4 Reasons Why Polka Dot Cottage is Better Now

Sometimes I learn things in the course of doing my Day Job that I can put to good use for Polka Dot Cottage. For example, I’ve recently been studying web analytics and learning how to draw conclusions from some of the reports. One such report tells you about the “sales funnel.” It shows how many people view items, put them in their carts, and check out. But what’s interesting about that is how many people abandon the checkout process before sealing the deal!

(I should mention here that there are no personally identifying details in these reports, so I have no idea who is changing their mind at the last minute. If it’s you, your secret is safe 😜)

#1 Credit Cards

So, I dug a little deeper into the reports and found that the greatest rate of abandonment happened at payment time. People got all the way to the spot where they had to pay and then decided not to go through with it. I wondered why. Because at that point, they already knew the price of the products. They already knew the shipping cost (if any). What other surprises would there be on that page?

It had to be payment method. It had to be that people were not comfortable that PayPal was the only payment option. Luckily, that was simple enough to fix…

We now accept credit card payments via Stripe!

For those of you wishing for a non-PayPal option, now you have it. And for those of you who prefer PayPal, you can continue to use it. Choose your favorite method.

#2 Swatches

Fixing that pain point made me want to find others. One of the things that has bothered me for some time is the lack of visual cues when choosing a handmade item. I mean, maybe you knew you wanted a crochet hook, but you basically had to guess what the patterns on the handles are. Do you know what “Spring Calico” looks like? I do, but I am probably the only one. So, I found a way to fix that, too…

All of the drop-down options have been replaced with tiny swatches!

Now you can see that Spring Calico is a delicate floral in greens, yellows, and purples before you select it. And every in-stock item has been photographed, so if you choose options that correspond with something that is available to ship, the image will change so you can see that item. Or one nearly identical to it.

#3 Consistent Graphics

A few weeks ago, in an attempt to procrastinate doing my taxes, I redesigned all of the graphics for the products in the shop. Now the Downloads, External Products, and Handmades all look like they came from the same store. This is good because they do come from the same store. I am really happy with the way everything turned out. (And I did eventually get around to doing those taxes. Whew!)

#4 More Goodies In Stock

Last, but definitely not least, I’ve made some new polymer clay items! There are new pens, crochet hooks, seam rippers, and barrettes in stock. And if I get my way this weekend, I will be making even more things. Probably bangle bracelets.

Thank you for being interested in my little shop, the things I make, and the projects I design. If you ever run into any technical difficulties, please don’t hesitate to tell me about them. I’ll try to fix any issue, but I need to know about it first!