Huge decrease in views and sales

[WildFireFlies]

Wondering if anyone else is having this problem.
I haven't done anything different and everything had decreased extremely. I still work my listings, promote etc. everything I was doing before.
If anyone else has had this problem and figured out what to do, I will greatly appreciate the advice.
Thanks in advance,
Shelli

[ArteOfTheBooke]

No sure what to tell you, Shelli. I have not experienced that problem; in fact, I'm already seeing slightly increased pre-holiday traffic.

[WildFireFlies]

Thats wonderful. Hopefully mine will pick back up soon. Thank you anyways.

[TheDorothyDays]

Hi Shelli,

Sorry to hear that. I notice that you sell lots of wedding items. I sell lots of my tags for weddings and had lots of wedding orders at the start of summer but not many now. Maybe it is because it is coming to the end of wedding season? While the shop is a bit quieter I am going to try and take the time to get ready for the Christmas rush! Hope traffic in your shop picks up soon :)

[WildFireFlies]

Thank you! That could be the problem. I am taking time myself to add more items for Christmas, Hopefully that will help to.

[Former_Member]

Well first off your shop is lovely! Your items are beautiful.
This is my opinion. I think it could be that half a star that is hurting you.
I had a bad review come up (customer thankfully changed it) and it about killed my shop. For the week and a half my shop was at 4 1/2 stars saw a huge drop in views, and almost no sales. It really hurt. Within 3 hours of her changing her review I saw a spike. I am convinced that half a star hurt my visibility and sales.

I personally loathe rating systems. People leave 3 stars for petty things like "bigger than I thought" Or "it was off by one shade so it wasn't perfect" or "shipping took awhile" Even when it clearly states that the item is custom, therefore takes time to make. The other day I was reading reviews on a bed and breakfast. Every review raved about how wonderful it was, but even great reviews were accompanied by 3 and 4 stars... I thought, what in the world? You rave about it but then leave 3 stars? Those stars are the bane of every business owners existence if you ask me... I really disliked when Etsy implemented them into the review system, because even happy customers can leave great review but less than 5 stars... and it hurts.

[WildFireFlies]

Thank you so much! I was afraid that may be the problem. I don't think some folks realize that my stuff is handmade. I try my hardest to get to everyone on time sometimes I fall short of when I should but always get it to them before their date needed.
Thank you for the advice I truly appreciate it!

[TOMgirlApparel]

I don't think it's the stars. Most people perceive 4 out of 5 stars as really good. If you look at your feedback (which many people actually do not), you see that most are glowingly happy. I wouldn't attribute it to the 4.5 stars.

This time of year is after wedding season and back to school so it is a natural dip for many categories (of course, not all). Having said that, many shops that would seemingly be slow this time of year are having their best month ever.

I would do a few things if I were you. I would re-examine tags and titles. Check where you show up in search and if it is not first few pages, do some tweaking. Make sure your most important keyword phrases are in both tags and titles.

I would also work on improving pictures. Yours are nice, but there is always room for improvement in pics in my opinion.

Lastly, I would look to drive traffic outside of Etsy. I would contact bloggers for reviews and also look into advertising.

Good luck!

[KIVVERS]

Holiday weekend? Final blowout of the summer?

[ThatsItforLess]

I'm new to etsy and this group as of today, although I am not promoting that I have opened my store over this weekend since I assume not many will see it. I have had a retail gift and decor store for several yeas and I can tell you that August is my slowest month. People are not only having their last vacation flings but they are also focused on getting ready for school and focusing on school shopping which leaves little money for the little extras they might be buying otherwise. Mid way through September sales typically pick up with the focus shifting to the holidays, etc.

[WildFireFlies]

Thank you all. I have been working on tags and what not today. I really appreciate the advice!

[Former_Member]

You've been in business for a few years now, look at your shop dashboard compared to last year. Does this seem normal? If you have been successful all this time and not seen random drop offs, I highly doubt it is because you are not being found or your photos/tag/descriptions aren't good enough... etc. Your shop is unique and your photos are fitting for your rustic flare.
I would say your next couple orders work your butt off to get them out as fast as you can, get some extra 5 star reviews on how awesome your product is and "super fast shipping" and I bet you will see a perk up.
I cant help but disagree with TOMgirl. People do read reviews, I know if I see less than 5 stars I go reading for the reviews to see why... It seems your customers are happy but they want faster shipping. I think that is where you will need to work and see what you can tweak to get things more streamlined.
Believe me when I understand how hard that can be. I too run a "made to order" shop and sometimes it can be overwhelming, you get burnt out, procrastinate, think "well I still have a week till the 'ship by' date" I am so guilty of that especially during months where I get close to 100 orders in the month. It can be tough and it doesn't help when you feel people aren't appreciating that hard work...
Maybe that's just me, Just wanted to let you know you are not alone if you feel that way too and no worries, just keep working your butt off and pushing through, those views will go up again.

[WildFireFlies]

Cassandra I really appreciate you! I'm glad you came back and wrote to me. I do feel the same. It is hard keeping up sometimes especially being a full time mom as well. After I got the last one about the time frame , I definitely pushed harder to get my orders out. I noticed I don't get reviews like I would like to, the amount that is. I noticed a lot of my customers don't leave a review. I was wondering if I could do something to get them to leave reviews. I have asked some that would message me and tell me they loved their item, if they had time to leave a review for me. Do you have any ideas? Thank you for your encouraging words! :-)

[TOMgirlApparel]

I didn't say people don't read reviews, I said many do not. That's true. Also, 4 stars out of 5 is still considered great to many people.

I looked at a few listings and I believe they could be optimized better. The moment you stop optimizing for search and improving your tags/titles, you are in trouble. That never ends.

I think the photos can be improved.

I do agree with Cassandra that her customers want faster shipping. As a bride, that's one of the biggest concerns that you won't get it by wedding date. So those comments may make some people worried.

[maydaylabels]

I think the key here is that you say views and sales are both down. Are views from search down? If they are, that has nothing to do with stars, so at least some of the blame is the season (you seem to be a pretty wedding-focused shop, which is strongest in the summer months) and possibly your SEO. Your tags don't look too bad, but most of your titles are very similar - why not branch out some to optimize for different phrases with your various listings?

Also, I agree that photos are mediocre.

I would do these things if I were in your shoes:

1. Figure out how to use my materials and skills for something other than weddings, to fill out the non-wedding months.

2. Fix my photos. Do a search for one of your more popular phrases and then see which photos jump out at you. Make yours more like those.

3. Look at SEO; diversify titles; do some keyword research with the suggested search and google's keyword planner.

4. Ship things out early.

[WildFireFlies]

Thanks for the advice. I have tweaked some of my titles and tags. I have more to do in thw morning. My eyes are kinda crossing now. As far as my pictures I really like them and thought I done a good job on them. I do tend to try and pay attention to other listings but of course mine are what jump out at me. Other than mine I guess I would have to say the plain white back grounds. Do you all think it would be a wise decision to go to a plain white background? I'm open to suggestions! :-)

[maydaylabels]

What I do to compare photography styles and see what works better (surprisingly, it is seldom my favorite pictures that actually work best) is I run Search Ads for a couple of weeks for several similar items, with the different photography styles. Then after a week or two I have data on how many impressions per click each photography style gets - ones that have more views from search ads *per impression* are the photography styles I use going forward.

My photos always looked good to me too, but I was surprised by how much better my ratios got as I tried new photography styles (some were duds, of course, but others made views per impressions go up 200%).

[maydaylabels]

For instance, if you look at this item:
https://www.etsy.com/transaction/223138947?

My favorite photo is actually the third one in the listing, but views per impression go up about 10x when I use the first photo instead. I can't argue with the numbers.

[GothicGraceJewelry]

I'm certainly no expert but here's what I think...

I have to agree with the others that there is always room for improvement on pictures. Personally, while your background is pretty, I find it a bit cluttered and confusing and your items don't really stand out. For me, this picture is much more clear and makes it so easy to actually see your item:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/150453779/guest-book-large-size-for-rustic?ref=shop_home_active_14

For titles & tags - I would suggest trying to use love letter, love letter box in your titles for the wine boxes. You have it in the tags but not in the titles. You can try it on one or two to see if it brings in more traffic.

As for the ratings affecting your views & sales...I wouldn't be put off with the stars but would take note on the comments. (I'm one to actually read the reviews to make sure that the stars match the comment). Your reviews are glowing about the actual product- it's just the shipping delays that have led to your less than 5 stars. The shipping delays could put a customer off especially if they have to have it for a certain date. As the others have said, try your best to ship out as early as you can and if there are any delays, communicate with your customer before they contact you.

Just my two cents:)

BTW: I think your rustic books are fabulous!

[KiltedWoman]

You might also want to put your shipping time right in the body of the listing instead of just on the shipping and policies page so people are more likely to see it. I would also put it in my message to buyer and announcements if not there already.
I would be very reluctant to wait that long for a guest book and would keep looking. Is there anything you can do to improve your production time? Hire a helper? You have a great product but when your shipping times are inconsistent (some feedback says "super fast") it is probably hurting your sales. Are you using etsy labels and priority shipping?
I always send instructions on how to leave feedback in my automated note to buyer. Some people have no idea how to leave feedback via the etsy system. I think I have a decent feedback rate at 37%.

[Former_Member]

While I would certainly try to find a way to expedite your shipping time, the stars are definitely not the reason for a decrease in views. People don't even get to your reviews unless they view your shop or items first. I would definitely continue to work on tags/titles and brighten up your photos. In a search they are a bit dark to stand out.

In my experience, most buyers often don't even read the details in the listings so I am not sure how many delve into the reviews.... About 75% of the inquiries I receive from buyers are very conspicuously set out in my listings. If they aren't reading the descriptions for questions they have, are they really going a step beyond and reading the reviews? Maybe, but my guess is that many don't. I personally always check, but I think most buyers out there are increasingly relying only on the photographs once they enter a search.

[WildFireFlies]

Thank you all so much for all the advice!! I am so excited and have been working hard this morning. I have painted my photo prop WHITE! :)
I have already taken a few pictures and I like them already. They are much brighter and cleaner. I am excited to load them up and show them off!! I will post one here to get opinions of what you all think, if you all have time to let me know. I am going to continue to work on my titles and tags. I also have ideas to branch out into different areas , hopefully!! I truly appreciate each and every one of you.
Shelli

[WildFireFlies]

Alright. Here is one that I worked on... Title , tags and pictures..
Please let me know what y'all think.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/200079748/wedding-guest-book-album-custom-wood

[GothicGraceJewelry]

I like it!

Maybe add the word personalized in the title as you have it in your tags. Personalized Guest Book, Personalized Wedding Album, Personalized Album or even Personalized Book...then add those terms to your tags. A lot of people search for personalized items, they are very popular:)

[Former_Member]

I have had the same problem as you Shelli. About a month or two ago I went from 3 decent, regular sales a week to nothing! I have no idea why. I am currently tweaking everything in the shop, and have brought new equipment to display the items as they are worn etc. Fed up with trying so hard!

I wish you lots of happy sales Shelli!