Shop Critique!

[Former_Member]

Hi Team!
There was a lot of posts on the Welcome thread about checking out each other's shops and giving advice/suggestions. So I decided to make a separate thread for it. Whoever posts in this thread, their shop is up for critique. Let's give constructive criticism and be honest since this is a critique and the ultimate goal is to improve our shops.

[Former_Member]

I'll start this off! Please critique my shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/DreamingStudioLLC

What do you guys think of my pictures? Anything I can improve? To be honest, I've been struggling with taking good product pictures, the lighting in my studio is not ideal and the table lights I got create too much harsh shadows. So I end up doing a lot of editing and it's so time consuming.

What do you guys think of the quality of my products? Suggestions on improvements?
As someone who works primarily with paper, I'm always afraid that it doesn't look as professional as some of the other shops and might even look like a 4 year old threw it together. Please be honest!

Overall impression of my shop? Any advice, comments or suggestions are welcomed :)

Thank you all so much!

[Former_Member]

Would someone mind giving me a look? It's bcbaypaint.

[NorthernAdmiration]

Hello Lauralilly
Took a look. I think the pictures look beautiful, really showcases your products. The white background is crisp and clean. Only thing I could think to add would be some pictures of the items in a practical setting, maybe a picture of the mobile in a nursery? Or the jar with notes sitting on a desk or mantel. I know personally I’m drawn to seeing things placed in a practical sense.

We hope to add some practical pictures to our brand as well.

Instagram looks nice, I like the pictures of the process.

Couldn’t find you on FB.

Hope that helps.

We would love some feedback and a follow!

[Former_Member]

Northern Admiration,
Thanks for looking! And yes, you're right, I'm going to try the practical setting.

Your pictures looking amazing, great lighting and wood texture background. I think the only thing is what you said, to add more practical pictures, like people wearing them.
As mentioned before, I love your shop story, it really makes me feel like your brand is a real person.
I honestly can't find anything else that needs improvement! Lol
I think for now, just focusing on getting more listings up to fill up your shop. I really hope that helped...

[NataliasGarden]

Brandon Clark,

Hi. I’m just going to jump in and tell you that I like your artwork. It’s very vibrant and cool. I also like how reasonably priced it is. Maybe you could increase the prices and put them on sale for your original price of $20? Or offer a free shipping sale. Or test out this strategy with a couple paintings. Since sales draw buyer. I’m new to this game too, but my first several purchases happened when I had a “grand opening” sale.

Also, I suggest adding several photos of each painting. Pictures of them on a wall above a piece of furniture taken at your studio or at home might be neat. Or maybe take picture(s) of your art on an easel. If you struggle with lightning issues, or aren’t sure where to hang them, then maybe you could take a picture of your art, crop the picture to just around the edges of the art and place the cropped art on to a stock photo background. Lots of professional and polished photos lead to better sales. Customers need to picture how your work would look in their home.

I hope this makes sense and that you find it helpful. I wish you lots of success with your store!

Anna

[NataliasGarden]

Anyone willing to give me advice for me new shop? Thanks in advance.

[Former_Member]

Check my shop and tell your advices ! Thank you www.etsy.com/shop/Zempihandmadebags

[Former_Member]

I’d love some feedback as this is a brand new shop for me:
www.etsy.com/shop/thecapelstcompany

[Former_Member]

Please, I want your comments for my shop. Especially for the photos. Thanks
www.etsy.com/shop/METALORAMA

[Former_Member]

Thank you Anna I'll try to change it up a little with the photos.

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Hi, sorry, I should've included this in my original post, but please critique at least 1 other account if you want your own shop critiqued. The more opinions we get from different people, the more helpful because it gives us a wider range of perspectives. Thanks again!

[NataliasGarden]

MARIA RAFELETOU,

Great purses! I especially am a fan of the "snow white" ice colored bag! Also, I really like that "whale print" bag in the picture on your about you section. Wish that one was for sale! The countryside view in the background is quite lovely.

A few suggestions are:

1. As a potential buyer, I wonder what the inside of the purses/bags looks like? Do they have pockets? Maybe consider including photos of the inside of some of the bags.

2. Maybe you might consider having someone model the bags. Lots of good photos sell products.

3. I can't view your tags, but make sure you are using all 13 of your tags. And use them wisely. Think about what the costumer is typing into their search engine.

Overall, it's a great shop! Best of luck!

[GardensGateJewelry]

Good morning everyone! I have a relatively new store for jewelry, all upcycled and repurposed. Would love a critique! http://etsy.me/2y9klgj

[GardensGateJewelry]

Leah Gordon-
Your items are lovely!
My suggestions?
You need more stock. 10 items don’t give you much of an opportunity to be found. Everything I hear is that you need at least 50 things.
Gouache- is explain what this is in your description. I’d probably keep looking as I have no idea what it means.
Talk about your process more- it looks like the greeting cards have sewn hearts. Maybe discuss that?
I would include the conversion to inches since you ship to the US as well. I personally can’t picture what the conversion would be.
Best of luck to you!
Missy

[Former_Member]

Thanks Missy, that’s awesome feedback. Working on stock but I’ll definitely work on my descriptions. Thank you again, Leah

[SmileGreetingCards]

I would love any advice to make my Shop better. I’m getting some orders, but feel I’d like to reach more customers. I try to use all my tags but struggle trying to figure out what words to use. Also, do any of you use Pattern? Do you feel it’s the best way to use my marketing dollars? Thanks for any and all advice!
Jan
www.etsy.com/shop/smilegreetingcards

[Former_Member]

Hi Missy, I think you’ve done an awesome job of setting up your business. I can only suggest a few things based on personal preference:
- more concise descriptions, I go for facts over trying to read a story. Maybe give a blurb underneath for those who want more details.
- consistent photos, some are repetitive and some are a little blurry or in bad light.
- titles - check out some of your competition as you may be able to tighten the words in your titles to improve your results on searching.
- Unfortunately the cost of postage to Australia would probably mean I’d hesitate to purchase with the total cost being high for your product but I wouldn’t make that judgement across the board as I’m sure it’s fine for others. I have the same problem in my shop so I’m not sure how you overcome it.
Good luck with your business, I hope it goes from strength to strength for you. Leah

[SmileGreetingCards]

Hi Missy, I checked out your beautiful jewelry shop. You have awesome pieces. I feel your pictures have lots of great lighting being shot outdoors, but the wood fencing may not always show your pieces to their best advantage. Real models give women the best idea of how that necklace might look on them. How it hangs, how the length is, etc. it’s hard to tell how a piece might look against a blouse or dress when it’s only being shown on a fence post (even though those are cool pictures).

Be sure to use your description area. It’s a great place to discuss the necklaces best characteristics. Ie: perfect for casual attired or good for day time right into evening, etc.

Your jewelry is really great and with the materials being organic, each piece will unique!

Good luck!
Jan
Smile Greeting Cards

[GardensGateJewelry]

Thank you Jan and Leah! Sorry it took so long to respond, I lost this thread! I’m new to the Teams area ( and Etsy of course) and couldn’t find this one again for a while. Thank you so much for your suggestions- I’ve already removed some of the duplicate appearing pictures. I’ve looked through others and Leah i think you are right- better to have fewer pictures then duplicates. This title thing is crazy!!! With jewelry being such a saturated market, I’m having difficulty finding the best words to use to get noticed. I do great selling in person though, so I’m mot giving up:) I’m working on live models. What do you think is best for the main picture- a live person modeling, or the studio shot? Opinions seem to vary a lot.

[Former_Member]

Missy, love your boho necklaces!! And your cover photo is beautiful, did you take that? I think you could vary main pictures with live and studio .

[GardensGateJewelry]

Thank you Lauralily! The photo is from pixaby, I wish I had that kind of skill! 😁 I will try to vary them then. I always here everything needs to be uniform, but that seems so boring.

[YasArtDesign]

Hi Jan,
I’ve just looked at your shop and you have some lovely stuff. Very colourful. You have good wide range of photos and your words and tags seem spot on. I’d appreciate feedback on my shop too. I make cards and pictures from wax.
Thanks,
Yasmine

[GardensGateJewelry]

Good morning Yasmine! Your cards are quite lovely! I know these would be the card that was saved if I gave it to someone I loved. Probably framed I imagine 😁. And your prices are quite reasonable, but I wonder if you couldn’t charge more. I know I generally pay the same or more when I buy a mass produced card at my local store.
My suggestions would be to change up your titles- with them all starting with encaustic ( and the research I’ve done) they are competing with themselves.
Consider researching light boxes. They are quite easy to make yourself and fairly inexpensive for your smaller items if you want to purchase one from amazon. I think you could raise the bar if your pictures were improved. Best of luck to you!

[YasArtDesign]

Great thanks so much Missy Brandt. What do you mean by researching light boxes?