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Once upon a time product customization was, in fact, the basis of production.
Apparel, shoes, and accessories all used to be tailor-made. This changed with the industrial revolution and mass production. But now that we’ve seen the flipside of mass production (everyone wearing the same thing), personalization is making a comeback.
According to Deloitte’s Made-to-Order research, more than 50% of consumers were interested in purchasing personalized products and services. Because of how desirable customers found customized-anything, half of them were happy to wait long periods of time just to get their items.
Do you want to miss out on the trend and risk losing sales? We didn’t think so. Read on to learn how you can take advantage of end-customer product personalization and grow your brand.
The time is now and here’s why
Nowadays people want to stand out.
Shoppers are veering away from cookie-cutter, store-bought items and enjoy the hunt for unique products. They want their purchases to come with a sense of exclusivity, uniqueness, and even luxury.
This is your perfect setup to offer product customization and give them what they want.
Earn more while connecting with customers
In 2021 McKinsey did research on personalization value. It revealed that companies offering customizable products and services generate 40% more revenue from those activities than average businesses.
That means you can sell custom products at a higher price, and it’s one that your customers are willing to pay.
Going beyond dollars and cents, 71% of customers expect personalization through ads, products, services, or recommended readings.
Overall, personalization enhances the customer experience and increases their loyalty and engagement. This ultimately leads to higher customer acquisition and retention.
Another benefit of personalization is its shareability on social media. People have always been eager to show off their creativity, especially any custom, cool swag they might get their hands on.
Think of personalization not only in terms of sales but also as an opportunity for your customers to interact with your brand.
Inspiration for future products and brand image can be found in data customers submit from their personalization requests. Also, customers will create and share original content featuring your products, so make sure to incorporate it in your marketing strategy.
That could mean reposting customer photos, using them for promos (with permission), or creating custom hashtags for special events and campaigns.
While personalization is an exciting feature to offer your customers, it’s best to decide what purpose it’ll serve. Are you thinking of making it the focal point of your store, or do you see it as another way to build your brand and boost engagement?
Customers confronting a blank canvas can become overwhelmed and keen to leave. Make sure any customization features on your site are easy to use. A way you can simplify the designing experience is by offering a template customers can work with.
Let’s talk about the ways you can market products for personalization.
Giftable bridal party phone cases and bachelorette party tote bags are popular custom-made products | Source: Printful totes and cases
Some of the most obvious occasions include: birthdays, graduations, back-to-school season, weddings, baby showers, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s/Father’s Day.
Customizable back-to-school products are popular among students and parents | Source: adidas
Part of a theme or campaign
You can offer personalized products as part of a theme or campaign—and you can combine them with a holiday or special event.
Your theme can be related to your existing designs or be something entirely new: quotes, jokes, symbols, catchphrases, and everything in between.
For example, during the holiday season, Printful offers fun ugly Christmas sweaters ready for customers to design and buy for friends and family.
From a marketing perspective, this holiday-themed campaign is a great chance for customers to make something truly unique and personal. At the same time, we get to offer our designs and products for sale—creating a win-win campaign for everyone.
A pop-up feature on your store offering a chance to make an exclusive, custom product helps incentivize customers to design and buy. This pop-up can also tie in with the idea of custom products as gifts, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. You can present it as a way to create a personalized special something for oneself.
These options are just the basics. Remember that you can get as creative as you want. You can start by offering simple design customization for everlasting trends such as monogramming. Chances are, everyone has something in their home with their name or initials on it.
How to set up product personalization with Printful
There are two ways to go about creating personalized products at Printful. You can manually personalize each order or use Printful’s Product Personalization Tool.
The design possibilities depend on your product specs and which of these you’d like to make customizable.
For example, customers can decide on the shirt color and design for the Unisex V-Neck Tee | Bella+Canvas 3005. For the All-Over Print Tote, only the handle color and design can be personalized. For both cases, you could also simply allow people to personalize only the designs.
1. Manual orders
One of the ways you can offer product personalization is by designing each order manually. This allows personalizing any Printful product on any marketplace. However, you’ll still have to set up your store so that customers can:
See their product options
Know which design elements are customizable
Submit their shipping details
After this process, you can create custom orders based on customer submissions. Make sure you provide clear instructions on how to request personalizations on the product page, order checkout, or other areas.
[blue notice box] To use this method, you must disable automatic fulfillment through your Printful account settings or unsync the personalized products in the Stores section in your Printful Dashboard. This is so you can edit the design before the order is fulfilled.
Printful product personalization is available for Printful + Etsy users, and this video tutorial will show you how to set it up:
With Etsy, customers let you know what designs they want by using the personalized message box before they add items to cart. Personalized Etsy orders are imported into Printful as a draft so you can edit the order with the options your customer requested.
Here’s how it works:
In the Printful Dashboard, go to Stores, then click on your Etsy store
Head to Orders
Scroll down and under the Sync as you go section check the Import personalized orders as drafts box
On your Etsy store, go to Shop Manager then Listing
Pick the listing you want to personalize
Click on the Personalization tab and enter guidelines for your customers
Whenever you receive an order with a personalized product, it’ll appear on your Printful Dashboard with a blue icon
Open the order, and hover over the icon to see the personalization request left by your customer
Click Complete order then Edit to and adjust the product to your customer’s wishes
After you’re done editing, click Complete > Continue to Shipping > Continue to review
The Zakeke tool is flexible. It allows you to upload your own fonts, clipart, or images. You can also define the format and the quality of the print, and disable certain customization options.
How to integrate Printful and Zakeke
1. Make sure to connect your Printful account to your Shopify store by going to Stores > Choose Platform, and click on your Shopify store
2. Connect the Zakeke app to your Shopify store
3. In the Printful dashboard, go to Settings > API > Enable API access, then click Copy (see screenshot below)
8. Go to Printful Dashboard > Settings > Orders > Sync, and make sure that the options “Import existing products” and “Import unsynced orders” are checked (see screenshot below):
Source: Printful
9. Go back to the Printful Dashboard. Head to Billing > Billing methods and make sure your currency is the same as your Shopify store
Now that you’re done setting up Printful + Zakeke, you’ll want to add personalized products to your store. Follow the section below to do it.
Please note that if you activate the automatic fulfillment option in Zakeke, you won’t be able to edit the designs before printing as they’ll be sent directly to Printful from Zakeke.
How to add personalizable products from Printful
In Zakeke’s back-office, go to Customizable Products > Add a Customizable Product > Print-on-demand services, and select Printful
When you click on a product, you’ll need to adjust your personalization and selling options:
Change the default name and product description
Choose sizes and color options (if available, or add a blank product for customers to design)
Now you have a new customizable product! It usually takes a few minutes for the product to appear on your store, so don’t process any orders until the syncing is complete.
All personalization tools (elements such as uploading ability, gallery options, text) are by default available for customers. If you want to limit personalization options, create pre-designed templates instead.
Note: Orders won’t be automatically sent to Printful if:
Payment Capture in Zakeke is set to Manually capture payment for orders
You allow manual payment methods (Cash on Delivery or Bank Deposit)
Still unsure whether product personalization is something you want to offer to your customers?
Let’s go over the main reasons why this option has become so popular and why it’s worth adding to your store:
It boosts sales. People are willing to pay a premium price for tailor-made products.
It attracts valuable customers and keeps them satisfied. A store with personalization options has more added value than a regular store.
It increases customer loyalty. Shoppers who have customized a product engage with a brand more.
It builds brand awareness. Personalization is a good way to stay ahead of the competition.
It allows you to learn about your customers. The more you know about your customers’ needs, the more you can give them exactly what they’re looking for.
Can’t see why you shouldn’t give it a go!
If you’ve already tried your hand at offering product personalization, we’d love to hear more about your experience—leave us a comment below.
Cloe is a former Content Marketing Specialist at Printful. Her educational background includes a Bachelors of Science in Management and Economics and a Masters of Science in International Governance and Diplomacy. She loves reading fantasy books and going for long hikes with her dog, a rambunctious jackadoodle.
Cloe is a former Content Marketing Specialist at Printful. Her educational background includes a Bachelors of Science in Management and Economics and a Masters of Science in International Governance and Diplomacy. She loves reading fantasy books and going for long hikes with her dog, a rambunctious jackadoodle.
