Are you struggling to sell your print-on-demand t-shirts?
I’m going to be honest with you. No one being interested in your product usually means that your product is not that good. And with print-on-demand t-shirts, you need great designs if you want to stand out in the crowded market.
So how can you improve your t-shirts and sell more of them? Here are my 5 best tips…
#1 Know who you are selling to
The most common mistake that print-on-demand entrepreneurs make is selling generic t-shirts that could be worn by anyone. Usually they even think that this is a smart decision, because more potential customers means more revenue, right? Wrong! When you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. I mean, would you pay $30+ for a t-shirt that could be worn by you, your Dad, and your Grandma? Probably not. And neither will your customers.
You need to know exactly who you are selling to if you want to succeed in this business. What is their gender? What is their age? What are their interests? It might feel exclusive and restrictive at first, but trust me, it will make both your creative process and your marketing efforts much easier.
#2 Analyze the inventory of your competition
Once you decide who you want to sell to, you should go on the Internet and research your competition so that you wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Go to your competitors’ stores and see what sells best. What are the main trends? What colour schemes work best? Which fonts do well? Pay attention to all these details and jot them down in a notepad. It will come in handy once you get around to actually creating the t-shirt designs!
Now, I’m not telling you to copy the designs of your competitors, I’m telling you to learn from them, so that you wouldn’t have to repeat their mistakes!
#3 Put time and effort into creating t-shirt designs
When you are used to drawing for fun, it might be hard for you to switch to drawing professionally, but you have to do it if you want your t-shirts to sell well.
What exactly separates an amateur from the professional? The amateur draws for themselves, meanwhile the professional draws for their customers. You can’t just quickly sketch something in 15 minutes and expect people to pay money for it. You have to pour your soul into your work if you want to stand out among your competition. So really push yourself to produce the best designs that you can!
Image credit: Taiwili Kayan
#4 Get feedback on your t-shirt designs
Everyone thinks they know what the customers want until they actually go and talk to said customers. You might think that you have great t-shirt designs, but you can’t know it without getting feedback from people you want to sell your t-shirts to. So go where your potential customers hang out, show them your work, and ask them what they think. Let them talk. Listen. Take notes.
Let’s keep it real. Putting yourself out there by asking for feedback is really scary. But what is the worst thing that could happen? It’s better to know whether the customers like your products sooner rather than later, right? So don’t chicken out!
#5 Go with a reputable print-on-demand fulfilment company
All your hard work will go to waste if you choose an unreliable print-on-demand company that produces low-quality t-shirts. This is why I recommend you to go with one of the reputable ones. Printify can help you to make your own shirt – create and sell custom shirts online and also trusted by more than 50,000 merchants. Really, don’t take any risks here, because low-quality products might cripple your business!
Conclusion
Selling print-on-demand t-shirts requires creativity, hard work, and dedication. It’s a tough market to break into. It will probably take you at around 12 months to gain momentum. Maybe even more.
However, once you do manage to get your business off the ground, it will be an immensely rewarding experience. So stay patient and keep at it. You’ll get there!