I might have lead you astray with the title, just a bit.
Sharing your ingredients is important to your customer. A well structured label is, or can be, important. If you take clues from corporations and what they get away with, (not that they are an honorable standard) you can see the chemical names which mean little when shopping.
As I read a label I want to know if the creator of the product cares, even a little bit, about what I'm reading. If they know their craft and if they want to communicate with me be sharing information that will mean something. If the label is just marketing and gobblely-gook, well... I'm not interested.
Getting Paid Is Not The Metric
Getting paid is not the metric for quality, unless you are a corporation. And then, they make the "regulations" void of honor and integrity. If there was honor and integrity to these regulatory processes, how could they pass a product that had carcinogenic ingredients? Was this an oops, a mistake? Did some board member say, "oh that will make the baby powder better, even if it causes more harm than good, our profits will increase. Yup, let's go with that. Get the lobbyist to encourage the legislation to pass that regulation."
Would you knowingly put poisonous ingredients in your soap to make it better, even if it caused harm, if your profits were better?
All Flash No Substance
If the label is all flash and no substance, that is also a sign. A humorous label will aways get my attention. I want to judge the product for myself. I try to be an invitation and not a hinderance with my labels.
It is my understanding that customers want to know the ingredients in soap in common language. This helps them make a moderately informed choice. I say moderately, because I have no idea what they are looking for, so I offer all I can to help that process.
If I wrote just this, RICINUS COMMUNIS, would you know this is castor oil?
I understand there are "regulations" on labels and meeting this level of ridiculousness is suggested. I subscribe to "do more good than harm" and that seems to work better than letting certain agencies dictate my honor. The law is the lowest form of standard. Criminals don't abide, but honorable people must.
Did you know J & J was sued for putting chemicals in their baby power that caused harm? 40,000 people sued them. Curious, they would tell me, a humble real person, how to manage my efforts. Curious their product was approved.
All I write is now considered controversial. Honor. Dignity. Integrity.
I was once brought to account for using the word "integrity" with a boss. He asked the employees to leave, closed the door and dressed me down, criticizing me for my question during a meeting. I wondered two things: maybe he didn't know the definition of the word "integrity" or maybe he was offended I implied he was taking advantage of elderly people by strong arming them to create websites and all the costs that it involved. I was just a lowly coder. What did I know? I was let go shortly after that with a strong message from the owner to stay quiet. Curious.
When I say labels are not important I mean that these are throw-away parts. Labels are not the product. When was the last time you kept a label?
When I started making products, hand made soap in this instance, spending my hard earned profits on professional labels was (and is) low on the priority list. These, are of course, my observations after years of making hand made soap.
I reinvested every earned cent back on the business. It did not turn a profit for a few years. I was not paid either. This is a myth. Most business professionals will advice to pay yourself from the beginning. This is a corporation model-thing. I'm not a corporation. I am a person. A being. There is a huge difference. Most of us got the soap making bug BECAUSE we didn't want what the corporations were offering. So why would we use them as a model for our businesses?
Dreams Exact A Toll
No one passes that toll booth to the land of dreams without an offering. There is always a trade. I spent years writing just to practice; to grow my writing chops. I wasn't paid. Should I have stopped my writing practice? Should I stop my spiritual practice? I'm not paid for that. Will I ever be paid for either practice?
If I don't gain insight or get better at my writing practice I can guarantee I won't get paid in the future. If I'm not the best soap maker I can be, will I be successful?
Most of us don't have the ability to infuse our new endeavors with cash from the beginning. So, taking a little vacation-money and trying your hand at a new idea, might be an option. A bit of a gamble, however, trying your hand at an entrepreneurial endeavor also might bring a different kind of joy. If the profit margin is low (in the beginning) and the desire great, priorities are critical.
Making the best product, become better at your craft and paying for your crafting education with work (as there is always a trade) could be a better path forward then spending the profits on a labels.
I've seen many soap makers come and go and many of them had fabulous labels.
I've begun different businesses with this philosophy: imagine the new business like a child. It requires support until it can stand on its own. My job is not to enable it to be dependent, but to guide it to becoming independent. It has to grow legs.
Growing things is an unpaid position.
My suggestion to new soap makers, or new business owners, is to cut costs where you can, with a keen eye on your priority list. Your efforts are important. Being paid doesn't equal your value. If you can pay yourself, bravo! Labels can always be upgraded once the product becomes outstanding. Product development is high on the priority list, labels less-so. All efforts should be put toward making a superior product. Customers will forgive a handmade label, but they won't forgive an inferior product and will not become loyal. Would you?