ITT: We Tell Tea Companies How To Get Our Business!
So I thought this would make a good thread for the Tea Companies and Promotions board. Since we have so many great tea companies frequenting this site, let’s use that to let them know how to win over our business. It’s win for us and win for them if they know what business practices, offerings, etc. will get us to go to their site and buy their product. Right? Right. So please respond here with whatever you want to tell the tea companies on how to win your business.
I’ll start with mine.
1. Rewards program of any kind. (The better, the more likely I’ll come buy your tea and do so repeatedly. See also: I’m addicted to Adagio for this reason.)
2. Any way to get a sample or a good discount for my first purchase. (I’m much more likely to buy your tea if I’ve already decided I like your tea at least a little.)
3. Ability to purchase sample sizes, and several options for how many ounces I want to order if I want a lot.
4. Cheap flat-rate shipping. $5 max.
5. Good packaging for my tea. If I feel I could stick it right in the tea cupboard as it arrives, it’s good. (Good bags with tight seal that will keep tea fresh. Adagio is also my example for this. Their bags are great. Tho good quality tea-tins are totally better and even if you charge a little more for the tea in a tin, I’d be more likely to buy it that way.)
6. Easy-to-navigate site. Easy to search, easy to browse.
7. Regular Promotions are a great way to get me to try something new.
8.
I reserve the right to add more to this list as the thread gets going and people make me remember more things that are important to me.
I hope that the tea companies who frequent Steepster will find this thread useful, informative, and helpful. Hopefully you’ll take our advice and help us become your faithful patrons!
You’ve pretty much hit my main points. The only difference for me is that I live in Canada – I love it! – But the shipping is ridiculous. And I know it. But I’m not interested in paying ridiculous shipping. I presume that most tea prices are already adjusted somewhat to include the cost of packaging and shipping, as many companies ship to and within the US at a flat rate or a slight loss. I don’t think I should get that same rate, but it frustrates me when shipping is free or (for example) flat rate of 5 in US but at cost or higher to Canada. Adagio is no longer a prime example of a company that has TERRIBLE shipping to Canada because they finally changed their shipping policy from a starting point of 30 to a starting point of 7!! If you’re going to ship here, do your best to get a reasonable rate in the first place and then make your policy Canada friendly. And be up front about it. Even on Steepster there are a lot of deals that show up with free shipping, free samples, etc but don’t include Canadians. Say it up front! :)
All that shipping stuff means I order infrequently, but larger quantities to get a better bang for buck or meet a shipping threshold. A good way to get me interested in doing that order is to offer free samples. I know I am suggesting something else that costs the company money but every company I order from regularly from has offered me free samples which I have enjoyed and then committed to a bigger order for larger quantities or new teas. Verdant and Teavivre are my go-to companies because they have great tea, great shipping to Canada and offered me free samples a few years ago. Butiki is another that I did a large (for me) follow-up order with after having some samples years back. I am not likely to take a gamble on a small order with high shipping. Even if I like it, I’m looking at another shipping cost to get more and if I don’t I have to try something new again.
Man, I’m selfish.
Hear that tea companies? Canadians want to love on your tea too.
At least be up front and say how your sales and shipping affect Canadians in the open, and clearly.
Free samples in some way is a BIG way to get people interested in your tea even if they have to wait and order a big amount to get decent shipping.
Uniquity, I recommend you try out Adagio for free samples, great rewards program and decent Canada shipping (as far as I’m familiar, it’s pretty low: 1lb: $7.75 2lbs: $12.75 3lbs: $16.75 4lbs: $21.75 )
If you want to give them a try, I can give you a $5 gift certificate whenever you want to order. It only lasts 24 hours so I have to give it to you when you’re ready to make an order (or I can always give you another if you miss it). Redeeming one will give me 10 rewards points on their site, so if you it, it helps me to. This assumes you’re not already familiar with Adagio because it’s for first time users only. :) But I always offer when introducing someone because hey, $5 free for you, rewards points for me! Win win. Anyway, you can get lots of credit on their site through their awesome rewards program which I recommend as a model FOR EVERY TEA COMPANY.)
They finally did do it. Sorry Arshness I had to check until fairly recently their shipping was ridiculous to Canada( 28 or 38 dollars)
OMG!!! They did lower their shipping!!!! it’s about time – as yyz stated until VERY recently shipping to Canada was in the $30.00 range…
Wow, that’s a new change. I just ordered from them about a month ago, and still the shipping was too high to Canada (like, $30 for a package that was free to send within the US), so I had it sent to my US box #. Good to know!
I checked in case I’m crazy but I’m not!
http://i.gyazo.com/90e71666b08dce72e4afacbc48235e6f.png :)
Hurray! Glad to hear it for you Canadians!
I guess we have to say thanks and congrats to Cavo who’s campaign made them seriously think about changing their shipping pricing policy. http://steepster.com/discuss/6981-how-adagio-justifies-30-dollars-plus-shipping-to-canada
yyz Oooh I want to reply to that thread so bad I can’t stand it, but I don’t Necrothread if I can avoid it. >_<
I absolutely believe Adagio meant to find the best method possible. Many people on that thread expressed confusion at how the USPS works. I would have told them that Americans are equally confused by how it works. The USPS doesn’t have a reasonable set of pricing modes that you can rely on always working. It is an ever-evolving system that seems to change all the damn time.
What I do know is that businesses can work out deals with the USPS to get rates for shipping special to them since they will ship out a certain amount of stuff all the time due to being a business and not an individual. So I know that what one company can secure in rates is not necessarily the same as what another can. ESPECIALLY, a big company may be able to ship cheaper than a smaller, newer, company. Newer being key big word here. I don’t know if that was the case with the comparisons being thrown around, but I figure it has a lot to do with it.
Anyway, just to satisfy my need to express what I know about that point…
Out of curiosity, did Cavo take it any further than that post? They don’t seem to have replied there unless I missed something. Is Adagio ever active on Steepster? I haven’t noticed them so far.
Anyway! I am SO GLAD that our neighbors to the North will be able to get Adagio tea now at reasonable rates. the $7.75 really surprised me because it was so darn cheap! :D
I don’t know, the last I heard was that they were taking into advisement to discuss with their shipping departments. I think Adagio depends on word of mouth on Steepster, but to be fair they do host teachat.com so they probably don’t feel the need to become involved in another site. Its nice that they formally changed their sites prices. Their are a number of other American companies that will ship for lower prices than advertised but you have to contact them by phone. Canada Post is just as guilty as USPS. I think that a lot of companies used to ship priority when they had a cheap shipping option, and then didn’t look at other options when that was removed. Adagio always had that super high price even when other co. Were charging $5. They assumed they had to pay brokerage. I think it was through ups. There is no duty on most regular tea in Canada for personal use, only taxes for purchases above 20. There used to be though and I think there old price was maybe an artifact of that. Its nice that they did it though. Harney’s used to offer a further discount on shipping to International shoppers when they had free shipping deals domestically. They haven’t done that for a while though. Anyways I thought I’d show you the link above so you’d see where our surprise is from. The change in price is very recent. Applause to Adagio for finally listening.
This is awesome! I had wanted to order from them before but couldn’t afford to pay that much in shipping – especially just to try out some samples.
yyz Quite. I’m glad that it has been worked out tho. And yes, I imagine everyone was quite surprised considering how recent that post is relative to this change. :)
vc If you or anyone else reading this wants a $5 gift cert for Adagio now that the shipping is reasonable, hit me up! :)
Arshness I will definitely keep that in mind. I am not quite ready to order yet (I have resolved to finish some teas before buying more) but when I do I will ask you about it. Thanks! :)
I’ll edit my original post re Adagio when I get to a computer again. Awesome to hear they’ve reduced their rates, I see some Doctor Who and Supernatural blends in my future. I have been disappointed with their custom blends in the past but I can’t resist the doctor! I’ll give their unflavoured blacks a shot too. Noce to hear that they are taking care of Canadians too – even if it took a few years. :-)
Hey! :) I just saw this now – I love the idea of this thread!
I had a couple email conversations with Adagio’s reps regarding their shipping, and followed up with them just 2 months ago to see if they’d reconsidered their policy, or looked into any of the methods I’d suggested to provide cheaper (albeit slower, but who cares?) shipping to Canada. At that time they said no, but they were very courteous and polite during the entire thing – I felt that I was being heard, at least a little! But I doubt I’m the only one who made them change their mind!
Anyway, I’m really happy I get to buy silly fandom blends now and start collecting points! I placed my order 12 hours after I found out they dropped the price. :D
I pretty much agree with Uniquity about shipping – so many companies offer free shipping sales to the US only, which irks me.
Also, it really helps if the tea company makes an effort to be visible on Steepster and on social media. Otherwise, I could miss out on some great deals (or maybe that’s a good thing, considering my budget…)
Case in point: RiverTea.
I’ve tried a few of their teas, and recently made a big order with them because they had an amazing sale of 50% off. But I only heard about the 50%-off deal because it was buried in the middle of a thread that I subscribe to. There was NO mention of this sale anywhere on RiverTea’s site or social media profiles.
In fact, RiverTea’s Facebook, Twitter, and G+ pages have been nearly silent since a big spurt of activity in Feburary. Think about what a lost opportunity that is to build engagement with the audience most likely to buy from you!
I hold up companies like Verdant, Whispering Pines, Teavivre and David’s Tea as really good examples of how to build engagement. They update frequently, respond to questions, have newsletters, and are very very upfront about what sales they have going on.
Long story short: tell us you exist! Don’t hide, or we won’t even know to buy tea from you!
Agreed! Build ENGAGEMENT with your target audience. If you want us to know you’re there, be loud! Show us your presence on Steepster and other social media. Hire a kickin’ PR gal if you can, or become one ;).
I, for one, have never even HEARD of RiverTea so there ya go. Christina’s point is very highly valid.
So this is my understanding with the RiverTea thing; the sale was not made super public because it was originally an offer made to the first (I think) 1000 people to subscribe to the website before the official launch earlier this year. So it was sent as an email to the people who had subscribed originally to support them.
I received the email with the sale info (but had made several orders with them at this point, so it didn’t apply to me)but the way it was phrased definitely seemed to confirm that it was intended as the promised discount for those original 1000.
But I agree they have been less active since launching. I will always defend them though; I was sold as a customer of theirs prior to their actual launch (because I was one of their pre-launch contest winners who got to sample teas ahead of time) and I’ve received nothing but awesome customer service from them :)
Hi Roswell,
I didn’t know about the 1000-subscribers thing. The coupon code still worked for me, though, so I’m not sure what to make of it.
Also, this isn’t really meant to be a huge criticism of the company. I ended up buying about 10 teas (US$76 before the discount, which turned into just about CAD$47 after the discount, shipping, and currency conversion) because I tried their samples through a swap and really loved Crazy Mint. I agree with you about their customer service, as I made a request about adding certain samples only after I completed my order, and as far as I’m aware those samples were sent out with my teas.
We’ll see in a few days, I suppose, but I’m highly optimistic.
PS: Have you tried their Loco Lime? Pineapple is one of its main ingredients. I ordered it and could send you a sample if you want.
Good pictures of the tea on the site – clear and accurate to what I’m getting. There’s been a few times the tea looked different in person as it wasn’t photoshopped in my cup.
To add to packaging – good shipping packaging. Boxes are ideal, yes its cheaper to ship in an envelope, but I rather have my tea in good shape when it arrives. I’ve gotten teas that arrived almost like dust and I doubt the quality was supposed to be that poor. Put it in a box with bubble wrap. Make sure your heat sealing is good on your packages (most common screw up I see!). Add extra packaging if a tea will contaminate the other teas. Cheap shipping is good, but I can accept paying priority pricing around $6 if I know the tea is packaged well.
Steeping instructions and ingredients on the packaging and website – It sucks to refer back to the site to see the steep time, or if I have a guest with an allergy I have to accommodate. Also, for example, a fruity green tea blend say what is in it. “Green Tea” isn’t specific enough anymore – say it’s a sencha, gunpowder green or whatever so I know what I’m getting.
Bonus – personal touches. Probably not going to happen with bigger tea companies, but a quick thank you or a note is very cool. I really love bonus samples that I can tell were chosen for me and not as it was flavor of the month kinda thing. Totally add a business card too – they are handy for me to give to friends if they sample the tea at my place.
+1 Complete steeping instructions on the bag:
tsp. (g) / oz. / temp. / rinse? / min. for both Western & Gongfu brewing.
Incomplete, non-specific, or cutesy instructions such as: “Just add water and enjoy.” significantly reduces the possibility that I will purchase that particular tea.
Having to discover the optimum brewing parameters through “trial & error” is too time-inefficient, wastes valuable tea and impairs the progress and joy of tea exploration.
The best tea suppliers evaluate each crop / batch of tea each year to determine the optimum brewing parameters. This insures the best possible first impression of their tea, greatly increases customer satisfaction, and thus increases word-of-mouth advertising – the best form of advertising that money can’t buy. You never have a 2nd chance to make an Outstanding First Impression.
I agree with many of the points made. My priorities are as follows:
1. Free/low shipping that is clearly stated on the site. Please DO NOT make me put a bunch of stuff in the cart and begin to check out to see shipping costs. It’s a hassle and you’re not the only game in town. If you have a reasonable free shipping threshold ($50 or whatever), I will always buy enough to get free shipping.
2. Coupon codes. Hooray for sales/coupon codes! This is probably the best way to get repeat sales from me (if you have good tea :p )
3. Free samples.
4. A variety of package sizes for sale. I do often like to try small sizes first. I’ll be back if they are good!
5. As Awkward Soul states, and I probably would have forgotten about: please put steeping instructions on the package. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I don’t always cart electronic devices around the kitchen when making tea. If no instructions are provided and I don’t have the lappy nearby, I will just make it using the standard temp/time for the tea type, so don’t get snarky when I post a review. I’ve had people correct my methods, which they wouldn’t need to do, if the deets were on the package. :)
I love how opinions vary. I personally could care less about rewards programs, especially ones that require you to post reviews on the company site to get points. That probably isn’t going to happen. I also don’t care much about the pics of the tea, but I do pay very careful attention to the descriptions!
Great thread idea!
To note on that, $50ish is reasonable threshhold for free shipping to the continental 48. $99 is not… not for tea. $75 is above what I will ever buy at once, so that’s not really either (for me). $50 will probably grab you a lot of "Well, I’ll add another bag or two so I can get that.)
YES to the steeping instructions! Always give it!
3min@212 1t/cup is not hard to add! It will really help us tea drinkers who don’t have EVERYTHING memorized AND there are so many teas that vary from their base type.
So right on that last point! I posted a review and the company commented saying my temperature wasn’t right. I replied that there were no instructions on the tea and they said it’s on the website. Sooo how was I supposed to know that. Even a little note saying to check the website for steeping instructions would have helped!
I’ve seen companies that have the instructions printed right on their bags (fancy!) and I’ve seen companies that just print a plain white sticker with very basic instructions, like Arshness stated. I think Whispering Pines’ style is great with the stamp and pen method. It’s even better when gong fu and western instructions are given, but if the seller has tested out the tea with diff temps and times, and has a suggestion for the optimal instructions, I really love when they provide at least one style on the package.
Oh, and I saw others mention the zippy bags. +1 on that. I kind of thought those were the standard, but I recently received an order of 10 teas in non-zip bags. I guess I can open them and then fold and put that whole original bag in a ziplock? I wasn’t sure if the teas would potentially pick up any plastic flavors.
Yeah,, I thought zippy bags were standard too. I received a vacuum sealed tea the other day and once I opened the package I had to empty the whole thing into a ziplock bag.
1.Clearly state the ingredients- It’s crazy that I have to say this, but I’ve seen websites with tea descriptions like “citrusy bedtime tea” and no ingredients. Really?! And Teavana hides there ingredients so you have to click this little drop down menu to see them. Really irritating. And it also makes me wonder why as a company you don’t want me to see the ingredients.
2. Offering free samples with every order is great. Even better is offering a free sample + free shipping deal to a new customer just to get their feet wet with your company.
3. Traveling tea boxes have introduced me to a lot of new companies. Butiki has started up a few boxes on their own and has had a really great response with participation.
4. Have an attractive website with nice photos that is frequently updated. I’ve never ordered from David’s Tea (too darn expensive) but I visit their website quite often anyway to see if the front page has been updated (it usually has) and because their website looks so pretty. Silly I know, but I like spending time on websites that look nice and are well organized :)
Meh. The tea itself look alright but I’m not thrilled by the overall look of the website. I’d have to say the nicest photographs I’ve seen has been on MountainTea.com
I go back to Adagio on the “attractive website” thing. :) I spent so much time on their site when I first found them because it took me a few WEEKS to get finished with just enjoying all the things their site had to offer. Prime example of excellent site design in my opinion.
I have found some sites I like more than others for sure. 52 Teas’s site confuses me and made it so difficult for me to find what I wanted that I ended up giving up and not bothering to order something.
Arbor Tea has a very PRETTY site, but not as navigable as it could be.
And yes, I’m calling companies out, because this is a place for FEEDBACK that can help them. I’m not saying it to be rude, just to make that information available.
man I always feel so petty about writing off retailers for their websites… but seriously it’s important! And as a web designer if navigating your website isn’t easy and things aren’t visually pleasing… I’m probably not going to stick around. Glad it’s not just me. There are a few tea companies that I’ve seen great reviews on and actually tasted and enjoyed a few of their teas, but their website is heinous… and I just can’t navigate without frustration so I’ve never actually placed an order.
Totally with you on the 52tea’s thing. Confused the heck out of me. Still confused actually.
I’ll also state that my FIRST requirement is a complete ingredient list – that includes the type(s) of flavorings used. More times than I can count now, there’s a strawberry flavoring in a tea, and I’ve suddenly got to manage an increasingly severe allergic reaction.
Sample sizes are another biggie for me, although I’ve been known to buy 3oz of tea and then give it to fellow Steepsterites if I don’t like it.
Resealable bags are another must-have (especially for samples – I’m looking at you, Upton), although usually I only find out after the fact.
Clear, concise and accurate descriptions of the tea. I’m helping one tea company with this because their site is just, well, it needs some love, and I’m doing it for freebie tea.
Online ordering. If there isn’t any? I’m not ordering, period. See the last paragraph; I’ve also offered to help local tea companies get themselves online for free, because I want to order from them. It still surprises me when they decline.
Respectful customer service. I can count numerous companies that I LOVE mostly because of their service – Butiki and Whispering Pines are the first that come to mind. There are two tea companies however that I will go out of my way not to do business with again because of their lack of respect for me as a customer. One company has outright fought with me publicly after soliciting customer opinions, and then privately chastised me on another occasion when I sent a query about the status of my order — and I only sent the query because the company sent out a mass email to confirm everyone’s shipments were on their way. Another tea company ignored my repeated requests for more information about ingredient lists, and also then about a missing shipment (that eventually arrived with a post date two months after they said they’d sent it). I’ll refrain from naming said companies… mostly because they’ve lost a profitable customer for life.
+1 on full and accurate disclosure of ingredients. Companies have a right to use whatever they want—provided that they inform consumers so that they can decide for themselves what to ingest or not.
If only for allergy reasons, every company should DEFINITELY include a full list of ingredients.
For those of us with sensitivities to flavors tho, it’s nice anyway.
Respectful customer service can not be overstated. I’m wanting and willing to spend money on tea, but treat me like I know nothing about tea (at least ask first!) or that I’m wasting your time and I will find another company who has an equal or better product to sell.
Big yes on CS, not tea, but I placed an order with a clothing company one time and they took almost 2 months to send the clothes, only sent half of what I ordered, and half of what they did send was damaged, including a button up boxy blouse which was missing 4 of its 5 buttons which in turn makes it unwearable. When I emailed CS to complain about the damaged goods and the way the handled inventory problems and the like, I received a short one paragraph blow off response that didn’t address any of my concerns and just said they’d take my points in consideration in the future. I emailed back even more angry than before, though I still kept the email polite and respectful, I not only didn’t receive a response back for a month, I also was blown off again. This went on for three more months, with me demanding to speak to a supervisor or asking for a number to call since they take a month to answer emails, before finally I was told that they had a 30 day return policy. It had been 4 months since I received the package, and 6 since I ordered. I finally gave up and will never ever order from them again. I used to place sizable orders with them about 2-3 times a year, but now I not only don’t do that, I also make a point to tell of my experience whenever I talk to a friend or coworker about the company.
Fast fulfillment means a lot to me. If I have to wait more than a week, I really start to lose my enthusiasm. Some companies manage to fulfill on the day of the order, which then arrives in a day or two. Others seem to think that they need to call a board meeting or do a full inventory before they can start working on a new order. (Two weeks? A month?? What????)
The record setter for speediest fulfillment was Harney & Sons, who somehow got me an order the day after I placed it! Hurrah for Harney! Teavivre has also impressed me with swift delivery—even coming all the way from China!
I recently placed an order at a company new to me (won’t name them), and after more than a week, I sent an email inquiring whether the order had shipped, as I had received no tracking number. I was informed that the order was somehow deleted by the fulfillment team! Talk about a great way to throw business away!!!!!
Its always nice when something arrives quickly. So far my fastest arriving orders were from Capital Tea Ltd, which is located within an hour of my house , so it was basically local post, and Yezi tea. I don’t necessarily require quick arrival, I’d prefer to pay lower shipping costs and wait, but it is nice to have acknowledgement of your order and have quick packaging and shipping and if possible an expected arrival timeline. I recently tried out two new aliexpress dealers who both impressed me with their communication and thanks. The one is even tracking my order and has committed to communicating any delays to me directly if they occur. Waiting for teas from China is usually lues between 10-21 days for me, with most order being somewhere around 15 days. However with most of my US orders taking around 10 days its actually fairly reasonable.
I very much prefer places that offer sample sizes (half an ounce or so is usually good), but I don’t buy more than an ounce. Slightly lower shipping for samples would be good too, I really don’t want to spend more on shipping than my teas.
what does ITT mean?
tell me what your tea actually is. adagio is a huge offender, I don’t want wuyi ensemble, I want da hong pao. stop with the gimmick.
I don’t really see the problem when they literally say “Wuyi Ensemble, known as Da Hong Pao or Wuyi rock tea…” Also they have this: http://www.adagio.com/masters/wuyi_da_hong_pao.html
I completely agree on this one. There are so many sites out there that tell you nothing about what kind of tea is in their blends or flavored teas. Most of the time, it just says “black tea” or sometimes they tell you the country of origin but not what kind of tea it actually is. I find this very annoying.
I think Adagio has been working on making this better anyway. Their whole “Roots” campaign seeks to really dig into where the tea comes from and gives a lot of interesting insight into the farmers who bring it to us as well. Being a cultural anthropology nerd, I really enjoy that section of the site. ^^ I do agree that it’s better to be very clear on what KIND of tea it is tho. I think they rely on their categories to explain some of it tho.
They still give names to their roots teas, such as dancong aria. There are something like 50 types of dancong oolongs, and like 20 different types of wuyi yancha. It would even sound better as the real names in english (Honey Orchid Dancong and Big Red Robe)
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