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24 November 2010

Increase Traffic in your Etsy Shop - Using Tools to Renew Listings Wisely

When I first started on Etsy, I didn't understand why I wasn't getting a ton of people in my shop and selling out of everything. Upon reading some articles from The Storque & more from the Seller's Handbook, I realised that relisting my items (aka: renewing) was going to be the key to my success.


I decided I needed to make more of an effort. I entered into The Renewal Experiment.


I never used to relist my items until I discovered a way that didn't feel like I was shooting in the dark. It made sense to me that I would want to relist my items during the times of the day when I was getting the most traffic in my shop to increase my brand's visibility.

How did I find out when those times were? Google Analytics

If you have Google Analytics set up for your shop, go click on the following for your Etsy page: 

  • - Visitors
  • - Visitor Trending
  • - Visits 

At this point, there should be a graph on the screen. In the upper right hand corner of the graph, there should be a section that reads "Graph by:" which is followed by 4 buttons. Click on the button that looks like a clock.



This will show the amount of visits you've had for every hour each day for the past month. 




When I first started renewing, I would renew on my top 3 hours everyday and I increased my views quite a bit. But then I started noticing my visiting times were changing. 

In the top right hand corner just above the graph, there is a date range in which you're measuring your visits for the last month. If you want to get VERY specific, you narrow your search down for the last week or so - this allows you to see what your Etsy visitors have been trending lately. 



This graph shows that 3 PM, 5 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM and 8PM are my busiest hours in the last couple of weeks. 

Now knowing what my busiest hours were, I utilized Statsy's Clockbot to AUTOMATICALLY renew my listings throughout the day at my Peak Hours. To find out more on how Statsy's Clockbot works, check out this awesome article on Handmadeology!



When I felt confident that I was seeing increased traffic & sales, I upped the stakes a little by renewing at 20 minute intervals at 6 & 7 PM, two of my highest traffic hours, using this increase in Unique Visitors to optimize my opportunity to increase my brand's visibility!

And let me tell ya - it's fricken done WONDERS! Here's a comparison graph of what my views were from Dec 16, 2009 to June 16, 2010 right along side my views from when I started my experiment on June 17, 2010 to November 24, 2010.



I used to get less than 20 unique viewers a day. When I started doing this experiment (renewing 3 times a day), I could get up to 50 unique viewers, easily, with almost 150 pageviews. 

Then I started adding Connecting Links (ie: links that would say "If you like this, you like that") to all my listings to increase click-through and decrease bounce rate for my Etsy site to see what would happen. Those Connecting Links kicked me up to about 250 page views per day! 

Now I renew 8-10 times a day only during my peak hours (or when I've had a sale) and increased Unique Viewers to a minimum of 100 and maximum average of 250 daily, with anywhere from 300 to 650 page views in that day. I loving seeing these numbers on Craftopolis! It used to a dismal sight, but now I look forward to seeing the numbers!

Sure - it seems like a ton of work (and money), but increasing my shop's visibility and going from almost nothing to feeling like I'm making informed decisions and measuring the pros-cons with quantifiable results is REALLY awesome.

And not too hard to do. 

I would ask you to try it yourselves... just a few renewals every few days and see if it makes a difference when you look at your stats on Craftopolis! 

It sure did for me!

Share some stories about how you have increased traffic for your shop or what you plan to do to get those new customers...


Read the FOLLOW-UP on how the Renewal Experiment's increased traffic translated into SALES here.

41 comments:

  1. Wow, this is AMAZING! I hear about all these amazing tools and techniques for Etsy folks, but it often makes me feel like I'm looking at a big jumbled pile of a jigsaw puzzle. And I'm not quite sure what the picture is supposed to even look like. I feel like you've put together the puzzle right before my very eyes! Fantastic!

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  2. Awesome article Steph! Renewing is very important, and can bring good traffic if done right!

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  3. Great article! I took a chance and began renewing more often just to see what would happen and lo and behold, I actually got a few sales from it!

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  4. Sweet. I need to get on that Google Analytics. I increases my sales by relisting, but now they have dropped off again and not quite sure why. So maybe it s the hours I relist at. thanks for the post.
    peace n abundance,
    CheyAnne
    http://cheyannesexton.etsy.com

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  5. Steph, I am in awe of you! Thank you for explaining this in such a clear, step by step manner -- GA can be so confusing!

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  6. Fantastic! I've been wanting cold, hard facts on this. I'm going to do my own experiment - thanks!

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  7. Steph, awesome post. Thanks for sharing...you have given me the push I need to try this:0)

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  8. Thank you so much for this great information.

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  9. Awesome easy-to-follow directions! I have been wanting to take a tutorial on analytics but this just solved my biggest problem — trying to find out my peak hours. Thanks so much!

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  10. Great post Steph. You took the time to really work all the stuff out I should have done a while back. Has the increase of traffic correlated well to increased sales?

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  11. Thanks so much, everyone!

    To answer Rick's question about the correlation between increased traffic and sales, I'll have to post another blog post.

    I basically just wrote the answer 2 times for other people already, so I'll copy & paste that quantifiable information right now (but perhaps with not as many visual aides). :)

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  12. And if you didn't see it in the sidebar, I've posted a Follow-Up for the information I've given on my Renewal Experiment: http://nerdjerk.blogspot.com/2010/11/renewal-experiment-follow-up.html

    Enjoy! :)

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  13. Question - I went to check out Statsy Clockbot and in order to track by hour on their site you a window came up that said if I wished to proceed that I had to agree to the following and it concerned me. Is this anything to be concerned about? Access and privacy issues?

    "If you proceed, Statsy Clockbot will have permission to do the following on your behalf"

    •Change listings in your shop
    •Create new listings in your shop
    •Add to and remove from your favorites
    •Read your billing and sales data
    •Manage your shipping address

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  14. oh thank you thank you. A clear and informative post. Why have I not used craftopolis yet? OMG, I'm loving it already.

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  15. That's a good question, newsprout! I'm often worried about privacy issues online as well, and it's always good to be vigilant. :)

    But really - no worries!

    In this case, what it's prompting you to do is to allow Etsy API [Application Programming Interface] to connect a service (like Craftopolis and Statsy) with your Shop Info on Etsy. Etsy explains that "The Etsy API lets developers tap into the Etsy community, building their own apps for the web, desktop and mobile devices." This means that people can create free programs for Etsy Sellers to use in conjunction with Etsy as extra tools!

    Which is pretty fricken awesome!

    When accessing your Etsy shop, you're allowing a new application to be applied to your listings. Some examples of ones that I use include:

    Craftopolis - View my stats for the day and do a quick edit for my listings

    Statsy's Clockbot - To schedule when I can renew my items without actually having to physically clicking button throughout the day.

    EtsyOnSale - Putting a ton of my listings on sale on my own schedule and changing all my listing titles for me, along with prices without having to go though every listing myself.

    Google Analytics - How I know where I am in the grand scheme of things, where my traffic is coming from (from referring sites to countries!)

    For more info on helpful apps that cool programmers are working with Etsy to make it better for the sellers, check out http://www.etsy.com/apps !

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  16. I have not spent the time to set up Google Analytics but I can see that would be a wise and valuable use of my time. Thanks for giving me the push I need!

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  17. Thanks so much for posting this. I came across a couple hours after I renewed a listing and had a sale 5 minutes later--without even realizing I'd just renewed at one of my prime hours. So it works. Next time, I'll actually know what i'm doing!

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  18. Donna - thanks for sharing your experience! I love it when things like that happen and we don't have to wonder why.

    Congrats to all the sellers that are planning on increasing their brand's awesomeness by reaching more people. It's inspiring to see this experiment being taken on so willingly by others. :)

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  19. Thanks! How do you do the connecting links?

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  20. NekiNaturals - I didn't understand how to do those either, but once I figured it out, it's very very simple! :)

    Often in marketing, the object is to get people to buy your brand... and you want them to buy a ton of your brand! A good example is when I was working in the bath & body industry, we could have Skin Care Regimes and Body Care Regimes.

    We would say "If you exfoliate first, that body butter is going to go a long way!" or "If you like this sweet smelling Strawberry Scent, you may also love our Vanilla. Let me show you!"

    The key part of that conversation is that you're making it as EASY AS POSSIBLE to show the customer something else they'd like to purchase based on the item, they're already in love with. This creates a bond between the customer and sales person by showing interest in their item and validating their selection by offering a complimentary selection.

    Now, since we don't do that in person, we've got to find a way to do in it our Etsy Shops virtually.

    One way to do this is through connecting links.

    In my Etsy Listings (take my most popular - the Bob-Omb - http://www.etsy.com/listing/62741920/holiday-sale-bob-omb-inspired-by-super ), I tell them why my item is an awesome handmade gem and suggest a complementary item at the end of my listing, therefore validating their selection: "If you like our bestselling Bob-Omb, you might also like our Special Edition Cherry Bob-Omb: http://www.etsy.com/listing/50395611/holiday-sale-cherry-bob-omb-special "

    Something as simple as putting a small link that you think goes well with the item you're currently listing can keep folks in your shop, lead to more shop hearts and even multiple sales! :)

    Try it out and tell me what you think. :)

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  21. Thanks for your great post! A few weeks ago I decided to use Statsy to renew some listings during the early morning hours, to see if people on the other side of the world were looking - I got 2 sales from Europe that first week of listing while I was snoring away!
    Thanks for doing the research that I just haven't been able to find the time to do!!

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  22. Thanks I'm going to save this and really read it more in depth. I always check my GA and try to go by that information but I'm going to go back over everything you mentioned in case I've missed something.

    Thank you

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  23. Thanks so much for this article. I have been renewing randomly. It's a slow go but I am getting there.
    How many listings are renewed at a time?

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  24. Steph,
    you are an absolute BABE. thank you! I have all the tools, just have to use them better :) KISS your face.
    Karen

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  25. What if your listings aren't due to relist in a month or more?

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  26. This is great information. I am going to run a little experiment of my own for the next month. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for sharing :)

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  27. Hmmm..... aren't my busiest hours busy because that's when I relist or add new product! I think I need to try a different time!!!

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  28. Hi Steph! Thank you soo much for this article and the step-by-step description. Great stuff!
    I just added Google Analytics to the shop and can't wait to try this out. But will probably have to wait a week or so to get any reliable data?
    Will also need to figure out which time zones are used by Etsy and Analytics, but thst should be doable ;)

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  29. This is gold! Thank you so much, I just opened my shop selling pre made and custom shop banners and I was looking for this sort of information. I greatly appreciate it. I just set up my account with google analytics and craftopolis!!!!

    Thanks!!!

    By the way, I'm new to following blogs is it uncool to post your shops web address in comments? I wasn't sure if it was frowned upon. Thanks.

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  30. I have been doing this same thing - and I started at the same time as you too - weird! It has done wonders for my shop! I really hope this continues to work, because I am finally feeling safe in my little science bubble :) just how it should be!

    my belief - all problems have an extremely logical solution :) math, calculating and perseverance lead the way to the answer to all life's problems!!

    lol

    thanks for sharing your story!! it feels great to know i'm not alone!

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  31. Who cares about views if it doesn't result in sales. Why don't you mention how your sales have changed after your tinkering?

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  32. Hi Anonymous -

    If you read the bottom of the post, there's a link to the follow-up... about how the increased traffic resulted in increased sales. :D

    Here's the link again: http://nerdjerk.blogspot.com/2010/11/renewal-experiment-follow-up.html

    Hope the tinkering helps,

    - Steph

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  33. Thanks for making your post user friendly! An inspirational goal, by the way, you got a smile out of me...:)

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  34. That's great to know, Sweetie. Maybe that's the reason why I got into your blog. =] My friends who have their own business are also using using these stuff to maintain or even gain their sales and popularity.

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  35. This is such a great help! I could do Statsy ok but I can't figure out how to get it to work with google analytics. It keeps saying I have to put this code on my etsy page. Help!

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  36. Thanks so much for this! When you re-list items, how many do you re-list at a time?

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  37. Any way you could post the new google analytics directions? I used to use this method before GA got all crazy, but now it's just way too confusing with the new layout!

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  38. Now that Etsy search results are sorted by relevancy rather than newest listings, is this process of renewing still valid?

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  39. great article, simple but effective method

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  40. As an Etsy seller, I really enjoyed this post. Your Google Analytics work is an awesome example of tracking how renewals affect sales and views. I've recently stumbled upon www.bestautorenew.com and have fallen in love! It's the simplest way that I've found to renew my listings and to track my sales or discounts at certain times of the year. Definitely worth checking out!!

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