Keeping your little customers safe, one disclosure at a time
My sister-in-law is a SuperMom from where I sit. First off, she has to be married to my brother, and that alone makes her a saint! (Just kidding, of course, my brother is awesome!) But truthfully, she does it all. She works full-time, manages her house, and is an engaged mom with my niece and nephew.
Speaking for myself, most of the time, I’m only able to accomplish 2 of the 3 feats listed above. If I’m working, I am only able to either manage the house effectively or be engaged with my littlebee. If I’m a really engaged mom, I really only have enough bandwidth left to focus on my work or managing my home.
Now that my own littlebee is approaching his pre-teen years, it’s wild to realize how many little things from the baby/toddler years I’ve forgotten about. Thankfully, I get to re-experience this through the eyes of my sister-in-law.
If you’re a plushie artist, you are probably aware of the choking hazard disclosures around using plastic safety eyes. Safety eyes are not recommended for children under the age of 3 because they may experience a dysfunction and fall off the plushie. It really wasn’t until Thanksgiving this year that I remembered how important that concern is to parents with children those ages.
This is what my tags were before — muted and slightly hard to identify!
I texted my sister-in-law to see if my niece would eat pigs in a blanket if I brought them with me at Thanksgiving. She casually mentioned something about cutting them up to prevent a choking hazard. I’m not sure why everything clicked when it did, but in that moment, I realized that I needed to upgrade the way I’m disclosing these very important safety issues to my customers.
When I started selling my plushies, I would disclose this concern verbally whenever someone was showing interest. However, that’s a LOT of repetition! I already make the effort of price tagging every single plushie, big and small, so I knew that would be the perfect place to include this disclosure. They can see the price and the disclosure and make the educated decision to purchase without needing a conversation.
In case you didn’t know, many customers don’t want to engage in a conversation, especially when they’re just looking around! It adds a lot of pressure to their experience, and it’s always better if your customer has enough information (without asking questions) to decide to purchase your items.
My price tags when I started out were basic brown kraft tags that I’d just write the price on for each stuffie. I researched several options to get the exact look I wanted and landed on a great supplier. When I was deciding what to put on this new price tag, I spent a few days brainstorming the specific questions a customer would ask (either myself or themselves) about a specific item before they decide to buy.
How much is this item?
Is this something I could give to [insert their special person’s name here]?
How do I clean this if it gets dirty?
See how well they stick out now?!
I ordered mine from NextDayFlyers.com because they have these phenomenal 2”x2” “hang tags” for a reasonable price, especially when you’re a new business! For $21.95, I was able to receive 500, yes, FIVE HUNDRED, cards with my logo, cleaning instructions, safety disclosure, and a place to write the price!
(500 of one design — I ordered 100 cards with the “safe for all ages” information because I tend to make more plushies with safety eyes!)
You can absolutely order these tags anywhere you’d like (or even print them yourselves, if you’re able!). Access the template below and add your own logo, change the fonts, and colors!
When you print these, remember to double & triple check that you have the correct front and back!
I hope this template is helpful for you in your crochet business journey! Let me know below if you used the template!
