This week on our podcast, I (Taylor) wanted to share with you 3 things you can do today to optimize your etsy listing descriptions and convert more visits to actual sales.
If you’ve been trying to figure out why some listings aren’t selling as many items as you’d like and it just seems like crickets, get a pen and paper and get ready to take some notes today!
Perhaps you’ve heard people say “optimize your listings to convert” but you really don’t know what they’re talking about.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to feel clueless, and it’s totally okay that you don’t know these terms. You don’t have to feel embarrassed or like everyone seems to know what’s going on and they’ve got these amazing Etsy shops and have it all together.
Listen here:
If you’re here listening to this podcast, it says something incredible about you! By listening to this podcast, you’ve committed to showing up for yourself and your creative small business.
You’re ready to learn and grow and drive that traffic to your etsy shop and make those sales!
In order to get more sales, you need to set your customer up for buying success when they look at your items. You need to craft a description that compels them to buy.
But first, you’ll need to analyze where your etsy shop traffic stands right now and how we’ll you’re already converting your views to sales.
The first thing you'll need to do: You need to look up your conversion rate.
Your conversion rate is the number of sales divided by the number of visits. So, if you have 200 visits to your shop in week, and 10 sales, your conversion rate is 5%.
What does your conversion rate tell you?
Whether or not the customer traffic your shop got on etsy decided to buy your product.
The average conversion rate for a new shop is typically around 1-2%. If you’re hitting this number within a couple of months of opening your shop, you’re in a good place.
If your conversion rate is less than 1%, you need to do some significant work to your listings.
If you’re at 1-2, or even 3%, your goal should be to increase your conversion, you need to optimize your listing descriptions to convert.
The goal here is to change your listing description style to emotionally speak to your target customer. Let's get started.
First, You can solve an emotional problem for your customer.
You’re not trying to solve all of your customer’s biggest life problems. You’re just trying to convey that if they buy this product right now, they’ll feel good about this once decision they’ve made and this one thing they can check off their to do list.
So what does this mean? How do you do this?
Build that customer profile and identify people you know in your life who fit this profile. Find out what the motivating reason is that compels them to buy one product and not the other.
Don’t assume you know the answer to this. Interview a couple people you know personally or even instagram friends who are in line with your target customer.
Once you’ve gotten ideas, rewrite your copy to be in line with your target customer’s emotions & values.
Here is an example:
After interviewing some target customers about our stickers, we found out that one compelling reason to buy that they highlighted is that they care about supporting individual artists and knowing where their money is going. They prefer handmade over items that are dropshipped or wholesaled.
We didn’t have anything in our text that spoke to them about how our product is made and who makes it! So we added:
“At Studio Sisters, 100% of the process of making our items is done at our own studio in the USA. We design, print, cut, and ship every sticker. We don't use third party manufacturers or drop shippers. Instead, our handmade products are lovingly made by a team of creative, powerful women.”
Second, Be VERY specific in your product descriptions. What are the features?
Size
Materials
Reusable
Care or Cleaning
Benefits of the item
Variations or Personalization instructions
Third, Add your social media & hashtags to your description
When a customer looks at your product on Etsy, they may not buy right away. That’s just the truth of any online shopper.
However, you can take this opportunity to get your brand in front of them on their other accounts. Tell them where they can find you off of Etsy. Put your instagram or other socials in the description and, in a positive way, encourage them to interact with you.
Don’t say “follow us on instagram,” say, “We would LOVE to connect with you & share some of our favorite party ideas & inspiration! Find us on instagram @ and come celebrate with us” if you make party decor.
Or, if you sell crocheted scarves, you could say, “Stay COZY friends! Come connect with me on instagram where we share outfit inspiration and go behind-the-scenes in our small, artisan studio. I love sharing my works in progress & talking about the locally-sourced wools I find.”
That’s the 3 things you can do right now in your Etsy descriptions. Feeling good about it? I’ve got one more bonus step for you! Keep reading!
Bonus Step, How to format your listing description:
Here's a quick snapshot of the layout of a good Etsy listing description. Remember -- Make is easy to read. 58% of etsy shoppers are doing so on their phones, so using bullet points instead of long body paragraphs makes it simple for your customers to quickly read the listing descriptions and get the info they need.
Use short phrases! Write your bullets and then go back and find ways to shorten them again.
Intro paragraph of 1-2 sentences
Style
-point 1
-point 2
-point 3
Features
-measurements
-materials
-other details
Social
-where your shoppers can connect with you
With these tools, you can start improving your Etsy listing descriptions today and get your listings optimized to CONVERT to more sales and make more meaningful income for you to live your creative dream life.
Thank you so much for reading & listening! We’d love to connect with you so if you’d like to join our community and get a weekly newsletter of creative business support!
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