As the craft and DIY movement experiences a resurgence, people are going back to some crafts that they may not have done since they were a child like crochet, embroidery and stitching. One company that is really listening to their customers during this time is the Janlynn Corporation. Our editor in chief, Sarah Moore, sat down with Andy Goetsch to discuss how Janlynn reached out to understand their customer’s needs.
1. Andy, what’s your role at Janlynn?
I wear many hats here at Janlynn, including CFO and head of Business Development. My heart, however, is always focused on creating the most desirable location online for crafters to enjoy … Janlynn.com. Although we have been on the net for 10 years, we have only just begun building Janlynn.com as the place where crafters join the conversation about crafting activities with us.
2. I’ve been reading a lot about Janlynn’s HOTS program all over the web. What exactly is this program, and how did you come up with its name?
Since our focus is on providing a fantastic website and fantastic products for crafters to enjoy … we naturally reached out to crafters through surveys and discussions to get their wants, needs, wishes and desires. We began with Cross Stitch — HOTS stands for “Heart Of The Stitcher”. We learned that more than 60% of the stitching community prefers to purchase charts separately and then choose brand-name components to stitch with and on. We not only produced a new line of HOTS charts from our best kit designs, we decided to carry the top 50 cross stitch charts sold on the net from a variety of companies.
We also learned about the brand-name components stitchers like to use. So we now custom cut-to-order the top selling Zweigart linen and aida fabrics at the best price in the market … AND … carry the full line of DMC 6-strand embroidery floss at 39 cents per skein. As I often say now – “If you’re a stitcher … Janlynn has the HOTS for you!”
3. Wow, your research sounds right on! How many HOTS charts do you carry?
We have 20 HOTS charts, today … this will grow with time.
4. I noticed on your website the “Get it My Way” page. Can consumers really customize their own kit?
Well… The world used to just desire customization … and today they demand it! So, we listened to our stitchers and made it so they can order our designs and customize their components. They can order the kit with high-quality American-made materials … or get the chart and choose from the recipe of DMC floss they need and select from up to 4 Zweigart fabrics perfect to stitch the design with. Not only do they see the full design recipe on the GET IT MY WAY page, they can adjust the quantities and materials exactly to their needs. Here is a sample of the MY WAY page for Nancy Cole’s gorgeous design Collecting Shells.
5. It seems like Janlynn really understands the stitchers! What’s next for Janlynn?
We have a number of projects in the works to expand the products we carry on our site, and to start giving our crafters what they are looking for … a crafting community with contests!
Currently we are running our first ever Dolly Mamas™ Contest– $1000 goes to the grand prizewinner for the best Dolly Mama™ statement that will be used for our next Dolly Mama Kit. Everyone has their own funny statements they have invented about life … if you love the Dolly Mamas™ like our Stampers and Stitchers do … be sure to enter the contest for your chance to win!
Additionally, we are sponsoring the Heart of Cross Stitch facebook group, which now has over 500 members. We provide them graphics support as well as financial support for their contests.
6. And you mentioned you had a little treat for our Craft Critique readers?
For taking the time to visit Janlynn.com and test drive our new HOTS program, I would like to give your readers a 15% off coupon that will apply to any purchase related to HOTS (Janlynn Charts, Zweigart Fabrics, and DMC Floss). Please tell your readers to use the Coupon Code: HOTS100209 between October 2nd and October 9th when ordering to receive the discount. I hope they will enjoy this Sarah!
Thanks so much to Janlynn and Andy Goetsch for sharing the news about this fantastic program and offering such quality and variety to stitchers! We are really excited about what we are seeing from Janlynn!