Cosplay makers of all backgrounds and skill levels need the same thing from your brand: crafting materials and products they can depend on. While a cosplayer's tool kit varies widely across the market — from adhesives to foams and fabrics to household items and tools — every cosplay build requires some kind of investment in the materials needed to make it. As cosplay continues to grow in popularity across the world, cosplay makers have more options than ever when it comes to buying the craft products they need. So what will make them choose your product over the rest?

There are several factors that can contribute to the perceived quality of your product and motivate cosplayers to either try it out or repurchase. In this post, we'll list the top 5 reasons cosplay makers buy your product and explain how and why cosplay makers are willing to take the chance on a product that's brand new to them.

5 Reasons Why Cosplay Makers Buy Products

1. Results: The number one criteria that determines whether or not a cosplay maker would buy your product is whether or not they believe (through social proof, demonstrations, or communications directly from your brand) that your product will give them the results they're looking for. Depending on what your product is and what it's used for, providing a successful result can encompass a lot of different things. Overall, we're saying that your product should do what the cosplayer expects it to do and deliver on any promises you've made. Otherwise, your customer will feel like they've wasted their time and money, and sometimes, their whole cosplay can be ruined.
   
   
2. Accessibility: Cosplay makers are also looking for products that they can get their hands on when they need them. Cosplay makers both order products online and buy in stores, but the more places they have access to your products in a timely fashion, the better. Because cosplay is such a trial and error art, cosplayers like products they know they can get pretty quickly if their plans change or if they run out of what they had. You should focus as much on optimizing the process that gets your product into their hands as you do on creating and marketing the product.
   
   
3. Price: Because most cosplayers only make costumes and props as a hobby, price plays a huge role in the products and materials they decide to buy. Weighing the cost of a product against the value it can bring is a huge part of a cosplay maker's buying process. But this isn't to say that cosplay makers only buy the cheapest products on the market. While a bargain product that works wonders is a holy grail for cosplay makers, they're also willing to pay a little more for something that really makes a difference in the quality of their cosplay or that will last them a long time, like a dependable tool or a large container of a great adhesive.
   
   
4. Experience: By experience, we mean that cosplay makers like products that are easy to work with or learn how to work with in order to provide a positive experience then they use it in their builds. They're more willing to continually buy the products they know fit their workspace and their crafting preferences. When considering a product, cosplay makers will think about the time it takes to use something, if any extra equipment is needed to use it, and how much skill it requires to get right. Again, cosplay makers won't always choose the easiest product or method, but they'll choose the one that will give them the best quality finished product based on the skills and tools they have to work with.
   
   
5. Brand support: This motivations comes with a caveat. Not every brand that sells something a cosplayer needs is necessarily a "cosplay brand," or even a crafting brand. For example, many makers are just as willing to buy specialty cosplay craft foam as they are to buy foam garage mats from the hardware store to make their armor and props out of. However, showing that your brand understands and supports cosplayers can encourage brand loyalty and make a cosplayer much more likely to purchase your products.

Experimentation Makes the Cosplay

The main thing to remember about cosplay is that there's no instruction manual telling cosplayers how to create the costumes and props they want to make. Almost all cosplay techniques have been developed and passed between cosplay makers since the craft began, meaning that a lot of cosplay technique is just shared advice along with a lot of trial and error. Even if a maker finds a tutorial on how to make a specific character or item (which can be incredibly rare), they'll often put their own spin on the instructions to suit their process anyway.

With that in mind, it's easier to understand why cosplay makers are so open to trying new products and techniques when they're already used to experimenting during practically all of their projects and builds. If a cosplay maker hears about your product in one way or another, and that product hits the majority of their purchase criteria, the chances are good that they're at least willing to give it a try. As long as that maker truly believes that your product will increase the quality of their cosplay, which can take a lot of sincere proof from both your brand and their fellow cosplayers, most makers will find a way to make a purchase and test it out.