# Did online designer increase your sales?



## Finland (Mar 3, 2018)

That is the big question. If you added online designer to your existing store, did it increase sales so much you would buy the designer again?

I know there is no simple answer to "should i buy it or not", and others sales numbers shouldn't be compared to my situation, but as my sales being still really low i would like to hear about your experienses before going for it.


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## paradigmprint (May 7, 2017)

Finland said:


> That is the big question. If you added online designer to your existing store, did it increase sales so much you would buy the designer again?
> 
> I know there is no simple answer to "should i buy it or not", and others sales numbers shouldn't be compared to my situation, but as my sales being still really low i would like to hear about your experienses before going for it.



I've looked into it and, while I've never pulled the trigger, I would guess that it would likely increase sales to a degree.

My question has always been more along the lines of "how" I would be able to market it against the "big guys" who spend tens of thousands of dollars every year (maybe more) driving people to their design sites with online, print, and media placements.

My niche has always been local, small groups that the screenprinter shops either aren't interested in or are priced too high for small numbers. I also do the Etsy thing that produces an average of about 10 orders per month (small online store). 

I'm kind of anxious too for any feedback on the success of the online designer ......


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## Signature Series (Jun 11, 2016)

The first word of caution is unless you are doing a very scaled down version of a design tool there is significant amount of work that is required just to bring it up and running. So many people think you just load it up and away you go but there are so many variables you need to account for. If you go more of tturnkey route like Deco or Inksoft then you get into an entire different game as these tools are used to manage your business as well and Deco V8 soon to be released also allows you to build a custom website with drag and drop technology so you are not stuck with the horrible templates that all look the same.

Will it increase sales? Let me just say it will not turn around a business that has traffic/sales issues. You need to figure out why your sales/traffic is slow way before you invest in a design tool. What the design tool does for us is allow people who want a one off custom piece to simply add their names, logos, etc to the item and purchase without the expense of designer time. We have been using one of the very first tools now for close to a decade and what it does for us is allow customers an afforda ble way to purchase one off items. For us, it is still less than 10% of our total re venue.


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## seacookie (Apr 29, 2015)

Signature Series said:


> The first word of caution is unless you are doing a very scaled down version of a design tool there is significant amount of work that is required just to bring it up and running. So many people think you just load it up and away you go but there are so many variables you need to account for. If you go more of tturnkey route like Deco or Inksoft then you get into an entire different game as these tools are used to manage your business as well and Deco V8 soon to be released also allows you to build a custom website with drag and drop technology so you are not stuck with the horrible templates that all look the same.
> 
> Will it increase sales? Let me just say it will not turn around a business that has traffic/sales issues. You need to figure out why your sales/traffic is slow way before you invest in a design tool. What the design tool does for us is allow people who want a one off custom piece to simply add their names, logos, etc to the item and purchase without the expense of designer time. We have been using one of the very first tools now for close to a decade and what it does for us is allow customers an afforda ble way to purchase one off items. For us, it is still less than 10% of our total re venue.


The real question here is how many times you get small 72 resolution picture which is basically crap and you get bunch of time wasted working with it to make it nice and printable?


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## Signature Series (Jun 11, 2016)

seacookie said:


> The real question here is how many times you get small 72 resolution picture which is basically crap and you get bunch of time wasted working with it to make it nice and printable?


I m not sure how every designer works but the Deco/Inksofts warn a user when they upload a file that is not high enough resolution. The entire point of every designer include ng the big boys is you will receive what you design. In the early days of us deploying the on-line designer and received orders that we perceived needed to be "improved" we would call the customer and suggest a change or two. In the fast majority of cases the customer would almost be offended. The point - people usinbg the designer want it to be their design - we now print what we receive.


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## brushyourideas (Oct 18, 2016)

Hello,

It's very difficult to say anything about it but on major cases, it depends on your audience and products. It will not directly help you to increase product sales; it helps you to increase average order values. So it will grow your business revenues. It's open one new door for your customers.

To purchase personalize products trends increasing day by day. T-shirts printers are easily available and do not cost too much. You can outsource the entire contract for the very little amount of money to your local vendor.

Thanks


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## Zulfi (Apr 9, 2018)

Its Not possible to increase the sale by designer..


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

Before you consider an online designer you need to have the ability to print what the customer orders, in the quantity they order. The number of customers who come into my shop with a 'logo' that is low res photo, wanting one shirt is very high.
If you only offer limited print methods then you will end up refunding a lot of customers.


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## LancerFlorida (Mar 20, 2018)

I have used 3rd party providers for many years in many businesses and can say NONE of them will make or save a business. This is like building a grand hotel with no roads leading to it.

Such services are good for optimizing and revenue augmentation.

The beginning is the analytics associated with your website. If you have insufficient traffic for the 'numbers' to work in your favor, you MUST begin there.

Seriously, your business. all business is as much if not MORE about marketing that it is about the product or service being offered.

When the traffic starts producing orders THEN look to optimize and augment with 3rd party providers who protect your IP.


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## infowaybuy (Apr 3, 2018)

if you want to increase sales, you should remove it immediately. There isn't any research to show that it increases sale.It actually confuses customers and drives them away.


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## moderngraphics (Feb 5, 2019)

I think the online designers are hard to use because screen printing has so many options? I'm afraid to add one to my site. They are expensive & the low cost plug in dont offer features that we need. I was thinking of add a printing calculator instead to let the customer buy 1 or 2 color bulk prints online if they want something more than that to submit a quote. I'm not sure where to get tee shirt calculator? Does anyone have any ideas?


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## LancerFlorida (Mar 20, 2018)

Based on your existing website analytics, determine:
1. how many visits per month.
2. How many stayed longer than 45 seconds.
3. How many placed an order.
If the difference between number 2 and number 3 are significant, you will need to do the math to evaluate if 'giving them what they want'via an online design tool is going to be profitable.


Now, lets do more analytics. How many are searching your key words? How does that number compare to actual visits? Do you see the pathway to increasing your piece of the Internet traffic pie? 



Bottom line: If you don't have the traffic, having better tools won't matter in regards to getting you more business.


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## JohnDeco (Mar 2, 2020)

There are people who customize products for promotions, awareness, teams or individual choice. And product customization is a modern trend in eCommerce. Therefore, it increases sales as you are providing a unique feature that most online retailers may not opt for.


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## DonR (May 6, 2011)

Based on my post from a few days ago, there is not a lot of interest in online designers at this time. Therefore, you can conclude that they are not interested because they do not believe it will help their sales. 

See prior post at: https://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t884861.html


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## LancerFlorida (Mar 20, 2018)

New tools willl allow a business owner to incrementally increase their business or squeeze more $$$ from the revenue currently generated. 
I love online designers. Customer say they do. User group studies reveal consumer go weary of gadget quickly. They want to hit 'PLAY' and sit back. So, my problem is I too often fall in love with my ideas and they really need to be kicked to the curb.

Provide really good images, let them check the boxes, and if they want to ad TEXT.....that is the only online design tool you need.

The big buck are there to take away the top and bottom off the market leaving an ever smaller middle ground for the small shop. NOTE: The BIG MONEY is in the middle-sphere, the apparatus that exits between the consumer and the provider.

I am aware, companies like VistaPrint have a no-touch structure and they are doing with with their on-line designer. However, they have a name/brand synonymous with business card.

If you can implement the online designer that does not lead to consumer frustration (the opposite of clicking PLAY) AND you are willing to invest the dollars to promote it AND you do no deviate from the mission.....it will make you money.


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## obzelite (Aug 6, 2008)

DonR said:


> Based on my post from a few days ago, there is not a lot of interest in online designers at this time. Therefore, you can conclude that they are not interested because they do not believe it will help their sales.
> 
> See prior post at: https://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t884861.html


you need to give people some more info, people may not be interested because you didn't mention any costs or any other info on features. 

online designers work, CafePress, Zazzle, Vistaprint all use online designers and none of them are working out of their garage with a single DTG machine. Not to mention the absolute ton of people who use print of demand to start stores and just skim a profit while someone else does all the work. all of them use online designers.

you have to start somewhere and you may as well start right the first time. 
I'm looking at different options now, I don't want to deal with customers, i do that all day now for screenprinting. 
for dtg i want the customer to do it, submit it, pay for it and ill print it


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## webtrekker (Jan 28, 2018)

Signature Series said:


> I m not sure how every designer works but the Deco/Inksofts warn a user when they upload a file that is not high enough resolution.


The problem with this approach is that some numpty can take a 200 x 200 image at 72 dpi from Google Images and enlarge it to 5,000 x 5,000 and the online designer will accept it. There are still an enormous number of customers who know absolutely nothing about scaling and resolution.


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## TeedUp (Apr 22, 2020)

webtrekker said:


> The problem with this approach is that some numpty can take a 200 x 200 image at 72 dpi from Google Images and enlarge it to 5,000 x 5,000 and the online designer will accept it. There are still an enormous number of customers who know absolutely nothing about scaling and resolution.


True, although when you can prevent some of the problem, then you've prevented some of the problem. 

You'd need some insane AI to just tell the customer their low res image is crap. But at least if they're forced to resize it to cheat the system, they can't be too surprised it's crap.


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## webtrekker (Jan 28, 2018)

TeedUp said:


> True, although when you can prevent some of the problem, then you've prevented some of the problem.
> 
> You'd need some insane AI to just tell the customer their low res image is crap. But at least if they're forced to resize it to cheat the system, they can't be too surprised it's crap.



Agreed. I think the best anyone can do really is to issue a disclaimer on their site, which may make customers think twice and check their original artwork before submitting it.


At least, with an online 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' designer it avoids one problem that used to bug me with customers photos sent by email. They would send a mobile portrait-oriented photo with the subject zoomed in and close to the edges of the photo and expect me to crop it to fit a landscape design!


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## Fiza (Apr 10, 2020)

Yes, there are many online software available for design t shirts you can use that. and that definitely help you to increase traffic and sales for your eCommerce business.


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## JohnDeco (Mar 2, 2020)

An increase in sales depends upon multiple factors. The most crucial is the number of visitors coming to your website. You can run ads by highlighting your product customization feature.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

JohnDeco said:


> An increase in sales depends upon multiple factors. The most crucial is the number of visitors coming to your website. You can run ads by highlighting your product customization feature.


john, you already answered this thread 2.5 years ago
and now you bring it up again (even though the op has not been here for over 4 years)
i actually hope you are a bot, it would make me feel better about humanity
on the off chance you are not a bot, please research the history of india and forge a new path (hint: you guys were the near the tippy-top of intelligence/wisdom)

here is your post to refresh your memory (post #13):


> There are people who customize products for promotions, awareness, teams or individual choice. And product customization is a modern trend in eCommerce. Therefore, it increases sales as you are providing a unique feature that most online retailers may not opt for.


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