Holiday Sales Pros & Cons
While most of our competitors launched boring, underwhelming deals like 20% OFF over the holidays, we offered a HUGE discount all month long.
It started Black Friday/Cyber Monday - we offered our entire collection for a whopping 50% OFF.
Moving into December, we kept the deals HOT all month long for Christmas, with everything in the store between 40% - 50% OFF.
Customers were getting our 14-Day Anxiety-Free, usually $24.99, for just $12.49!
Our Complete Anxiety-Free Therapeutic Package, usually $129.99, for just $64.99!
I mean, just INSANE deals. ALL. MONTH. LONG.
Guess what these awesome deals attracted? TONS of orders.
Guess what having a sudden increase of TONS of orders attracted? Delayed processing time.
Some people don't quite understand the difference between processing time and transit time. Let's make this crystal clear: Processing time is the amount of business days it takes for us to ship your order. Transit time it the amount of business days it takes the courier to deliver your order after we ship it.
Standard Shipping(3 - 7 business days) typically has the longest processing time because most people choose this option so it creates a longer line.
UPS Ground (2 business days) typically ships a lot faster than Standard shipping because there's a shorter line.
Next Day Air (1 business day) ships same day or next day.
Again, the above (x business days) represents the transit time. In other words, the amount of time it takes the shipping company to deliver your order. This is separate from OUR processing time.
Outside of huge sales, our typical standard shipping processing time is 3 - 5 business days. Sometimes we get that down to less than 48 hours.
During our recent holiday sales run, our processing time increased significantly to an average of 10 - 12 business days, give or take a couple of days. On average, customers received their order after about 2 - 3 weeks.
Why so long??? This is has been the most frequently asked question. Most of the time, this question comes with a lot of attitude and negative energy. So we sat down to write this passage to clear the air.
First and foremost before I get a bit vulnerable and honest with you, it's important for you to know is this one thing: we are on your side.
Rarely in this life do we find people who truly, truly care about what people are going through. We are that rare relationship in your life. We care about you, deeply.
Our processing time during a 50% Off sale is in no way, shape or form a reflection of our level of care and commitment to you and your healing.
We are what's known as a 'boutique' herbal shop. My husband and I are currently the only 'employees' running the entire show.
We create the custom blends, produce fresh Seamoss Gel and Elderberry syrup, package teas, control inventory, ship orders, handle customer support, coach private clients, create content, manage advertising and that's just to name a few things!
Few understand what it takes to run a business in general - but even less people can grasp what it takes to run a business in the healing space.
I think people forget that I was just like them. I officially beat Anxiety in 2015. I was just a normal girl who beat anxiety back then. I never thought I would be helping the world do the same thing. But God called me... so I showed up.
Did I wait to have it all figured out as far as being this new 'businesswoman' I had to become in order to help the world heal? Absolutely NOT lol. We would still be sitting in fear if we didn't just take a leap of faith.
While extremely rewarding, we chose a uniquely difficult business to dedicate our lives to. It's different than ordering a pair of shoes or a blender online.
We have unique customers - people in pain. People suffering every day. If you could see the inside of our email inbox, you would be surprised.
While the business selling shoes or a blender might be passionate about their product, their email inbox is comparatively simple and straight forward. They can easily hire any 16 year old to respond to emails about tracking information and wrong sizes all day.
We receive many emails daily and customer support requires our full attention. We also receive a ton of "where is my order" emails, especially during high demand sales seasons.
But here's the real difference: The shoe website doesn't receive essay-length emails from people who are suffering and counting on them to save their lives.
We receive heart-wrenching emails from people in need, every single day. They ask for advice about their specific struggles and we give them real, thorough and thoughtful responses that may take 15 - 20 minutes to type up.
Our competitors? Most don't allow these kind of emails. They say, "book a consultation" for any health related questions. On one hand, I disagree with this approach - but on the other hand, I understand the 'why' behind this decision when we receive so many mean-spirited emails from customers.
In reality, customer service is a full-time job all in itself. It's tough and stressful no matter what industry you're in. In the healing space... it's a completely different world.
Usually, our turnaround time for email support is quite fast, 1- 3 business days. But during high demand sales, when we receive so many orders that our processing time spikes to 10 - 12 business days, staying on top of emails and DM's become very difficult.
A common email, such as checking on the specific location of an order or changing an incorrect address can take upward of 5 minutes to complete.
We receive many of these emails daily. If it takes 5 minutes on average to respond to these simple emails, one person can knock out about 12 emails per hour.
When you include the longer, more time-consuming emails that we couldn't possibly hire someone to answer, you'll find that customer support becomes a very difficult job during a 50% Off sale.
We are also very personal in our DM's on Instagram. We receive many messages from people looking for advice and while maybe we should direct them to our consultation most of the time, we take the time to engage for as long as we can.
They spill their hearts to us and we take the time to engage in lengthy conversations, sending voice messages and everything. This is ALL out of passion but it does come with quite a downside when it comes to time management.
As a business who deals w/ shipping companies very often. We also run into endless problems from our customer's packages being lost to our own packages being lost.
The actual amount of things that can go wrong in this business is through the roof but all goes unseen to the customer.
We didn't write this passage for sympathy but for understanding. We know many people don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. Many people find us and assume we're a big team who should be able to ship orders faster.
One super important thing I want to mention, we've been shipping out orders as fast as we possibly can ever since Black Friday. It's been nothing but hustle since November and we've barely had any free time.
Some people may get this perception that we're just moving slow on purpose or that we're just sitting around and taking our time but that is far from the truth.
We love you whether you know it or not. We hate to see you suffering and we know that we have the herbs that WILL help you get your life back.
We just ask for understanding and grace. We do our best. We ship as fast as possible, during and outside of high demand seasons.
We do also need to find time for US in the middle of the chaos. We're parents and teachers to 3 homeschooled children. So that also requires a lot of our time and attention.
We take the weekends off to unwind from the stressful week and spend time with family - just to make sure we remain GOOD for you!
Yeah, sometimes we may get behind on orders. For that, we really do apologize from the bottom of our hearts. We hate when our people have to wait. One day, we will figure it out and it will never be a problem again.
But until then, we also have to make it a priority to be patient and graceful with OURSELVES because the reality is... wow is it hard! 🥺😅
With all that said, there's one thing for certain: when it comes to the healing and life-changing experience waiting for you with these herbs... the wait is worth it 100x over!
Imagine a life where Anxiety is NO longer a problem or even a thought! You will NOT regret waiting patiently for an order that you got an extremely generous deal on!!
I am always reminded of the following testimonial. Jonathon ordered during Black Friday last year and faced a processing delay. He was mad... until the tea changed his life.
He also experienced much faster shipping AFTER the holiday sales were over.
Let this be a sign :)
At this time, our sitewide sales have ended so we are catching up faster. If your order hasn't shipped yet from the Christmas sale, it should be out between today and Friday.
Then, we'll be back to our normal turnaround time. We thank you for your patience and for reading this passage, allowing us to get a bit real and transparent - something which some people may view as 'unprofessional'.
We just want to be authentic and let you know how much we care!
Happy healing,
Pedestra & Arron ❤️
It started Black Friday/Cyber Monday - we offered our entire collection for a whopping 50% OFF.
Moving into December, we kept the deals HOT all month long for Christmas, with everything in the store between 40% - 50% OFF.
Customers were getting our 14-Day Anxiety-Free, usually $24.99, for just $12.49!
Our Complete Anxiety-Free Therapeutic Package, usually $129.99, for just $64.99!
I mean, just INSANE deals. ALL. MONTH. LONG.
Guess what these awesome deals attracted? TONS of orders.
Guess what having a sudden increase of TONS of orders attracted? Delayed processing time.
Some people don't quite understand the difference between processing time and transit time. Let's make this crystal clear: Processing time is the amount of business days it takes for us to ship your order. Transit time it the amount of business days it takes the courier to deliver your order after we ship it.
Standard Shipping(3 - 7 business days) typically has the longest processing time because most people choose this option so it creates a longer line.
UPS Ground (2 business days) typically ships a lot faster than Standard shipping because there's a shorter line.
Next Day Air (1 business day) ships same day or next day.
Again, the above (x business days) represents the transit time. In other words, the amount of time it takes the shipping company to deliver your order. This is separate from OUR processing time.
Outside of huge sales, our typical standard shipping processing time is 3 - 5 business days. Sometimes we get that down to less than 48 hours.
During our recent holiday sales run, our processing time increased significantly to an average of 10 - 12 business days, give or take a couple of days. On average, customers received their order after about 2 - 3 weeks.
Why so long??? This is has been the most frequently asked question. Most of the time, this question comes with a lot of attitude and negative energy. So we sat down to write this passage to clear the air.
First and foremost before I get a bit vulnerable and honest with you, it's important for you to know is this one thing: we are on your side.
Rarely in this life do we find people who truly, truly care about what people are going through. We are that rare relationship in your life. We care about you, deeply.
Our processing time during a 50% Off sale is in no way, shape or form a reflection of our level of care and commitment to you and your healing.
We are what's known as a 'boutique' herbal shop. My husband and I are currently the only 'employees' running the entire show.
We create the custom blends, produce fresh Seamoss Gel and Elderberry syrup, package teas, control inventory, ship orders, handle customer support, coach private clients, create content, manage advertising and that's just to name a few things!
Few understand what it takes to run a business in general - but even less people can grasp what it takes to run a business in the healing space.
I think people forget that I was just like them. I officially beat Anxiety in 2015. I was just a normal girl who beat anxiety back then. I never thought I would be helping the world do the same thing. But God called me... so I showed up.
Did I wait to have it all figured out as far as being this new 'businesswoman' I had to become in order to help the world heal? Absolutely NOT lol. We would still be sitting in fear if we didn't just take a leap of faith.
While extremely rewarding, we chose a uniquely difficult business to dedicate our lives to. It's different than ordering a pair of shoes or a blender online.
We have unique customers - people in pain. People suffering every day. If you could see the inside of our email inbox, you would be surprised.
While the business selling shoes or a blender might be passionate about their product, their email inbox is comparatively simple and straight forward. They can easily hire any 16 year old to respond to emails about tracking information and wrong sizes all day.
We receive many emails daily and customer support requires our full attention. We also receive a ton of "where is my order" emails, especially during high demand sales seasons.
But here's the real difference: The shoe website doesn't receive essay-length emails from people who are suffering and counting on them to save their lives.
We receive heart-wrenching emails from people in need, every single day. They ask for advice about their specific struggles and we give them real, thorough and thoughtful responses that may take 15 - 20 minutes to type up.
Our competitors? Most don't allow these kind of emails. They say, "book a consultation" for any health related questions. On one hand, I disagree with this approach - but on the other hand, I understand the 'why' behind this decision when we receive so many mean-spirited emails from customers.
In reality, customer service is a full-time job all in itself. It's tough and stressful no matter what industry you're in. In the healing space... it's a completely different world.
Usually, our turnaround time for email support is quite fast, 1- 3 business days. But during high demand sales, when we receive so many orders that our processing time spikes to 10 - 12 business days, staying on top of emails and DM's become very difficult.
A common email, such as checking on the specific location of an order or changing an incorrect address can take upward of 5 minutes to complete.
We receive many of these emails daily. If it takes 5 minutes on average to respond to these simple emails, one person can knock out about 12 emails per hour.
When you include the longer, more time-consuming emails that we couldn't possibly hire someone to answer, you'll find that customer support becomes a very difficult job during a 50% Off sale.
We are also very personal in our DM's on Instagram. We receive many messages from people looking for advice and while maybe we should direct them to our consultation most of the time, we take the time to engage for as long as we can.
They spill their hearts to us and we take the time to engage in lengthy conversations, sending voice messages and everything. This is ALL out of passion but it does come with quite a downside when it comes to time management.
As a business who deals w/ shipping companies very often. We also run into endless problems from our customer's packages being lost to our own packages being lost.
The actual amount of things that can go wrong in this business is through the roof but all goes unseen to the customer.
We didn't write this passage for sympathy but for understanding. We know many people don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. Many people find us and assume we're a big team who should be able to ship orders faster.
One super important thing I want to mention, we've been shipping out orders as fast as we possibly can ever since Black Friday. It's been nothing but hustle since November and we've barely had any free time.
Some people may get this perception that we're just moving slow on purpose or that we're just sitting around and taking our time but that is far from the truth.
We love you whether you know it or not. We hate to see you suffering and we know that we have the herbs that WILL help you get your life back.
We just ask for understanding and grace. We do our best. We ship as fast as possible, during and outside of high demand seasons.
We do also need to find time for US in the middle of the chaos. We're parents and teachers to 3 homeschooled children. So that also requires a lot of our time and attention.
We take the weekends off to unwind from the stressful week and spend time with family - just to make sure we remain GOOD for you!
Yeah, sometimes we may get behind on orders. For that, we really do apologize from the bottom of our hearts. We hate when our people have to wait. One day, we will figure it out and it will never be a problem again.
But until then, we also have to make it a priority to be patient and graceful with OURSELVES because the reality is... wow is it hard! 🥺😅
With all that said, there's one thing for certain: when it comes to the healing and life-changing experience waiting for you with these herbs... the wait is worth it 100x over!
Imagine a life where Anxiety is NO longer a problem or even a thought! You will NOT regret waiting patiently for an order that you got an extremely generous deal on!!
I am always reminded of the following testimonial. Jonathon ordered during Black Friday last year and faced a processing delay. He was mad... until the tea changed his life.
He also experienced much faster shipping AFTER the holiday sales were over.
Let this be a sign :)
At this time, our sitewide sales have ended so we are catching up faster. If your order hasn't shipped yet from the Christmas sale, it should be out between today and Friday.
Then, we'll be back to our normal turnaround time. We thank you for your patience and for reading this passage, allowing us to get a bit real and transparent - something which some people may view as 'unprofessional'.
We just want to be authentic and let you know how much we care!
Happy healing,
Pedestra & Arron ❤️