I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're interested in getting more sales in your Etsy shop.
I'm not psychic, but I can safely say that since you clicked on this article, to begin with, you are interested in growing your sales.
In this article, we're going to walk you through the nine best tweaks you can make to your Etsy product listings and store to drive more traffic, sales, and repeat customers.
It's important to keep in mind that although making these tweaks once can help, coming back to this article and using it as a checklist will help you get the most out of it.
With that being said, let's dive in!
Optimize Your Product Title
Even though so many Etsy sellers spend most of their time focused on search engine optimization or “Etsy SEO” we seem to forget that beyond being a platform for buyers and sellers to connect, the core of Etsy is a search engine and one of the most important parts how that search engine finds your products is the title.
Etsy themselves in their documentation tells us that they not only wait for the title more than most other areas of your product description but that the first few words of your title carry the most weight.
Interestingly, most sellers have a guess, set, and forget strategy when it comes to their product titles.
For most sellers, they'll take a quick look at the search results pick a set of keywords that they would like to rank for, and craft them into their title.
Although this approach is not completely wrong, it can be an okay starting point, optimizing your product titles using real-world data can make a huge difference in how well you rank and how much you sell.
One of the best ways to bring real-world data into your Etsy product titles is by using Etsy's auto-suggest feature.
To take advantage of this, simply open up Etsy and your favorite browser and navigate to the search bar.
From here begin typing in a keyword that relates to your product and see what Etsy's search algorithm autosuggests as additional terms in the autocomplete section.
The reason that Etsy suggests these additional terms is because those are the most popular either by volume of searches or purchase volume.
Additionally, you can use an SEO research tool like EverBee to get a better idea of the volume of different keywords related to your product potentially are.
Although the information you get from these two tools won't surprise you every time, you will be shocked at how often the way you describe a product and the way the majority of people talk about that product are out of sync with one another.
Your goal should always be to use the language that your customers are using and by using one or both of the methods discussed above, you can make sure that those two always line up.
Enhance Your Product Images
Even if you perfectly crafted these search engine optimization parts of your listing, We can't stop there.
The perfect title, tags, and product description can only get us so far.
After all, since our potential customers are making this purchase online, they can't physically interact with the product.
This is where having amazing product images, especially your primary image comes in handy.
Not only do they help us turn more potential customers into buyers, by helping them get a better understanding of if our product is right for them, but they can even bring more traffic to the listing.
You see, having an amazing main product image or video is a great way of drawing more eyeballs when your product does appear in the search results.
If you're able to catch the eye of more potential buyers, this means more potential traffic to the listing.
Sadly, many sellers will take a generic product mockup or a poorly lit shot and make that their main image.
Spend the time to comb the search results for your competitive products and see who is main product images or videos you would want to click on.
I'm not advocating that you copy their style 100%, but see if you can find a few things to adjust or tweak in your image to make it more closely match the images that are sent out to you.
If you'd rather take a more data-driven approach, you can again use a tool like EverBee To examine the listings with the highest click-through or conversion rate.
This approach takes the “art” out of deciding which product images might be the best fit for your customer and allows you to use real-world data to back up your hunches.
The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.
Yes, Send Me The Roadmap!Utilize Effective Tags
With all the time energy and effort that Etsy sellers put into SEO, it's mind-boggling to me that most sellers either completely overlook or treat Etsy's tags as a second class or last thought.
Awesome Etsy sellers claim they're not important, this couldn't be further from the truth.
Not only does Etsy itself talk about the importance of properly utilizing tags, but we've confirmed with a few independent experiments (we placed a keyword that is not otherwise contained anywhere in the listing into a tag and then ranked for it….when it was removed the ranking disappeared), but they still are an important part of a truly optimized listing.
Rather than treating your tags as a place to repeat keywords, it's important to note that this does not affect how well you rank, or just fill it out with randomly associated words, take the time to think about any words that aren't used in your listing in other places that could be used to describe the product.
If you have an SEO research tool, like everbee, I would start by looking at the top sellers in your space and seeing which tags they are using.
If you're looking for an additional way to find a little bit of keyword inspiration, consider putting your title and description into a software platform like chat GPT and asking it to give you a few additional keywords that you could use as tags.
Leverage Etsy's Internal Email Triggers
Although email marketing can feel a bit old school, even in 2023 it's one of the highest return on investment marketing tactics that you can use to sell things online.
Etsy is no stranger to this phenomenon.
They have an entire set of tools built into your marketing dashboard, specifically designed to help you send emails to customers and potential customers at exactly the right time.
Setting up and consistently tweaking these emails can go a long way to skyrocketing or success.
Currently, Etsy offers three different internal triggers to send these emails to your customers or potential customers to urge them to buy.
Favorited Items Email: When a potential customer favorites an item but doesn't make a purchase, Etsy allows sellers to set up an automated email offering a discount. This nudge can often convert a browser into a buyer.
Abandoned Cart Email: It's not uncommon for shoppers to add items to their cart and then get distracted or have second thoughts. Etsy's abandoned cart email serves as a reminder, and when combined with a time-sensitive discount, can encourage the shopper to complete the purchase.
Thank You Email: Building a loyal customer base is crucial for any business. Etsy's thank you email is an automated message sent to customers post-purchase. It's an opportunity for sellers to express gratitude, offer a discount on future purchases, or even request a review.
Setting Up Etsy's Internal Email Triggers
Setting up these email triggers is straightforward:
Navigate to Your Etsy Marketing Tools: Once you're in your seller dashboard, look for the marketing section. Here, you'll find options to set up various email triggers.
Customize Your Message: While Etsy provides default messages, personalizing them can make a world of difference. Add a touch of your brand's voice, and ensure the message resonates with your target audience.
Determine Discounts: Decide on the discounts you're willing to offer. Whether it's a flat percentage off, a buy-one-get-one deal, or free shipping, ensure it's enticing enough for the shopper.
Monitor and Adjust: Regularly check the performance of your email triggers. If you notice one needs to convert better than you'd hoped, tweak the message or the offer.
Run Sales and Promotions
The next tweak that is overlooked by most Etsy sellers is the ability to run sales or promotions inside of your Etsy shop.
I think it's safe to say that just about all of us have been on the fence about buying something and then finally decided to pull the trigger when it went on sale.
I for one can attest that even small discounts and deadlines, like those that happen every time you get a Kohl's cash certificate, can be a huge conversion driver.
Not only does it increase the conversion rate of people who were on the fence, but your listings will typically also see more traffic while you are running a sale.
Etsy not only sends emails to customers they think would be interested in purchasing products, but they also show a countdown timer for listings that have sales that are about to expire.
This is not only an additional help on the conversion rate front, but it can also help drive additional traffic to your listing as the countdown timer will catch people's eyes as they browse the search results.
Try running a sale, even if it's just for 3 or 4 days and you will be amazed by the results.
Collect and Utilize Customer Reviews
Seeing that other people have had a positive experience with your shop and the products you offer is a huge deal for any buyers.
This means, that although reviews are not the most important thing when it comes to driving a customer's purchase decision, they can play a large role.
Sadly, many Etsy sellers rely on the “if I sell it they will come” approach and simply hope for reviews.
One of the biggest pieces of advice that I can give to any Etsy seller is to not be afraid to ask for reviews.
The easiest way to do this is simply to send a message to your buyers to let them know that their product has shipped and then follow up a few days after you know they've received the product and ask them about their experience.
These two simple messages are enough to drive a large number of views without you ever having to feel like you're bothering people or begging for feedback.
One line I found to be particularly helpful when asking about a customer's experience with your product is to say something like
“We are a small business and we know just how important it is to see feedback and reviews from customers like you.
If you wouldn't mind spending a few seconds to let us know about your experience It will help even more customers find and enjoy our products”.
Achieve the Star Seller Badge
This is something that seems to be extremely misunderstood by most Etsy sellers.
Although the star seller badge is not the key to unlimited success on Etsy it can play a key role in the number of sales you make and can be an especially key driver of additional traffic.
Not only does having the star seller badge allow your listing to stand out more when you run ads or appear in the organic search results, but it's also a sign of trust for seasoned Etsy buyers.
If you're making any sort of consistent sales, there's no reason you shouldn't have the star seller badge and the requirements are fairly straightforward.
As long as you're making consistent sales, answering messages in a timely fashion, and shipping your products on time, this should easily be a part of your shop.
If you're hitting the basic sales volume requirement for the star seller badge and you don't currently have it, spend a few minutes figuring out where you've fallen short, it's some of the best time you can spend.
Start Collecting Customer Emails
Even in 2023, email marketing is still the highest return on investment thing any e-commerce store can do to drive sales.
Yet for some reason, many Etsy sellers think that this tactic isn't useful for them or that it's somehow against the terms of service.
Both of these beliefs could not be further from the truth.
Not only could you build a list of potential customers outside of Etsy and use that to drive traffic to your shop, but Etsy actively encourages sellers to build email lists of their customers.
The only “caveat” To this is that buyers have to opt in to hear from you.
This process is fairly normal and is automated if you use one of Etsy's built-in integrations to an email marketing platform.
Once you have someone on your list, you can let them know about your new products or just keep them up to date about things that are happening in your niche.
One of the most powerful ways we have found to drive sales in our Etsy shop is by letting our email list know when we launch new designs and giving them A VIP discount.
This exact strategy recently led to one customer purchasing over $300 of our products in a single order.
Invest in Etsy Ads
Etsy sellers seem to be obsessed with SEO.
I mean I get it, the name of the game is all about getting as much traffic to your Etsy listings as possible and it seems like the easiest way to do that is by doing endless hours of keyword research in a variety of different tools and trying to craft the perfect listing.
Although this strategy does have some basis in fact, we're missing a few key things.
First, Even the best keyword tools on the market can only give us estimates of the search volume for individual keywords, which means we're dealing with educated guesses.
Secondly, even if we guess correctly it can take months for us to know if we've correctly crafted our listing.
At the end of the day, making sure that you match the keywords in your listing to what customers typing in is only one small part of the game.
The name of the SEO game on Etsy is traffic and sales.
We can shortcut this entire process by running even just a few dollars a day worth of Etsy ads to our listings.
Not only does Etsy give us real-world keyword data as soon as we start running these ads (meaning that we can see exactly how many people are typing in which keywords to find our listings), but it can also lead us to shortcut the sales process.
Even if you only have a couple of bucks to spend ($5 per day is typically what we use), The data that you get back from these ads (not to mention the additional sales) will help you fine-tune The keywords in your titles tags and descriptions in a matter of days or weeks rather than waiting 4 to 6 months to figure out if you were even close, to begin with.
A Quick Recap
If you're looking for a way to generate more sales on Etsy, before you go any further make sure you've implemented all nine of the tweaks that we mentioned above.
To quickly recap:
- Make Sure You're Truly Optimizing Your Product Title
- Enhance Your Product Images
- Truly Optimize The Tags Section
- Use Etsy's Built-In Email Automation
- Run Sales And Promotions Inside Of Etsy
- Spend The Time To Get Your Star Seller Badge
- Start Collecting Customer Emails
- Invest At Least A Few Bucks A Day In Etsy Ads
If You can take advantage of these nine tweaks, your biggest problem on Etsy will be managing the number of orders that start coming into your shop.
Scott Voelker
Over the years I’ve helped thousands of people TAKE ACTION to UNLOCK their true potential on building their ultimate freedom business, by developing the skills to make them resilient, confident and FUTURE PROOF. I’ve clocked my 10,000 hours over the years working in the trenches myself and helping others build and grow their brands. I know the power in TAKING ACTION better than anyone and I’ve seen people lives changed as a result of it...including my OWN!The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.
Yes, Send Me The Roadmap!