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Understanding custom products
Get ready to dive into the world of custom products, where it’s not just about buying or selling products, but about creating an experience as unique as your clients are.
What is a custom product?
Custom products are unique and personal, since they are created according to a customer's specific preferences and requirements. Such items allow customers to tweak various features, including color, texture, and design. Wondering which products should be offered with customization options to your customers? Well, you'll like the answer; you can customize all kinds of products, whether they're complex or very simple to design. These include clothing, jewelry, furniture and technological gadgets, as well as more unusual products such as guitars, cat trees, toys… The possibilities are endless!
The benefits of selling custom products for your business
Discover the lucrative benefits of selling custom products to your customers.
Consumers value custom products
Providing custom products can significantly enhance your consumers' appreciation, as it caters to their specific needs and preferences. Such customization can elevate the perceived value of your products, especially when standard offerings fall short of meeting consumers' distinct requirements. Beyond providing a product that is more aligned with customer preferences, the experience of designing their own product also enriches the buying journey, making it more engaging and memorable compared to a regular purchase. This particular experience will also build a deeper relationship with your customers.
Higher revenue and AOV
Custom products typically yield greater revenues because customers are often willing to spend extra for items tailored to their preferences. Moreover, when customers are involved in the customization process, they develop a sense of ownership over the final product. This connection can lead to larger purchases, as customers are more likely to buy multiple products in one order.
Differentiation
By selling custom products, you’ll allow your business to step aside from competitors. Indeed, people enjoy the ability to customize products that match with their personality, tastes and preferences. Therefore, if your business provides customization options, you'll possess a unique feature that many other businesses are yet to adopt. This will undeniably set your business apart from the rest.
Market expansion
By diving into the world of customization, you’ll gain opportunities to tap into new markets, often specific niches. As a result, you’ll be able to fulfill unique requirements that aren’t yet being met. This not only attracts new customers but also gives existing customers more reasons to stay engaged with your business.
How to create custom products online
So, you've decided to start creating custom products, but don't know where to start? Don't worry, we've put together these steps and tips you'll need to create your own custom products.
Defining your buyer persona
Before you start customizing products, it's important to know your consumers and to have what we call a "buyer persona". A buyer persona is a research-based, semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on data such as customer demographics, online behavior but also their preferences, motivations and concerns.
Why determining a buyer persona is a crucial step in developing your strategy for custom products?
Understanding customer needs: Once you understand your buyer persona, you'll gain deeper insights into their needs and preferences, allowing you to better design your custom products. Therefore, you’ll have the opportunity to improve your product development, leading to the creation of products that are more likely to be successful on the market.
Targeted marketing: When selling your custom products, having a grasp on your buyer persona will help you create tailored marketing strategies and advertising campaigns that truly connect with your potential buyers.
Enhanced customer experience: Finally, by having in mind your buyer persona, you’ll propose a customer experience that is tailored to them. This means that every interaction, from the initial contact to the final purchase and post-purchase support, will be designed with the specific needs and preferences of your target customer
Choosing the right product to customize
It's all about finding that perfect item that not only aligns with your brand but also strikes a chord with your customers. But to be honest, the possibilities are endless when it comes to product customization. Whether it's a tote bag that tells their story, a phone case that reflects their style, or a personalized piece of jewelry that holds a special meaning, there is no limit to what can be achieved with product customization.
Custom options - conceptualization
An important part of creating custom products is knowing the extent of personalization you will offer to your customers. Depending on your product, the level of personalization can range from the simplest, for example by offering several color or size options, to the most advanced, where customers can modify the design, add extra parts, add personal texts or even upload their own images on the product.
Once you've conceptualized your products and know what customizations you're going to offer your customers, it's time to put those ideas online. However, be careful when conceptualizing your custom products. Indeed, overloading customers with too many custom options might backfire. An abundance of customization can make the shopping process seem overly complicated and long, potentially resulting in a decrease of conversion rates.
Choose your online ecommerce platform
To kickstart your online sales, selecting an ecommerce platform to establish your store is a must. The digital world offers various platforms like Shopify, Woocommerce, Wix, and more. If you’d like to start creating custom products, we recommend using Shopify since this platform has all the features you’d expect from a platform such as:
An intuitive user interface that's a breeze to navigate,
Aesthetically pleasing themes to make your store stand out,
Shopify is scalable, it grows at the same time your ecommerce does,
Essential customization features to tailor your online space to your brand's personality.
Shopify's app ecosystem is a thriving platform, fostering numerous third-party developers who create a variety of extensions to amplify the functionality of Shopify-based online stores. This rich ecosystem includes apps for everything from inventory management to marketing, SEO and product customization, enabling merchants to optimize their stores for their unique business needs.
While ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop are powerful tools for setting up your online store, they may not provide the advanced product customization features that today's consumers crave.
For a truly unique and personalized shopping experience that sets your brand apart, you'll need to integrate a dedicated product customizer software. This 'out-of-the-box' solution will allow you to offer a top level experience where customers can tailor products exactly to their liking.
Product customizer software
To create and sell customized products, using a product customizer software is a must. Tools like Kickflip will greatly simplify the task and give you access to much more advanced features than what’s available on your ecommerce platform.
Using a product customizer software will enable you to :
Increase the efficiency of the customization process.
Enhance the customer experience since the design and creation are going to be way smoother.
Gain access to a lot of advanced customization features that will truly elevate your customers’ final products and overall experience.
Reduce the potential mistakes around the designs.
How to sell custom products online
Now that you have created your custom products using a product customizer app, it's time to formulate your best sales strategies.
Design your ecommerce and custom product page
In order to effectively sell your custom products, it's important to have an aesthetically pleasing and well-designed ecommerce store to showcase your offerings optimally. Here are some key considerations for displaying your custom products online:
Ensure that your website is user-friendly and transparent, fostering a sense of trust and security in potential customers, reducing the likelihood of them perceiving your site as fraudulent.
Create a ‘customize’ or ‘personalize’ section in your main menu.
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Add sections dedicated to your custom products in your home page.
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Create a ‘customize section’ in your footer.
Create a page to explain your customization program/process.
Include pre-made designs of your custom products to inspire customizers. Allow your customers to visualize designs to get some inspiration as “starting points”. Starting points consist of different customized versions of the same product. Kickflip’s starting points feature allows you to present unlimited custom inspiration of your product to your online store.
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Showcase high-quality images of your custom products. Since customers can't physically interact with your items, vivid and accurate images provide them with a clear idea of what their custom product will look like.
Don’t underestimate the power of product descriptions! Writing a good product description not only helps boost sales and improves your SEO, but also fosters trust among your customers.
Provide social proof : Showcase the feedback from past customers through reviews, ratings and comments, so that potential buyers can have an external opinion and experience of the product.
Pricing strategy
Figuring out the right pricing strategy for these one-of-a-kind items can be tricky. You want to make sure you're covering costs and making a profit, while still offering a fair price to your customers. So, how do you strike that balance? Here are a few strategies that could help:
Value-based pricing
Essentially, with this pricing strategy, businesses determine the price according to how much consumers perceive the value of the product or service to be. Consequently, by opting for this strategy, you'll be able to improve your profitability by setting premium prices based on the high-perceived value of custom products. Here’s basic steps to implement it:
Know your customer. What are their purchasing behaviors? How much are they willing to pay for such products?
Define your value proposition. What makes your product unique?
Look at your competitors. What value do they offer? How much are they pricing their products?
Set your price based on value.
Communicate your value proposition. Highlight the unique aspects and values of your products.
Dynamic pricing
By opting for this pricing strategy, you can manage your prices according to the law of supply and demand. Indeed, by adjusting prices according to current market conditions, businesses can maximize their profits and better manage their inventory.
Competitor pricing
As the name suggests, this tactic is based on competition. By benchmarking against your competitors, you'll be able to adjust your prices, either to offer cheaper ones in order to get a better deal, or to raise them to show potential buyers that your products are premium and of better quality.
Online marketing strategy
Now it's time to design your marketing strategy, and don't worry, you don't have to spend a fortune to make it work.
Social media marketing
In today’s digital environment, social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Youtube significantly contribute to the marketing strategy of brands. Indeed, with such platforms, brands seeking to showcase their products, grow their clientele and engage with their target audience. With Instagram having over 2.35 billion users in 2023, these platforms are instrumental in presenting custom products through visually appealing and captivating content that resonate with potential customers.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is an increasingly common marketing strategy where companies collaborate with influencers, often on social media, to promote their products. This strategy relies on the influencer's credibility and popularity to increase brand visibility and reach potential customers. This form of marketing can be highly effective, as it capitalizes on the trust that influencers have built up with their audience. As a result, by collaborating with one or more influencers you'll be able to promote your customized products to a large number of social network users.
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Charli D'Amelio, a well-known influencer (47 Million followers on instagram), has been actively promoting Amazon. She shares her top picks and deals from the platform. Through this paid post, Amazon shows all Charli D’Amelio’s followers that she uses Amazon products and services.
Paid advertising
Paid advertising is an effective way to reach your target audience. Indeed, by buying advertising space through various platforms such as social networks, search engines or websites, you can display ads aimed at a certain group based on geographic location, age, interests, etc. By displaying your ads on these platforms, you can increase your visibility and attract new potential buyers to your website.
The effectiveness of paid advertising is measurable, with metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), impressions, and conversion rates providing insight into how well the ads are performing.
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Email marketing
An email marketing strategy allows you to connect with a broad audience by distributing promotional emails about your custom products. It's not only an avenue for reaching potential customers, but also a tool for nurturing existing relationships between your brand and your customers, fostering loyalty while simultaneously driving sales. Indeed, 59% of marketers identify email as their biggest source of ROI and marketers who used segmented campaigns report an impressive 760% increase in revenue.
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Conclusion
In today's market, selling custom products can be a game-changer for businesses. Not only does it allow companies to differentiate their offerings, but it also meets the growing consumer demand for custom products. By providing products on which customers can express their individuality and preferences, businesses can create a unique value proposition. Coupled with a sound sales strategy, and the right product customizer software, such as Kickflip, this approach can significantly enhance your ecommerce performance.
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