Hey new or soon-to-be Etsy sellers!
If I told you that you could easily see if the products you want to develop are already selling well on Etsy, would that be exciting to you?
Well if you want to know how to do product research and check what's already doing well on Etsy, before you ever get started...
...you can save a TON of time & $$
Keep reading on to learn about my 4 awesome, secret indicators for Etsy product research, or you can listen to the episode!
Listen Here:
Let's talk about...new product development!
What is your idea?
Who is it for?
You need to know who your product is for. Who is buying this item?
If you’re selling to everyone, you’re selling to no one.
Is the person who it’s for a mom, shopping for herself? Is it a woman shopping for gifts for her friend’s birthday? Is it a guy shopping for Christmas gifts for his brothers? Who is this product for?
What is it for?
Also, get clear on its purpose.
Is it a gift? Is it something that will be used every day? Is it an inexpensive purchase like a trendy T shirt or an expensive item like a leather duffel bag? Or leather journal? What will your customer use the product for?
The reason you need to answer these questions is because a lot of makers and business owners want to sell something just because they love it themselves. Unfortunately, “because I like it” or “because it’s cute” is not going to get you sales. If it simply brings you joy to create it, then just create it. You don’t have to sell everything you make.
Is it a good fit for Etsy?
Here are 4 really awesome indicators about whether a product will sell well on Etsy.
Disclaimer: this isn’t a perfect system. Something that sell well that surprise everyone, and some things you think will do well, just don’t.
With that being said... here are 4 indicators to help you make the most informed decision possible about new product development.
First, search for the item you want to sell on Etsy such as "homeschool planner pages."
Indicator #1 Search results - how many products are listed that match this keyword
If there are only 200 results for the product, it means that not many other people are listing this kind of product and there most likely aren't many sales for it.
On the other hand, if there are 100,000 results, it's a great sign that Etsy is the place to sell this product!
Indicator #2 Sort results by “most recent” - you’ll see the products that have sold most recently and/or are new to etsy.
Do the sellers who have the most recently sold products have a high number of reviews and sales? If so, this is a great indicator for product success.
Indicator #3 Carts - Look at the most similar competitor products you can find to the product you’re thinking of selling.
If you see products that say like “in 6 people’s carts” or “in 20+ people’s carts,” this is a good sign of customer demand and a good sign your product will work on Etsy.
Indicator #4 Finally - SEO. Finding monthly keyword search volume (how many times are shoppers searching per month for your product?)
Using a keyword research tool like Sale Samurai, you can see whether or not there are a high number of monthly searches by people shopping on Etsy for the kind of product you’re looking at. So, ideally you would want to see 200+, 500+ 1000+ monthly searches for this kind of item.
If you’re wondering how to validate and find good keywords, one great software is Sale Samurai. We use this every day in our Etsy shop. Sale Samurai is an online Etsy Keyword tool that helps you:
Find good keywords
Research the price points, shipping costs, pictures, and keywords of best-selling products on Etsy. You can compare competitors shops or even individual listings to look at how your products are doing in the search algorithm compared to your competitors. There are other Etsy research tools out there but this one is hands down my favorite and, to be honest, I wish we’d had it a year ago when we started our Etsy shop.
They also have a Chrome extension, which is huge, because you can use it directly in Etsy to look at the search volume and competition for keywords.
You don’t have to brainstorm your keywords all on your own and feel overwhelmed because Sale Samurai gives you these really great keyword suggestions with things that you might not even have thought about. So, it’s super awesome. This tool is $9.99/month, which is less than most of us spend on lunch out somewhere just one time, so it’s really affordable and a smart investment in your business.
Also...we’re sharing a special discount for our Studio Sisters audience - because you all are amazing!!!
So if you’re like hey yes, this is for me, this is exactly the keyword research tool I’ve been looking for, you can get 20% off with the code SHOPSTUDIOSISTERS (all uppercase).
And one more thing...
We want you to have the best possible outcomes in your creative business, so I think it’s important to say that you do not need to try to sell something if it’s not going to pay off for you in your time and your money.
If you can’t make it profitable, you do not need to sell it. Now, as we’ve said a thousand times here, if you love the making the thing, make the thing. But it just might not be the right product for your business and that’s totally okay.
Learn to give yourself the grace of separating those two things. Just because you don’t put something in your shop and make a bunch of sales off it doesn’t mean it can’t have value or it isn’t amazing. It just might not be right for your biz.
The products that are right for your business are going to be validated by the steps I talked about in this episode, and they’re going to be validated by being a good use of your time and your money.
I’d love to know if you have questions about this, so hit us up on instagram at @shopstudiosisters
Ready for the next step?
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