Masks are not a fashion accessory, but they do take up a fair amount of space on your face, so it’s not surprising that people are looking for aesthetically pleasing ones. It began out of necessity but now it looks like we’re going to be wearing cloth face masks for a while, which is a great reason to find one that you like.
The best face masks for civilians to wear are made of cloth, and many stores and high-end designers have launched their own face mask lines offering different colors and patterns that make masks more fun to wear. But what if you could go one step forward and offer unique masks by adding your own picture, logo, or your favorite quote?
Personalized masks are highly desired, whether it is to spice up your daily looks or to keep your staff safe and on-brand, it seems that this new essential accessory will be a key item in our everyday lives.
For example, Etsy’s landing page has become all about masks, and the company disclosed that between April 4 and 6, people searched for masks on the site an average of 9 times per second, totaling more than 2 million searches. So, if selling masks is on your horizon, you could find yourself sitting on a very successful business venture.
If you are interested in turning your personalized masks into a huge success here are some tips to help you with your endeavor.
Know your personalization: How to personalize.
Make sure you know the materials that you work with, and the different custom options you will provide. You want to be able to give your customers an accurate description of the masks that you are selling, and a great personalization experience. This includes knowing what types of materials, and personalization methods you'll use on your designs.
Depending on whether you sell disposable masks or re-usable cloth masks, the different personalization you can apply to them. The most popular personalization methods for masks are:
Embroidery. Great for monograms or adding your own name and initials, to a mask. This can be applied only to double-layered cloth masks.
Bride & groom masks from Etsy
Screen printing. Perfect for printing pictures or logos. It can be applied both to cloth masks and disposable ones.
Disposable face mask with printed logo
Mix and match: Used to create cool and unique patterns, it can mix different personalization techniques, from printing to patchwork.
What to personalize.
Once you know how you are going to personalize, it is important to think about what you will let customers personalize. Will your masks be a white canvas for customers to do whatever they want, or will you offer some designs for them to choose from?
Depending on your target customer, which way you'd like to go.
If you are targeting businesses, then blank masks are probably the way to go. Here customers will be able to upload their own designs (as an image, or vector) and position them over a blank mask, to create their own branded items.
If your customers are people like me and you, just looking to buy a mask to wear themselves or gift to someone, then you might look into working with pre-set designs. These are masks that already have some cool designs in them, and customers can personalize with simple actions like adding their name or uploading a picture.
Since your customers are not designers, a blank mask can be quite overwhelming. That's why working with templates that customers can personalize on top is a great way to go. This way customers can add their personal touch to it, and still have a cool design they can brag about!
Set up your product page.
Once you know what you'll offer, make sure to translate that accurately to your customers. It’s important to remember that the more options you offer to your customers, the more difficult it can be for them to choose what they want. We often recommend limiting the number of available options and making those options as easy to understand as possible.
For example, if your mask has some standard options, such as base color or strap color, add some simple swatch options to showcase all the colors available. That way, buyers can choose what options they want before checking out. If you also offer text or photo personalization a combination of text boxes and image upload fields makes it easy for customers to order just the right piece.
Remember, don't overwhelm customers with endless options. Instead, offer some simple options that will let customers add their personal touch, and have a cool mask at the end. Truth is, most customers want you to do the heavy work for them, that's why they are choosing your designs!
Kids mask designer by imondkapje.nl
It’s important when setting up customizable items to consider the types of mistakes (oops!) customers might try to make when ordering, and minimize them. So for example, if you allow only monogramming, make sure to set the maximum amount of characters to 3 or whatever amount of initials your monogram design has.
One thing's for sure, if you’d like to offer different choices and personalization options to your customers, it’s important to show them how the options will look.
Showcase your personalization
There are different ways you can use to show your customers what their personalization will look like. From simple ways, like example pictures, to more advanced ways like live personalization, all these tools will help your customers understand what they are buying and know what to expect, translating into... (yes, you guessed it) more conversion!
Use swatches for all the graphic options.
If customers can choose colors, patterns, font type, icons, or characters, use swatches to showcase these options. Seeing a small sample of the options they are choosing makes it a lot easier to choose, plus it helps customers envision the results.
Use pictures that are worth a MILLION words.
In order to sell your masks, you are going to want to capture the attention of your audience. What better way to do that than with eye-catching photos that make your designs pop off the screen? So get your picture work on! Make sure you add pictures of the different personalizations available, lifestyle shots of the end result are great for customers to imagine how their own personalization will look!
Show a preview of the personalization.
This is the best way to show customers exactly what they will get. While pictures will attract the attention of your targeted audience, most shoppers are going to want to make sure that their personalization is going to look awesome. That's why combining good pictures with a powerful preview software will make your personalized products pop out.
But most importantly, allowing shoppers to preview their custom masks significantly helps boost their buying confidence. Benefits for you? More conversions, fewer mistakes, and a reduced return rate!
A few extra tips
Create your own niche. Face masks are a hot item right now, so without a specific niche, your online store might remain a hidden gem forever. Doing this won’t restrict you, it’ll keep order within your store. Just like clothing, people shop for specific staple pieces for accessories. If someone is looking for neon masks, they’re not going to rummage through thousands of stores to find the perfect one. So make sure you correctly identify your signature products and market them!
Where it be masks or any other customizable gift, products that customers can personalize are a big draw, but can also be hard to sell. Helping people streamline their customization process on their eCommerce is one of our areas of deep expertise, and we would love to help you make sense of your personalized products.
Pair our strategies for online product personalization with your unique products, and see where that takes you! Please get in touch today about what we’d recommend for your business.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Customily Product Personalizer is the best solution to sell personalized products, both in the e-commerce and the print-on-demand market. With the widest range of personalization tools, free clipart designs, realistic live previews that increase conversions, and printing files that help you automate your printing business; Customily is the ally you need to boost your profit margins in a high-competitive market.
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