New Etsy Format - Early Bird Writing Tips!

[#1]

If you’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on with Etsy's update (final switch due in April, but small changes are being made every day), it might look a little confusing. Things have been moved around, sections that used to be at the top are now at the bottom, and, on the desktop, many images are now much larger. How will this affect the writing in your shop? Let's take a look.

SHOP ICON and SHOP TITLE
The name of your shop, your icon, your personal photo and your shop title (looks like a tag line) now appear at the top of the Home page. This puts a huge amount of pressure on your shop title and icon to deliver powerful messages that instantly engage buyers. Revisit these two items if you aren’t sure that you’ve fully optimized them.

Note: If you opt for a banner or cover photo, that image will appear across the page at the very top. If you decide to use a banner, make sure it’s gorgeous, and gives visitors a very clear, very appealing idea of what you sell and what makes your products so special. It’s extremely “in your face” when you land on your Home page, so you might consider leaving it out unless it adds real value.

REVIEWS INFO
Everyone seems to have noticed that your star rating and review count now appear at the top of the page. This will be difficult for new shop owners who by definition have had few sales so far. It also negatively affects anyone who has run into a difficult customer or two and has suffered from negative reviews that perhaps they didn’t deserve. Nothing much to be done about it, unfortunately.

On the other hand, this is good news for successful, long-term sellers with lots of great reviews and high sales volume. Here, as well, though (and the same was true in the past), sellers with lower-priced items that sell in large volume will get a break compared to higher-end sellers with expensive items and lower per-item sales overall.

FEATURED PRODUCTS
Your four featured product images come next on the page. This means that buyers will see some product photos before they get to your shop announcement. Keep this in mind when planning your strategy for overall marketing or for special sales. For example, suppose you have a limited promotion going on and have decided to use your shop announcement to highlight it. In this case, you might want to feature photos with a “SALE” notice on them, because buyers won’t see the “sale” message in your announcement unless they scroll down.

SHOP ANNOUNCEMENT
The visible portion of the shop announcement is very short, so use the opening sentences for your most powerful, most engaging messages. As mentioned above, you can also use the opener for special sales or promotions. The visible portion is even shorter on mobile devices, so you might want to investigate how your announcement looks on several different popular platforms.

PRODUCT PHOTOS
The next thing that buyers see moving down is a set of product photos and, to the left, a list of your categories/sections. These photos are huge now on the desktop, so your photography could make a big difference. Great photos will sell even better. Bad photos will hurt even more.

Good news: A little more of the listing title shows up underneath each photo in the desktop display, so you might be able to use that to your advantage.

REVIEWS
Next in line scrolling down are your latest reviews. I don’t know how many reviews will show up before the “see more.” These reviews are also quite large and conspicuous on the desktop, so a lot might be riding on how generous your buyers have been recently.

SHOP ABOUT INFORMATION
All the text that was previously on your shop About page now appears under the reviews on the Home page. You can also add a video or photos above the text. Whether or not to use photos/video depends on how strong a story you can tell visually. If your photos or video add a tremendous amount of appeal and value, and strongly support your selling messages, then by all means use them. Otherwise, you might consider going straight to the text.

The visible portion of the About section only contains a few paragraphs, so use the opener to deliver your most important messages. Readers won’t always click on “Read more.”

EXTERNAL LINKS
Links to your outside website, Facebook, and so on, previously appeared in the right-hand column of the shop About page on the desktop. In the new format, they’re located after the shop About information. Not as convenient as before, although this was already the case on mobile devices.

SHOP MEMBERS BIO(S)
The little bio blurbs that used to appear at the top of the shop About page have been moved to a lower position on your Home page, following the external links. Will anyone ever read this material? I’m not sure, but you should fill it out anyway.

POLICIES
Finally (this is a very long page!) your Shop Policies are listed. You can keep your current policies language or opt to use Etsy’s new policies template. Take a look and decide if Etsy’s template is better than your own wording. My guess is that there will be tweaks to the template over time as sellers begin to use it and provide feedback.

Note that clickable links at the top of the Home page can take a visitor directly to the About section, reviews or policies. We’ll have to wait and see if buyers actually use these links.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS
Product descriptions evidently look the same in the new format, but the editing area for each listing now lets you view a preview of what supposedly will show up in Google search results. Unfortunately, testing has revealed that this preview isn’t entirely reliable (at least not at this time), so the information might not be especially useful.

The opening couple sentences of your product description remain the most important. Use your top selling points to engage buyers immediately. Also include your top one or two SEO keyword phrases to improve your chances of being seen in buyer searches.

I'll keep tabs on the update as Etsy continues to implement changes, and will let you know if I spot anything new that affects the writing in your shop.

By the way, If you'd like me to take a quick look at your shop, just post below. I might be able to offer some quick tips.

Note: Feel free to view this article and previous posts for Etsy sellers at http://www.facebook.com/chaconsulting.

[BCCopywriting]

Jeanne: Glad this has been helpful! Do you have a link to the new version of your shop to look at the banner?

[BCCopywriting]

Jim and Karen: I didn't realize before posting that the process on the team is for people to post their requests for critiques in the team threads. It's easy - just "Create a Thread" and ask your question, then "post." You can ask for a general critique or ask a specific question. Once that's done, both Mary and I (and in fact, anyone else) can provide some feedback for you. I'll be on the lookout and will be glad to offer some brief comments from the copywriting perspective.

[VivaTerraVintage]

@Barbara Clavan

I have adopted the new policies and this is the email that is sent to the customer when they place an order. I find them to be very brusque, bordering on rude and not very well written. I would love your opinion.

Additional information from TreasuresFoundShoppe:

Shipping

Estimated shipping times
North America: 1 - 9 business days
I'll do my best to meet these shipping estimates, but cannot guarantee them. Actual delivery time will depend on the shipping method you choose.

Customs and import taxes
Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. Sellers aren't responsible for delays due to customs.



Returns & exchanges

I gladly accept returns, exchanges, and cancellations
Just contact me within: 5 days of delivery
Ship returns back to me within: 14 days of delivery
Request a cancellation within: 12 hours of purchase

The following items can't be returned or exchanged
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:
Custom or personalized orders
Perishable products (like food or flowers)
Digital downloads
Intimate items (for health/hygiene reasons)

Conditions of return
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.

Questions about your order?
Please contact me if you have any problems with your order.



If you were not involved in this transaction, please contact us via our Contact Page.

Thanks,
Etsy

[GabriellasTreasures]

Tracey, call me confused :) Are you saying that all you wrote here is an automatically generated email from Etsy to buyer upon every sale?

[VivaTerraVintage]

If you adopt the new policies then after a buyer makes a purchase an email is sent to them. The email has their order information and then below that are the policies I posted above. This is what happened in my case.

FYI There is no return shipping information included in the email.

[AdriLunaStudio]

I would love a review, Barbara! Any advice is happily welcome! Thank you in advance!

[BCCopywriting]

Hi, Adri! I didn't realize before posting that the process on the team is for people to post their requests for critiques in the team threads. It's easy - just "Create a Thread" and ask your question, then "post." You can ask for a general critique or ask a specific question. Once that's done, both Mary and I (and in fact, anyone else) can provide some feedback for you. I'll be on the lookout and will be glad to offer some brief comments from the copywriting perspective.

[BCCopywriting]

Tracey and Patricia: Yeah, not particularly inviting. There's a lot of buzz right now about the policies template. I wouldn't be surprised if Etsy announced changes sometime soon. I saw an Etsy post that said you can switch back if you want, but I haven't experimented myself. I'm sticking to my existing policies for the meantime. Although the new policies are supposed to fill in the gaps for inexperienced sellers who sometimes forget to include important information, I'm not sure the template works so well for experienced sellers who know what they're doing. There was an issue, too, about a supposed advantage in searches but that information was very vague and I don't think anyone really knows what, exactly, is going on. My advice recently has been to wait. You can always switch later. My personal opinion.

[MarthaAndBoo]

Just wanted to say thank you for this information. I'm constantly tweaking my shop and listings, and sales are at a level I can cope with, having 2 other jobs too. But I can see immediately what mistakes I'm making after reading some of the articles in this team. I have a lot of work to do on my descriptions and integration of keywords in a more natural way. It can't all be bad, as a few of my items are regularly at the top of search results (after the promoted listings) so I'm going to use those as a base for some of my other listings. I'm going to be busy for a while, I think. Thanks again for being so generous with advice.

[BCCopywriting]

Tracey: Glad to hear the information has been helpful! Also happy to hear that you're doing well in search results even before updating. Let us know how it all turns out!

[HKart1]

Thank you for all this information.
Do you happen to know where is the option of: "rearrange your shop"
in the new format?
Thanks.

[BCCopywriting]

Hello, Hana! You have to be in "Edit Your Shop" mode first. Then scroll down and right under the announcement, and right before the regular listings start is an option to "Rearrange items." If you click on that, it goes into rearrange mode, and you can drag and drop as much as you want. (I don't know yet how they handle page-to-page, though.) When you're done, you need to "Exit rearrange mode" in the same exact place as before. Let me know if you run into any problems. Good luck!

[TheRitzyMeow]

Wonderful post Barbara! I wasn't paying much attention to the changes but I could definitely look into re-working the intro photo/banner along with the "shop member bio." Thank you so much for posting this!

[Former_Member]

Thank you, Barbara, for those great tips!
I'm making some changes in my shop and a bit confused if I'm making the right thing! Especially the opening words of the listing description is the main issue for me.
Any advice of yours will be more then helpful!
Thank you in advance!

[HKart1]

Thank you Barbara,
They must have added the " rearrange your shop" feature, just recently, since before I checked all over and have not found it.
It is yet a little sluggish, but it works:-), and as you say, I have not found the page to page rearrangement yet. Hopefully it will appear eventually.
Thank you, and good luck to all.

[alisonblairstudio]

Fantastic article, Barbara. Thank you so much. I would love for you to take a look at my shop and critique. I am forever working on my photos and aim to make them a little more consistent. It does sometimes feel like one step forward and two steps back, though. One thing I go back and forth on is: Does it work better to keep similar items together, or sprinkle different designs about so that you get more bang for your buck, on first glance? I always think it looks nicer to have a coordinated page, but then you sacrifice getting the "something for everyone" message out. Thanks in advance for your advice.

[BCCopywriting]

Kartinka: Fun shop! Lots of great designs! And very colorful. Couple things: You're missing a lot of opportunities by not filling your descriptions. If someone's landing at a particular listing, they're interested. Why send them off to another place? Keep them there with some fun details about the item they're looking at. Also, make sure that you use your top SEO phrases at the beginning of your descriptions - in a natural way, woven into normal sentences. Otherwise, you might miss out on lots of people searching on Google. Also, it's best to strike a balance between friendly language and the "hard sell" approach. Somewhere in between is best. Be friendly, but not too casual - strong messages up front, without being too "salesy." It takes a little practice, but I'm sure you can do it.

Hope this helps! Best of luck to you!

[BCCopywriting]

Alison: Beautiful jewelry, and a lovely shop! I do agree that the photos don't do the pieces justice. Did you notice that in a lot of shots the light isn't falling on the item, it's falling elsewhere? When you create your setups, try to be more aware of where the light is going. Not a photo expert, but I did notice that.

Whenever you're writing in the shop, always remember to start right off with your best sellings points, the most interesting things that buyers want to see and hear. What's going to quickly engage them? For example, the visible portion of your shop announcement on mobile would be: "After a long winter, Alison Blair Studio is blooming and busting out, with new designs." Why not just start with, "New designs!" Then you've got a lot of room to say more great things.

The same with your About page. The information is excellent (and great photos!) but start with statements that really grab the reader, then add on the wonderful story.

Keep this in mind in your descriptions. Remove the copied titles from the starts of your descriptions. These can be read as spam by the outside search engines and can cause you to lose opportunities in searches. Use your good SEO phrases in natural sounding sentences. Have you done the SEO research? Some of your titles don't look as though the phrases would match what buyers are actually typing into their search bars to find items like yours.

Overall, you're doing very well. Keep going!

If you haven't already taken a look, feel free to visit: http://www.facebook.com/groups.copywritingcoach. Free group with lots of weekly activities, a fun place to learn more about how to write great copy.

Best of luck to you!

[SweetSparrowDesign]

Great info!

I've been working through my SEO for listings... not really sure how to apply it to my shop announcement, etc though. So any help on that would be appreciated, as well as a look at my policies and overall shop. Thank you! <3

[BCCopywriting]

Tara: Fun shop and a lot of great items! Couple things: I think you would benefit from a little more consistency in your presentation. Some photos are good, other not so much. Some are single, others have four-in-one. Give that some thought.

Your descriptions overall are quite nice. Well written. But make sure to repeat your title phrases (which I assume you've researched for their SEO value) in your descriptions. Work them in naturally, in normal sentences, rather than just listing them.

Your About section and profile/bio again are written nicely, but they lack oomph. No real information about why someone should buy from you. Can you pin down some specifics? What is special about your items? Why should customers purchase from you rather than from another shop with similar items? That sort of thing.

Your announcement is oddly different from everything else. Remember only the first little bit is visible before readers have to click "read more." Use that opener to deliver some powerful statements about you, your shop, and what you sell.

Have you read the post about Product Descriptions? You might benefit from the information there. Lots of tips about all the different sections in your shop. It's available on video at: http://www.facebook.com/chaconsulting (scroll down).

Hope these few comments help! Best of luck to you!

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much, Barbara!!!

[BuffaloGalVintage]

Thanks Barbara, love the simplistic way you broke it down. Kiss!

Buffalo Gal

[mooonart]

Hi Barbara,
l cant wait to hear your comments abaut my shop.
l have some difficulties with my photos .l know that and hopefully l try to cure them .thanks a lot.

[BCCopywriting]

Ayla: Your shop is lovely and your items are beautiful! About your photos: some are actually very nice, others not so much. It looks like you would benefit from better lighting in many cases, and making sure the light falls in the right places.

In general, I think you might need to do more SEO research to find out which phrases users are actually typing into their search bars to find items like yours on Etsy and on Google. Also, your descriptions tend to tell just the facts, and could use some more selling points - what makes your jewelry so special? What makes it stand out from the competition? What special sorts of items do you provide that others don't? I think you have some unique items that could be discussed in this way.

Here are a couple resources that could be helpful:

Video on Etsy product descriptions at: http://www.facebook.com/chaconsulting (scroll down)

Free Facebook group where we talk a lot about copywriting and have weekly writing tips, critiques, grammar checks, fun word challenges and professional guidance and support: http://www.facebook.com/groups/copywritingcoach

Free Facebook group for SEO advice - The SEO Salon: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1686821111533696

I hope these few comments and these resources will be helpful for you!

[mooonart]

Barbara , thank you very much. l will definitely work harder fallowing your comments . Facebook groups will be fantastic. Thanks again.