Congratulations Winners!
January 12, 2010 | Filed Under studio news and happenings | Leave a Comment
All prizes for our Annual Giveaway have been claimed! Congratulations to all the winners – we look forward to seeing each of you again when you visit the studio to pick up your prize!
Thanks again to each and every one of our customers from 2009! Our referral program is now up and running – when you send your friends and family our way and they let us know you sent them, you’ll be entered into that month’s drawing for a $25 gift card to local stores and restaurants. Each month, all non-winning tickets will be carried over to the Annual Giveaway at the end of the year. The more you recommend us, the more chances you have to win – and the opportunity to win never ends!
Annual Giveaway Winner #2 – Round 2…….
January 11, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
This prize was not claimed by january 9th, so here’s the new winning ticket:
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a “Date Night” prize including a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas and a $50 gift card to Hudson’s Restaurant in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 16th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 16th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 17th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Bonus Prize! Annual Giveaway Winner #6….
January 9, 2010 | Filed Under studio news and happenings | Leave a Comment
After we sent out our holiday cards that said we were giving away 5 prizes, we decided to add a bonus prize! Here’s the winning ticket for prize #6 - a $25 gift card to Three Daughters and a Mom Boutique, located in Stow. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 14th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 14th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 15th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Grand Prize!!! Annual Giveaway Winner #5….
January 9, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Here’s the winning ticket for the grand prize – a $350 gift card to Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls! Based on the latest pricing, this gift card is good for a romantic stay in a suite with champagne and strawberries delivered to your room, dinner at Piatto Novo, and the breakfast buffet the next morning! You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 13th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 13th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 14th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Annual Giveaway Winner #1 – Round 2
January 7, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
The prize for the first winning ticket originally posted on January 1st was not claimed, so here’s the new winning ticket:
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a $25 gift certificate to Main Street Cupcakes in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 12th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 12th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 13th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Annual Giveaway Winner #4
January 7, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a “Date Night” prize including a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas and a $50 gift card to Hudson’s Restaurant in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 12TH to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 12th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 13th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Annual Giveaway Winner #3
January 5, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a $25 gift card to Three Daughters and a Mom Boutique, located in Stow. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 10TH to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 10th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 11th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Bring on 2010 (and a tribute to 2009)
January 4, 2010 | Filed Under accessories, catalog invitations, custom invitations, studio news and happenings | 2 Comments
The start of a new year – time for resolutions, goals and a fresh outlook for what is to come! As we sat down today to list the things we want to accomplish at Paper Persuasions in 2010 – we couldn’t help but review the progress we made in 2009. All I can say is this: we are blown away at the support and growth we experienced this past year. In a year marked with significant economic slowdown and several new competitors in our area, we experienced a 48% increase in sales from 2008. We feel truly blessed to have worked with so many wonderful people this past year and we continue to be amazed by the awesome things our customers say about us! Stephanie and I get to live out a dream every day that we go to work, and it’s all because of our amazing customers!
Now, I’m not usually the one blogging (we leave that up to the more creative sister)…but the other day I was glancing over some of the spreadsheets I’ve created along the way and I thought it would be fun to start 2010 by sharing some of the statistics I tracked for 2009.
People always ask us: “How long does it take to make 100 invitations?” Well – every job varies…the total time it takes depends on the number of layers and the number of type of adornments. Here’s a few fun facts regarding our custom design jobs from 2009.
- 12.76 hours: Average labor hours on a custom design job
- 27.61 hours: Our highest hours of labor on one custom invitation order. It was an order of 175 pocketfolds with ribbon, three inserts, 5 response card layouts, and all addresses printed by us.
- 29.89 hours: Our highest hours of labor on one custom accessories order (this was one huge wedding!) It included 300 booklet ceremony programs, 300 menus, 300 placecards, and 30 tented table numbers.
- 88.41%: Percent of custom orders that included return address printing on the back flap of the mailing envelope
- 31.88%: Percent of custom orders that included guest addresses printed on mailing envelopes (aka computer calligraphy)
- 71.01%: Percent of orders that were pocketfolds (yup, that’s what we’re known for!)
- 45.98%: Percent of invitation orders that also included custom accessories
At Paper Persuasions we offer various discounts to stay competitively priced, to reward our clients for previous purchases and/or subscription to our newsletter AND for the support of community outreach. Below are statistics that show where our clients saved the most money.
- $16, 896.53 in discounts were given to catalog clients for various promotions and sales throughout the year
- $3,016 in discounts were given to customers who donated 5 items to the Domestic Violence Project with their catalog invitation order
- $1,810 in discounts were given to customers who purchased accessories after purchasing invitations from us
- $156 in discounts were given to customers who redeemed money-saving offers from our newsletter Paper Points
We value our clients opinions because without them, we wouldn’t know how to improve….so with almost EVERY SINGLE ORDER we send out a survey and a SASE to encourage its return. From the completed surveys, we have compiled the following information…and let me add that we are humbled by the results. Statiscally, surveys are more often completed by people who have a gripe – as you will see, that’s not the case here!
- 98% of invitations ordered are for a wedding
- 100% of customers who responded rated Paper Persuasions as ”Excellent” on the following: Quality of final product, Meeting expectations, Customer service, Clear and concise communication, and Overall ease of process (choices are Poor, Good, and Excellent)
- 100% of customers who responded rated Paper Persuasions as “Above Average” on those same categories when compared to stationery providers they have previously utilized (Choices are Below Average, Average, and Above Average)
- 100% of customers who responded said they would recommend us to family and/or friends
We pretty much said the same thing in our 2008 year-in-review post but it bears repeating: We just cannot believe how much we have grown and how far we have come in the past 12 months. Of course, we wouldn’t be where we are without our past brides. Many of whom we still keep in touch with, many of whom we miss seeing on a regular basis – and all of whom are the reason we were voted BEST INVITATIONS IN AKRON/CANTON for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!!! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We eagerly await the blessings and challenges that 2010 has in store for us and we thank each and every one of you for your continued business, support, and referrals!!!
2009 Annual Giveaway Winner #2
January 4, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a “Date Night” prize including a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas and a $50 gift card to Hudson’s Restaurant in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 9TH to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 9th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 10th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Real Brides: Renee and Andy – August 8, 2009
January 2, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, real brides | Leave a Comment
When we first met Renee, her upbeat personality immediately shone through! Super organized and knowing exactly what she wanted, Renee *thought* our custom design services would be outside her budget so her first consultation with us was spent looking through catalogs and not finding what she had pictured. Eventually she came back in for a second consultation, talked to us about custom design and realized that what she was looking for wasn’t outside her budget at all. Little did we know that the design we finalized that day would later become a huge hit with other brides who saw it on display in the studio and on our website.
As with most brides, budget was a concern and Renee was planning on DIY-ing what she could to save a little money. Although she didn’t want to tackle the invitations, she DID want to make her own accessories (and did a mighty fine job I might add!). So that everything would coordinate, Renee purchased Envelopments© paper and cardstock from us, but then printed, cut and assembled her accessories (programs, menus, table cards just to name a few) at home! This photo collage was put together using printed photos that Renee brought in for us to scan. All images are © Brendan Thomas Photography.
Here’s what Renee and Andy had to say about their wedding experiences:
Wedding Date: 8/8/2009
What part of the planning was the most fun? Spending time together, planning our future and selecting the yummy food and cake!
What part of the wedding planning was the least fun? Listening to the opinions of everyone else!!!
Do you have any advice for the bride-to-be currently planning her wedding? Don’t worry! Whatever is making you stress won’t even matter in the slightest when you see your hubby-to-be!
How was your overall experience with Paper Persuasions? These two ladies are the best! Our elegant and classy invitations set the right tone for our wedding! And they were so helpful with our DIY stuff too!
Did you receive comments from your guests regarding the invitations and accessories? Tons of emails, phone calls and texts about our invitations! A few guests said they didn’t even want to tear open the envelope!
Heres a list of other vendors that Renee and Andy used
- Bride’s Apparel: Catan Fashions
- Groom’s Apparel: Tuxedo Junction
- Reception Site: Portage Country Club
- Cake: A Piece of Cake
- Floral: The Empty Nest
- Photography: Brendan Thomas Photography
- Entertainment: Beach Boyz
And finally a couple other photos from the big day courtesy of the photographers Facebook Page.
Oh….and here is one more that Renee brought in to scan – I couldn’t fit it in the collage, but as I was wrapping up this post, I decided that I didn’t want to leave it out:
Thanks Renee and Andy for being such a cute and fun couple to work for! We enjoyed helping you bring your ‘paper dreams’ to life…and Renee, you did so great on your DIY projects! Way to make us proud!!!
