Demos equal more sales

I’ll say it upfront, I do not have statistical data to support my claim.. however, demos do indeed result in more happy sales. That’s the key. How many times have you been shopping around SL, made a purchase only to find it’s not what you expected? The result is usually an unhappy customer looking elsewhere for a solution.

To prevent this negative vibe from being an influence on your store, find a way to offer demos. If your product is a wearable item: skin, eyes, hair, clothing, etc. then offer a free or $1L item that is identical in make but marked as a demo. The shopper can then try it on and see if it’s what they were looking for. I thnk hair designers should take this one step further and add the color menu option to their demos, so the buyer can truly try on the item they intend to purchase.

This hair is demo is from Naughty Designs

Reminder – as I was writing this article, I went to look for the landmark address for the above hair salon, only to find that there was no landmark included in the item I purchased nor the demos I tried. Always, I can’t say enough, always include a landmark with your purchase items so your buyers can return to you again.

As for gadgets, decor and other product types, offer demos on display as a way to show the buyer what they are investing in. Offer live demos that have all the features and functions so the buyer can play with the neat addons you’ve built into your products. If you don’t have the ability to display all the prims, look into setting up a temp-rezz system so at least there is some kind of display available. Pictures may say a thousand words, but they are only pictures.

If you’re not a coder, but you’ve added code to your products, try to coordinate with the code owner to come up with a demo version of the script you can use so your displayed items work well. The benefit to this would be to include the programmer’s contact information with the demo as well. Spread the love and share the credit – its a great way to do business and network with your fellow creators.

On a final side note… if you have a favorite shop that you frequent that doesn’t currently offer demos, suggest it and let the store owner know the advantages. You never know, it might help boost their sales for products you already love – they may thank you.

Tagged as: products, shopping