Design matters

[Catscankim]

So i did a challenge a couple months ago and used spicy cranberry as my fragrance. It looks like bacon. I wrapped them up and was giving soaps to co workers on nurses week. Not one person took one of those free bars of soap.

Every single person said they hated the smell. All i had left in my bag was the spicy cranberry and another one...

The other one i had was peppermint. Again...everybody hated it.

I bought a bunch of these fo’s for the holidays and everybody hated them. Cant get rid of these soaps, even for free.

Still having enough fo to make a few more batches, i made some really pretty ones. Packed them all up....the same people that made gaggy faces at the uglier soap SMELL, couldnt get enough of them with the prettier bars. Plus i renamed them “Cranberry Sangria” instead of spicy cranberry, and the peppermnt “Candy Cane”, i renamed peppermint bark

One lady kept pulling them out of the bag, “i cant stop smelling” and bought an entire loaf of one batch. I keep notes lol. I know who says what about every bar of soap. Its the exact same smell as the free ones lol. I almost felt guilty.

I feel like really pretty bars with nice names sell better. Opinions?

 

[msunnerstood]

Sometimes the name will do it. same thing happened to me when I changed Love Spell Type to Love Spell Baby

 

[SoapMedic]

I do think people are drawn to pretty bars with nice colors. The visual must add to the emotional appeal that goes along with scent preference. I make a couple of great-smelling soaps that are mostly brown due to the vanilla and I am not successful with use of stabilizer. They wouldn't touch them until I made additional batches where I put elaborate frosting on top and little curls of colored soap on the frosting. Side by side, same soap...the plain ones didn't move at all. The others, gone gone gone.

One year I made a seasonal clove-blend soap that I didn't care for--it didn't turn out as in past years, but it was in an orange base with what accidentally turned out to be some beautiful wispy white and burgundy swirls. I never expected anyone to want it. Wrong again.

 

[earlene]

Well, sure. Vision may be the dominant sense in many people. However if you were selling to people whose dominant sense if olfaction, it would be a different story.

I think also, the Power of Suggestion plays a part when you rename the soap.

 

[Lin19687]

It's all about the smell. I've sold boring one color bars with good scents.

Plus not everyone likes what you like.
I had a batch that I loved, not many others did....now I have a bunch of bars all to myself

 

[amd]

I feel like really pretty bars with nice names sell better. Opinions?

My opinion... people are weird.

I have renamed the same fragrances and people will buy them. For example, I have a soap called Ocean - made with WSP Sea Salt & Driftwood - so in 2018 I renamed the soap Sea Salt & Driftwood to help keep my brain straight on my inventory (at the time I was running around with 50-ish scent variations and was starting to lose my marbles). I couldn't sell that dang soap to save my life. Changed the name back to Ocean and it's been my best seller in 2019 and 2020. Go figure. The only thing I change was the name - the design, ingredients everything else stayed the same. This has happened with several soaps for me, so if I find something isn't selling, I rebrand it with a new name and can usually get it to move.

Someone on the forum - I think @jcandleattic - has said that her customers buy based on looks. For my customers, it's both. Guys will buy based on scent and bar size. Ladies will shop for both - I tend to do a few custom orders a year because someone likes the scent but the colors don't "go" with her bathroom. [heh, see what I did there?]

Personally, I buy based on 1) the label/packaging (I don't like naked soaps, and I like a correct ingredient label with good stuff in it) and 2) how old the soap is (loose shrink wrap? I'm in as it usually means the soap has aged since packaged. I've also been known to ask the maker.) and 3) how strong the scent is if I like it. Honestly, color doesn't even enter it unless I'm fangirling over a maker... I have bought a few Ophelia Soapery bars that I hated the scent (and I knew I would) just because I absolutely loved the color combo and design... but for the average joe soapmaker, I don't care as much.

 

[jcandleattic]

Someone on the forum - I think @jcandleattic - has said that her customers buy based on looks.

My bright colors and swirls are what draws them in, and then the scent. Then they look at the name and I really think it's a tie between all 3 things that gets them to buy, (I try to name all mine with "clever" names, instead or regular names of the scent itself) but if it weren't for the brightly colored soaps, I really think they wouldn't stop by my area at all.

 

[TheGecko]

You can have the absolute best soap in the world than will make you look 10 years younger and smells like heaven, but if it looks like dog doodoo...nobody will buy it. First time I made Indian Sandalwood it looked a bit like bacon that was starting to turn. I had done a drop swirl with Red Sandalwood Powder with a dash of Really Red! Pigment added (I don't know why). Second time...ITP swirl, left the Really Red! out, and added a bit of texture to the top. I'm out and I have an order for two loaves...new co-worker wants to send some home to her mother. I honestly wasn't overly happy with how it turned out...was going to put it in my donation box.

 

[glendam]

I have a friend who has been buying soaps from me, and she has told me she doesn’t care about the scent, just how the soap looks. She buys for gifts and I usually don’t name my soaps. Every buyer is different though, but scents and designs is what seems to grab people’s attention the most, at least initially.