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January 9, 2020 at 1:11 am #999960Up::0
Greetings fellow entrepreneurs!
My name is David Thiu, and I am a Pharmacist that founded Mobility Aids Plus in 2019 to Empower all Australians to Maintain their Mobility, Independence and Freedom.
While working as a Locum Pharmacist throughout Australia I noticed how frustrated many of my patients were about how hard it was to find the right mobility aids for their needs.
Most of the Pharmacies I worked at did not stock mobility aids and those that did could only stock a limited range due to limited shelf space.
When it came to shopping online, many sites were very difficult to navigate, and shop.
To fill this gap in the market, I decided to create Mobility Aids Plus so that Australians can Shop, Browse and Learn about Mobility Aids in the Comfort of their own home.
To learn more about my business feel free to go to: https://mobilityaidsplus.com.au/pages/about-us
I am open to any feedback on how I could improve my business, and any advice other business owners may have for me.
Best Regards,
David Thiu
Locum Pharmacist
Australia WideJanuary 9, 2020 at 6:56 am #1222036Up::0Hi And Welcome to Flying Solo [USER=116812]@mobilityaidsplus[/USER] .
It is great to have you!
Thank you for joining our community and posting.
Good luck with your venture David. I think it would be far better for your website to use a larger font – this is true of most sites that use the same size font but is even more relevant if you hope to have any older people browse your site.
Cheers
January 9, 2020 at 7:38 am #1222037Up::0Please take what I am going to say in the manner it is intended, I am trying to be helpful.
I am guessing by your site that you are dropshipping, and don’t have an actual walk-in store? The reason I am saying this is because much of the advertising blurb on your products is misleading or just plain wrong. It seems to be written by people you are just trying to sell the product but don’t have actual experience as disabled people using the products.
Disability/mobility products are not like a toy or drone (for example) where someone who has never heard of the product just wants to buy it and doesn’t know a lot about the specs or the product. You are selling to people who have used these products probably for years and know all about them, though maybe not the particular brand or modern version. They may be just looking for upgrades, replacements or parts.
You have to come across as someone who cares about the person and knows personally how the products help and hinder.I moved in with my parents 20 years ago because they are elderly and not able to look after themselves well, and my father has been in a wheelchair/mobility scooter for 35 years.
I am currently in the market for a new bidet as my father cannot wash/wipe himself and the one we have has just wore out and the buttons broke. We are sick of the false claims that manufacturers and sellers of these products (nearly all products for elderly and disabled people) offer that are downright misleading and it is a waste of money to buy things that don’t work as expected from those claims. If you had real, personal experience and it came across in your website you would be far ahead of other sellers.I understand that you can’t if you don’t hold the stock but I would suggest that you make yourself friendly with local elderly organsiations or get some disabled friends and ask and learn about their experiences.
January 9, 2020 at 10:47 am #1222038Up::0Paul – FS Concierge, post: 268257, member: 78928 wrote:Hi And Welcome to Flying Solo [USER=116812]@mobilityaidsplus[/USER] .It is great to have you!
Thank you for joining our community and posting.
Good luck with your venture David. I think it would be far better for your website to use a larger font – this is true of most sites that use the same size font but is even more relevant if you hope to have any older people browse your site.
Cheers
Thanks for the warm welcome Paul. Seems like a great community to be part of with a lot of helpful and encouraging members
Good point regarding the font size. I’ve tried to change the font size to a bigger one using by going to theme then typography, but the maximum font size available is 18px which I cam currently using.
I think I might have to do a bit of research on how to edit the code manually… Anyone have any tips and advice on where to edit the code? I am using shoptimized theme…
January 9, 2020 at 11:27 am #1222039Up::0Rowan@quaotic, post: 268261, member: 28171 wrote:Please take what I am going to say in the manner it is intended, I am trying to be helpful.Thank you for your input and trying to help me out. I appreciate it.
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268261, member: 28171 wrote:I am guessing by your site that you are dropshipping, and don’t have an actual walk-in store? The reason I am saying this is because much of the advertising blurb on your products is misleading or just plain wrong. It seems to be written by people you are just trying to sell the product but don’t have actual experience as disabled people using the products.Yes, you are correct, my business is based on the dropshipping model, and my goal with most product listings is to make them optimised for conversions, through copywriting, and various techniques taught in dropshipping courses.
Would you mind giving me an example of which product listing is misleading and how you would rewrite it?
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268261, member: 28171 wrote:Disability/mobility products are not like a toy or drone (for example) where someone who has never heard of the product just wants to buy it and doesn’t know a lot about the specs or the product. You are selling to people who have used these products probably for years and know all about them, though maybe not the particular brand or modern version. They may be just looking for upgrades, replacements or parts.
You have to come across as someone who cares about the person and knows personally how the products help and hinder.Definitely agree with you that Mobility Products are not toys, and that many customers have experience with these products, but I also believe there is a lot of customers at the top of the funnel that don’t know much about these products, and need some guidance with their purchasing decision.
What can I do on my online store to come across as someone that cares more about the person? All of my customers that I have had the pleasure to deal with love the customer service I’ve offered, and feel I care more about them than some of the other physical businesses that didn’t get back to them for two weeks
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268261, member: 28171 wrote:I moved in with my parents 20 years ago because they are elderly and not able to look after themselves well, and my father has been in a wheelchair/mobility scooter for 35 years.
I am currently in the market for a new bidet as my father cannot wash/wipe himself and the one we have has just wore out and the buttons broke. We are sick of the false claims that manufacturers and sellers of these products (nearly all products for elderly and disabled people) offer that are downright misleading and it is a waste of money to buy things that don’t work as expected from those claims.I am sorry to hear about your experiences with false claims from manufacturers and hope that not all Elderly/Disabled products are misleading.
Personally, I do rely on product information, and specs from the suppliers to market their products, but if I find out a product is no good, I would remove it from my listing straight away.
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268261, member: 28171 wrote:If you had real, personal experience and it came across in your website you would be far ahead of other sellers. I understand that you can’t if you don’t hold the stock but I would suggest that you make yourself friendly with local elderly organsiations or get some disabled friends and ask and learn about their experiences.Really great advice Rowan and thank you for mentioning this! My experience at the moment is limited to customers enquiring at the Pharmacies I work, and from customers that have purchased from my online store. Definitely would like to have my own warehouse, hold physical inventory and import my own range of mobility aids in the future.
January 9, 2020 at 7:03 pm #1222040Up::0Although I have had problems with manufacturers of some other products, my biggest beef is with electric chair and mobility scooter sellers and manufacturers. They give outrageous claims for the distance you can travel with the products that are based on lab conditions, not real life conditions.
For example, they make claims based on electric scooters that are run with brand new batteries (which lower their strength over the next few months before evening out), and tested with no rider on rollers, or at the most with a very small weight on a flat racing track or purpose built track. No rises or hills, or rough ground, or normal weight riders. Even a slight rise dramatically lowers the mileage that a scooter can achieve.generally the distance travelled is just over half what is claimed even with a new one.
Then there is the availablility of spare parts. My fathers current scooter was quite expensive and pretty good, but no-one told us that all the spare parts have to come from the US (which can take 6 weeks of not having any mobility when it breaks down as he can’t walk), and the tyres cost nearly $500 each with inner tubes costing about $150 each. This is a lot for people on a pension and the government has been lowering funds in the programs that allow people to get their scooters and parts cheaper, and cutting out some programs altogether.
Don’t get me started on the poor quality of scooters. They will last many years for someone who stays home and pops down to the shops a couple of times a week but for people who rely on them all day every day such as those who work, they break down a lot and they tyres don’t last a long time.
I understand that I am ranting a bit but it is hard when you have limited bad choices.
January 10, 2020 at 2:45 am #1222041Up::0mobilityaidsplus, post: 268263, member: 116812 wrote:Personally, I do rely on product information, and specs from the suppliers to market their products, but if I find out a product is no good, I would remove it from my listing straight away.This statement directly is opposite to your claim, like a few of your claims on your website. ”What sets us apart from the rest? Large generic retailers lack the specialized knowledge to answer specific questions on assembly warranty and product benefits and features. We know our Mobility Aids inside and out so we can give you the details and knowledgeable answers to any of the questions that you might have.”
January 10, 2020 at 4:18 am #1222042Up::0Hi David,
I realise you have put a lot of work into the site but if you want to really resonate with your audience, I recommend getting a copywriter.
If they are a SEO Copywriter, they could also enhance your SEO standing.
I would only do so if it fit with your overall direction and had budget to do so.
You could limit costs by choosing important pages on the site to have re-written eg, the Home Page and About Us and do other pages in future. You would have to assess the value of this approach.
January 10, 2020 at 7:58 am #1222043Up::0Rowan@quaotic, post: 268271, member: 28171 wrote:Although I have had problems with manufacturers of some other products, my biggest beef is with electric chair and mobility scooter sellers and manufacturers. They give outrageous claims for the distance you can travel with the products that are based on lab conditions, not real life conditions.
For example, they make claims based on electric scooters that are run with brand new batteries (which lower their strength over the next few months before evening out), and tested with no rider on rollers, or at the most with a very small weight on a flat racing track or purpose built track. No rises or hills, or rough ground, or normal weight riders. Even a slight rise dramatically lowers the mileage that a scooter can achieve.generally the distance travelled is just over half what is claimed even with a new one.
I can understand your frustration about this. A lot of manufaturers of mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs make claims that to say their products has fuel economy of “up to XX km” based on lab conditions e.g. smooth flat track.
Obviously this is best case scenario, and if you have a user that is on heavier end of the scale, or have to drive up hills, then you won’t get the same mileage.
The question is if you were the manufacturer what are supposed to do? Do you do tests with a 60kg, 80kg, and 100kg person? Do you then test with different angles and then provide that information to the customer?
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268271, member: 28171 wrote:Then there is the availablility of spare parts. My fathers current scooter was quite expensive and pretty good, but no-one told us that all the spare parts have to come from the US (which can take 6 weeks of not having any mobility when it breaks down as he can’t walk), and the tyres cost nearly $500 each with inner tubes costing about $150 each. This is a lot for people on a pension and the government has been lowering funds in the programs that allow people to get their scooters and parts cheaper, and cutting out some programs altogether.Yes, I hear your pain. Availability of spare parts can be very difficult to source and time intensive. Not just for mobility scooters, but other products as well especially if they are from overseas. However, there are some manufacturers based in Australia, where parts can be easier and quicker to source.
In terms of telling you about spare parts being difficult to source, it’s probably not something that most sales assistant (in most industries) will bring up unless you specifically ask them.
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268271, member: 28171 wrote:Don’t get me started on the poor quality of scooters. They will last many years for someone who stays home and pops down to the shops a couple of times a week but for people who rely on them all day every day such as those who work, they break down a lot and they tyres don’t last a long time.How did you go abouts with your research when purchasing a mobility scooter? Was it just based on budget and recommendations by sales person of mobility aids store? Or did you do some research to find out which one had good reviews?
Did the product you purchase match the intended use?
I had a customer purchase a rollator from a competitor only to complain that it had broken down, and when I asked further questions I found out that he purchased the wrong rollator for his needs. He was using one with small 6″ wheels, when he should be using ones with 8″ wheels.
Rowan@quaotic, post: 268271, member: 28171 wrote:I understand that I am ranting a bit but it is hard when you have limited bad choices.That’s all good. Where there are problems, there are opportunities. From what you are saying, is that many Australians like yourself are demanding more choices and better quality products.
January 10, 2020 at 8:10 am #1222045Up::0Paul – FS Concierge, post: 268291, member: 78928 wrote:Hi David,I realise you have put a lot of work into the site but if you want to really resonate with your audience, I recommend getting a copywriter.
If they are a SEO Copywriter, they could also enhance your SEO standing.
I would only do so if it fit with your overall direction and had budget to do so.
You could limit costs by choosing important pages on the site to have re-written eg, the Home Page and About Us and do other pages in future. You would have to assess the value of this approach.
Thanks for your input Paul. If you don’t mind me asking, which SEO copywriting are you currently using, or would recommend?
January 10, 2020 at 10:03 am #1222046Up::0bb1, post: 268290, member: 53375 wrote:This statement directly is opposite to your claim, like a few of your claims on your website. ”What sets us apart from the rest? Large generic retailers lack the specialized knowledge to answer specific questions on assembly warranty and product benefits and features. We know our Mobility Aids inside and out so we can give you the details and knowledgeable answers to any of the questions that you might have.”Thanks for pointing this out Bert. I guess this statement was a bit misleading. We don’t know all of our products inside out. But we definitely have a more in-depth knowledge of many of our products through studying user manuals, and brochures provided by manufacturers in greater depth.
Many of our customers informed us they were really pleased with the customer service we’ve offered, and how we able to answer their questions straight away (unlike one of the other stores they went to that never got back to them for over two weeks.)
January 10, 2020 at 10:16 am #1222047Up::0Hi David,
I have a varied background including a couple of stints as a Public Relations specialist and a professional writer so after many, many hours of research I did my own – but that is not a course of action I would recommend to many.
Here are the search results for copywriter from our members.
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