ITT: We Tell Tea Companies How To Get Our Business!
As I went through all of the July 4th sales this week(end) one thing that has kept me from placing orders with some companies, even with nice discounts, is when there are no sample sizes available. I’m just not going to drop $12, $18, $22+ for a full tin just to try the tea. If I don’t like it I’m out all that money and stuck with a few ounces of tea I won’t drink. Please offer smaller sizes. Half an ounce/15 grams is a great place to start.
Also, I appreciate when flavored teas are properly labeled. “Natural Flavors” isn’t very specific and I would like to know exactly what that flavoring is. I don’t think artificial flavoring has any place in tea, but I suppose that is just personal preference.
I’ll also agree that multiple options for shipping are great, even just domestically. I’d rather wait an extra day for a USPS delivery than have to pay extra for UPS/FedEx when I’m just ordering a handful of samples.
The only teas I bought this weekend were from a company with sample sizes.
Is there any chance we could get this thread stickied on this subforum? I think it’d be the best thing for a company to see when they came in here.
Jason?
For sales, having a percentage off all teas instead of having to spend a certain amount to get savings. Not all of us can make big orders.
I agree with above people about labeling. I need to know exactly what is in the tea including in the flavoring. I am dealing with intolerances, and tracing back a reaction to the source is hard enough with proper labeling. I can’t even imagine what it is like for people with life threatening allergies. If you are not proud of your ingredient don’t put it in your tea. If you are fine with it put it in and tell us what it is.
I just realized that exorbitant shipping fees or elevated free shipping thresholds turn me away. I almost placed two orders over the last week, but in the end aborted the project in frustration.
In one case, I wanted to buy a few teas from a company new to me who was having a fantastic discount sale. When I went to check out, I found that the shipping fee would be $14. That’s just too much.
In the second case, I was going to use a first-time customer discount and discovered that the excessive free shipping threshold ($65) applied to the discounted total, so in order not to pay (again, something like $14), I would have to order yet more tea.
My issue with this sort of thing is that I don’t want to feel coerced into buying unreasonably large volumes of tea (which may then go stale) just to avoid ridiculous shipping fees or to make them seem less onerous.
I agree to a point. I find it hard to pay over $10 for shipping which is why I haven’t bought from Barney’s etc. However I can understand why it is necessary at times to charge more and am willing to pay more if the actual product is offered at a good price. I have bought things on aliexpress where the actual shipping costs are more than half of what I paid for the product and the product was sent with free shipping. I understand that this is unsustainable for the seller.
I don’t like to feel obligated to by large volumes of things to justify my purchase. Mostly I keep my purchases under 25$. I stopped buying to the free shipping threshold because I found myself buying things I don’t drink. I appreciate when some companies offer discount shipping rates for samples and smaller sizes because sometimes that’s all I want.
Super interesting thread! Since we recently started selling a few teas on our site, this is all really relevent and very helpful, great idea!
One thing I’d be interested in hearing is, if you had to say: what is your absolute top, number 1, priority that encourages you to make a purchase? All of these are great and we’d love to acommodate all, but realistically it can be difficult to do a lot of things really well as a business. Hopefully, we’ll get there somday, but in the mean time I’d be interested (and I bet a lot of companies would too) to hear what the most important aspect of your buying decision is.
I can only speak for me personally, but you have to do a lot of things right to even get my attention. There are a lot of places out there for me to buy tea from.
To even get my attention:
You have to have quality tea
Prices have to be reasonable (this includes shipping)
Sell tea in reasonable quantities (I’m not buying 4oz of tea no matter how good it is)
Provide good customer service. Respond promptly, and with knowledge to any questions I might have. I need to trust that if something went wrong a company would correct the error.
Now that a company is doing those four things well, they are still competing with about 30 other companies for my tea dollars. Why should I buy from them? What makes them different? Why are they special?
It could be a sale, it could be a loyalty rewards program, it could be exclusive blends, it could be unusual/fun flavors. You are right you can’t do everything but you have to do SOMETHING to separate yourself from the other gazillion tea companies. IMHO
100% agree with everything Dexter said. Also, offering samples is nice. I’ve come to appreciate those companies that participate in the community here on Steepster (looking at you Whispering Pines, Butiki, Teavivre).
Affordable sample sizes + low shipping. If I have to put down a lot on my first purchase ever, I just won’t at all!
Absolutely agree with Dexter, but to try to come closer to what you’re asking for: Low entry-level for my first purchase. I want to be able to buy a few samples cheaply and the shipping needs to be low enough that I won’t feel it’s prohibitive for me to make a small purchase. If I can spend $10-20 (shipping included) and come away with a handful of samples that give me a good idea of your selection, you’ve almost guaranteed my initial business. The tea quality will then decide further business.
If I have to spend a lot on my first purchase, and you have no way to get it without money (i.e. rewards program based on things I can do before making a purchase, promos and giveaways) I will probably never buy from you.
I think we are reiterating the same things said earlier in the thread instead of giving him one thing.
I understand what you are saying Marzipan, and I understand what Jason was asking – but in my comment above I was trying to diplomatically point out that there is a lot of competition out there and doing ONE thing right isn’t enough for me. I was just trying to be honest about my buying habits. :))
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