Identity:
In order to get return customers, you need to stand out from the crowd, and to do that you need to be a little different and unique. If your listings look the same as everyone else's you will blend in and no one will remember you. In order to be remembered you need an image, you need to look a certain way, because the mind can remember images a lot easier than words. It’s called branding.
If your listings look different from any competitor, and they are uniform throughout your eBay auctions, then sellers will come to recognize the look of your auctions.
When I say "McDonalds" do you see a bunch of black letters on a white background spell out McDonalds? Or do you see the golden arches, hamburgers, French fries, milk shakes and all that other stuff McDonalds is famous for.
And when I say "UPS" do you see the letters U-P-S in your mind, or do you see a brown mail delivery van? That is what you want, you want your listings to stick in the persons mind, and that won't happen if your listings look exactly the same as everyone else's.
An original design will stick in people's minds and make you stand out in a crowed. That is what you need, IDENTITY, you don't want your customers saying "I bought this from eBay", you want them saying "I bought this from your business name".
Credibility and professionalism:
Listings that look professional can make your business look professional in the eyes of the people who come across your listings. The auction listing is a sales person and a representative of your business. In the "real world," representatives and sales people are made to dress professionally and wear uniforms.
You should make your representatives and sales people do the same. Making your listings look and feel professional will make your business look the same. People like dealing with professionals more than dealing with amateurs, if it was the other way around; sales people would wear their pants inside out and drop food allover themselves on purpose, just to look like amateurs.
Professionals don't make any mistakes, professionals act professional and logical and that is what most people want. People don't want amateurs who have no idea about what their doing, misplacing products, and sending stuff to wrong addresses or disappearing with the money.
By making your listing look professional, your business will also turn out looking like a business; a real and legitimate business. Appearing legitimate will ease some of the doubts a potential buyer may have and also gain their trust. Because legitimate businesses don't want to steal money, otherwise they run the risk of going out of business.
The bottom line is that people trust professional and legitimate businesses, and trust is a major part of becoming a successful eBay PowerSeller. The best way to let people know that you are professional and legitimate business is to look like a professional and legitimate business.
Professionally designed graphics will do that for you. Another good idea to increase trust is to sign up for Squaretrade at www.squaretrade.com Repetition: One marketing "secret", not that there’s any real secrets, is that you can make someone buy through repetition.
What that means is the more a person sees your listing the more it will stick in their mind and eventually they will buy from you. This makes perfect sense if you think about it... A very nice man I talked to while writing this book gave me some very simple advice about designing your own graphics:
"What eBay has to offer will be OK. But designing your own look will keep customers thinking of you." This mans name is Eddie, eBay ID BiekersSneakers and his website is www.BiekersSneakers.com
People tend to buy stuff from companies they have seen or heard of before, even if they never bought anything from that company before. Most people will choose the company they heard of before the ones they haven't. A person that always runs into your listings will begin to get familiar with you; those listings will stick in the persons mind.
That person will also trust you more than the other sellers, because he/she is familiar with your listings and it will seem like you have been around forever. These decisions are all made in the potential buyer's subconscious mind in fractions of a second. It is not logical thinking that will make people buy from you just because they have seen your listings before.
It is the unconscious mind that makes these decisions. The eyes of the visitor send the listing to the brain, the brain finds a matching image stored in its database and automatic feelings of familiarity and trust are felt by the visitor. These feelings are not overwhelming, but they are enough to make people choose you over the competition.
This is exactly why you would rather buy a SONY product rather than some noname brand's product, even if you have never owned a SONY product in your life. SONY is everywhere, you see and hear their name all the time and as a result; you feel familiar with the brand and trust them over brands you have never heard of before.
So if you are going make your listings stand out, make sure all of your listings look alike. Because even if your listings look professional but you always change the way they look, you won't be able to implant the image of your listings in anyone's mind, you won’t be able to make anyone buy through repetition.
Graphics are a great way to boost sales and attract new and repeat customers. If you want to have extremely efficient listing, you should use professionally designed listing graphics in all of your auction listings. I understand that professional graphics can be expensive, but it will be a wise investment and you will make the money back in no time!
Quick hint: Get a high school or college kid to do your graphics. There are a lot of young talented artists who are a whiz on computers these days, and you’ll be able to get them for a fraction of the cost of a professional.
Design of graphics:
The purpose of graphics is not to sell the product, but to assist the sale by making people feel comfortable, making your business look professional, giving you an identity etc. I f your listing has cheap graphics people will notice, and it will appear as if you don't take your business seriously.
If your graphics are well done but too flashy, the graphics will take attention away from the product (not good). But if your graphics are clean, crisp, simple and professional your visitors will barely notice them, and all of the attention will be on the product.
So remember if you have cheap graphics they will get noticed, if you have flashy graphics they will take attention away from the product, but if you have simple, clean, crisp and professional products, all the attention will be on the product you are selling.
And the visitor will feel comfortable because your listing looks professional (as it should look). So when you are deciding on a design for the listing graphics, remember your listing is your sales person and business representative. Would you dress your sales person in sweat pants?
What you need to do is put your sales person in dark navy blue suit, that way the only thing that will get noticed is how professional he/she looks and the focus will be on the product, not the sales person.