I wanted to take a moment here to pull back the curtain and answer some questions for the many new faces here! Here is a little more about the dignify business; feel free to ask more below!
Creating and Selecting the Blankets & Collections:
Denise asked:
How do you select the beautiful patterns that go up on your site?
We take an approach to the blankets inspired by our children's preschool mantra: you get what you get, and you don't get upset. 😉
We've made small tweaks and requests over the years to Basha, our blanket supplier (e.g. less brick color, more blues, etc.), and they take those into consideration. By the time the shipments arrive, we simply get what they have chosen to send, and we sell that!
When I have tried to predict which blankets were "the best" and which ones were "not great", I've often been surprised. Something I loved would straggle on the shelf, while the first blanket to sell from a collection was one I predicted would linger! Some are "not for me", but they are for someone. There really seems to be a blanket for everyone.
There are some exceptions... there are a couple of blankets here & there that I don't think are suitable to our brand style. I typically save those for significant discount in a Closet Sale.
Naming the Blankets:
I don't want to burst any bubbles here, but we name all of the blankets in our office, completely arbitrarily. Even though the magic behind the names is actually a thesaurus, often there has been deep meaning for customers in how they choose a blanket by its name.
Once, a customer told us she purchased a throw because it was the same name as their gift recipient (Blaze!). Recently, a customer purchased a gift for a friend in grief and thought the name of the blanket — "Profound" — was fitting. A woman purchased the "Serenity Kantha Throw" as a gift for her sobriety sponsor — the word resounding with the Serenity Prayer that was central to her recovery with AA.
Another woman had purchased a classic throw for a friend who was struggling with infertility — the name of the blanket was "Soon". In the gift recipient's words:
I chose the “Soon” blanket to serve as her reminder that soon, she too would experience her own freedom from the years of suffering pain from this journey. Never did I think she would spend the next three years clinging to that blanket, literally taking it with her on business trips, family vacations, and even on a tour bus with Jennie Allen. She has taken its message to heart in such a sweet and hope-filled way, and we’re all clinging to its promise with her.
When, after 5 years of waiting, the couple became pregnant, the friend purchased a baby kantha & asked my permission to name it "Now". Simply beautiful!
Sales & Discounts:
We have our annual anniversary sale coming up soon (Easter Egg! Nov. 23rd), and this is one of the few times in the year that we discount our products at all.
It was very important to me when I began dignify that our pricing was fair and honest — true to the real price, not inflated to account for discounts which we would use to manipulate buying habits. The "slash" (ie. $250 $98) is very effective, but didn't reflect the dignity I wanted to accord to my customers and the business from top to bottom.
I've softened my hard line a bit and we have allowed for a couple more opportunities for promotions and discounts. Do you know some of the reasons why a business would offer a discount?
- A discount is offered in exchange for an email sign-up, because "advertising" to an email is free, whereas paid advertising (on socials, websites, etc.) costs the business for every click or impression. Sometimes the entire reason for a sale or promotion is to collect the email addresses for future communications
- To move along a product or product category at an accelerated rate
- To track the effectiveness of an ad (ie. the discount code on a podcast ad ("FUNNYPOD10") is both to motivate the buyer but also to track the ad placements and which work or not
- For some cash flow for a business
- Simply feels good as a customer to feel like you got to pay less
A Family Business
I (Shelley) am the primary driver at dignify. I write, I manage the website and weekly emails; I communicate with customers; I take photos, source photographers, design & print postcards, etc.
Wayne is my husband and he coordinates the shipping. Both the new orders & inventory management to us, and the shipping to you!
We both photograph the products, but we also now get help from our teenaged daughters. One of them also helps the packaging by writing notes and pulling orders from the shelves.
dignify has been a true "family business" and a significant part of our lives over these last 12 years. My son is 11 and I'm still waiting on that maternity leave 😏. dignify is essentially all our girls have ever known. We are very grateful for the story that our family has been a part of.
Though, I can tell you that as fun as it is to have your own store, the lustre is long gone for these kids! 😂
If you have any questions about what it has been like to run an online store, or have an entrepreneurial family, or any other questions about the blankets/biz itself, feel free to ask in the comments!
