In March this year I created my first jewellery survey – something I should have done when I started my business six years ago! I wanted to find out a few things from subscribers/customers and folks, who like jewellery, about their wearing and shopping habits.
I used Google forms rather than Survey Monkey – as it is free and you can also include things like a thank you message with a promotional code as an incentive to fill the survey in. Participants received a 10% discount code and the chance to win a £10 voucher.
After a lot of promoting on social media I have closed the survey now. In total I had 50 responses, however a few people entered twice which skewed the whole thing slightly – and they were only entered once in the draw – so in total 37 qualified for the voucher draw. I checked the answers of the duplications and it turns out that they had given different answers – so I actually left them in the results.
So what did I want to know? I wanted to keep it simple and only asked 7 questions. Mainly because most people don’t like spending ages filling in a survey! People were allowed to pick more than one answer for most of the questions.
First I wanted to know:
What kind of jewellery do you wear the most?
In this first question I made a slight boohoo – I included: brooches, bangles, bracelets, cufflinks, earrings, necklaces and pendants – but managed to forget to include rings! Ah well – these things can happen – I am not a professional marketeer.
Anyway here are the results:
Necklaces were by far the most popular choice – 35 people (70%)
Followed by earrings – 33 (66%)
Bracelets – 28 (56%)
Pendants – 21 (42%)
Bangles – 9 (18%)
Brooches – 8 (16%)
Cufflinks – 4 (8%)
Given that most respondents were female it’s not surprising that cufflinks were the least popular pieces of jewellery.
So what does this mean for my business? Well that I will make brooches, bangles and cufflinks in future only on commission, rather than fill my shop with these items.
The next question I asked was: How often do you wear your jewellery?
The options were: every day, once a week, once a month, once a year, only on special occasions and other.
34 people (68) answered that they wear jewellery every day
Followed by 9 people (18) saying they wear it once a week
Only 1 person (2%) answered once a month
7 people (14%) said they wear jewellery on special occasions
2 people (4%) gave other reasons: when not at work and to wear more often now (not sure what was meant by that)
Next I wanted to know where people mostly buy their jewellery.
I offered the following choices and again more than one answer was allowed:
Etsy, Folksy, High Street Shops, Craft Fairs, Amazon, Ebay, Independent designer, Not On The High Street and other.
32 people (64%) said they buy from independent designers (like me).
31 people (62%) said they buy from High Street shops.
Followed by 30 people (60%) who buy their jewellery at craft fairs.
15 people (30%) answered that they buy from Etsy, but only 1 person (2%) answered he or she buys from Folksy.
12 people (24%) buy their jewellery on Ebay.
9 people (18%) buy their jewellery from Amazon and 7 people (14%) from Not On The High Street.
11 (22%) people also opted for other:
Make it myself; homemade; Facebook; haven’t bought any in a long time (!); online independent seller; wherever I see nice stuff; Jewellers on holiday; Facebook and local boutiques, also done clothes (?) and dept stores; Dandt(?)
What does this answer mean for my business?
Well, I was surprised that only 30% opted for Etsy, but 60% said craft fairs. I generally sell hardly anything at craft fairs – mainly because the ones that I attended were not very well organised and certainly not crafter friendly (i.e. letting non crafters in and mass produced stuff). I have also decided to no longer list in my Etsy shop as I have only sold 2 items within a year of re-opening the shop. Good news though for me is that 64% buy their jewellery from independent designer/ makers.
The next question I asked was: How often do you buy jewellery?
The options were: once a week, once a month, once a year, for special occasions, I don’t buy jewellery and other.
24 people (48%) said that they buy their jewellery for special occasions.
13 people (26%) said they buy their jewellery once a month.
5 people (10%) said they buy their jewellery once a year.
3 people (6%) said they don’t buy jewellery.
1 person (2%) said he/she buys jewellery once a week.
7 people (14%) opted to give other answers as follows:
when I see something I love and have a bit of spare money; whenever something catches my eye; couple of times a year; I buy as presents for others, ad hoc; whenever I spot something I like; two or three times a year;
I am not quite sure why the people who said they don’t buy jewellery actually filled in the survey to win a voucher from me. This seems a bit strange to me.
With the next question I wanted to know: What do you look for when buying jewellery?
The options were: colour, brand, price, on trend (is it fashionable), semi-precious stones; precious metals; non-precious metals, craftsmanship, I know the designer/maker, it follows a specific theme (e.g. animal, flowers etc.), it has to be one-of-a-kind, and other.
For 30 people (60%) craftsmanship was very important
Followed by price for 25 people (50%)
24 people (48%) prefer to buy jewellery made with precious metals such as silver and gold.
21 people (42%) look for specific colours.
14 people (28%) look for semi-precious stones.
13 people (26%) said knowing the designer/maker is important.
7 people (14%) answered that they look for a specific theme in their jewellery.
Only 3 people (6%) are looking for jewellery that is on trend.
2 people (4%) look for brands.
Only 1 person (2%) opted for non-precious metals.
3 people (6%) look for one-of-a kind pieces.
7 people (14%) also gave other reasons:
it takes my fancy; I like it; has to suit me; as above (?);
What does this mean for my own business?
I offer mostly one-of-a-kind pieces, follow specific themes (animals) and work with a wide range of materials. It’s good to know that so many people find craftsmanship important and look for quality in a piece of jewellery, however almost the same amount of people is mindful of price. I am wondering if these people look for cheap rather than quality. I work with a variety of colours and am now thinking if I should add a colour category to my shop so people can find their colour easier. As so many people are also looking for precious metals I am planning in the future to create more pieces in Sterling silver. However this comes at a cost – working with precious metals isn’t cheap – which is why I also work with non-precious metals (I would like to phase out) so my jewellery is affordable. Another reason I haven’t done much silver-smithing is simply my health – I suffer from chronic shoulder pain which often flares up badly when I do certain activities and I worry about the effect piercing and hammering would have on my shoulder. Working with clay isn’t pain-free either, but I can adjust the way I work easier. I will definitely still work with semi-precious stones as I just love them.
The next question I asked was: Do you buy jewellery for yourself or as a gift?
42 people (84%) said they buy it for themselves and the same amount of people also said they buy it as a gift. Only one person said he/she doesn’t buy jewellery.
My final question was an open question and I just wanted to know: What kind of jewellery designs would you like to see me make more of?
A few people didn’t know what to answer as they were new to my website. People who bought from me before and were happy customers also encouraged me to continue with my designs.
Here is a selection of answers with my own comments.
Rings. – Well, I have loads of rings on my website – check them out here.
Butterfly designs. – Again I have a lot of butterfly brooches and necklaces on the website.
The landscape style clay pendants/brooches – I won’t make any more of these as long as they haven’t sold.
Abstract shapes and silver chains – I am happy to work with abstract shapes in the future and I offer to customise chains and swap non-precious metal chains for Sterling silver chains.
Penguins, cats and animal things. – I have currently penguin sculptures and earrings on the website, loads of other animal designs and of course lots of cat designs.
Someone mentioned button jewellery – Not quite sure what that is to be honest.
Someone mentioned she would go for more delicate pieces – Well that’s good to know, though not all of my designs are massive, in fact my cats and dolphins for example are relatively small. Polymer clay lends itself more to bolder and bigger designs because of the colours.
Bracelets – I have loads of bracelets on the website – here and here.
Someone mentioned rabbits – rabbit earrings – Currently I have one pair of rabbit earrings on the website and I am happy to make more on a commission basis.
Someone else also mentioned allergy issues and that for her earrings have to be light-weight. – I offer Sterling silver jewellery and jewellery made with plated metals – and I have been mindful to buy only metals which are nickel-free or compliant with EU nickel regulations. Also most of my earrings are light weight.
Something for the men. I have to admit this is an area I have to explore design-wise. Most of my customers are women who don’t buy for men. So far I have cufflinks in my shop and want to offer more of those.
One-off pieces – Most of my designs are one-off pieces.
Bird designs – I have loads of bird designs in my shop.
Unicorns – hmm – I don’t know if this is really my market.
Multi-coloured beaded designs. – Again I have a few really pretty necklaces with Cloisonne beads and Millefiori beads in the shop.
Someone just wrote “Life” – I have no idea what I should make of that.
Hook earrings please – Yes I have loads of those in my shop here and here.
Stud earrings – I started making them – check them out here.
Someone asked for leather cord for pendant and bracelets. – I have a few pendants in my shop which hang on leather cords. However I don’t like using leather and am discontinuing leather cord. Instead I am using rubber cord – also known as Buna cord, which is light weight and has a nice feel.
Someone suggested items using Amber. – Definitely something to explore as Amber is very pretty, though not cheap.
Someone else asked for vintage designs. – Again something to explore. Maybe my Klimt range falls into that category.
Someone wrote: “I love simple bangles, with or without semi-precious stones” – Well I still have those in my shop, but because they are not popular I am phasing them out.
I loved these comments:
“Don’t know. It’s all lovely.”
“I’m happy with cats.”
“I like the unusual and classy look.”
“I like your cats Image may be NSFW.
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”
“I think you are doing great as you are.”
“I like your semi-precious bead jewellery”
All in all I think the survey has given me some interesting insights and ideas for my business. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to fill it in.
And of course I had to pick a winner for the £10 voucher.
37 entries qualified for the draw –
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Hat with the entries.
and the winner is….
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And the winner is…
Rachael Jordan.
Congratulations Rachael Image may be NSFW.
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All participants received a thank you 10% discount code they can use until the end of May.
Thank you for reading.
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