Whether you’re selling handmade candles, raincoats for dogs, or bespoke jewelry, Etsy is a great platform to showcase your goods to the world. It’s easy to use and makes selling and buying online a breeze.
Yet, attracting your target audience is not always plain sailing, especially with so many brands fighting for the spotlight. This is when sales analytics come in. This tech-savvy data is a game-changer for small businesses and promises to help you transform your hidden gem of a shop into a consumer magnet.
But where to begin? That’s where we come in. This handy guide will encourage you to release your inner creative entrepreneur! Equipping you with all the tools you need to unlock a steady stream of sales. How? By translating analytics into actionable insights. Read on to learn more.
Unveiling Etsy’s Analytics
The word analytics can be scary, especially if you’re not in the marketing field. Luckily for you, Etsy boasts a handy built-in Etsy sales analytics dashboard, meaning you can access valuable information without having to unleash your technical side.
Within this dashboard, you’ll find a handful of tools, some of which we have listed below:
- Shop Statistics: As the name suggests, this reveals a snapshot of your existing shop’s performance. You’ll learn more about how many visits you are receiving, the number of views, who favors your store, and how many orders are being placed. Tracking these unique metrics over time will help you pinpoint trends, thus gaining a better understanding of your shop’s overall health.
- Traffic Sources: If you’re keen to know where your shop visitors are based, this is how to find out. This section showcases how customers have found you and via what platform. For example, social media, Etsy search, or external referrals. This will help you identify your strongest traffic channels, allowing you to focus more of your marketing efforts on these areas. Compared to 2019, there are now an additional 1.5 million households choosing to do their retail shopping online, which means that by providing you with a knowledge of where to look, you will find your customer base.
- Performance Listings: This section will help you learn which items you sell are the most successful. You can either make more of the favorites or revamp those that aren’t doing so well. To understand your customers’ preferences, you can analyze clicks, views, and orders for each listing featured on your shop.
- Customer Demographics: If you’re selling dog treats, you’ll likely have a different customer demographic than those selling clothing. To succeed in Etsy and ensure you’re targeting the right consumer, you must learn as much about them as possible! This section of the dashboard will give you insight into your top buyers’ locations, purchasing habits, and browsing behaviors. This will allow you to tailor your offerings and marketing efforts to them rather than wasting time promoting them to those who don’t have a use for your product.
- Sales and Coupons: As an Etsy business, you’ve likely already issued a few coupons in your time, but did you check to see if these discounts brought a surge in sales? This section assists you in learning more about your promotional campaigns and evaluating their effectiveness.
From Data to Real Sales
Sifting through sales analytics data will help you to discover the real gems, turning insights into sales:
- Traffic Champs and Laggards: Examine your traffic sources, concentrating on which channels outperform others. If social media is your predominant source of traffic, invest more of your marketing budget in this area. If your Etsy search is underperforming, tweak your SEO(Search Engine Optimization).
- Listing Optimization Powerhouse: Poorly performing listings waste time and money. If you spot any listings with low clicks or views, use analytics to establish why this is the case. Check the titles are keyword-rich and clear. In addition, ensure the photos you have featured showcase your products in their best light. Optimizing these elements will help you improve your search ranking and entice clicks.
- Get Season Savvy: Hats embellished with colorful pom poms are suited to bikinis in different seasons. By embracing Etsy’s analytics, you can pinpoint seasonal trends and plan your inventory and promotions around this data.
- Customer Conversions: Just because a visitor clicks on your site doesn’t mean they will make a purchase. Using analytics, you can analyze your conversion rates. If these are particularly low, you likely have unclear pricing, listing issues, or a checkout process that confuses rather than entices. Fixing these issues will help you boost your conversion rates, converting more browsers into buyers.
- Customer Connection: Your customer demographics are hugely important. Why? They help you to offer a bespoke approach. From viewing browsing habits to analyzing customer locations, you can tailor your marketing efforts to specific platforms and regions.
Beyond the Dashboard: Expanding Your Analytical Tool Kit
For even stronger insights and selling tools, venture beyond Etsy’s built-in analytics by embracing other prevalent tools, such as:
- Social Media Analytics: Most modern-day social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook offer their analytics tools. Use these alongside Etsy’s dashboard to better understand how customers interact with your brand and how your promotions are performing.
- Google Analytics: You can integrate your Etsy shop with Google Analytics. The result? You will be privy to a better view of your customer journey and traffic sources.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools: CRM tools are another area you can look to and will help you manage customer interactions, thus gaining a better understanding of buying habits and preferences.
The Bottom Line
If you schedule regular reviews of your shop analytics and set SMART goals to increase your conversion rates, you’ll be well on your way to boosting your business.
Key points to note? Don’t shy away from experimenting with different marketing strategies. What works for one shop may not work for yours. In addition, refine and test listing optimizations and product offerings, tracking the results as you go. You can use this data to adapt your approach and products to your target audience.
Now, you have the knowledge and tools to turn data into a budding Etsy business. So what are you waiting for? Start selling today!