Thursday, January 12, 2012

Earring Survey Results

30 people responded to the earring survey, (and one silly goose who inadvertently skipped it).

Photo/Project Credit: Happy Together

1. Who do you think that earrings like these would be more appropriately targeted toward (Select all that apply)
  • Women- 30%- (9)
  • Teens- 50%- (15)
  • Young girls- 50% (15)
  • Other (6): "i would think high school, college, young adults would wear there, very cute!"; "tweens"; "Seniors, too."; "Young women-early 20's"; "Depending on the fabric color it could be for young girls too."; "While I think they would be most appropriate looking on younger girls, they also might not hold up on them."

2. If you were to wear these, or buy them for someone else, would you prefer solid, prints, pearls, beads, cool, warm, or neutrals? (FYI, I had to use this format for the question because I was only allowed to have 10 questions per survey and this one was part of the bracelet survey).
  • Answers for this question were all over the place, but the general consensus was that anything would go. Winner of the best feedback response was: "both solid and prints would work for me. again, if it is something like this that is a little out of the box for earrings-i think the women that would wear these would like fun colors and prints rather than neutrals. Pearls are beautiful, but if you had a sparkly tiny button that would be gorgeous too! Love sparkles."

3. The average min/max price range that people said that they would pay for these is $7.50-$10.30. $5 was the lowest price suggested and $15 the highest. Three people claimed that they would not buy them at all.

My MPW suggested the following: wholesale price- $6.54; "safe" price- $11.54; retail price: $13.08, which seems to have underestimated a bit? Originally, I was thinking of pricing these for a craft fair at $4.00 a pair! Seems as though I was underestimating what people would pay, too!

I would like to reply to a couple of feedback comments/concerns that I received regarding these earrings. Actually, I think it's only one comment. One responder who said that they would not buy these, explained, "The fabric looks [like] it will fray, and they look a little gaudy." To which my response is, to each his own. I would personally never wear these either, as I prefer my earrings to dangle a bit, but I know that there are some women out there who would.

The main reason that I was considering making these earrings when I came across them was because there were so many women at my last craft fair who were excited about my pom hair clips, thinking that they were actually earrings. They were disappointed to find out that they were in fact hair clips. I couldn't help thinking first, that the poms were much too large to be mistaken for earrings, (they are 1.5"-2" in diameter!) and secondly, how gaudy that would look, but again, to each his own. But then I started thinking, well what about a smaller version of the pom....

As far as fraying goes, I think that the natural fraying of the earrings in the photo from Happy Together, actually added to the charm of them, except maybe that long bit hanging out on the left side of the photo:

Photo/Project Credit: Happy Together
 However, I believe in selling a product that is going to hold up and not fall apart on my customer, so I was planning to seal the edges of the fabric before constructing the earrings. Which I did, with the second pair that I made:


I actually wasn't very crazy about how these turned out, nor was I satisfied with the whole process in general. Hand-sewing the tiny fabric pieces together was a pain in my tushy, and I am too much of a perfectionist to have them appear sporadically arranged and messy as they did in the original tutorial, (as seen in the blue earring on the far right):

Photo/Project Credit: Happy Together

So, all things considered, I concluded that I will not be making these earrings. I didn't really enjoy doing it, nor did I like the end result enough to want to make more. If I'm going to spend valuable time on an item, then I want to be able to be proud of it, regardless of whether or not I would wear it myself.

Thank you again to everyone for the wonderful feedback! Expect to see the ring and headband holder survey results within the next week, and if you haven't checked out the results for the bracelets yet, check them out here.

3 comments:

  1. I still like them and think you should consider making a few pairs to sell! I would think it is worth seeing how they do. I think they are fun and even kind of artsy, see how they sell. You commented that you don't want them to appear "sporadically arranged and messy as they did in the original tutorial, (as seen in the blue earring on the far right)" but this is part of what is so cute about them! I also personally love wearing non dangly earrings so that really appeals with these earrings. Since you already had customers wishing your flowers were earrings, I would think that means you should try making and selling a few pairs! Or even consider offering them "on special request" on etsy. Personally, earrings are the one accessory that I always wear EVERY day! I feel naked without them :)

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  2. Thank you for the encouragement, Anonymous. :-) I think I should probably explain ME in order for this to make sense, because it's kind of a complete contradiction. I DO like how the original earrings look. I think that the blue ones especially, are really adorable,and I love how they look on the woman in the photo. (They just aren't something that I would wear). I really don't think that I actually meant "messy" when I said it, but maybe... askew?

    The main problem that I kept running into when making these is that I can't make them to look sporadically arranged and "askew" as the originals are. My perfectionism/anal personality takes over and because I prefer things to be symmetrical and neat, I have a difficult time allowing them to look otherwise. I know that really does not make sense to someone else. :-)

    I AM thinking about taking a different approach to making earrings like these because of the interest at the craft fair, and especially since I already have posts on hand, but this specific method for making them wasn't working for me.

    I really appreciate the feedback!

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  3. I like the blue/white with pearls. I think having something so clean in the center helps create the balance between neat & askew. That said, I do think "Messy" is the same as "fraying". That natural frayed edge created by scissors is okay and looks nice while the example of the worn pair with notable fraying... not so much. To sell these online I think you really would need a modeled picture of them being worn. I hope you do make a few, (since you got the idea from craft fair people) but if you don't enjoy the process remember 3 is technically a few :) Good luck!

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