me. I am considering software where my customer can login and see status and estimated ship date. The will also receive automated email updates about their order. My idea is to have pre-drafted emails telling them what stage their product is in. I can update as necessary and customer can interact directly with that.

 

It takes a lot of time out of my build schedule to email because I am the type to make sure I always respond and do it fast. You guys how that is. 

 

Sooooo...I want to Beta test this software and use it for myself. If others are interested, then maybe I can offer it to people to save on time, stress and give the customers a more pleasant experience. Also, I have not seen any such software anywhere based on my research. The software out there is primarily designed for restaurants and hostesses to handle guests and their minimal wait times.

 

Any feedback on this is welcome so if and when I pull the trigger, I would know what the community of crafters wants and needs me to build into this software. Thanks!

[Thor]

Well the idea isn't all that new and eBay has been doing this for years. You might find one by searching for CRM systems. Something like this http://codecanyon.net/item/ultimate-client-manager-crm-pro-edition/2621629 but modified to your needs. This could be completed with a courier tracking system/script.

You also might want to check if you shop script can be upgraded with an order update script like shopify and prestashop have that already. Adobe offers a widget for this.

This script seems to be interesting as well http://codecanyon.net/item/simple-work-order-management-system/6182235. So it is out there and you are having the freedom of choice.

[Jess Jones]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Well the idea isn't all that new and eBay has been doing this for years. You might find one by searching for CRM systems. Something like this http://codecanyon.net/item/ultimate-client-manager-crm-pro-edition/2621629 but modified to your needs. This could be completed with a courier tracking system/script.

You also might want to check if you shop script can be upgraded with an order update script like shopify and prestashop have that already. Adobe offers a widget for this.

This script seems to be interesting as well http://codecanyon.net/item/simple-work-order-management-system/6182235. So it is out there and you are having the freedom of choice.

Awesome! Thanks!!!! I will check this out now!

[JMWendt]

Let them know that the lead time is ten weeks plus three days for every time they ask for another update on the lead time.  Or it resets to ten weeks each time they ask.  Either way, you should get a reduction is requests for updates.