Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Paypal Lets You Know Where Your Customers Are Finding You

   For the entire time I have been selling online I have wondered how people find me. What channels do they go through before they enter my shop? Knowing this would let me know what kind of exposure helps draw customers and and what doesn't. I would like to focus my efforts on what is working and scrap that which never gets seen. Etsy doesn't give any insight in to where your customers come from, and neither does ArtFire for that matter. Google Analytics lets you know where your shop visitors are coming from but doesn't filter out those who actually become customers from those who are just browsing.
   Today, while I was browsing the ArtFire forums I stumbled across a post by a seller asking the same questions. SeaDayDesigns posted an answer that everyone found vastly helpful. PayPal lets you tack a customer survey onto the payment process and you can directly ask your customer how they found you! Now there is no guarantee that your customers will answer the survey, so perhaps it would be a good idea to offer an incentive. Give a discount for returning customers who fill out the survey, or a free gift. The survey is short and sweet, only one question with a field to enter multiple answers so your customer only needs to click the one that is relevant to them.

   To set up your customer service survey you need to log into your PayPal account.
   Click on "Profile"
   Under the Selling Preferences column, click on Custom Payment Pages
   Select the "Options" Tab
    Click "Customer Survey"
    Then enter your question
     Fill in your answers

Simple as that! Now you have a method of learning where at least some of your customers are coming from, and you will know  which promotional activities to focus on.

3 comments:

Patty said...

Wow - thanks so much for crediting me in this post! That was a very kind thing to do. Wishing you much success. :)

Linda said...

Over a long time none of my customers ever filled this in! Eventually I dropped it.
I know some people ask their customers how they found the shop. I haven't yet done that aa I can't decide if knowing that would be useful or not.

LindaButterfly Handmade & Printed Cards

Stitches In Time said...

Yes, I do wonder just how effective this is. That is why I suggest offering an incentive, like free shipping on next purchase, 10% off or a free gift for those who do fill it out.
I imagine knowing where your customers are finding you would be helpful for determining where your promotional activities are having the most effect.