So – say you’ve got an Etsy shop, and you’ve done all the setup steps, maybe you get some views from Etsy itself—maybe not even that many—in any case at the end of the day, you’re not super happy with your sales…
… And you’re starting to wonder: why aren’t my sales growing? Is Etsy even worth it? I hear people do well on it – how do I make more sales on Etsy??
If that’s you – Don’t get discouraged!
Today I’m going to share with you 10 tips to get more sales on Etsy.
Some are foundational strategies and others are just small tweaks to your product listings that can make a BIG difference in converting a view to a sale. . .
Because converting views to sales is what it’s all about!
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
Small changes can make a big difference when it comes to converting views into sales in your Etsy shop.
Each of these tips can improve your shop image, your product value, and make a shop visitor want to buy your handmade products!
The first thing I want to talk about is defining exactly what your shop is about, what it’s NOT about, and who you’re creating your products for. . .
Because it can’t be for everybody.
One of the most common mistakes I see Etsy shop owners make is not niching down enough—
By that I mean trying to sell a bit of everything to pretty much everyone, like “My shop is for every woman who wants to feel special and pamper herself.”
If you do that, you get lost in a sea of thousands of other handmade sellers who also want to sell to all those women. . . and you don’t stand out, or give them any reason to buy from you vs. all the other shops in the Etsy sea.
When you niche down, shoppers who land on your Etsy site feel an immediate connection to your brand and think “WOW, that is exactly what I’m looking for, I love this brand!”
For this to happen – you have to not only accept but actively TRY to repel some people.
Yes – scary thought! it sounds like I am asking you to reduce your potential customers’ pool size! It’s counter intuitive … but it works 100% of the time.
I know it might seem scary to target a smaller group of customers, but trust me on this:
You won’t lose sales by niching down, you will get more . . . and
You won’t struggle to get found online – you will stand out.
You don’t want to be just another goldfish in the pond, you want to be the beautiful bright blue fish that stands out from all the others!
So . . . be very specific about what you are selling and who you are selling it to. You don’t want to be like all the other fish in the sea.
Niching down not only helps you stand out, but it will help you avoid the Dollar Store Stigma, which is when you’re selling too many different things, in too many different styles, to appeal to too many different people – your shop starts looking and feeling like a dollar store leading to fewer sales and lower profit margins.
So remember – don’t try to be everything to everybody, and instead – focus on one ideal customer and offer a cohesive brand experience.
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Next, I want to talk about the importance of staying on top of trends and seasonality when selling on Etsy.
Trends can be things like colors, patterns, textures and materials, themes, characters . . . if you are on top of details like this, do your research, watch for keywords trends and prepare to incorporate them into your products, … you start getting a lot more views because …
When people search for products on Etsy using these trending words, YOUR products show up in the search results!
Staying on top of seasonal trends is just as important, and making sure your seasonal product listings are up and running well before seasonal searches start to increase.
Here is the mantra I tell my Tizzit HQ handmade shop owners:
“You can’t create products and then look for people to buy them.
You need to create products that people are already actively looking for.”
If you are looking for resources to help you do market research and discover the latest trends, I have a great list for you in this article about How to Find Etsy Trends.
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If you rely on Etsy to bring 100% of all your shop traffic, you are missing out on heaps of sales opportunities – not to mention putting all your eggs in one basket which is never a good idea.
For example, one of my favorite traffic generators is Pinterest.
Pinterest is a visual search engine, where people search for something they are looking for and Pinterest shows images that match.
According to @sproutsocial 89% of Pinterest users are on Pinterest for purchase inspiration . . . and 85% of users have bought something based on Pins they see from brands.
Pinterest is also investing a lot of resources in making the platform even MORE shopping friendly – and that’s why I usually recommend it before platforms like Instagram or Facebook. Now of course, Instagram or Facebook can work too – Pinterest isn’t the only way to bring more traffic to your shop, the point is that you need to start marketing your shop outside of Etsy and bring your own traffic to it.
I actually have an article that walks you through the 11 Best Ways To Promote Your Etsy Shop that will talk about these options in more detail.
Next, let’s talk about product photos.
These days product photos need to look PRO—you just won’t sell as many products if you have “average” pictures. That’s the brutal truth.
The reality is that photo standards have gone way up, because everyone has access to a high quality camera in their pocket . . . so you need to learn how to use yours to take top-notch photos.
Don’t forget that there are also some photo editing apps that will help make your photos look absolutely professional even if you don’t have experience editing pictures.
Remember that people can’t touch or feel or experience your products online except through pictures so be sure to use different angles, simple background, lifestyle shots, things like that.
There will be a bit of a learning curve both for taking good photos and editing them to look professional, but trust me—it’s time well spent. Improving your product pictures is one of the most important things you can do to boost your views and sales on Etsy.
If you would like to learn more, check out these articles about the best apps for Etsy photos and 5 handmade product photo mistakes and how to avoid them.
Here is another really important photo tip: use photos to SAY things that you would usually have in the description to guide your customers.
Most people won’t read the description—or they will only read it after they’ve looked through all the listing pictures . . .
. . .so use your photos not just to show your products but to also guide them through the shopping experience or share useful information about the products that’ll make them want to purchase it.
Here are two great examples of Tizzit HQ members enhancing their photos this way:
Jane here is using her picture to explain some cool benefits of her products which helps potential customers understand how to use them, how easy and comfortable they are, and more generally helps them imagine their kids in it!
Wendy does something similar here with her Felt Play Mat, clearly showing how practical it is to use without people having to go read the product description. It also shows great attention to detail as a shop owner and the level of care that you can expect when you purchase from them because they’ve thought of it all. You just know the products AND the customer service will be top-notch.
Next I want to talk about offering free shipping for your Etsy listing.
This works for some shops and not for others, but it’s worth considering free shipping for two reasons:
First, the Etsy algorithm favors shops that offer free shipping in search results
. . . and second because studies show that it removes a barrier at checkout—which means shoppers won’t abandon their cart because the shipping charge surprised them.
Not everyone can offer free shipping, and that’s OK, it’s not a death sentence if it doesn’t work for YOUR handmade business (remember profit comes first! don’t cut your margins for it!) but it’s definitely worth considering. If free shipping won’t work you could also consider a reduced shipping fee to lower the shipping fee surprise effect at checkout ;-).
I have a great article that will help you make this decision called Should I Offer Free Shipping On Etsy?
If it’s possible, go for it and try it out! You may find that the increase in sales is worth it.
Coupons are a clever way to recover lost sales—you send a coupon to people who added your products to their cart or favorited your items but didn’t complete the purchase.
This is a great tool to fight “cart abandonment” which is a fancy way to say that it helps to convince people who are interested in your products and have added them to their cart, but didn’t finish the checkout process.
These people came SO close to purchasing your products that it’s the perfect time to send them a message to say “Hey, you’ve left XYZ in your cart, finish checking out today and get $10 OFF.”
Some people might find this spammy . . . like they feel like it’s an intrusion in their email . . . I understand that, but also anyone using Etsy can actually change their preferences settings to NOT receive those . . .
And some people (like me for example!) are delighted to receive these offers and will buy your product because of it!
It’s a personal decision if you want to use this or not, but keep in mind that according to the Baymard Institute the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69%—that’s a LOT—and cart recovery campaigns have been proven to boost conversion rate and sales significantly.
So you can see that the Etsy abandoned cart coupon has a lot of potential!
Let’s talk about product descriptions.
One common mistake I see on Etsy listings is product descriptions that are full of details and features but they don’t talk about benefits.
The truth is, when someone is shopping on Etsy, at the end of the day they want to know “what can this product do for me?”
People don’t buy a “silver chain”—they buy a “lightweight, hypoallergenic chain that is great for sensitive skin and to wear all day long” . . .
They don’t buy your skills or craft, they buy how they FEEL when using your products (or if you sell decor, how it makes their home feel . . . you get the idea).
Benefits work because they take your potential customer from “interested” to “involved” as they start picturing themselves using the product.
Once you paint a picture for the potential buyer of how the product will benefit them, then you can list the rest of the information like materials, sizes, weights, FAQs, shipping information, processing times, and all that stuff.
To get you started read these 5 great tips for writing descriptions for handmade items that sell!
Another common mistake I see handmade shop owners make is offering TOO MANY options for customers to choose from.
I know this is going to sound totally opposite of what you might think, but if you want to increase sales you actually need to simplify and reduce the number of options you give shoppers.
This will do two things. First, it will help you reorganize your listings in such a way that you can actually get more views and traffic.
Let me give you a quick example. Let’s say you sell candles and you have 10 different fragrances. If you have all of your fragrance choices in a dropdown menu in the listing and the title says “scented candles,” when someone searches for a “vanilla candle” the listings that say “vanilla candle” in the title will get more clicks than your listing—which just says “scented candles.”
But. . . what if you listed each candle separately with the fragrance in the title? Now each time someone searches for a vanilla candle or a lavender candle, they will see your listing for that fragrance and know it is exactly what they searched for, and be more likely to click to see your product.
Second—and I know this will sound backwards but it’s true—a listing with fewer options will increase your sales!
I get it. You would think that if you give people more options, they will find EXACTLY what they want, which will make them happier and more likely to buy your products!
Believe it or not, the exact opposite is true. The more decisions someone has to make when they finalize a purchase, the more stressed and unhappy they feel, and the more likely they are to freeze and get Analysis Paralysis and make no decision at all—and not complete the purchase.
The rule of thumb is to give your buyers a max of 2 decisions to make—like color & size, or size & fragrance.
I know it might feel counterintuitive but I promise you this is how you’ll finally start making sales or more sales from those listings.
I have a FULL article on this that explains how to use product variations on Etsy to effectively boost views and sales that goes through all the details.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST – if you’re on Etsy and not tapping into their built-in audience…. Whatcha doing??
If you want to know how to make more sales on Etsy, you gotta learn about Etsy SEO!
Etsy SEO is one of the best things about Etsy – they have millions of people looking for products and using their search feature – you want to be sure your products show up in those search results!
If you need help with this and want to get your Etsy SEO ducks in order – I have 2 great resources for you:
Make sure to go check them out right now – link is just below!
Thanks for reading, and until next time, au revoir!
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