You’ve spent a ton of time developing a marketing strategy to drive traffic to your shop...
It has finally paid off and you are getting butt loads of traffic.
You get excited whenever someone favorites an item with your shop.
You wait for the melodic cha-ching that you anticipate will follow…
…and you wait…
…and you wait some more…
Radio silence.
What’s happening here?
You've worked so hard to get people to notice your presence, BUT your sales are still subpar.
That problem you are having is conversion. You are having a problem with converting your visitors into customers. From the moment a shopper lands into your shop until they exit defines how shoppers are converting into sales.
If a purchase was completed during a shopper’s visit, you have successfully converted that visitor into a customer. On the other hand, if a sale was not made, there are some factors that can hinder a shopper from completing the buying process.
Don’t freak out, trust me, it has happened to the best of us. While you may believe that everything you’ve done thus far was a total waste of time. Let me reassure you, it wasn’t.
There are many reasons why customers will hesitate to make a purchase once they visit your shop, we will explore five ways to improve your conversion rate. But before we do, let me give you a mini-lesson on how to figure out where your business stands in this process.
Conversion rates differ from industry to industry, according to Big Commerce, the average e-commerce conversion rate is roughly 1%-2%. Obviously, your goal is to aim high and meet or exceed the 2% range. If you fall below this range, I got a fix for ya! But first, here’s how you can figure out your conversion rate:
For example, you are promoting your printable planners on Pinterest. You have a total of 200 visits to your link and a total of 10 sales, you have a conversion rate of 5%.
Got it? Good! Ok, let’s figure out what you may be doing wrong so that we can implement simple tweaks to turn those visits into actual sales.
1. Problem | Target Your Peeps
You've done such a great job at driving a sizable amount of traffic to your shop. Woot, Woot!
The question is now that you have all this traffic, how do you ensure that a visitor makes a purchase?
I would first suggest you review your keywords. I recommend this as a starting point as this is the core of how you drive traffic to your shop outside of any external marketing strategies.
You should ensure that you are targeting a variety of keywords (relevant to your product(s) of course) that involve broad and long-tail keywords. If you aren’t familiar with keywords and what all this means, you can read my post about Etsy SEO and how using the right keywords play a role in the type of traffic you are attracting.
However, the simplified version is that you should be selecting the best possible keywords that describe your items. And your goal is to be as specific and to the point as possible.
Why is this significant?
Customers who are searching for a specific item are beyond the browsing phase and are more than likely ready to purchase.
Let's break this down a little. Someone who searches for printable planners is more of a browser. They aren't sure what they want specifically, but going out on a limb to see if they come across anything that woo's them. There is a good chance this shopper may not make a purchase.
Now, on the other end, someone who searches for printable planners for health and fitness is a person on a mission. This individual knows exactly what they want and the likehood of making a purchase is great. There only goal is to find the right one that meets their needs visually/physically.
Which is why you should always make sure you are using a variety of keywords that create an opportunity for your items to be shown within search results.
What You Can Do:
Revisit your keywords used in your titles and tags for each listing. You want to ensure that you are attracting the right people not only to your shop but each individual listing as well. Your keywords should reflect your products accurately.
Please don’t randomly choose keywords that you THINK describes your item without any solid backing. Using the “wing-it” method gets you nowhere fast and is a complete waste of time for shoppers and yourself.
Determine who is your target audience, use a keyword search tool, and plug-in those keywords that are only relevant to that one product. This method gives you a leg up on making a sale.
If the thought of you figuring this all out literally overwhelms you, I suggest grab my ebook, Etsy Playbook. The Etsy Playbook covers 9 lessons that helps you navigate launching your Etsy shop, figuring out your niche, cracking the code to SEO, mastering photography and much more. It also includes an interactive workbook that goes along with each lesson for better retention.
2. Problem | Your Photos Just Aren’t Cutting It
Sure, you spent hours upon hours staging your products, finding “just right” lighting, and perfecting your photo taking skills. Only to end up with a yucky image.
Uggghhhh! Why are everyone else’s photos so effortlessly beautiful?
Hey, you are preaching to the choir. Photos were always my least favorite task to do. But it is a must have and you have got to get it together.
When I visit IKEA -- my happy place -- I get the ultimate customer experience. I can lounge on the sofas, I am able to examine the size of the bookcases, I can analyze the color pigments within the throw pillows, and I can feel the various textures. Can you tell how much, I love IKEA?
Before I make a purchase, which I always will, I have the ability to ensure if a product works for me.
However, having an online business puts you at a disadvantage in this area, which is why customers rely so heavily on your photos. Photos provide a visual experience of what your customer can expect from your product and your business.
You want your photos to impress customers so much so that it dispels any doubt or hesitation about making a purchase. Did you know, one of the ways shoppers judge your professionalism is based on your photo taking skills?
You bet they do!
Their logic is if your photos reek of pure disgust (slight exaggeration) then, your business must too. And as unfair as this sounds, it makes logical sense.
Related: How To Achieve Stellar Photos for Your Etsy Shop
What You Can Do:
Here are a few quick hacks I use personally to turn my photos into masterpieces.
- Find you a well-lit area for your photo taking. I suggest near a window that gives off tons of light. Natural light is your bestfriend and the secret sauce to getting good photos. Avoid areas that have shadows or direct sunlight.
- Choose a background that is clutter-free and doesn’t take the focus away from your product. The phrase “less is best” sums it up. You don’t want your background stealing the show, so lose anything that outranks the actual product. Remember, your background is only there to enhance your product.
- Make sure that your item is completely visible. I like to take several photos of a product at different angles, this gives a 360 view.
- Snag a model. Sure, your item looks great against a white background, but it’s also nice to incorporate live models to showcase your product. This is a big one because it helps shoppers scale the size of the item. Now they can tell how big or small an item is based on how it is being represented on a live person.
- Use an editing tool to make adjustments. Even under the best conditions, some form of editing is needed. There are plenty of editing tools available, both paid and free. I use a free app called Foto Fuze, that adjusts the brightness and/or contrast, crops and adds filters.
- Have a friend critique your photos. Often, we become blinded to our mistakes and/or faults. Having a second set of eyes check out your photos helps you make the necessary changes to get your ish sold.
3. Problem | Weak + Tired Descriptions
Descriptions go hand and hand with photos. Product descriptions are the wording or copy you use to describe your product. Your copy places a heavy role in sealing the deal. What your photo doesn’t accomplish, your description can certainly enhance. Your job is to give off the illusion that your potential customer can picture using the item at that very moment.
If you don’t take advantage of this moment to woo the customer, it will repeatedly cost you a sale.
Having a strong copy allows you to walk the customer through a detailed story and sets you apart from everyone else.
Even those that have an okay copy will fair well with turning visitors into customer. BUT, if your copy is bad…you are doomed. It is nothing worse than coming across a description riddled with grammatical errors and mistakes galore. Or what about that dreadful one liner?
When a shopper comes across descriptions that are generally distasteful, they begin to wonder if everything you do is upheld to this standard. Are your products as unprofessional and unpolished as your descriptions? Will your products reflect the same quality as your descriptions?
Shoppers will question your sloppiness and apply it to the overall professionalism of your shop. Don’t allow your simple mistakes to be the cause of turning off shoppers.
Related: An Easy Way to Write Product Descriptions
What You Can Do:
Write a better a copy that doesn’t focus solely on just describing your product. Put some thought into turning your description into more of a story that appeals to your ideal customer.
Lists out the benefits of your product, layout features, and problems that it solves. These details can help you generate sales.
Below is a simple formula to help you craft a powerful description:
Start out by writing a paragraph or two that consists of three or more sentences. Your paragraphs allow you to showcase your product giving shoppers a glimpse of the voice of the brand. Avoid the robotic and technical language, instead remain natural and speak to customers as if you were speaking to a live person.
Take your storytelling skills and weave them into your copy. Next, follow your paragraph(s) with bullet points.
Bullet points are great to add to your descriptions since most buyers tend to scan through text. Your bullet points should outline specifications about the products, such as dimensions. Limit your bullet points to short phrases to make for an easy read.
Like everything else, knowing your audience helps take your descriptions over the threshold from “Meh” to “Heck Yeah”.
4. Problem | Incohesive Shop Design
Have you ever walked into a store and things were all over the place? So much so that the amount of confusion and overwhelm kicked in and you got the heck out of there.
Well, guess what?
Shoppers have the same feeling when they enter a shop that has a little bit of everything and no real focus.
Imagine clicking on an item that just sent waves up your spine. You decide to browse the shop to see what other goodies you could snag. Only to bring you to a screeching halt.
You find yourself viewing a shop full of everything under the sun. It is a little off coming. You feel bamboozled and certainly did not see that one coming.
What do you do next?
You leave.
You move on to a shop that better fits your needs.
Many new sellers believe a shop filled with everything will appeal to the masses and in turn, will provide you with more sales. However, this tends to produce quite the opposite outcome.
Why does this happen?
Because there is no focus…
It’s difficult to appeal to one clear audience…
It’s tough to market when you are trying to attract all customers…
Having a shop filled with general items puts you at risk of attracting no one.
You want to craft a shop that gives off a boutique vibe. You want to be the Rockstar shop owner that specializes in one area and is the go-to for those items.
Another issue that turns customers away is having a difficult time finding products at all. For shops that have a smaller inventory, this doesn’t pose a huge problem, as you only have so much to work with. However, with shops that carry hundreds of items, it is ideal to create an organized flow for customers to easily navigate.
What You Can Do:
- Narrow down your niche. There are more than enough customers floating around for everyone to enjoy in the fruitful result of a sale. This is not a feast or famine mindset. Stick to one product idea and expand your brand and you grow.
- Organize your products in a way that is functional and appealing to your potential customers. Use Etsy’s shop sections to help shoppers navigate through your products without having to scroll through every one of your pages.
Pro Tip: Name your shop sections with keywords to help with your SEO strategy.
Your end game is to make the process so simple that it gives shoppers a good reason to buy and become a loyal customer.
5. Problem | Lack of Trust
How would you feel when you come across a shop that doesn’t have any policies, the “About” section is not completed, or what’s worst the shop owner’s photo is nowhere to be found?
Kinda gives off sketchy, unprofessional vibes, right? Makes it tough to put trust or seriousness into an incomplete shop.
Etsy feels the same way about this too. In fact, if your shop is missing key components, such as your shop policies, Etsy views that as a lack of investment and bad for business from a customer’s point-of-view. Etsy highly favors the ultimate customer experience, missing these elements can impact your status in search rank placement.
Not good at all…
Not to mention, shoppers are less likely to purchase your items with an incomplete shop. It begins to raise questions of trust.
What You Can Do:
- Head to your “About” section and complete it in its entirety. The About section tends to be the most visited area when a shopper visits your shop. They want to get to know the person behind the scenes. This is a great way to talk about your inspiration for starting your business and give people some insight into who you are.
- Add photos of interest pertaining to your business, such as a part of your production process, or an image of your inventory.
- Brand your shop with consistent colors that coordinate with the overall feel of your logo and brand.
If you need more detail on getting this started, get the Etsy Playbook which gives you step-by-step action on achieving this.
Conversion is such a wide-range topic as it can be affected by several elements during a shopper’s experience in your shop. However, optimizing your shop is a favorable strategy to improve the shopping experience, resulting in sales.
So, there you have it! A breakdown of what could be hurting your sales and how to fix them. Which problem did you find you need to work on? Feel free to share in the comments below.
