Mail Order Tips

I have been doing a lot of mail order these last few weeks, what with my new solo CD, Backstage at the Resurrection (www.jamesleestanley.com/backstage.html)  and the duet CD with Cliff Eberhardt, All Wood and Doors (www.allwoodanddoors.com) .   That CD isn’t even officially out yet, but we are filling mail order on it for those in the know.

In any event, I realized that one of the main things to do when doing mail order is to check the email orders frequently.

Secondly, be sure to copy the address and email into your mail log.   You DO keep a mail log right?

You need that to ascertain when an order was filled and to maintain a data base of the patrons of your, ahem, art, so that you can return to them the next time you come up with an idea, project, cd, painting, novel, etc.

And when you get the order, make certain that you send them an email acknowledging the order and telling them when you are shipping it out.

Further, put something extra in the package,  a cd cover, a photo, a one sheet on some other project, a post card; something to make them feel special and to let them know that, if they like what you’ve done, there’s more where that came from.

And the most important thing is to get those orders out as fast as you can.  Nothing impresses a person who has ordered through the mail than for them to received the package before they expected it.   This goes along way towards keeping them as patrons.

Of course it also helps to deliver to them something that is wonderful.    That’s a biggie too!

And make certain that there is nothing that isn’t intuitively obvious on your site.   You cannot expect them to take an intelligence test just to buy what you are selling.   Make it easy for them.   Big pictures and not too much copy and don’t make the buy button discreet.   Make it so Stevie Wonder could find it on your page.   You’ll thank me in the end.