Advertising ...

Hi,

every now and then—or quite often—people here recommend ways to boost sales by using good photos of your product, or there are similar topics aimed at promoting sales.
But here’s my big, fat BUT:

When I click on CrazyPattern, I always see the same things, and there are only three categories I can search by: popularity, review (which depends on popularity), and starting with the lowest prices.
What about the new patterns? What about the ones that aren’t exactly all the rage right now?
How is popularity determined? Isn’t something that’s extremely cheap also popular... and so on ... Honestly, good photos don’t make any sense if a product can’t be found based on the criteria above.
A pattern can’t become popular if it doesn’t fit the mold of a mass-market product.
A product can’t become popular if it lacks brand recognition because it isn’t seen very often or simply doesn’t exist in countless variations.
Because people love what they recognize—what they’ve encountered countless times, whether consciously or unconsciously.

So the search criteria above aren’t enough… because they don’t allow for variety.
And well, whatever gets advertised over and over again… it’s always the same thing; it’s just not fun to look at anymore.

So if you want to search for something on CrazyPattern, you have to have specific ideas and enter search terms… or you’ll constantly be bombarded with the same things and have to be very patient to ever be surprised by something new.

CrazyPattern needs to be promoted externally. Individual sellers have to promote themselves on other platforms.
Those who advertise heavily outside the platform—with contests, CALs, special offers… and repeatedly promoting their shop, which isn’t exactly welcomed and is sometimes even prohibited…
—but those who manage to stand out out there, time and again, rise in popularity here… and even the photos hardly matter. ;)

Just trying to make it here on your own with good products or good photos doesn’t get you very far...

... I have to correct myself—I can click on “New Arrivals” in the sidebar....

but I’d also like to be able to reverse the sorting. The most expensive patterns first. Or go to the last pages and start searching from the back... or jump in in the middle... but for that, I’d need to know how many pages there are....

Hi Michi,

please explain:
“What exactly is prohibited here: ‘Those who advertise heavily externally—with contests, CALs, loss leaders ... and constantly promoting their shop, which isn’t really welcomed and is even prohibited in some cases ....’”
What exactly is prohibited about that? I don’t think Crazypatterns has a problem with people promoting their shop on this platform ;o)

Outside the internet, it’s no different. I can design or invent a really great product, but if I put it on a supermarket shelf without advertising it or drawing customers’ attention to it, the product can be as great as it wants—but nobody will buy it because nobody knows about it.

I consider the search criteria “Bestsellers, New Arrivals, On Sale, and Free” to be perfectly sufficient. Customers looking for something specific won’t use the categories, but will enter a search term.

Of course, including patterns in the newsletters can certainly be helpful, but it has also been shown many times that patterns do not become any “more popular” despite being featured in the newsletters.
What’s popular and what isn’t is decided by the customer, and that can’t always be influenced by marketing and “loss leaders.” And well, seriously, when you shop online, do you click on the most expensive items first?!?!
What search criteria do you think are missing?

Best regards,
Melanie

Hi Michi,

I just took a quick look into this myself.
CP offers quite a few options for customizing your search criteria to your preferences.
For example, if you go to “Crochet” and select “Hats,” you’ll see an option at the top to sort the
search results. It says
sorted by: currently popular
You can then choose between “Currently Popular,” “Top Rated,” “Most Popular,” “Lowest Price First,” and “Newest First.”

You have this option for every category listed on the left-hand side.
Maybe just give it a try.

Best regards,
Petra



 

Hi Melles,

CrazyPatterns doesn't prohibit it, but, for example, craft groups on Facebook do. ;)
However, some craft groups were already pretty packed with ads (to put it mildly).
 

Oh, right, actually, I click on the most expensive one first, too. When I’m searching for something with just one term—and there’s an insane selection… on eBay, there’s sooooo much for 1 euro…—then I go all the way to the back and scroll through the results from the bottom up. Because expensive items can also mean higher quality.

But it’s true, I’ve never noticed the sidebar…. but it doesn’t take me to the back or middle pages either.
That’s something I miss on other websites.

“Newest”... I really had overlooked that.

“Popular” and “Top Rated” are so close together that it hardly makes a difference.
“Popular” basically just describes what’s been bought the most... if something’s been bought more, it gets more reviews too...

Oh, okay, I see what you mean. I agree with you there—that’s not always well-received in the groups.

I’d also like to see the most expensive items first, the older patterns… and I’d like to decide for myself which page to start my search on—whether it’s page 1, page 20, or even from the last page.
If I really want the most expensive items or the older patterns, then I have to click through all the pages. That’s very boring, annoying… and most of the time, you give up before you get there.