Do you think - the more choices you offer , there is more confusion in choosing the item

[amuandpri]

Recently I came across a talk on "How to make choosing easier - by Sheena Iyengar " , according to her, 'less is more '

If I apply this to my etsy shop, I am selling handmade & I am listing 91 items, I have 4-5 pages.

1. as a buyer would you check the items till the last page ?
2. Would you like to look at 1 pattern with different colors in the shop ? Or 1 color & different types of patterns ?
3. are you confused when looking at my shop ?

These answers will decide my road to success.( may apply to everyone )

[amuandpri]

Here I am providing the link to the TED talk, if you want to listen

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose.html

[Former_Member]

This is a great question - I think in most cases less is more - trying not to overwhelm the customer. I think 4 pages isn't TOO much, but unless I'm super interested in what you sell, I may not look at all the pages. However, the way Etsy works, the more listings you have, the more likely someone is to find and buy from you. Very different from a brick and mortar store - the customer has already chosen to go there so its easy to say that offering fewer choices will help them make a decision.

Honestly I liked looking around your shop - all the different colors and styles laid out for me - great eye candy. You could try experimenting with showing all the patterns in one color - but then you may lose people in search who don't see "their" color.

I'm not confused when I look at your shop, but maybe, since you have your categories laid out by the items' function, you could rearrange you shop by color. So if someone comes in looking specifically for purple, everything's in one place.

I think that a handmade shop with too many pages (like upwards of 6) can be a bit off-putting. (How would you have time to maintain that anyways!!) And doesn't really give me a handmade vibe. So yes, less is more, but on Etsy, you still have to have enough product and variety to be found in the sea of choices. You still have to compete.

[Former_Member]

Because most people find your items through a search, then items are automatically narrowed down. Unless you sell 300 black fingerless gloves. :)

[WintergreenDesign]

I would generally agree with that statement but I don't know how well it works on Etsy... because even if I offer less choices of color or style in my store that may not be true of someone elses shop. Most people use the search function to find things on Etsy so the more "black fingerless gloves" I offer for the person who is searching for them the more likely I am to get the sale than a person who only has one pair...

In my shop I don't offer a ton of color choices... in fact the host of items are done in 6 colors only but if someone asked me specificially for something in a different color I would accommodate them : )

[Former_Member]

I pretty much agree with everything, MissSarahMac posted. I would definitely consider changing your categories to colors because you have such a variety of those. If someone is looking for a specific color, it might be easier for someone to find what they're looking for. :)

[PithAndRootStudio]

Priya, Thanks for sharing the video. I think it's a very interesting question for Etsians. I liked looking at your shop, too. I don't think you have too many choices and it is definitely not confusing for me to look at them. I have a hunch that most people will come to your shop because they are looking for hair and shoe accessories in specific colors to match a formal dress, etc. So, the choice will already be narrowed for the buyer.

For Etsy sellers, the second concept in this TED talk is the most important: Concretize, make things vivid. For example, your photos are great and I can visualize how the flowers look in person and how they will match.

Ultimately, I think when a buyer comes to Etsy looking for gloves, hats, and other accessories, it is not like the choice to buy shampoo or a financial plan. It's an aesthetic choice and I think most people know more immediately what they like and don't like if it's simply a visual choice. At least, that's how it is for me. Give me thirty aqua scarves and it doesn't take me too long to figure out my favorite.

Furthermore, that fatigued, overloaded feeling is more a danger in Etsy's search results and not in an individual shop. Being very specific with tags and description will help the buyer in that regard by narrowing the search if they know what they are looking for.

[Former_Member]

I say "not too much". Really, that's why Etsy has sections. :) If you only offered say 5 flower clips, visitors would not have enough to choose from. As long as things are divided into sections, it allows you to have 15 items in each section, but easy for people to look through at only the type/style of item they want.

Now if a shop literally sells one item (say only leather dog collars), a specific item, than 90 might seem like a lot to sort through.

[amuandpri]

thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts,
To sum up the ideas - there should be a balance of everything from # of listings to colors & also a variety of patterns !
...to try all permutations & combinations to get more views & sales.
I hope you all agree that constantly bombarding a pattern - gives rise to a new fashion & this is what handmade achives.

There may be different mantras for everyone but the bottom line is " Keep trying & never lose hope ".

[LetterLuxe]

I recently read an Etsy seller tip (can't remember where I read it) that said that having a store with a lot of items is great for business -- the idea is that the more unique items you have, the greater number of unique tags you'll use for your products, the more people who will find your shop and, hopefully, make a purchase. Make sense?

Over the last couple months I've been making a concerted effort to expand the number of items in my shop and my listing/shop views have gone up dramatically and I've been making more sales.

Hope this helps!

[amuandpri]

@Amanda hmm, more unique items ( makes sense ) and this will definetely drive more traffic !
btw your shop is lovely !

[BackyardBrand]

This is an interesting question, especially if you offer many items that don't differ in appearance.

To drive customers into Sections, I created a shop section that I keep empty http://www.etsy.com/shop/BackyardBrand?section_id=10621508 so buyers are forced to begin to qualify themselves, somewhat, by having to choose a section. I only drive to it from YouTube, tho (so it's more a beta test than anything else, and hard to quantify).

[Former_Member]

I always like direct answers so that's what Im providing. Hope thats okay

1. as a buyer would you check the items till the last page ?
No, i tend to only look through the 1st 3 pages.
2. Would you like to look at 1 pattern with different colors in the shop ? Or 1 color & different types of patterns ?
For me I'd like to see different patterns in a single color and know that there are color options available. I like when someone shows a design than the last image is the palette that is available in.
3. are you confused when looking at my shop ?
A little, its overwhelming to my eye and it could be the nature of the product, since there are no smooth lines, but that's the way its supposed to be. I think finding a different way of finding synergy between the images is key. Maybe sticking to a single type of background for a type of product. All hair pins on one background, all shoes on another and at the same angel.

Thank you for the link and the thought, its awesome and inspiring.

Aud

[amuandpri]

@Jim this is something new to me, how to implement this ?
should this link be added on youtube.. so when clicked it comes to this section ?

[creativesparks03]

@Amanda, I'm glad you posted that. At times I feel like I have too many different things I want to try.

I have a number of different items in my shop and do find that i get viewed from different searches. I do think this helps but sometimes feel like my shop is not streamlined enough.
I have tried to sepereate things into categories but maybe I should be more specific?
I have a lot of polymer items then also some beaded items and have taken to making recycled items as well.
Confusing really on how to stay on top of it all....

[Former_Member]

I've been asking myself the same question. Originally I wanted to offer four different items all in the same fabric. I've since decided to change this because I think it is a bit confusing. I decided most people come to my shop looking for a specific color, which I think is probably true for you too, so I switched my sections to reflect color schemes. I decided I don't have time to make 4 items in every color, so now I make two which means I can offer a wider variety of colors faster and have more deverse tags and hopefully more hits. Then, I specify in my listing that if they want custom items in a color I'm offering I can do that.

I'd love for someone to take a look at my shop and tell me if they think it's confusing.

[BackyardBrand]

I had 39 I think but my first sale didn't happen until October as I recall