When your customers get their package, do they know who you are, and where to find you?

I recently bought or received items from several Etsy sellers.

Out of the 4 packages, only one of them had information about the seller and the shop.

The rest of them didn’t have any information at all - and when I say no information, I mean they had the items and the wrapping paper and that’s it.

There was nothing to say who the items were from, there was no invoice to say what the items were, and there was no cute little note saying “Thank you for your purchase.”

I’ll admit, expecting a note is a bit much, but I’ve been spoiled so far when I’ve ordered from etailers - the majority of them have sent me some kind of note saying thank you, even when they didn’t know that I was a blogger.

Since all of the items I bought and received were gifts, the lack of paperwork in the package was very surprising to me.

My husband didn’t tell the seller that the items he bought me were a gift, so she really had no reason to know that they wouldn’t be going to the person who bought them.

Even with that, it would have been nice to have an invoice or something with a web address so that he could find the site again if he wanted to - or so that he could share the card with me or all of the people who saw the plates he bought me and said “How cute!”

I bought three items to send to my mother from three different sellers, and I included a note saying that these were a gift for my mom to each seller.

One of the three sellers asked me if I’d like to include a note to my mom, and double checked to make sure the shipping address that I’d written in Etsy was correct since it was different then my Paypal address. She also told me that she had another item similar to the one I purchased, in case I was interested in it later.

I did not hear from the other two sellers at all, so I was worried that they’d send the packages to me, instead of sending them to my mom, and I breathed a sigh of relief when she called to ask if I’d sent her something.

Since the three items I sent to my mom were housewarming/Mother’s Day gifts, I did tell my mom and dad to be expecting something in the mail, but I didn’t tell them what I was sending them, or where it was from - after all, that would have ruined the surprise.

When my mom got the first package, she called and said, “Did you send me a strawberry trivet? We got one in the mail today, and we’ve been trying to figure out where it came from all day long.”

I felt bad that I caused my parents to worry unnecessarily, but they do love the trivet.

Mom said she’d looked up the name of the person who shipped the trivet, but she couldn’t find any information about her at all - including her Etsy address.

Since I got these items because my Mom was having trouble finding strawberry stuff to go in her new kitchen, and since most people have more than one trivet in their kitchen, the seller really lost a chance to make another sale by not including contact information or repurchasing information in the package.

After the first call Mom figured out that the second mystery item was from me.

She was impressed with the package that included a note from me - she said that made it a lot more special.

To be perfectly honest, my mom didn’t remember which Etsy seller sent their card with the package, so I don’t even know that.

I do think that it would be a great idea to at least send a note out saying thank you for your order, and including a web address on the note if you don’t have a business card.

Although I’m not a huge fan of business cards with ads on them, I think they are definitely better than nothing.

If you can’t afford to help promote your business to people who are already willing to buy from you by spending $15-$20 on business cards, then at least spend the $6 shipping to get free ones, even if it does result in endless calls and emails asking you to buy more.

If you don’t know who I’m talking about leave a comment or email me and I’ll tell you. Like I said, I’m not a fan :-).

If you do have a business card, remember to include it! Even a prewritten “Thank you” in the back of the card is an added personal touch.

Although I’d rather not wait an extra week to get a handwritten note from the owner of the company in my order, I do like the personalized attention when I get a note, and I think most other people do too.

Are you an etailer? If you are do people know who you are and where to find you when they get their package, even if they weren’t the ones who placed the order?

Do you include business cards, an invoice, or a thank you note with your orders?

If you use business cards how have they affected your sales?

Customers, what do you think about packages that don’t come with an invoice or any information?

Leave a comment and let us know.