Sales from running ads? Worth it or not?

[madlywish]

HI!

Just wondering how many of you run ads regularly; and how your sales are affected as a result?

I am currently running ads, and my views are terrible today compared to the last week. I don't want to lose out on the views by not paying for ads, but I also don't want to keep paying for them if they aren't going to bring in sales.

Thoughts?

-W

[zahrachildren]

it all depends and i hate to waste money on ads if my items doesn't sell. The key factors are mostly how well it is photographed, props used, wording, etc. You should keep notes on whats working and whats not working

[Former_Member]

Waste of money to me. I got 1 sale of 20 dollars ads cost me about 40. Unless you have pages and pages of items it's not going to be worth your money.

[Former_Member]

Sadly, a waste of money for me as well. But I know it is different for everyone! And you can always stop them if they don't seem to be working.

[Former_Member]

I think I've spent about $50-$75 on ads all told. I made one $15 sale from the ads.

This most recent ad campaign I ended early and resolved not to do any more of it. $25 for the week, and come Wed. according to the shop stats I was only getting shown about 100 times per day with zero hits. Not worth it. I'd rather invest the money into buying more supplies.

[Former_Member]

I used to run ads regularly but I have never had a sale as a result. I agree with the other comments, better for me at least to use the money for supplies. Also, once I started adding to my shop, my views now are the same if not higher than with the search ads, simply as a result of having more items. Just my two cents!!

[Former_Member]

I think I've spent about 20.00 in ads so far and I've made 1 sell sadly. It may be because I'm new to this whole thing as well though and making photographic/wording mistakes. I was starting to wonder if they were a waste of time as well. I stopped them today.

[zahrachildren]

wow - but you know what it is? It's because everyone is selling the same thing so it's like you really need to know what will actually sell. If you followed all the rules then you may as well pray, pray, pray.

[Former_Member]

I invested about $30 in ads, and never got a sale from it. Not too many more views either.

[Former_Member]

I agree, not worth it for me. Did get some views, but no sales through it.

[ComfortAndGrins]

Glad to hear all of the feedback from you all.

[TheWhiteInvite]

It also did not work for me. Sure I got a lot of views but zero sales in 1 month. I now advertise in other ways that are free and they seem to be working better. I get a little mor views and get more sales.

Now I must say that since I am a new shop owner I do not have many sales which is frustrating but I am doing advertising and marketing and hoping once my name gets out there I will be doing even better :)

Get a twitter account and post around 3 tweets a day. Don't always post links to your items though because that can get a little old and you will not have as many followers. Post things from pint rest, inspiring quotes, and pictures that you have taken and such. This will make your site much more entertaining. I recommend posting a link to your items (different ones of course) once a day.

Also create a Facebook fan page for your site. Many of your friends on Facebook may be interested in your product but they have no idea about your store. Get your name out ther! :)

Hope this helps. Have a lovely day everyone!

[InklingLettersCo]

I started my ship in 2010 but didnt list anything until the end of this past may. From June until now I have spent $5 per week on search ads and have had almost 300 sales. I stopped for a week and got no sales that week, I started up again and so did the sales so I'll do search ads. I did lower to $3 per weeks to save a bit and I do get 1-4 sales a day.

[Former_Member]

It hasnt worked for me but I updated many of my photos and tried it yet again. Its still slow. There is another shop (and im talking about my other shop, sorry),who sells similar items.They have ads and in four months they have had 385 sales. They just opened in April.

Her SEO is also very good because many of her items are on the first page in alot of the categories for the same item.

She is not very active on FB but has over 100 admirers on Etsy. She could also be spending more than the min in search ads which gives her more exposure. Because shes spending more on the search ads, she is selling more. Her best seller is an item that is always in an ad. This best seller item is also listed over 10 times in her shop, so actually....who really knows if the search ads are working. She is very exposed having them though.

Im going to see how this run goes....but may be my last trial run in this shop. I dont need them for my other.

[AnneLondezGlass]

Like I usually say, ads are known in certain Etsy circles as Newbies' tax...

[PaperWhispers]

I was thinking about doing a trial on advertising but I think I will wait until the items in my shop appear in search (yep sadly I am one of those who is in the bug zone - www.etsy.com/teams/7720/bugs/discuss/)

I was last on etsy over a year ago. I did not try any advertising and I received 1 sale. On my own website where I was advertising (blogs and wedding magazines) I received many more sales.

Ultimately I think that there is a balance to advertising and I would not say it is a waste of time especially if you have not tried it. Sometimes one person can have success in one format (e.g etsy advertising), others can have success in another format (e.g blog giveaways) and sometimes others need both.

[HiTeaShop]

I spent $5 a week, let me show you my stats:


August month end

Spent
$9.87 USD
Impressions
13,199
Views
72
Favorites
13
Orders
0
Revenue
$0.00

[BlacknickSculpture]

I've tried ads twice and it didn't bring in any sales.

[GrannyKnowsBest]

For mi it is not working at all! I made 3 campaigns in 3 different periods of the year and the result is always the same: few views and favorites and no sales. I don't know if my produsts are that ugly that they don't attract enough attention or my photos are bed, but I don't think I will try again. Making treasuries and participating in teams attract more views and favorites then the adds.
It's just my humble experience...

[PaperWhispers]

Nevyana - It is interesting that you say participating in teams brings in more views and favourites. I really was not that active last time, but I intend to be this year.

I am wondering where is the relationship though between views, favourites and actual sales? Often sellers with high sales numbers really do not participate in teams but do have high views and favourites.

As an example - I featured dresses by Claire La Faye on my blog. If you look at her stats, she has nearly 700 sales (which is pretty good for a wedding dress designer) and nearly 17,000 admirers. Statistically this means 1 sale for every 24 likes.

In a sense advertising to increase the number of people who like your items means you are getting more exposure. I understand the need for sales, this is a business after all. However people need to build up the desire for your products first.

Playing the devil's advocate too, I often favourite things which I like and think are pretty but I do not intend to buy them at all. I just find the workmanship stunning. I do think that other etsy artists are potential buyers but realistically, I think we often tend to be admirers much more than spenders.

[Former_Member]

No, not at all.

[Former_Member]

Have gotten some sales from running Etsy ads, but nothing major. Have come to the conclusion that it's probably better for me to work on my relevancy & SEO & to spend money on advertising outside of Etsy.

[ShiShiSupplies]

I tried it..not worth it either..

[Former_Member]

It didn´t work for me too, I got no sales from my running ads..

[GrannyKnowsBest]

I absolutely agree with you, Ruby. Favorites dosn't mean sales, but it is the step before sales. getting more favs means more exposure, spread the word around. Me too, I favorite things that I don't intend to buy, but when I give a fav, it enters in my activity feed, so everyone from my circle can see this product and between those people there is probably someone that will buy it. Or, if I'm not buying it, I can include this product in a treasury, and this treasury can bring more clients for this product. So, favorites are not direct sales, but they help a looot....