Answering the Same Question Once, Properly

Most creators answer the same handful of questions over and over. How long does delivery take. Can I ask for something custom. Do you ship abroad. What happens if I change my mind. Each answer only takes a minute, but a minute repeated thirty times a month is half an afternoon you never get back.

Those repeated questions are useful, though. They are a list, written by your own buyers, of the things your shop does not yet make clear. Keep a note of them for a couple of weeks and you will usually find the same five or six coming up again and again.

Write one plain answer to each. Keep them short, honest and in your own voice. If the true answer is that it depends, say what it depends on. A buyer would much rather read that customs can take a week than be promised something you cannot control.

Put those answers somewhere a buyer will actually see them: on your shop page, in a pinned post or in the description of the items they most often ask about. The goal is that a new buyer finds the answer before they think to write to you.

You will still get messages, and that is a good thing. But they will be better ones, from people who already understand how you work and are ready to buy, rather than people checking the basics.

Every few months, look at the questions you are still being asked. If one keeps coming back, your written answer is not clear enough yet, and a small rewrite is usually all it takes.