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Candy Japan April Income Report

candyjapan.com

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Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#51

Post by bemmu »

hellweaver666 wrote: post #47
bemmu wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, thanks for the feedback. The current layout is the result of lots of playing around with the site. Testimonials and the video had a big impact on conversions, so they are front and center now. I guess I might be biased from looking at the site a lot, but to me it seems pretty clean. I think it needs to be clear exactly what step I want the user to take to join, so that's why that huge big green button is there. I…

Personally, I really like the design. The only thing I would do would be to slightly increase the line-height on your copy. It should make it slightly easier to read (I usually aim for about 1.5em but some prefer slightly less).

Better now?

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#52

Post by xyzzyb »

bemmu wrote: post #33
rmATinnovafy wrote: post #31

I've been following your posts since you started with the business. Have to say that I'm impressed by your tenacity in keeping this fun idea going. Now, your marketing copy is all over the place. The layout is so hard to follow. Things are just too spread around, and the eye cannot follow an easy reading path. Put everything into two columns, side by side. Put more pictures, and more information. Get a smaller third…

Hi, thanks for the feedback. The current layout is the result of lots of playing around with the site. Testimonials and the video had a big impact on conversions, so they are front and center now. I guess I might be biased from looking at the site a lot, but to me it seems pretty clean. I think it needs to be clear exactly what step I want the user to take to join, so that's why that huge big green button is there. I…

For what it's worth, I love your design and the strong call to action.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#53

Post by woodall »

bemmu wrote: post #48
woodall wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried targeted ads on reddit? Maybe for something like /r/snackexchange? I just spent $30 on a test ad, if you're interested I can share the traffic stats with you.

Hi, yes actually I tried exactly that. It cost me $60 / customer, which is over my lifetime value so I discontinued advertising there. Here's my stats from the attempt: http://www.bemmu.com/stats-from-advertising-candy-japan-on-r... Things might be different now, the page was less optimized back then. I might try again later, but I'm really hoping Reddit would just lower their minimum daily spend. Right now they have…

Nope, you're experience mirrors those of mine. It's hard to convert redditors; in part due to neglecting the self-serve platform. With that said, $60 to bring in a brand new customer isn't that bad.

Maybe it would be cheaper to hook up with a subreddit mod and run a give-a-way. $50 worth of candy for a front page post sounds like a better value :D

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#54

Post by robodisco »

Perhaps it isn't an issue at this scale but for exporting food products aren't there any regulations / paperwork to fill in? I'm sure I remember hearing the US were getting stricter re: this. Perhaps this is where your missing deliveries are going.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#55

Post by OzzyB »

bemmu wrote: post #49
OzzyB wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how are you going to handle SSL encryption for your checkout/cc page? Going to use a separate hosting service for that part? I see that you're running on App Engine, hence the question...

HTTPS works for appspot domains, so I thought I'd redirect them to bemmu1.appspot.com for the checkout. That wouldn't exactly inspire confidence in the service, but just until App Engine gets around to adding proper support.

Roger that, that's what I thought you might plan on doing. Let's hope they solve the SSL issue soon -- since I'm also a fan of GAE!

Btw, thanks for sharing, it's been quite inspiring to read.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#56

Post by bemmu »

woodall wrote: post #53
bemmu wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, yes actually I tried exactly that. It cost me $60 / customer, which is over my lifetime value so I discontinued advertising there. Here's my stats from the attempt: http://www.bemmu.com/stats-from-advertising-candy-japan-on-r... Things might be different now, the page was less optimized back then. I might try again later, but I'm really hoping Reddit would just lower their minimum daily spend. Right now they have…

Nope, you're experience mirrors those of mine. It's hard to convert redditors; in part due to neglecting the self-serve platform. With that said, $60 to bring in a brand new customer isn't that bad. Maybe it would be cheaper to hook up with a subreddit mod and run a give-a-way. $50 worth of candy for a front page post sounds like a better value :D

Wow, didn't even notice the sidebar before. Just contacted the admin to see if there's a way to get in there.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#57

Post by andrewpi »

bemmu wrote: post #45
joering2 wrote: post #43

First thing is PayPal fees, after which we are left with $6895. We are switching from PayPal to accepting credit cards directly through WireCard + Recurly, but that will likely just raise our costs a bit (but will hopefully improve conversions). This interests me the most. Could you shad some light as of why you switching knowing the cost will go up. You say it will improve conversions, but #1 isnt PayPal still the m…

Instead of redirecting users to PayPal and requiring them to have PayPal accounts with credit cards linked to them, I can directly ask for their credit card information. This is how it should look after the Recurly integration is complete: http://imgur.com/SHC0a I am now paying PayPal $339 / month. Recurly charges 1.25% + $0.10 / transaction + $69 / month. WireCard charges 2.75% + $0.19 / transaction + $24 / month. M…

I think some customers (like myself) would be more hesitant to use a non-PayPal option on your site. With PayPal, I can easily cancel at any time. I would be worried that by directly providing you with my credit card number, it would be harder to cancel.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#58

Post by bemmu »

robodisco wrote: post #54

Perhaps it isn't an issue at this scale but for exporting food products aren't there any regulations / paperwork to fill in? I'm sure I remember hearing the US were getting stricter re: this. Perhaps this is where your missing deliveries are going.

I should be OK as I am not the importer of the candies, rather the people receiving them are. Still, I try hard to be on the safe side so I've contacted FDA twice to ask if there's something they'd like me to do, once via physical mail and once by email and got ignored both times.

If I started doing the importing on US side myself in bulk amounts, that would be a different story and would involve at least filing FDA prior notices.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#59

Post by bemmu »

andrewpi wrote: post #57
bemmu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of redirecting users to PayPal and requiring them to have PayPal accounts with credit cards linked to them, I can directly ask for their credit card information. This is how it should look after the Recurly integration is complete: http://imgur.com/SHC0a I am now paying PayPal $339 / month. Recurly charges 1.25% + $0.10 / transaction + $69 / month. WireCard charges 2.75% + $0.19 / transaction + $24 / month. M…

I think some customers (like myself) would be more hesitant to use a non-PayPal option on your site. With PayPal, I can easily cancel at any time. I would be worried that by directly providing you with my credit card number, it would be harder to cancel.

I might have direct credit card input as the big default button and a smaller PayPal link for those that prefer that. I will have to continue supporting PayPal indefinitely in any case since I have all subscribers there now.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#60

Post by [deleted] »

bemmu wrote: post #26
lewispb wrote: post #24

I like how you've used my IP address to tell me that delivery will be free 'even to the United Kingdom'. May I suggest using the same code to also convert the price from $23.95 to the users local currency as this will help increase conversions. £15.10 feels a lot less than $23.95! Other than that, great idea and I wish you all the best!

That's a great idea, I get this gut feeling/fear though that it might introduce some extra complexity. I might be able to do that at least for EUR/USD/GBP but I suppose have avoided it until now to keep things simple. Will have to think that through more.

[deleted]
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