If you are one of Etsy’s 1.9 million sellers, you know Etsy has become a massive and competitive marketplace. Getting seen and making great sales isn’t as easy as it once was. You can’t just post a quick picture of your handmade jewelry and rake in the cash! But, with a few key strategies, you can make sure your top-notch products are seen, and purchased, by the over 30 million active buyers on Etsy. Here are seven best practices for increasing your sales on Etsy!
7 Ways To Increase Your Etsy Sales
1 – Make the Most of Your Profile.
Your shop’s title, announcement, and header images are the first thing a shopper sees when they land on your storefront. But how well this section of your Etsy page is developed also determines how easy it is for people to find you. Make sure your shop title describes your product and utilizes keywords where applicable. Then dive a little more in-depth with niche specific keywords in your shop announcement to help potential buyers understand what they will find in your store. If your shop has categories (and it should, see below), make sure each section has its own description with relevant keywords. Have a well-designed shop logo and set featured products that show the best of what you have to offer! Developing this area of your store makes it more likely people will land on your storefront. It also helps Etsy’s search algorithm understand your offerings, which can boost where you appear in search results.
2 – Categorize your Products.
Having many products available makes your store look more professional and gives shoppers more options. However, you want to keep your store easy to navigate. Review your product offerings and see what different options you have available. Do you offer baby toys, burp clothes, and blankets? Make a shop section for each! Categories help potential buyers quickly see what is available and find what they are looking for. If they want a baby blanket but you haven’t posted one in a while, the likelihood that they scroll through many pages of products is pretty low. Even if you have some gorgeous blankets in stock, they will never know!
3 – Do Competitor Research.
Have you ever heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Well, Etsy makes it easy to check in on what your most successful competitors are doing. Enter some key terms into the Etsy search and see who is showing up on the first page. How do their images look? How detailed are their descriptions and what is the price point? What are their customers saying about them in reviews? You can even see how long the shop has been open and how many sales they have! While you want to keep your store uniquely yours, get a good sense of how these top shops look and feel, try to include any elements you see over and over in your own shop.
4 – Take Better Photos.
Buying handmade items online still feels like a risk to many consumers. Because they can’t touch and feel your product, they don’t know exactly what they are getting. They can only depend on the images you provide. So they better be good! If you really want to grow your Etsy business, I recommend investing in a professional camera, tripod, and learning a bit about proper lighting. Then edit all your images in a program such as Adobe Lightroom to make them perfect. If you are new to product photography, Shopify has a free, incredible, and detailed guide to beautiful product photography. It will walk even the newest newbie through taking jaw-dropping photos! And, if you aren’t ready to invest in a professional camera? Check out this guide to taking great product photos with your phone.
5 – Optimize Each Item’s Title and Description.
Keywords are back again! Now that your shop is set up and you have a fantastic photo of your product, you need to make sure people can find it! Use the autofill feature in Etsy’s search (you put in the first word or two, and it gives you search suggestions) to see what people are looking for in relation to your item type. Then set your product’s title to be descriptive, while including relevant keywords and terms from those searches. Write a detailed and precise description of each item you post in your store. What it is, what people can expect, requirements for customization, and anything else relevant. Be sure to utilize the keywords you found in your search research here as well! Remember, well thought out keyword research on your storefront, categories, and listings help Etsy place your products higher in search results. A fantastic image and title make a potential buyer click. But your description will help convert them from a viewer to a buyer! Take the time to write quality descriptions.
6 – Respectfully Ask for Reviews.
When was the last time you bought something online without checking the reviews first? Never, right? Reviews are how online shoppers protect themselves from wasted money and time. A potential buyer in your shop wants to know that you are pleasant to deal with, their products will arrive on time and be excellent quality. In your thank you email to shoppers, let them know that a review would mean a lot to you. Remember that adding something personal, without being pushy, usually ups conversion and results in better reviews. For instance: “I really hope you enjoy your _____! Thank you so much for purchasing from my store. If I have met all your expectations and you have two minutes, I would truly appreciate if you wrote a review. I am working hard to grow my business so I can _____ and reviews help me stand out to potential new customers. Thank you again!”
7 – Offer Discounts to Repeat Customers.
It is far more expensive, and takes much longer, to attract a new customer than keep an existing customer. An existing customer already knows you and your product, they are (hopefully!) happy with their purchase, and primed to buy from you again, especially if you give them a little push! Offer a discount to repeat customers in your thank you email to each and every shopper. This not only makes them feel good about shopping with you – everyone loves getting a deal! – it makes them more likely to look to you the next time they need something. As of February 2018, there are over 45 million products listed for sale on Etsy. It is a vast marketplace, and even for the most talented artists and makers, it isn’t a get rich quick scheme. If you put in the time to develop your shopfront and listings, set prices appropriately, communicate pleasantly and quickly with your customers, and put in the effort to keep those customers coming back for more you will see your sales climb! Thanks for reading, make sure to check out these other ways to make money online:
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Do you know of any other ways to increase your Etsy sales? Let’s hear about them in the comments below!
Thank you for this great review about 7 ways that you can boost your Etsy sales. I don’t use Etsy personally, but I can appreciate how updating your profile, categorizing your products to help your customers find things easily would really help lift sales. I always mean to do more competitor research for my online business, but I am flat out learning new things so I kind of let this one slip. I can appreciate that other people might let their competitor analysis slip by as well. Offer discounts to repeat customers is also a great tip. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading!