Eskil's Progress Thread: Starting a Supplement Business from Scratch

[Eskil]

Alright, the time has come! This will be my progress thread for a new Fastlane business I am starting – a nutritional supplement product/business. I will do my best to post here with updates on what I am doing. Hopefully this can become another thread that others can learn from (whether they are getting into the supplement business or not), and perhaps I can get your guys’ thoughts and inputs here on some things along the way.

Let me first clarify what I am going to be doing. When I say “nutritional supplement business” I mean that I will develop first one, and eventually more, nutritional supplement products under my own brand. The brand will be focused on general health – in the life-extension, general health improvement, anti-aging, multi-vitamin market. But instead of trying to be another cookie-cutter A,B,C,D,E multivitamin, my first product will approach this with a slight twist…

The product will be a 100% all-natural, nutritional supplement – and not “yet another multivitamin”. It will contain 7 main active ingredients and one or two supporting ingredients for increased efficiency.

The seven active ingredients are a powerful pack of already widely known, true and tested ingredients that all have been proven to actually improve overall health in various different ways. These ingredients are already selling well in the supplement market today – but usually sold separately under generic brands.
My USP is that I offer these altogether in one convenient, daily dose.

Ingredient #1
Anti-aging / Heart health and cardiovascular benefits / May slow the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
It is also believed to reduce inflammation, and to give your immune system a healthy boost.

Ingredient #2
The strongest anti-oxidant found in nature. Anti-aging / Promotes heart health and cardiovascular benefits / Believed to inhibit or slow certain forms of cancer.

Ingredient #3
Heart health / Blood pressure / Anti-aging / Parkinsons disease, and more. Widely known for its positive effects in the human cardiovascular system. This ingredient is actually an enzyme that already exists in our bodies - but deteriorates as we get older. Maintaining stable levels of this ingredient has proven to be a great way of keeping your body healthy longer.

Ingredient #4
Anti-aging / Lowers cholesterol / Lowers bacterial growth / Reduces arthritic and digestive inflammation / Skin health. This ingredient has been used in Eastern traditional food and medicine for over 1000 years. There is no doubting this ingredient’s many benefits, and a daily intake of it may contribute to your health in more than one way.

Ingredient #5
Anti-aging / Heart health / Immune strength. This ingredient has been clinically proven in studies to directly benefit heart health. It is also an essential nutrient that the cells in our bodies depend on in order to extend their own natural lifespan.

Ingredient #6
Blood pressure regulator / Anti-aging / Clinically proven weightloss aid / Bone mass increase / Nerve damage repair (Parkinson's disease).

Ingredient #7
Diabetes and blood sugar aid / Blood pressure regulator / Lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol, while increasing HDL (good) cholesterol / Increase lean body mass

This Fastlane business fulfills all the N.E.C.T.S commandments:

Need: The supplement industry is a $30 Billion+ industry in the U.S. alone, and is grown steadily. With increased private health-insurance and medical care costs, people are seeking their own ways to do preventive care through vitamins, supplements, diet, and exercise. Now, before I go full steam ahead with this first product – my first test will be to verify that the market actually NEEDS and wants my formula. Because I know that as useful as the product may seem in theory – only the market can tell me for sure. So my first big step now is to set up a presell page to collect leads, and also to get a very small batch manufactured for cheap that I can send out to the first buyers for some feedback, after they have tested it.

Entry: Even though in theory, “anyone” can have a supplement made – it still takes significant work, determination, and some financial investment to research the production of a nutritional supplement and get it off the ground properly to market. I have already spent a few months doing research for my ingredients to find the right combinations, market needs, benefits, correct daily dosages of each, etc.

Control: I will be almost entirely in control of every aspect of this business. The only thing somewhat out of my control would be depending on manufacturer’s for the actual production – but my ingredients are common enough to where if one manufacturer were to fail on delivery – there are plenty of other manufacturer’s to choose from.

Scale: The Need also delivers the Scale here. I will start out with direct online sales, but my goal is to enter retail chains when I have reached a comfortable sales volume level online.

Time: There is definitely high enough margins here for me to automate this business. I will be mostly in control to start, but the plan of course is to gradually outsource every element of the business – from customer support, distribution, sales, and eventually management.

Wish me luck guys...

 

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[Eskil]

How I made my supplement label...

Ok, so I promised I would make a more detailed run-down of how I designed my own supplement label. Keep in mind, I have never designed any product packaging before, so bear with me here, lol. I did it myself because I have always enjoyed graphical work a lot (been working with image editors and pixeled design since the Amiga in 1990).

Please note: This post is for those who want to learn the thinking process behind designing your own label. So, I’m posting this mostly to share with you guys HOW I did this, and I’m not looking for input and criticism so much at this point as to WHY I chose so and so. If you think my label sucks - or that I should change this, that, or this…well then, that’s gonna just have to be for now.

How did I do it?
I designed everything from scratch in Photoshop. As a starting point, I looked at several supplement and vitamin bottles for inspiration. I decided that for my product, I wanted a 250cc / 250ml bottle size. Yes, this bottle is bigger than necessary but part of this is to convey value. So I measured existing labels on same sized bottles, e.g. “One a Day†vitamins, and found that they commonly use a 7.48 x 2.87 inch size. Knowing at least 300 DPI resolution is required for a good print, I created a blank document in Photoshop with those specs. When I was done, this would then be exported out as PDF, since that is what the printers (at the manufacturer’s) asked that I provide.

Theme and branding
A few months back, I had started out with a bunch of concept designs that I thought would look good. But after lots of feedback both here and from other people – I realized, most people thought those designs were ugly as sin and looked unprofessional, lol. So back to the drawing board I went. I also decided against doing a split-test of designs as I had said would do then. I thought: F*ck it – I’m not gonna waste time on all that now. Let’s get SOMETHING made and out the door. I can worry about details later!
So then I just decided on a totally new design concept of: CLEAN lines + no photo-like imagery + vector graphics + use of shadows + relatively few colors. The new label would try to communicate what the product is about: helping to improve long term health. A few green leaves, a heart, and some airy clouds would do! I didn’t need fancy swirls and all colors of the rainbow for this.

The colors may be a bit cliché, but if you look at most product lines in a range of categories – they are often used time and time again because:
1) People’s association with them
2) They work

I didn’t want to try to re-invent some wild new color scheme just for the sake of it. I want my product to SELL, and sell, because – people can know by looking at the bottle that this must be a product with health benefits. Hence the use of some calm blues, a fresh green, a mellow beige (for info), and a popping red for emphasizing how natural this product is.

I have also mentioned before that I still want my product label to be able to stand out if it ever goes on a store shelf. I believe I have still accomplished this – mainly by the use of the stark contrast black lines around the big cloud, then with the big bold lettering, and of course the prominent heart and green leaves.

Speaking of lettering, I am a big believer in legibility. Some products out there have names using fonts or colors that you can hardly make out from a far. Think shelf appeal! If you have to squint to read the name – people will also squint for reasons to pull their wallet out. I think customers should be able to read your product name on a label even 15-20 feet away. That goes for online too. Think of when your product image is shown as a thumbnail or shrunken down in some search result – if you still can read the logo at 60x60 pixels in size, it should work! (I tested mine at that low of a size by shrinking it in Photoshop…) ;-)

The image below kind of sums up the rest of my design choices, but here is a summary of other key elements of my supplement label:

* Be clear on what the supplement is for. What’s in it? What does it do? How does it work? Spell it out!

* Brief, list-like, benefit-driven description. Mine has them in short on the front, and more detailed on the back. Now…this may be different for some other types of supplements. Mine is a bit different by nature since it is a “multi†type supplement with multiple ingredients AND benefits.

* Establish trust and authority. Is the product safe and has been manufactured by a ‘proper’ manufacturer? Of course is has! Mention any certification that your manufacturer has. Any logos or symbols you can use here should be used, but don’t lie or abuse such symbolism! By symbolism I also mean use of the American flag. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, there is an increased sense of patriotism now in these troubled economic times with the job market still being bad. People LOVE supporting “American made†anything. If you live in another country – you might have a gut feeling of whether you should use patriotism like this. I know that for supplements – “Made in USA†would be a stronger selling point in other countries as well – than if they had “Made in Norway†on them and I bought it there.

* Transparency and full disclosure of ingredients. Not only is this required by the FDA – but it’s also nice to have on there (even if this wasn’t legally required). The way I did mine was to try to make it a bit more interesting as well, by making the “Supplement Facts†label in theme with the colors of the clouds. I thought it looked more neat than if I had stuck with the standard white label.

* As long as you have room to fit it in - include anything that can help convince the buyer that the product is: A) Safe, B) As natural as possible (if applicable), C) Can give the benefits that it claims. This includes selling points such as “No glutenâ€, “No food coloring†etc. Anything like that could be useful for people checking the labels to convince themselves. For instance, if you are using capsules that are made from a non-gelatin substance (i.e. no animal by-product), then you can also say that it is vegetarian or vegan. Make sure with your manufacturer what is and isn’t used in ALL stages of manufacturing so that you do not make any mistakes here though. Your manufacturer will send you the info you need here, but double-check with them what you can and cannot say in relation to what is IN your supplement and/or encapsulating it. I also included a choking hazard for children under the age of 2 as I’ve seen this on several other capsule type products.

 

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[Eskil]

I just updated my other progress thread, so it's only right I should update this one too, lol...

Everything is still going well.I will soon hire a VA full-time though to help put some more effort into marketing of the product. Just basic stuff at first like social media, blog writing/posting, Hootsuite, reaching out to sites for mentions/reviews, etc.

Sales are pretty steady at around 8-10 sales a day now, sometimes 12 a day. What's cool about this is that even though this isn't my primary business that I focus on - it's a pretty much 99% hands-off, passive income stream that covers our living expenses, bills, food, gas, etc. I know it could make even more money if I pushed it, but I will soon be adding 2 more products to the product line

HOWEVER - for me, the most rewarding thing of all has been to see that real people actually enjoy and truly benefit from my product!!
For instance, check out this 100% REAL review that some random customer posted on my listing;'

When I read that, it felt amazing. Because this was actually what I originally wanted when I made a supplement to begin with. I didn't make it to make a quick buck, or to chase cash with the latest 'trend' supplement. Following the mantra of VALUE CREATION from @MJ DeMarco - I wanted my product to have true and lasting benefit for people. This review and some others proves again that when you provide genuine benefit and value, the money will follow.

And actually, both my wife and mother/father in-law now all take my product on a regular basis - and they say they feel noticeable better taking it! My father and mother in law both have lost weight even, with nothing else changed

I'm not saying this to brag or plug my product obviously, lol.. I'm just saying it as food for thought to anyone else reading this thread who are thinking about making a supplement. If you do - make something that works. Make something people will want to come back for and use again. Not because you conned them into it with slimey sales tactics. But because it makes their life better.

 

[Eskil]

I guess I should update this thread too, lol...

I have sold out a few times now, but yesterday received another shipment of bottles so i can restock yet again;

I have also decided to make the switch from UltraCart to Shopify. I really do like UltraCart, but it does require a bit more time to understand and maintain (configuring design for mobile, changing things on the fly, etc). Something to keep in mind too if/when having outsiders like VA's or coders do anything for the site. Way more people are familiar with customizing and managing Shopify sites, versus the bit more obscure UltraCart (which has a higher learning curve).

Since I have now become very familiar with Shopify for my other main business, I'm switching the supplement business over to this platform as well. This will also allow me to quickly test things like upsells, cart layouts, etc. etc.

I will be using the ReCharge:Recurring Billing app for Shopify, and every customer who buys a bottle of my supplement will get a chance to sign up, incentivized by getting their next bottle free. (This is part of my label, as it literally says "Want your next bottle FREE?"... then go to.... (URL)"

My other business still needs to have all of my focus though, so the purpose of this supplement business is to have it be an passive income stream that covers all of our living expenses. But I can still see a lot of potential for growth, so I will very likely hire out VA work to take over managing social media, promotions, and getting into wholesale. I will also be adding more and more relevant supplements into the brand (all focused around natural ingredients and no hype). The Shopify store will over time have categories of products.

The product is already on Amazon FBA so I will continue to use FBA fulfillment also for all website sales.

 

[Eskil]

Woohoo! I already got my first order, two days after I went live, with no promotion yet.

 

[Eskil]

Time for me to make another update here too. Been way too busy taking action in the last month or more so I have hardly had time to check in on the forum here as much as usual.

I still get occasional sales on Amazon, but the main reason it is still slow is because it has been over a month now - and Amazon STILL has not given me the "Add to Cart" button on my listing....ugh.

As long as I still have that dreaded, conversion-killer "List buying options" button - I can't expect to sell much there. I have also shipped a small batch to Amazon FBA - but even those products do not have the "Add to Cart" button. Frustrating, but out of my control.

So...while I wait for that, I have not been sitting on my thumbs. My plan all along was to sell via other channels as well and so I have set up a conversion-funnel now which is ready for Google Adwords. I will first target a subset of my product's market, and I have customized my landing page to tailor specifically to those people's needs.

I also signed up with Ultracart (which I can highly recommend by the way!), and have created various offerings (single sale, Buy 2 get 3rd free, AND a trial/subscription option for recurring billing).

The trial will not be forced opt-in, but rather a cancel anytime, no questions asked subscription at a discounted rate. Through Ultracart, I am even able to pay any affiliates recurring commissions for the lifetime of the customer on these, which is pretty awesome.

Further, I have set up an auto-responder to anyone who just orders a single-sale - to encourage them to save money next month by getting the first bottle free - and then to voluntarily join my auto-shipment program. The goal of course here is to get as many customers into a recurring billing cycle as possible. I will attempt to keep the retention rate high (at least 3 months) by giving them value and free information along the way.

I am also in the process of partnering up with a few site owners, to get my product featured onto their sites for a commission. It's been a lot of work to set up all the tracking, cart customization, etc. But it will be worth it in the end!

 

[Eskil]

Since you asked, here is the current design I am going for:

Oh and I also updated my blog today with some of what I have learned:
Creating a Nutritional Supplement Brand | Profitapolis

 

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[Eskil]

UPDATE!

I have actually ordered another couple hundred bottles of this product now and been given a 3-4 week delivery time. Most will go straight to Amazon FBA. This time I'm having labels printed at a third party because I don't wanna deal with it.

But... I'm modifying the label slightly to encourage people to get their next bottle free (just pay s&h), so that I can bring them into my subscription funnel.

My cost has also gone up slightly, but that's ok since I know from last year what people are willing to pay for it and my margin is still good. Since the StayblCam needs and deserves all of my intention - my goal with this supplement business is to turn it into a passive income generator on the side that requires very little of my time. Will be looking at hiring a person to delegate most of the work to (customer relations, marketing, etc).

 

[Eskil]

Thanks 1step and mayana.

My new 250 cc bottles, white caps, and shrink bands arrived on Wednesday, yay...

Yesterday I also made final revisions to the label - double and triple-checking everything to be sure, will get it printed through a friend who owns a high-quality (photo quality) printer. Hoping now to start selling next week.

 

[Eskil]

Thanks for checking in, and sorry for not keeping this updated recently. Even though I sold out all my stock a few months ago, and haven't been selling since, I consider my experiment a success. I do have 100% intention to re-stock and even branch it out into a few more products under my brand eventually. This is far from over.

 

[Eskil]

Eskil, great thread! Can you give us some numbers on what your costs to this point have been, getting the formulation set, the lab work, and what your first chunk of inventory is going to cost? I am trying to figure out if this is a $5k process or a $15k process.

You can get started for less than $5k. I spent considerably less than that even, but that is also because I wanted to start with a very small test batch to begin with. The reason being that my product is something new and untested in the market and I didn't want be too much into it money-wise in case it flops.

The simpler route is to go private label, which is my plan B if my custom supplement should flop. Private labeling is basically going to a manufacturer that offers pre-made formulas, often pre-bottled, that you can slap your own label on. The upside to this is quick entry, sometimes with a minimum of 500-1000 bottles - but the quick entry MAY also be a potential downside, in that it violates the Commandment of Entry.

That's one reason I decided to go more custom at first - to create something more unique - while at the same time creating something that I knew there was a need for. I will have no direct competitors.

Just like with sourcing from China, minimum order quantities for supplements can be negotiated with most companies. Explain to them that you are serious but just need smaller quantities at first for testing. If they are hesitant, you can always try to offer to pay a bit more per bottle - in exchange for them doing a smaller quantity as well.

After all - you're not out to make a killer ROI from day one. You are just looking to see if you can actually get customers and sales. Once you do - then you can always get your costs down as you go. Besides - you don't want to be sitting on a big inventory of bottles that never sold.

Other costs I have had so far have been minimal:

• Logo creation/design: $0, I do my own graphical work.
• Label creation/design: $0, I do my own graphical work. Many manufacturers will offer this service for you at around $100, but don't expect jaw-dropping quality at that price point. Might be better looking for someone on Odesk/Elance for a more professional looking label
• Cinema4D mesh 3D model of a bottle, for product shot rendering: $5, Fiverr
• Seller Central account on Amazon, $30/mo.

My plan is to eventually sell through Amazon FBA, and then have a fulfillment center ship for anything that is ordered off the website. Until then, I will be shipping myself using Stamps.com with padded envelopes. Looking at around $2.50 - $3.00 in shipping/handling costs. I will absorb this cost in my product since my margin is pretty high, so that I can offer free shipping to customers. This because free shipping is frequently reported as the #1 conversion factor when people are considering a purchase.

Other costs that will come up once I get going:

• 800-number and call-center (Voipo.com + per-call costs for customer support)
• Outsourced content creation and marketing upkeep, social media, etc (with virtual assistants)
• PPC advertising spend, primarily Google Adwords
• Possibly a more proper cart system when I have more products. Looking at something like Limelight CRM for this. $800/mo.

I hope this answers your questions

 

[Eskil]

Good news, bad news, but a blessing in disguise...

So, I finally received my shipment on Friday from the manufacturer!

But - they messed up my bottles and printing pretty bad - to the point where I don’t feel comfortable selling them. First off - they had used black caps instead of white as I had ordered. Not a huge deal of course, but a little attention to order detail wouldn't hurt. What was worse is that they used a 180cc bottle size instead of 250cc (again, different than what I had ordered). This is a real problem, because the labels I designed were for 250cc bottles, so naturally they will not fit right on smaller bottles. So they had shrunk my labels to fit, and even then they didn't fit right - so they ended up wrinkled on the backside and looking very unprofessional. Some of the print also becomes too hard to read at the shrunken size and it looks shitty.

I have since spoken with the manufacturer and they have acknowledged the mishap. I suggested that I could re-bottle everything myself if they will send me the proper bottle and cap sizes + new shrink bands for sealing. They agreed to this and will send me all these new materials this week. I will also get the labels taken care of myself by someone who can print them for me in good quality.

More interestingly though - sometimes things happen for a reason I think. Because that mishap actually turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise! It was over the weekend while looking at all this again, that I discovered that the UPC code I have on the labels (from Cheap-UPC-Barcode.com) can't be used. I just posted about this in this thread. So I ordered a new UPC code today for $29.99 at Mozian.com. Looks like you can also buy two or more UPCs there for $19.99 each. I'm not affiliated with them in any way btw.

So now I will have to re-print my labels anyway, and I did some more tweaking to them to fit a slightly different label dimension.
My original label is 7.47 x 2.873 inches. But I think the new bottles and labels will be 7 x 3 so I will have a bit more room vertically, and less horizontally. I took care of this re-design last night and now just need to switch out the UPC code in my label PSD file.

 

[Eskil]

Speed++ for taking action and getting started!

It looks like you have a well thought out plan. I don't know anything about the supplement business at all, but I have a question for you. You said “PRODUCT - THE PRODUCT” will be a 100% all-natural, nutritional supplement – and not “yet another multivitamin”.

This makes me think of Company A and Company B competing for business. When asked what Company A is doing different than Company B, they say they offer a better product and better customer service. When asked what Company B is doing different than Company A, they say they offer a better product and better customer service. In reality, there is nothing different and they will be forced into competing on price.

You say not “yet another multivitamin,” but how? And I'm sure than almost every supplement business is going to claim "our ingredients are the best" or something along those lines. What is your USP? How will you be unique? Why buy from you?

Thanks wade!

As far as the Company A vs B thing... yeah I am not saying that I will be 100% unique and that no one could copy this. A large company like the one that makes Centrum vitamins could easily copy the formula. But I don't really care. Because it is very much about branding - and one of my goals is to create brand loyalty, by being the first to offer this particular 'package deal'.

When I say "not another multivitamin" I am referring to the fact that I am not making one of those A,B,C,D,E vitamin things you see in every grocery store.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

FREAKING AWESOME!

Eskil,

Drop me aline, We are in the supplement business, with several supplements we sell now, and more to launch.
I could probably give you some faster paths.

as a note, we are doing about 15,000 sales per month,
we are launching in Canada, UK, AUS, and NZ in Q3 and Q4

we have about 12 more products to roll out after we go wider with distribution in other countries.
We have a good team that is effective in management of the infrastructure, as well as in logistics of running this many sales,
we built most all of this in the last 6 months.

we have a process we use that is pretty fast now, for roll out.

and we were thinking of offering a class, (still debating it would take 10K a head or more for it to be worth it to us to even hold a class)
we figured out scale and speed pretty quick to, and using leveraged $$ we grew pretty quick.

over all, it has bee a busy 6 months. but GREAT $$ in it. good luck.

Z

 

[Eskil]

Launched my Google Adwords PPC (search only for now) campaign today, and made my first order there as well. The order was for a trial/subscription (which is ultimately what I want all customers on).

I can also watch customers come and go to the site in real-time, using Olark for support chat, and Tracking202's live visitors "Spy view". Pretty cool to know people are on the site and reading. Seems like most of them stay on for a good while too.

A few things on my todo-list now are:
- Get the landing page better optimized for mobile. Looks like 30-40% of visitors are on mobile devices!
- Set up remarketing with Adwords so I can show banners with a coupon to visitors who left the site without ordering.

I also made a few sales on Amazon since I placed a listing with FBA. Still no "Buy" (Add to Cart) button though, which sucks, but I will try to lower my price a little there to see if it helps.

 

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[Mike39]

You may want to come up with a phrase or code word to use in placeof you companies name on here or before long this thread will rank ahead of your website in the serps haha, a lesson learned from my personal experiences

 

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[Eskil]

Quick update:
Got a new quote today from the manufacturer, but turns out they got some amounts in the formula messed up (which was my fault), so I'm waiting back from them to get the correct quote.

I also worked more on the split-test pages this weekend.
To narrow down the label designs from 12 to 3 (for the market test), I will probably enlist your guys' help to suggest your thoughts. (stay tuned!)

 

[DeletedUser2]

for those wanting the definitive group about supplements

SupplySide West 2012

you can get

• manufactures
• suppliers of ingredients
• label guys
• formulator
• fulfillment places



we are going


Z

 

[Eskil]

It's getting agonizingly close now! Can't wait to hear about all the ways you're going to distribute, advertise and push it into the market. Are you going to share your sales figures (broadly, detailed?), breaking it down to sales channels? Sorry getting ahead of myself.. I just know selling the damn thing is the big battle for me.

I don't know yet if I will share sales figures here, but I will think about it. I will start off slow with sales channels and scale out if/as necessary

Looks better than the other designs that you had.
On the shelf I don't really stop to read the whole bottle and because you used a heart I would assume is a heart medicine and not a "multi-vitamin" Did you keep the same logo design?
Good luck!

Thanks. Yeah in a way it kind of is 'heart medicine' too, although not medically speaking but more in terms of its direct or indirect benefits. But that's not why I put the heart on there. The heart shape has (in food and drug products) a broad association with health, and so do green leaves. I will make another post soon about how I designed my entire label - back to front.

 

[benhebert]

Amazon gangster-ism (that I don't do because I am scared of getting banned):

Each FBA shipment comes with a customer phone number.

Hire a VA to call each customer.

Ask if they want a free guide related to the product.

Send the guide by email.

Add customer to your list.

Profit.

 

[Eskil]

- Will this be in pill form? If so how are you going to make it easily digestible? (most pills don't get digested by humans, so this factor alone could make me never look at the product again)


- How will I be sure that the ingredient's don't cancel each other out and thus giving me only partial benefits from the product? (Have you done research to see if all the ingredients can be digested and absorbed if taken together?)


- Have you created a basic prototype of your own and tried it out to see if you experience any benefits?


- Are all the ingredients from natural sources? Organic?

To answer your questions:

- Yes, this will be in pill/capsule form. You are right in that absorption can become an issue with some pills, but that is also why I have included an 8th (and crucial) ingredient that actually helps with absorption.

- Yes I have researched their compatibility as well, and also been given confirmation from more than one pharma lab tech that the formula would work in combination.

- I am still at the stage now where the first batch will be produced - and yes, I do intend to try it myself. In fact, I plan on taking this supplement and actually using it on a regular basis.

- Yes, with the possible exception of possibly 2 of the ingredients (depending on what the lab comes back with) - they are organically sourced.

 

[Eskil]

Update:
This morning I have ordered me some UPC barcodes from https://www.cheap-upc-barcode.com (Thanks to Vigilante for the link!).

I also got a new, updated quote from the manufacturer yesterday and now it looks more correct. Lesson learned: When specifying amounts of ingredients on your custom formula - be VERY sure you have the measurements and units right. I had mistakenly written out one ingredient in milligrams (mg) instead of micrograms (mcg).. LOL, no wonder the first quote was so expensive!

Labels are being radically redesigned as well, thanks to lots of valuable feedback I have received here as well as outside the forum. I am going for a 'cleaner' design with the name of the product + benefits as the main focus.

 

[DeletedUser2]

ok, so after being on the phone with a Australian company, I have a new view on your throw ever thing into the bottle model.

here is the thing. in order for us to take some of our supplements to Australia, we need to change the formulation. why? because they don't like 100 ingredients, with just a little of each. while more is better in America, not so down under

they would like the ingredients to either
1. match the dosage size of a clinical trial (if you are using that for your claims)
2. or if your not using correct dosage size, then you have to state, that on the bottle.

I thought I would let you know. everything to everyone is not always the best tactic.

I think you may want to narrow it down a bit.

Just my 2 cents, after a long with talk with down under.

Z

 

[Eskil]

UPDATE: Yesterday I finally placed my first order with the manufacturer! I have also settled on an entirely new label design which looks nothing like the ones I showed you guys before.

Now I have to wait a few weeks before I receive the shipment, but in the meantime I am working on content and planning out some scheduled social media messages for Hootsuite.

I have also prepared everything for Amazon, so when I get my shipment I can start selling right away.

 

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[Eskil]

The label design is final!

I received the official Supplement Facts panel from the manufacturer yesterday (this is required to have the appropriate "Daily Values", etc. per ingredient). This panel also states other ingredients that are included in addition to your formula - particularly things that the capsules are made up of such as cellulose and gelatin.

The panel was the last bit I needed to complete the label design. The design is nothing like what I have showed you guys prior in my label thread. It is now more sprinkled with benefits and attempts to convey a "fresh" and very healthy image. My brand name logo has been moved away to the back - and the product name is the main text upfront.

 

[Eskil]

Last week I finally received my new batch of bottles. They're ready to get sent off to Amazon FBA, but I will keep some for self-fulfillment until I can fully automate the sales off of Amazon and especially the monthly rebilled-orders. The #1 goal going forward will be to convert every sale into a recurring customer.

 

[Eskil]

Great idea, keep us updated. One thing though, I really don't like the logo text font

I appreciate the input, although I'm gonna be a stubborn one on this one, lol. (And who am I to speak... me and MJ were the ones trying to convince Likwid24 to change his logo on the Paint Brush Cover) Lol...

But actually, I have gotten nothing but praise so far for my logo (designed it myself) and I really like it, so I'm sticking to it! Sorry bro.

 

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[Eskil]

Action steps for tomorrow:

Continue work on a couple of pre-sell pages I have been working on. This while I am waiting for a final quote from the manufacturer, and to use time wisely in the meantime - I plan on deploying a market test, similar to the market test described in this old thread.

I will take "orders" of the product and collect leads of prospects, but redirect them to an "Out of stock" type message. The main purpose of this test will be to:

- split-test various label designs to see what my target demo responds to
- split-test pricing levels

I know the test won't be fully accurate since nobody can fully complete a purchase but nonetheless - it should give me some pointers to follow.

Packaging and labeling for supplements can make a difference so I want to make sure it's right. I have 12 different label design concepts ready for testing, and in the next few days I might also set up a poll here for you guys to vote on.

 

[Eskil]

Thanks for checking in here, SeanyHang and Alty.
I actually meant to update this again yesterday but didn't have time.

Here is an update:
- Based on some advice given to me, I decided it was wise to change the name of my product to avoid any potential legal confrontations by a certain other company. There were name similarities, and not of course intentional on my part to sound like them, but nonetheless, had they wanted to pursue it they probably would have won in court, lol.
- With the name change I also decided to re-design the theme of the label. It is still structurally the same as I showed here before, but just with a different overall theme.
- The product is now 100% ready for sale, shrink-banded bottles and all. Now the main focus will be to bring in sales!

 

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[Eskil]

3things;
Good points, and nice tip about setting the list age to 180 days.

Darius;
UPDATE: I *just* now actually got the "Add to Cart" button!
What did I do? I had lowered the price yesterday to see if that would help. It didn't. So about an hour ago - as a test - I lowered it again, and low and behold, all the sudden now my listing has the Buy button. About time..