The year has gone by so quickly (as it always does!) and we are now approaching the festive season again, which is the peak selling season for Artfinder and its artist community. Green Friday has become the new Christmas, whilst Christmas still performs highly. All in all, October is the perfect time for artists to review their shops, listings, pricing, to prepare for the high traffic season ahead.
Here are some tips for you to ensure you maximise your chances of being seen and selling through the season.
Great listings to captivate your audience
Remember that customers buying online only have words, images or video to make a decision of a purchase, sometimes of several thousand pounds. So the more detailed and complete your listings are, the least likely a customer will hesitate to press that all important “add to basket” button.
This includes:
- Good imagery: Ensure your images are high resolution and as true to the artwork as possible. Show the full frontal view of the artwork, some close up shots to show details or texture, and some in context images so customers get an idea of scale. The better your images, the least questions or doubts customers will have, the more likely they are to purchase there and then!
- Correct classification: Make sure your artworks are classified correctly, in terms of medium, style or substrate. Use our ‘Ready to hang’ badge for any artwork which can be taken out of the parcel and out straight on the wall (remember that for paintings, the canvas sides are painted) as a lot of customers like a no fuss experience, especially if it’s a gift!
- Good description: Customers who buy art often do so for two reasons: they love it aesthetically, or they have an emotional connection to it (and often it’s a combination of the two). A good description will capture the customer’s attention by giving them equal technical details and inspirational stories. You painted two blue cats using oil and varnished your canvas with the highest quality materials? Mention this to them. But also make sure to explain that blue cats have always been a representation of the duality of existence for you. Make that connection with the viewer, and they are far more likely to convert into a buyer.
- Relevant tags: Customers are, on the whole, not technical people so art technical terms are seldom going to retrieve results for you in terms of searches. Instead, focus your tags on simple one word terms relating to specific subjects or locations, moods and colours, as these will expand the range of customers who will view your work.
Keep your shop active
You’ve now created some tip top listings, so you’re basically set for the holiday season, right? But wait, so have the other thousands of artists on our site and you have not posted any artwork in a few weeks. That means maybe you are not as visible as you could be. We know Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a good artwork (mostly). So on top of uploading works regularly, here are a few extra tips on how to keep your shop active and make sure you are getting noticed by customers and our team!
Regularity of upload is key to visibility
Some artists will take three months to create a piece, others will do several sketches in one hour. Some have a huge back catalogue they can upload bit by bit, others produce and upload as they create. Put simply, there aren’t two artists the same. So how do you solve the matter of how often to upload works? By being regular. Pick a frequency of upload that works for you and your practice, based on how long you take to create a piece, how many you already have created and are ready to sell. Try to also cater for imponderables (the roof is leaking, the kids are sick, those pesky relatives are visiting, we all know how life goes!) so that your frequency of upload is steady, then stick to it religiously. Uploading one or two artworks at once, at regular intervals, will mean customers are used to seeing new works from you on a regular basis, but so will our team. This increases your chances of being featured/promoted also.
Keep your ‘Me at work’ section fresh
This section is great as it helps customers understand who you are as an artist. Get in the habit of documenting everything you do, from inspiration to creation, to your work space and even the mess on your drawing table. All this makes you you, which in turns helps customers build trust around who they are purchasing from. It’s your way to communicate with prospective buyers (something you cannot do with the messaging system) through videos, images and text. So keep that section fresh by regularly uploading content to it, we also check these pages for content to share on our own social media, so this could be an additional way for you to be promoted.
Share your work on socials
Social media is now the unavoidable promotional tool for artists. It helps you narrow down a crowd of likeminded people who you can turn into customers through clever hashtagging and content sharing. Share progress updates, people love to see the behind the scenes of creating an artwork (remember not everyone is an artist, it is still a magical profession for many!). When your artwork is uploaded, share a link to it on all your socials. Tag us in your posts so we can see and reshare them where possible. We also ask our artists to submit reels to us, so that we can share them on our own social media for even more visibility. To see what makes a great reel for submission, please refer to our blog post here. Every noise and buzz you generate around your work gets you one step closer to selling it!
Engage with us and our community
This community is vast and rich in so many life stories and experiences, so make the most of it! Artfinder is blessed to have so many ways for us to interact with our community or for artists to exchange with one another. Make sure to follow the artists you like, favourite their works, direct message them to congratulate them or to ask any questions. This is your chance to build a network of like minded artists who may be valuable supports in your artistic journey. We are also very lucky to have a forum where artists and Artfinder can exchange freely, about pretty much anything. You want tips on how to use oil paint? We got them. Deep meaningful conversations about what is art? Also got them. Submit an artwork for a collection? Still here. Need to vent about something? Be our guest. Want to keep updated on all news from Artfinder or read our CEO quarterly updates on how things are going? Also on our forum. We have seen first hand how valuable this tool can be, especially at times like Covid where people were isolated, so make the most of it! And if you are worried about English not being your first language, please don’t let that stop you. We are an international community, on a forum run by a French native, so you won’t get judged on your communication skills here! But do be polite and respectful. That, we are very strict about.
Mix it up with sales and regular promotional offers
Did you know all the features available to you as a seller on Artfinder? You can run artist sales, where you choose your level of discounting and products you wish to include. You can also generate unique discount codes for your customers, to invite them to purchase from you again. You also have access to features such as Make an offer (where customers can offer to buy your work at a specific price) and commission (where you can create bespoke works for your customers), giving you full control over acceptance and pricing. You can also offer free shipping, as a way to attract more customers, but if you do so, make sure to cover all your costs in the artwork’s full price, once our commission and potential discounts have been taken out, as we do not wish for our artists to be out of pocket. Plenty of ways for you to keep your customers engaged throughout your journey.
Customer loyalty building goes a long way
Once you’ve managed to captivate your audience, they are now only a few steps away from buying your work. Problem is, they are unsure about the size and if this will work in their space, so they messaged you to ask if you have more pictures you could share of the artwork in context, so they could see how this will work for them.
Be prompt and be kind
Especially at times of high traffic/peak buying season, customers often window shop for the perfect gift so time is of the essence. If a customer contacts you with a query, make sure to respond as quickly as possible. Be kind and courteous, even if they eventually decide not to purchase from you this time. They may change their mind later on, or recommend you to someone they know because you have been so helpful at the time. A kind and prompt message can help you build a repeat customer base that will help you establish your business’ longevity.
Thank them for their purchase
Now you’ve done all this hard work, it has paid off, the customer has purchased your artwork! Now all you need to do is ship it to them, but wait…did you thank them for buying from you? You would be amazed at how much difference it makes for a customer to receive such a message as soon as they purchase. Remember that by buying your work, a customer is actively helping you make a living out of your passion, so let them know that with a quick thank you for your purchase message!
If there is any issue with delivery or delays, customers will also usually be far more understanding to artists who actively communicate with them, than those they had to chase for a response.
Keep your customers updated at every delivery stage, especially when there are delays. The more you speak to them, the more reassured they will be that a solution will be provided if a problem arises. Once delivered, ask them if everything is ok. A little thank you card or message in the parcel can also make the difference between a regular purchase and a wow experience.
Also remember that customers can return an artwork within 14 days if they change their mind, and although we cannot influence their decision as such, it is much harder to return an artwork to an artist who you have been in constant touch with. And if you do, you are more likely to purchase from them again or trying to find a replacement piece, or even order a commission.
Imagine you are the customer, and you’re buying an artwork online, possibly for the first time, from someone you have never met. What would you need to feel trust? Whatever that is, it’s likely your customers will need the same.
Finally, if you’ve done all the above, it’s likely the customer will keep the artwork and love it. So this is your time to kindly ask them to review their experience. We do email them asking for reviews also, but when the artist does and explains that thanks to this, they will be able to attract new viewers and build a trustworthy network of customers, customers can feel much more obliged to leave a review. It only takes a few minutes, can be done easily straight from their order view on the site and will definitely help you grow your business to new heights.
We hope the above will help you feel empowered and ready to tackle the busy sales times, or give you things to work on until then!
Cover image by Ronald Hunter
