The Story of Jeri’s Custom Embroidery Business
Jeri, a talented Shopify seller, specializes in creating custom embroidered products that add a personal touch to everyday items. Her unique offerings include personalized sweatshirts with endearing messages like “mama,” baby quilts with intricate designs, and stuffed animals featuring children’s names embroidered on their bellies or ears. These bespoke creations require careful attention to detail and close communication with customers to ensure each piece meets their exact specifications.
As her business grew, Jeri found herself spending countless hours managing customer inquiries and order details. The process was time-consuming and inefficient, leaving her with little time to focus on what she loved most – creating beautiful, personalized embroidered items for her clients – and spending time with her family.
The Challenge of Managing Custom Orders Before New Leaf Digital
Before partnering with New Leaf Digital, Jeri’s order process was labor-intensive and time-consuming. Customers would initiate contact via text message, leading to hours of back-and-forth communication. These conversations covered every aspect of the custom order:
- Type of item (sweatshirt, baby quilt, stuffed animal, etc.)
- Color choices
- Fabric selections
- Appliqué preferences
- Thread colors
- Sharing and discussing inspiration photos
This approach had several drawbacks:
- Time Drain: Jeri spent a significant portion of her day on customer service, leaving little time for actual production, especially during busy seasons.
- Work-Life Imbalance: With four children at home, Jeri struggled to find time for her family due to the constant demands of customer communication.
- Inefficient Order Management: Information was scattered across text messages, making it challenging to keep track of order details and customer preferences.
- Mental Overload: Jeri had to remember where each conversation left off, locate and organize inspiration photos, and manage the back-and-forth with clients.
Why Jeri Chose New Leaf Digital
Recognizing the need to streamline her processes and reclaim her time, Jeri turned to us for a solution. She was drawn to our expertise in business automation and our understanding of the unique challenges faced by custom product sellers on platforms like Etsy and Shopify.
How New Leaf Digital Responded
After carefully analyzing Jeri’s business processes, we proposed and implemented a comprehensive solution that leveraged multiple tools to create a seamless, automated workflow:
- Custom Order Form with FillOut Forms:
- Created an intuitive and beautifully designed form with photos of Jeri’s work for customers to input all necessary details for their custom orders.
- Chose FillOut Forms for its deep integration with SmartSuite, allowing for easy updates and synchronization.
- SmartSuite Integration:
- Set up automatic record creation in SmartSuite upon form submission.
- Organized order details, including customer preferences and uploaded inspiration photos to create an easy way for Jeri to view her orders
- Created custom views to group orders by thread color, optimizing the production process.
- Automated Cost Estimation and Order Confirmation:
- Implemented an automatic cost estimation feature based on customer selections.
- Set up automated email confirmations to customers upon order submission.
- ClickUp Task Creation:
- Established an automation to create tasks in ClickUp for each new order.
- Included direct links to SmartSuite records within ClickUp tasks for easy reference.
- Streamlined Workflow:
- Created a system that allows Jeri to easily switch between ClickUp for overall project management and SmartSuite for detailed order information.
The Results
The implementation of this automated system by New Leaf Digital transformed Jeri’s business operations:
- Time Savings: Jeri now saves at least 10 hours per week, freeing up valuable time for production and family.
- Improved Customer Experience: Clients can now easily submit their custom order details through a user-friendly form, reducing confusion and streamlining communication.
- Enhanced Productivity: By grouping orders by thread color in SmartSuite, Jeri can work more efficiently, minimizing the need to frequently change threads on her embroidery machine.
- Reduced Mental Load: The new system eliminates the need for Jeri to remember conversation details or hunt for inspiration photos. All information is now organized and easily accessible.
- Better Work-Life Balance: With more streamlined processes, Jeri can spend quality time with her four children and focus on growing her business.
- Increased Focus on Creativity: Less time spent on administrative tasks means more time for Jeri to focus on creating beautiful, custom embroidered products.
Are you a custom product seller struggling with time-consuming order processes? Let New Leaf Digital help you streamline your operations and reclaim your time. Contact us today to learn how we can tailor a solution for your unique business needs.
