How to increase sales on Etsy? How to enhance your products according to trends on Etsy? How to increase Etsy traffic? If these are the nightmares that don’t let you focus on your Etsy Shop, then you are at the right place. These Etsy tips and tricks are specifically curated for you to boost your Etsy sales. Sellers like you are always looking for a better and smarter way to hack into Etsy’s system. Moreover, Etsy’s regular updates offer useful insights for sellers’ help. These Etsy tips and tricks revolve around boosting Etsy sales by increasing the visibility of products depending on their experiences. However, the majority of them are just rhetoric or spun content.
However, before we delve into answering these questions, wouldn’t it be appropriate to throw some light on Etsy? What is it and how does it work?
Etsy is an online marketplace for artists, crafters of handmade items, or collectors of vintage products. Etsy is a great online shopping platform that follows a customer-to-customer (C2C) or peer-to-peer (P2P) online business model. The items sold through the Etsy marketplace consist of art, clothing, jewelry, and other decorative objects to arts and crafts supplies.
How Popular is Etsy?
Etsy has amassed 9 million active sellers and over 96 million active buyers, who have bought goods through the platform at least once in the last 12 months. With over 95.5 million+ products live on the platform, the Etsy website experienced a monthly traffic of 424.4M (as of April 2024) (source: SimilarWeb). This was big!
Although these statistics can be pleasing to Etsy, it’s haunting for the sellers at the same time. The increased number of sellers has intensified the competition to get the desired visibility for their products.
At the same time, to make the field level-playing, Etsy has laid down specific guidelines for sellers to follow to create a conversion-worthy catalog. However, if you want to stand out from the crowd and prevent your Etsy shop from having no sales, then you’ve to do something unique as well.
Apart from implementing excellent and SEO-friendly listings that rank high and attract more visitors, leading to higher conversion rates; there are other rare techniques that sellers must employ to increase Etsy traffic.
Tips to increase sales on Etsy
Etsy bestows you with tons of potential buyers, but it doesn’t automatically place your products in front of them. That’s your part of the job. To help you with it, here are some Etsy tips and tricks to consider to get better at selling on Etsy.
- Social Media Images Have More to Offer
- Include the Most Searched Keywords
- Coupon Codes for Subscribers to Drive Revenue
- Your Shop Name is Your Brand Name
- Use Pinterest to Find keywords
- Persuasive Product Descriptions that Sell
- Free Shipping is the Cornerstone of Customer Delivery
- Clear and Crisp, Return, Refund, and Shipping Policy
- Offer Multiple Payment options
- Etsy Ads and Promoted Listings
- Ask your Customers for a Review
- Add a Social Cause to Buy
- Acknowledge the Power of Creative Packaging
- Offer Direct Consultation to Customers
- Make Your Way to Their Mailbox
- Customer Satisfaction with Customized products
- Streamline your Operations with Express Delivery
- Branding that is Loved by Customers Globally
- Make your Return and Exchange Options Seamless
- Increase Customer Retention with Cross-Selling
- Combat Abandoned Shopping Carts with Etsy discounts and Freebies
Before we jump into the top Etsy tips and tricks to help you sell more, here’s some great news for Shopify sellers – Shopify store owners can now integrate with Etsy quickly and begin their streamlined selling journey.
Enough with the chit-chat, now let’s get into the good stuff. We are going to go through the best tips and tricks to boost your Etsy sales.
Follow these simple and actionable steps to increase your sales on Etsy. There is no need to implement them all at once but it’s better to follow these tips one at a time to see which one works best for you.
17 Etsy Tips and Tricks You Should Start Following Today
Gain insights into unique and noteworthy Etsy tips and tricks to increase your sales. These cover shop optimization tips, brand image and visibility, utilizing external platforms for free, and much more!
1. Social Media Images Have More to Offer
One of the creative tricks is to put the handles of your shop’s social media profile on photos when creating a listing. This is an innovative idea because a lot more online businesses don’t deem this practice, but it may be happening out of unfamiliarity with the concept. However, Etsy does allow that. See the pic below:
This practice helps you to increase loyal social media followers. This is great for increasing your Etsy sales as it helps you interact with buyers at a personal level via your social handles. It is useful as you can interact with the buyers at a personal level and bypass all or any of the seller fees at Etsy.
These are the following benefits of promoting your Etsy shop via social handles:
- You can engage visitors personally, and retain them.
- Make important announcements once they follow you.
- Run a focused giveaway campaign to maximize the effectiveness.
Produce share-worthy content to reach like-minded buyers. There is nothing like retaining your targeted customers, as the new customer acquisition costs are higher than offering the same item to older clients at a discount. It helps you increase repeat purchases and, as a result, boost Etsy sales.
2. Include Most Searched Keywords
It’s a big yes! Sometimes buyers turn to the website without knowing what to purchase, but their intention is clear; they want a gift-worthy item. It can be for their mother, father, partner for that special Valentine’s month, or a friend.
Thus, including these keywords will help you get traffic, which mostly wasn’t there for your item in the first place. See the below example:
A buyer might not be aware that you sell the black dress they want. But you sure do! You need to be aware of the targeted buyer personas and then optimize your listings by including the targeted keywords like “Black dress for men”, “Black dress for women”, etc. This will help your buyers discover your products fast and make better purchase decisions.
3. Your Shop Name is your Brand Name
Selling on Etsy is a cutthroat competition as your business competes on a global scale. Having the ‘right’ shop name which symbolizes your products and connects with the visitors will help you stand out. Choose a shop name that is remarkable and easy to search to draw in buyers and keep them coming back for more. It should help establish a sense of connection that buyers feel with your shop.
And, don’t worry if you’ve chosen the wrong shop name or are dissatisfied with your current one, you can always change it in the Etsy Shop Manager section.
4. Coupon Codes for Subscribers to Drive Revenue
How good is that idea? Ask your potential buyers to share products on their social profiles and tag 3-4-5 or a gazillion number of like-minded friends in the comment section. After that, share the screenshot in personal chat to get the coupon codes.
It becomes more comfortable for you to know and share coupon codes. These nomination campaigns work like crazy on the Internet.
Alternatively, use coupon codes to ask them to subscribe to your newsletter. You can make them work only at a minimum cart value. All of these tricks will help you boost Etsy traffic & sales in 2024 and later.
5. Use Pinterest to Find Keywords
Both Etsy and Pinterest cater to a similar kind of audience, looking for creative and handmade items for inspiration or purchase. The shopping intent of users on Pinterest can be leveraged by online sellers on Etsy to promote their products. How? Browsing on Pinterest serves as inspiration for users for gifting ideas or making future purchases, this can be utilized by sellers on Etsy to enhance their product visibility by inserting such keywords into their product listings.
For example, type the keyword ‘floral print‘ and you can witness some of the suggestions such as →
- Floral Print for Men
- A Floral Print Pattern
- Floral Print Dress
Intent-based keywords resonate with the buyer psyche and help you to increase sales on Etsy in 2024.
6. Persuasive Product Descriptions that Sell
When you implement this, you will realize why the pen is mightier than a sword. Yes! With the customized description, you can resonate with your buyer’s psyche and aspirations. You get to don their hat and let them know that you know what they want. It increases conversions, and as a result, increases sales on Etsy in 2024. Moreover, people are already doing it, take a look at one such seller’s listing:
7. Free-Shipping is the Cornerstone of Customer Delivery
Let’s be super honest, this is one of the most common practices adopted by sellers to increase the cart value. Decide the minimum order value to qualify for free shipping or come up with a price tag for your products where free shipping doesn’t eat into your profits. Studies have revealed users prefer products with free shipping over those that come with a price. Therefore, Use Free Shipping to delight customers and, as a result, increase sales on Etsy in 2024.
Bear the cost of shipping to use free Shipping to delight customers: While displaying results for any Etsy search item, the algorithm considers free shipping to show results. When you bear the cost of shipping, it invariably reduces the pricing than your competitors. The reason is that their products have shipping prices embedded in them. Moreover, it works as a great promotional tool.
How can free shipping increase sales on Etsy in 2024 and after?
Free Shipping for specific AOV: Many savvy shoppers add items to their cart to qualify for free delivery.
Buy two or more things: Up-sell through the use of a free shipping campaign.
A pre-determined time period: Offering free shipping during a specific time frame is ideal for increasing sales during slow periods — or offering further incentives during highly competitive seasons.
Post-pandemic, the rise in the trend of online shopping has facilitated the concept of shopping in bulk during festive seasons. Etsy’s Free shipping guarantee on orders enables an increase in sales and motivates shoppers to shop in bulk while they collect festive items during these months.
Shoppers actually love to see these magical words “Free Shipping” and do not want to spend a hefty amount to bring the products home. Handcrafted masks, Halloween costumes, home decorations items, and kitchen essentials will be on the major lookout as the holiday season brings in lots of feasts and celebrations.
What’s most exciting about free shipping is that, while you will be busy garnering lots of new buyers, Etsy also improves your listing in the search results for related queries. Free shipping is a win-win situation and when the festive season is around, you can not be luckier!
Hope you are enjoying these less-known Etsy tips and tricks. Next up is an important one.
8. Clear and Crisp Return, Refund, and Shipping Policy
Having a clear and concise return, refund, and shipping policy on Etsy is a critical element for any seller’s success. A well-defined policy can significantly reduce buyer hesitation and lead to more sales. It also empowers you to manage customer expectations. This can also protect you from unreasonable return requests, as you can point to the policy for a fair resolution.
Furthermore, a customer-friendly policy demonstrates that you value their satisfaction. This not only fosters positive reviews but can also encourage repeat business. This doesn’t only help you save money but also time, and as they say, a penny saved is a penny earned.
9. Offer Multiple Payment options
In a study conducted by Paypal, 42% of the respondents agreed to have been influenced by the number of payment options available. Shoppers want flexibility and extensive options when it comes to payment modes.
Therefore, more payment options correspond to a better conversion rate and boost sales on Etsy. Now ETSY accepts payment in installments, buyers can happily order and get the product from Etsy and they can pay in installments.
10. Etsy Ads and Promoted Listings
On average, one in every four rows of results on Etsy was reserved for sponsored Etsy-promoted listings. Paid listings on Etsy potentially bring more buyers to your listed product. Additionally, Etsy also introduced Offsite Ads reforming the Etsy Ads which can help sellers exponentially save more without investing in two different channels.
The new update is a relief for those, who feel;
- Their Money was wasted, without any conversion.
- Unable to find your product placements.
- No control over the advertising budget; rather with the same budget, you can promote your products on Etsy as well as other multiple search engines and social media sites, such as Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- Expect more traffic on your Etsy store from different sources, be it search engines like Bing, and Google, or Social Media like Facebook and Instagram.
- It works like the CPC model, where you pay only when the buyer clicks on the Ad and buys within 30 days of the Ad.
- All sellers, who have made more than $10,000 in the previous year will be enrolled automatically in Offsite Ads. However, if the sale is less than $10,000 last year, you can opt out from offsite ads.
11. Ask your Customers for a Review
Does it need to be explained? Reviews are not only social proof of the impact your products have on the targeted audiences but also an important ranking factor for your products. It proves that your products are highly successful.
As the majority of marketplaces include positive experiences in their search result display algorithm, Etsy is no different. Therefore, the more the number of positive reviews, the more sales on Etsy in 2024.
With tip #11, we are halfway through our list of less-known Etsy Tips and Tricks. Let’s move to some unique ones.
12. Add a Social Cause to Buy
It’s been a significant fact that today’s marketing era is about stories. Stories that resonate with buyers fulfill their aspirations and inspire and motivate them to contribute. Since it is home to artisans, support a cause through your business.
Adding a reason that you believe also motivates the buyers. It makes them think that they’re not only making a purchase but also making a contribution to the cause.
13. Acknowledge the Power of Creative Packaging
In earlier times, if the packaging was durable and served its purpose, there was nothing to worry about. Soon enough, companies realized that the more enticing the packaging looked visually, the better the product sold.
Etsy being an artistic marketplace needs packaging to be part of the creative process to create something that can flaunt your brand and be unique enough to help your package be seen and remembered over your competitors.
Have you seen the unboxing of products on Instagram? The packages are so attractive that we also feel curious about the products inside. This is what creative packaging does to customers and also to the brand image.
Thus, unique and creative packaging for your items can also promote your shop among shoppers.
14. Offer Direct Consultation to Customer
Consultation is the consideration stage in the buyer journey, and an excellent discussion can make customers move forward in their purchase journey. A seller at Esty offered the option of phone consultation and the details in the product description.
You, too, can do the same to convince the buyer in addition to writing a personalized and detailed product description; it surely will boost sales on Etsy.
15. Make your way to their Mailbox
Another common way to entice potential customers is by offering them content tailored to their interests and needs. The newsletter lets you do that, and Etsy enables you to put a newsletter subscription in your product description.
Email marketing has the same benefits as social media channels. The only exception is that you can engage your targeted customers more frequently on social media than by sending out targeted emails. However, hey! Email Marketing has conversion rates like no other trick in the bag.
So send away your killer giveaway campaign; offer discount codes (only for opting-in) and many more through targeted email marketing campaigns.
Therefore, if you’re able to increase the email follower count, then remember email marketing still has the highest ROI among all the digital methods. Thus, email marketing can be the answer as to how to increase sales on Etsy in 2024.
Yayy! The festive season is right around the corner and this couldn’t be more exciting. Watch our Webinar on Etsy Festive Planning and make sure you make the best of it!
16. Customer Satisfaction with Customized Products
Esty has now enabled sellers with POD(print-on-demand) products, to sell on its platform. Now you can sell your own custom designs on various types of products, custom printed T-shirts, Mugs, Cushions, etc. You can also sell gag items and all sorts of designs you want to until it has no copyright issue. Once your Etsy shop is set up you can connect with the POD service.
There are various companies, one of them is Printify, that offer help to POD merchants, from sourcing the base products to designing, printing, packaging, and fulfilling the orders of customers on Etsy. These places help you with a huge catalog and quality products to add gems to your shop and make it yours with creative and custom designs. Most of their manufacturing partners are located in the US or UK.
Therefore, offering customized products can help your customer get a highly personalized experience and in return, boost your Etsy sales and views.
17. Streamline your Operations with Express Delivery
Statista found out that more than 60% of shoppers consider fast shipping an important criterion when making a purchase. Thus, Express Shipping can make or break your Etsy selling game.
First of all, it displays your listing among the top results. After that, if visitors find the product’s content convincing, they hop on it. The conversion rate takes an upward shot. Furthermore, the overall effect is the increased sales on Etsy in 2024 and after that. A lot of Etsy sellers also provide express delivery as an efficient way to promote their shop.
How much does it cost to sell on Etsy? Learn here.
18. Branding That is Loved by Customers Globally
When you think of online purchases, Amazon pops up in your mind the same is what we call the effects of Branding.
Establishing your product persona in the market is the necessity of the times, which is achievable by efficient branding methods.
A well-taken image can do marvels for your brand on Etsy. When the quality is high, attractive product images relay a sense of credibility, intimacy, and inspiration for brands in a matter of seconds.
And if you feel stuck, remember one word that will help you swim your way up i.e., SENSE OF CONNECT, as we stated previously terms like customized, creative packaging, user-friendly policies, etc. These are the Unique Selling Points for your brand.
19. Make your Return and Exchange Option Seamless
The opportunity to return and exchange the product invariably increases the conversion rate. Also, a more extended window to return the products, the higher the conversion rate. It busts the myth that customers return a large number of orders for an extended return period.
The study conducted at Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas, discovered the endowment effect. It postulates that the longer the buyer keeps the product with him, the lesser the probability of the return. Amazing. Right?
Another ingenious way to reduce your return is to offer exchanges on the relevant products. The exchange imprints a positive effect on the buyer’s psyche, and you’re able to get some lousy money off your balance sheet.
20. Increase Customer Retention with Cross-Selling
Since Etsy’s business offers sellers an option to include a hyperlink in the product descriptions, it is an excellent opportunity to provide links to similar or complementary products in the product description.
Therefore leverage this opportunity to put the links of your most popular products or products that belong to the same buyer-persona or interest group to boost sales on Etsy.
Thanks for sticking with us so far. We’ve now come to the end of our list of lesser-known Etsy Tips and Tricks. Here comes the tip #21.
21. Combat Abandoned Shopping Carts with Etsy Discounts and Freebies
Think widely, What is significantly draining your profit potential? If you sell online, it could undoubtedly be shopping cart abandonment. It doesn’t matter whether you sell one product or thousands; you’ve probably encountered it: people exiting your site after clicking the Buy Button but before placing the order. And if your numbers are high or your margin small, it can cut your profits.
But Etsy sellers have one major advantage over merchants who use other platforms to sell their items – and that is sending abandoned cart campaign emails on Etsy, which is entirely free.
What can be offered to Etsy buyers through Etsy discounts?
Percentage off: Etsy sellers can offer their customers a discount on the products in their cart.
Fixed amount off: Sellers can offer customers a fixed amount off on the selected products.
Free standard shipping: Sellers can offer free shipping on items from their online stores, which means that the customer won’t need to pay a shipping fee.
When talking about freebies we mean Complimentary gifts or cute notes along with your products. Trust us people love getting surprised, and spreading little smiles through your products are the best way to do so.
Aren’t these effective tips and tricks for your Etsy store?
Bonus Tip:Here is a video to brief you with anecdotes of tricks that will help you majorly with ranking your store under the trendy ones. Have a look
Hope this video helps you set your base.
Do let us know in the comments, were these tips known to you already or are you going to employ them? And we will keep updating this blog as and when we find some unusual trick that we want you to know!