# email marketing and paypal button verses shopping cart?



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I've recently signed up for "constant contact" which is an email marketing tool that lets you send out a professional newsletter to people you have on your contact list. Do any of you use this and have you found it effective? Since it is around 12-15 dollars a month, I want to be sure it is worth it. I'm trialing it myself for free for 60 days but would like to hear other peoples experiences with email marketing such as this. Yes, I already do facebook, twitter, blog, website, etc. 


I'm also contemplating whether I want to spend the extra money on a shopping cart and the ssl certificate or just use the pay pal buttons for my online catalog? I have found the pay pal buttons to be annoying to put on my site and am wondering if a shopping cart is easier to manage? Currently I just have folks go through my pages and pick out soaps and send me a list of what they want and then I send them a paypal invoice....but I'd like to get more professional, and my partner feels like I'll get more online orders if I accept all major credit cards, rather than just service those people with a pay pal account, and they can pay right then instead of thinking about it and then not making the list, not sending it to me, etc. 

Thanks for any thoughts.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Many hosting services offer a free shopping cart program like Zen Cart or Cube Cart. I have one that can take the orders and then the customer decides whether or not they wish to pay via Paypal or by mail order invoice. My program prints out the order ready for them to mail to me with a check. The Paypal shopping cart was too slow and now they have just updated so it may be easier and faster.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

My opinion is that you should stick with the free paypal buttons until you web sales justify spending money on a website. Worked for me. 

BTW - processing credit cards on your site is very expensive. You need to have the sales to justify it.

PJ


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I did try to install the cube cart and zen cart a while back but could not figure them out! I did do some of the pay pal buttons, but it was copying and pasting for each item, and every time I left the pay pal page it would time out before I got back. Grrr. I guess it's one of those things where you do two or three items a day until they are all listed, and I need new pictures anyway. 

Anything that involves code seems to stump me...I can't even seem to copy and paste correctly. If I spent as much time making soap and trimming horses as I do online trying to figure out how to put up information about what I do, and easy ways for people to get to know me and my products before they order or call me...I'd be RICH!

I'll look at those carts again Jennifer, maybe I'll come look at yours. I think I need to come see one of your bucks anyway!


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Anita - how many newsletter signups do you have? Mailchimp is free for up to 1000 (I think) subscribers. Newsletter marketing (done right) is a valuable tool.

PJ


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Be sure you want to accept credit cards. We are supporting a very bloated and corrupt banking system and they charge ridiculous fees that you have to pass on to your customers. We have been trying to educate our buying public about the fact that it costs US money for them to use their card rather than write a check. Most consumers do not know that this is part of the price they pay for goods- banking fees. If we cut them out of the transaction then we can have a more reasonable price for all our products. You have to maintain very large volume sales year round to get a decent discount rate for credit card sales. They currently take 4 percent of every sale I run on a card because I am slowly weaning my customers from their cards! I just don't think it is fair to everyone to raise prices for all to cover the purchases of a few. Many times it is a debit card anyway so why not let them do the work and write the check. We have had no security issues with our type of product with sending out the item- and them paying by check by return mail. 

Good luck with your marketing expansion and I agree newsletter wakeup calls work great. We don't do it with a service- just clog up the server with a newsletter via email-we used to do snail mail quarterly updates before internet and it really helped our sales. People forget! They are busy and often settle for something they can get locally when they really did mean to get something from you but did not leave enough time. Strategic reminders work really well. Let us know how the service works for you!
Lee


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I only take credit cards if they pay via paypal.com and yes I add 4%.

Anita wasteing time on labor like this that you can pay someone to do it for you is...well a waste of your time. If you figure out how much time you waste, when you could be paid for soaping and trimming feet, you likely make more per hour than a web master charges. Vicki


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I agree 100% Vicki, but funds here are too tight as to be almost unbearable! Believe me I answer all calls and do all the work people hire me to do...either horses or soap orders...both businesses are still small right now, but growing, and I've got more time than actual work to do...so at this point I have to do it myself. I figure I'm getting paid about 5 cents an hour or something like that! But, I'm making enough so that I have not had to go back to work for another factory or the like and to me that is a success in itself... I'm using this slower time to work on soap recipe's, email marketing, my website, etc. 

PJ, I'm going to look at that free service. I just decided to do a newsletter and put out a signup sheet at the last market and got a few people, so switching is no big deal. I have not even sent out the first letter yet. The reason I liked the service-based newsletter was that you could use a template and include some photos, etc. and they look like a newsletter you might get in the snail mail. 

I think I'm going to stick with the pay pal system. That costs me money too, but is probably more simple. I'd always absorbed the cost, never thought about passing it on. I figured it was a sale I might not have gotten if they had to send a check or if I charged extra for using a credit card when another company might not. 

In the last couple of months I've had two fairly large checks bounce from regular trimming clients...that ended up being a huge pain in the butt.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Citigroup just posted a PROFIT of 2.2 BILLION for the last quarter. 
We all work to hard to give them 4 percent so they can have a 100 dollar bottle of wine for lunch. Our contract with the visa/mc provider says it is not 'legal' for us to charge the fee to the customer but gas stations have a cash prices and a credit price and we may have to do that as well. 

The newsletter sounds great! Can you tell your trim customers you only take cash when you set up the appointments? Another idea we learned from an artist who does portraits is to go immediately to THEIR bank and cash it so you don't put it thru your bank and pay return fees. If it is refused you can turn around and go back and collect cash.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Anita - I've been happy with mail chimp. I use a template and add photos to mine. I'm out of the free service range, but I think you still have templates and can add photos - at least you could when I started in the free service range a while back.

PJ


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

I use mail chimp right now and it has templates and an area where you can drop in pics. I've been very happy with the service. My big problem is I'm not utilizing it enough. I've got quite a big list going now too (still small enough that it's free). I really need to sit down and make the time to get more newsletters out.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Yep - if you're not sending out a newsletter to your list monthly, you're throwing away money. 

PJ


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I'd LOVE to take only cash for my hoof trims, but almost all of my clients pay with checks, and in 5 years I've only had these 2 bounce, so I've been lucky, but they didn't bounce right away and messed up my account as well as a trip I was taking up. I've tried cashing at the check owners bank, but they always told me I needed an account.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

That is incorrect banking info. If you present a check drawn on the bank of the person who wrote the check they are legally bound to pay it immediately regardless of who you bank with.
This is the law. They are holding the account- they are the ones who pay it. We do this all the time all across the nation.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

SO what kinds of things to you all put in your newsletters???


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

anything new that's going on, any changes, anything exciting that's been happening, a special, upcoming shows, and stuff that's happening with the family.

Remind people you're here and that they love your soap and give them a reason to buy now. 

PJ


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Thank you all. This is great information. I just went to mail chimp & signed up. Our summer market is ending but there is a grower in the area with green houses so we will team up to do a winter market & I have already started an e-mail list so mail chimp will really help us.

The bank info was very interesting. I have had exactly the same thing happen. Would not cash the check because i did not have an account. I will stand my ground next time! But we do take cc thru ProPay at the markets/shows & Paypal on line. Often I have a customer that buys more when they see that they can use their cc. We took in $200 in cc sales at a show few weeks ago. I know i would have gotten some of that in cash but when people find out you take cards they always seem to add a few more items to their purchase. 

Thanks again. 
Jenny


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

You can also take the check to your bank and have your bank call their bank to see if the funds are there to cover the check. I've done that a couple of times. 

I'm horrible at newsletters. They take me forever to get out. I'm just not the chatty kathy type. I guess it's one of those practice makes perfect things with me. Anyways, this thread was a kick in the butt to get out that newsletter I have been meaning to write.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

I'm not fast at them either - takes me about eight hours to do each one by the time I'm done with everything. And they don't have to be chatty or long - just be yourself!

PJ


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

jimandpj said:


> I'm not fast at them either - takes me about eight hours to do each one by the time I'm done with everything. And they don't have to be chatty or long - just be yourself!
> 
> PJ


Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one. Thanks PJ.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I went to college and studied creative writing. I went for about 6 years, some of it part time but never got enough credits to graduate Soooo, still having to pay for all that schooling, I've really tried to put a lot of effort into the writing side of my business. I do enjoy it and is one reason I like doing it myself. I signed up for MAILCHIMP. THANKS for recommending that program it is so much simpler than constant contact and is free up to I think 1000 emails. I created a cute newsletter in about an hour and sent out a couple sample copies to myself and my partner, etc. I'm deciding now what regular things I will put it in. PJ, I read your newletter every time it comes, I LOVE it! Great inspiration! 

I think this will be a great tool as the markets dwindle down and stop for the winter.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

You're welcome, Anita. Glad you like our newsletter - it's a lot of work each month, but worth it. 

PJ


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