My Mistake—and How You Can Benefit

When I first started selling custom calligraphy, I spent hours building questionnaires to get people’s ideas on paper. (Still using and updating these—they make custom projects so much simpler for you the client! 🙌🏼)

Once an order was placed, I would then work painstakingly to surprise the client with how well their idea turned out. No process photos of my drafts, or really much communication at all until the piece was finished.

Oof.

This came back to bite me several times before I finally realized that there’s only ONE surprise that every single client enjoys:

Tearing open the package and realizing their order looks better than it did in the photos! 🥳

So here’s what I do now, using a current order as an example.

After drafting on paper (lots of erasing and redrawing), I take photos for my client to look at side by side. In this case, I’ll have her choose between 2 layout options.

Here’s what sending a mid-project email prevents:
 
  +  Letters you can’t read. Two clients have told me my letters were too tiny for them! 😬 This is easily avoided with a sneak peek photo that’s to scale.

  +  A style different from what you pictured. Not everyone has a strong preference (and if that’s you, that’s fine!), but some clients do, and even send reference photos of what they want. So, checking in mid-project is worth it ✨

  +  Worry about how things are going. If enough time goes by without hearing from someone, you start wondering. It’s human. Photos and a friendly update give you, the client, an idea of where the project is and creates a better experience 🥰

Going to go email those project photos now! If you have questions about this or any other part of the custom order process, contact me here 🤗