Just wanted to emphasize that – absent some kind of leaked information – no one knows for certain who Best Made Axe is using to manufacture their axe heads. They only say the axe heads are being made in Maine. So, while Snowe And Nealley is a pretty good guess, it’s not OK to accuse them of that without some kind of confirmation. All I was saying is that it appears that Snowe and Nealley make an axe of equal quality to Best Made Co. for far less money.

That said, I’m happy to keep the door open for them to explain how and why their axes are better, if, in fact, they are. The real point to the post is that, absent that kind of explanation, many prospective customers will remain unconvinced. In other words, make sure you offer that kind of explanation and detail on your Website. The idea is to learn from the situation, not to beat up on Best Made Co.

- Jeff

Graeme, I argued with my marketing friend about my old website before he convinced me to rebuild it. I argued that I was selling to a lot of people and that was proof that Saddleback Leather’s website was just fine the way it was. He agreed that the current website was converting traffic, but then asked me how many more folks I could convert if the website were even better. How many was I missing that would have bought if they would have known the facts?

The key thought that he won his argument with was this; there are emotional buyers and there are logical buyers. I was (and you are) reaching only the emotional buyers.

The emotional buyers want to belong to a tribe. They buy based on stories and pictures and persuasive copy. If they like you, they’ll buy from you. The facts are nice, but they don’t need them to make a decision. They need a feeling.

Then there are logical buyers. They want to know the facts. They want to know if this axe will make their work easier and will it last. They want to know that they’re making a good decision and won’t feel dumb later. No one wants to get took. How hard is the steel? What makes it better than a Walmart or Home Depot axe that has a hickory handle? Will the head fly off? Why won’t the handle crack easily? Basically, why is this axe the best?

If you’re not willing to tell the facts, then you’re missing out on a giant portion of sales from the logical buyers. I know this is fact because that’s what happened with me. My old website’s front page had a cool picture, a cool story and some funny questions for the person to ask themselves. On the new website, I made the quality facts accessible in two places on my front page above the fold. My sales rose 30% the first day of the new website and my bounce rate lowered about 15% immediately. Those stats have not wavered since.

Trust me, you need to give the facts. Jeff probably pays more in taxes each year than most people earn in two. And he makes it by writing website copy that convert both logical and emotional buyers. He deals with billion dollar companies on a regular basis doing this very thing. He’s the Rambo of website copy. You just got some extremely expensive consulting for free. It would be a shame if you didn’t do something with it.

If you truly don’t have the best made axes out there, I suggest you make that your aim. Sooner or later some hardness tests will be done by ax enthusiasts or by a competitor who doesn’t like being “second best” and their findings will make it onto some blogs and and onto your fan page and onto a few logger forums and you’ll lose it all. Seth Godin says that you must do business today as if you were doing it on a small island. People talk and information spreads fast on the internet. All someone needs to do is google ” ‘best made ax’ review” and you’d be toast.

First of all, thanks so much for commenting. Second, I definitely get that your brand is about *more than* the technical excellence of the axe and I think your brand’s ability to strike a resonant chord with your tribe is admirable. So you have no argument from me on those points.

Where I think I’d (respectfully) take issue with your comments is the “Never did we compare ourselves to any other company or brand” part. I hate to get all English Professor on you, but the “Best” in “Best Made” is, in fact, a superlative. To call your axe “Best Made” – and especially to use the phrase “A Best Made axe is a best made axe” – is to compare your axe (favorably) to all other axes. And it may BE better made than all other axes. All I’m saying is that if that is actually the case, I’d love to hear the story behind it on the Website. I think it would be a story worth telling.

Respectfully,
- Jeff

X

Graeme

I will say this: from a design/aesthetic standpoint, Best Made Axe is without a doubt the most beautiful looking axe I’ve come across. If one were going to buy an axe for its symbolic aspects and primarily for display, Best Made Axe would probably be the way to go.

- Jeff

I’ll have to agree with you that the inclusion of such content would be valuable on some level. Although, Best Made has made a choice to focus on other aspects of owning one of their axes. A ‘better than brand X’ quality comparison would put Best Made in a competitive tier that they honestly don’t fit into. I’d venture to say that for many Best Made owners the quality of the axe is an ancillary factor when deciding to purchase one. I’ve found that for many owners, the decision to buy a Best Made axe was a highly personal decision, motivated by everything from the love of the design object, to nostalgia for the outdoors. I’ve described my own thoughts on the Best Made fanpage discussion forum.

As for my own axe-wielding experience, in a former life I worked on a landscape construction crew which required the use of both many hand tools and heavy equipment. Usually the life expectancy for a tool such as a felling axe (similar in style to a Best Made axe), sledgehammer, or even just a shovel is around 2-3 months. Often times the repeated use just wears them out. Handles splinter, metal breaks, etc. This causes many crews to purchase cheaper ‘disposable’ tools of the basic quality you’d find at a hardware store. It’s safe to say that Best Made axes are far beyond this quality.

As for a similar ‘premium axe’ I’ll say, quality-wise, Best Made exists in the same echelon as those you mentioned (I’ve used Snow & Nealley axes before, although not Gransfors Bruks) As for the higher price point, the added cost comes from the design and attention given to finishing the helves (handles). As this is done by hand, along with the construction of custom shipping cases, these axes demand a higher price point. How much is too much is a question left to those considering purchasing one.

Thanks again for the comments. Keep an eye out for 2010, there should be some great things coming down the pike.

Best,
Nick Zdon

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. As I stated in the opening to this article, “[Best Made Axe's] Website (and marketing in general) does some things incredibly well.” Your fan page and obvious commitment to and passion for the brand are certainly among those things that Best Made Company is doing incredibly well.

What I found distressing was the lack of substantiation to the claim “Best Made.” Yes, Best Made is a new company undergoing explosive growth. Yes, the FAQ and other parts of the site have some great copywriting on them. Yes, there are obviously more than a few brand advocates out there who are incredibly pleased with their Best Made Axes. But nowhere on the site is there anything that would explain to me why a Best Made Axe is a better axe than a Gransfors Bruks or a Snow & Nealey Axe. both of which cost a fraction of the price and are already very well known for incredible quality.

And, well, if the company is going to have the wonderful audacity to call yourself Best Made (and Bravo for that, really), then I’d say a visitor might reasonably expect them to substantiate that claim on the Website.

At the end of the day, all I’m saying is that including that kind of information on the site would help a successful brand become even better.

Since you volunteer for the company, let me ask you: have you owned any other axes besides Best Made? Have you owned any other premium axes? Have you compared them? Would you, as the director of the fan page, be willing to host such a comparison? I think you’d be doing the brand a favor by doing so.

- Jeff

What started as a limited number of hand painted axes for a New York City boutique has, in less than a year, has become much larger than either of the owners had ever dreamed. In someways the rapid success has required that an enormous amount of attention be focused on creating the axes rather than the website. Not to offer that as an excuse for any lack of detailed and technical quality content on the site, but Best Made is a small company started by people who love design and the outdoors as well as a small group of “brand enthusiasts” who share that same love, and resources are limited now. There is still much more work to be done, not only in building ‘quality’ messaging but in building the brand as well.

We’ve had requests from people for testimonials regarding the quality of the axes and it’s something we’re trying to foster on the Facebook fanpage. As an owner of two Best Made axes I can assure you that the quality is top notch.

The fact remains that despite your stated lack of content on the Best Made Co. website the company is becoming quite successful, in both the press coverage and in axe sales. The sustainability of that success in the web sites current state is yet to be determined, but rest assured that changes are afoot. 2010 will see many new developments in the world of Best Made Co.

You also fail to mention the other content on the site. The FAQ does a great job of positioning both the axes and why a person would want to purchase one. It should be mentioned that the axes are just the beginning. Also, the Facebook fanpage (which I’m surprised you don’t link to from your post) has become a nice little gathering place for owners as well as far people who may not own a Best Made axe, but just like the idea of Best Made Co. itself. Both myself and the other administrator have also posted our stories about why we believe in Best Made Co. so much that we’re willing to volunteer our time to running the fanpage (that’s right, we volunteer our time. While I have a strong connection to the company and it’s founders I’m writing now on my own behalf, not as an employee.)

There may be sizable gaps in some of the content on the current Best Made site, but we’ve found a great deal of support for the brand regardless of this fact. We’ve found a great group of people who are very ready to believe in a company that connects with them on a deep emotional level. Which is support one rarely finds at all these days.

Best,
Nick Zdon