Buying Before You Smell

[vetofunk]

I am trying to help a buddy of mine out. He owns a company/site that sells a boutique collection of [products for the home]. These are not branded and really no one knows about them. Because the whole purchase of these types of products are based on the smell, how can I increase the sales without the visitor even being able to smell the product.

Here are a couple ideas currently:

1/ Get reviews from past customers and current users of these products.

2/ Compare section. Maybe an area of the site that compares them to better branded products?

3/ Send out a free sample to potential customers.

Thoughts?

[edited by: caveman at 7:26 pm (utc) on Jan. 23, 2009]
[edit reason] Removed specifics per TOS. No category or brand name mentions please. ;-) [/edit]

[arieng]

Those are good ideas, but you might also look at the copy. A really good copywriter, though often expensive, could do a lot for the user's imagination.

[Shimrit]

I'll second the copy suggestion. Also, sending out free samples can end up being quite costly. Maybe offer a sample pack for sale price and encourage people to try out a selection of things?

[Yoshimi]

I like the idea of a sample pack, especially if you can package it in such a way that people could also buy it as a gift.

If it is a relatively unknown brand, samples may be a good short term marketing solution, especially if you can encourage word of mouth through them, it doesn't matter what the brand is, if one person falls in love with the product, you can be pretty sure their friends will all want to try it, or they will be getting it for their next birthday/xmas present.

[Lazlo]

Market value of House Hold goods, boutique or other, is based on familiarity to known products.

Have the user,if possible, fill a quick questionnaire to find their tastes.

Then RELATE to what they know :

I like Pears soap because it has Glycerin and does not leave residue and has a light non invasive fragrance.

Which one of his products can compare, recall or trigger a memory of, by similarity.

Build a 3D olfactory base from current products.

Like : I can't believe it's not butter.