Viewing Views Differently

[#1]

Hi Team!

I wanted to share a few thoughts. I'm sure you're aware we've changed the way Etsy's search works. In this change, you may notice buyers looking at fewer items before they pounce. We're seeing more overall sales by the Etsy community. This is exciting, the quicker a buyer can find what they are looking for, the better. But this does mean they are viewing less items on their hunt for the perfect handmade or vintage item or supply.

A while back I wrote about the single sale highs and lows: http://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/6796368/ It's easy to get wrapped up in watching a sale or view counter get higher and higher - but this can be an arbitrary way of measuring success.

Now I want to talk about conversion rate. Your conversion rate would be the number of favorites you get in comparison to the number of visits, or the number of sales compared to the number of visits. (Or go ahead and track both!)

I'm sure many of you have thought about this already, but I want to bring it back up to you now, because I see many sellers focusing intently on the number of views they are getting in their shops. Remember all views are not created equal. Instead of trying to grab as many views as possible, you should be thinking about pulling in the right buyer (one who is ready to support you and become a collector)!

With all this said, it is important to update your shop so that your views don't drop too drastically. In the last Relevancy Shop Critique on Etsy's Online Labs page: http://www.etsy.com/community/online-labs. In this pre-recorded workshop HeyMichelle and I give you a way to come up with your own formula (SEO is never cut-and-dry) to help you optimize your titles and tags for Etsy search.

Before you go off updating, tweaking, coming up with your own formula - think about what your most important measurements of success are.

One more thing while I have your ear, I'd hate to see anyone spend more time than necessary trying to tweak titles and tags for any kind of search engine optimization. I can't tell you exactly how much time you should invest experimenting in this area. You may want to see where Etsy Search ranks in your top referrers list (you can see this in your Shop Stats). If it's at the very top - you're probably doing ok. If it's way down near the bottom of the list, perhaps you should do some more researching and testing. Again, there is no one path to success, but the first step is the same for all: set specific, important and reasonable goals. Then you'll know which path you should be on to get there.

I hope this helps! Please feel free to challenge me in your responses! I'd love to have a good discussion about this.

Danielle

[Former_Member]

SacredSuds-could you just move the names to the end of the title?

[ErikaPrice]

Thanks Danielle. I'm gradually working through mine, as I would dearly love to have my sales back!

[Former_Member]

RareDesign - that was one of the things I was wondering about relevancy - does the order of the words matter? Would repositioning words make an item more relevant in a search? Like I said, I haven't done all my homework yet, so I'm still not clear about all of this

[AVelvetLeaf]

I've seen some long, complicated titles like Dav's above and wondered about them- interesting to hear your opinion on them Danielle.....luckily I didn't go right in and change all mine to that style....whew.....

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Sacred, the first three words of your title are the most important. Those should be the ones a customer would use to find you. I've got my cool names in my titles, as well - for heartsabustin - but I put those at the back of the titles. They may still be found that way, but I want to use the most basic, KISS principle ideas at the front of my listing titles.

[Former_Member]

Still not sure what to make of all of this... My views have more than doubled, my hearts have gone up somewhat but I'm still looking for sales.

[Former_Member]

This is great advice! I'm so glad many of your are getting more sales and hearts since the relevancy search was introduced. This is good news!

[Davs]

daniellexo says

Davs, I think your titles are a little too vague (too many keywords)

"Original Oil Painting Abstract Art Canvas Painting Colorful Abstract Modern Art Palette Knife Painting Wall Art Home Decor Wall Hanging"

Try something simpler and more specific in a few listings and see how that goes. What style is it? What are the main elements/colors? Use those words in your titles. Sometimes if you are trying the most general keywords you will never be able to grab the right buyer.
.....................
Thanks! I will give it a try!



heartsabustin says

"Original Abstract Oil Painting : Title of painting" perhaps?

I wouldn't use all the knife and palette stuff in there - most people wouldn't know what that is. *I* do, but my parents went to Ringling. That's another story.

Put those in your tags, though, because a more savvy shopper might look for a palette knife - done painting. And Definitely put it in your description.

I love palette knife work - my dad is really good at it.
.......................

I use it because surprisingly enough it does show up in my shop stats as a kewword, but your right maybe the general buyer wouldn't know to search for palette knife. thanks:)

[Former_Member]

1mADwoman - thanks so much for your advice!

[Davs]

daniellexo

One more question if you don't mind, a few people have mentioned that a few paintings of mine remind them of Jackson Pollock's work. Would it be a good or bad idea to use his name in my tags and titles do you think?

[Former_Member]

Glad to read you're talking about data interpretation Danielle, as I think it's the most important ting about stats data (and a big problem for many).

I'm trying to explain that to my various teammates for stats here and especially GA - seeing lots of data and knowing how to connect them and use them (interpret them, or if you wish - being able to analyze and then synthesize them into a marketing approach) requires a lot of learning and experimentation.
GA, for example, as Etsy Stats, are very user friendly in showing data (you can find and see anything very quickly), but you should not try to just "connect the dots" intuitively. You'll guess some connections, but most of the interpretations you need will be left out.

Read some (well, much more than some) texts about data interpretation and stats interpretation for GA (it will help you with Etsy stats too) - I find the writings of programmers to be the more useful (although burden with not plain-joe expressions and tech stuff, but you'll learn quickly what is what) , and then those of marketing experts and also sociologists dealing with data interpret. and online behaviour (yes! you read it right)

Have in mind that you're not the only ones not to know how to interpret data correctly - lots of people dealing with that daily admits they're sometimes wrong on how to connect them to understand what's really happening.

The more you konw and experiment and then see stats going up (where they should go up) the more motivated you'll be to learn further.

Just my enthusiastic support to you all! :)
Good luck!

[ShareMyMoon]

No Challenge from me. Quality views are better to have. It is hard to measure.

I can say my bounce rate in google analytics is lower since the switch to relevancy. So when the people do find my shop, they are staying longer.

[frenchsoul]

Thanks for this post, i feel more encouraged now and of course it all makes sense but sometimes I can't see the wood for the trees !!

[Former_Member]

I agree. Views turned into sales are the best, followed by views turned into favorites.

[RainGirlDesigns]

The other factor is views is to look at your bounce rate in GA. if you have lots of views but a high bounce rate they aren't very good quality views. It's better to have fewer views and low bounce rate because it means people are finding what they want in your shop.

[BirdinHandVTG]

Hi Danielle,

I've read, and talked and tweeted and tweaked. Sales are the worst ever. I usually have trouble keeping items in stock because they fly out the door pretty quickly. Last week only 2 sales :(

[paulbead]

My stats show
Your Shop 1st
Your Listings 2nd
Search 3rd
What is the difference between 'your listings' and search.
Thanks
Paul

[JanislaJewels]

Sorry to be ignorant - what's a bounce rate and where do you find it?
I get my view and heart data from Craftopolis and CraftCult (and they're both very disappointing!). Etsy is my top traffic source by a mile in shop stats but I'm not sure how to interpret that. Sales are nil.
My shop views have gone up a lot this month but my listing views are way down. Does that mean most people hate my stuff?
Any help gratefully received!

[MyriamPowellDesigns]

Thank you, Danielle. You're awesome.
Janisla, you find your bounce rate in Google analytics. Do you have it?

[Former_Member]

Bounce rate is in your Google Analytics, Janisla. 50% or less is about what you're looking for. I think in heartsabustin one day last week, mine was at 10% LOL

Lookie! I have a relevant and useful post!! :D

Thanks, Danielle.

[Former_Member]

This may be odd but I do not check my shop stats as often as I probably should. IF I concentrate on the # of views and who favors may I know I will get distracted and "down". My goal is to get my items out there to buyers who will purchase them. I know that many of my items are priced low due to the cost of supplies that are of such high quality and of course my time. But, is it ok to change them after some items have been posted for a bit I just opened my shops in July and have already changed redesigned them new banners name> What is really bothering me is my pictures. I know that the quality is not the best but setting up a new shop is costly and time consuming ;so going out an buying a new camera at this point is out of the question. I am retaking all my pictures a few at a time. I received some outstanding input from one of the SAS Captains who spent time reviewing my shops policies, etc. and have am making the suggested changes. The time she put in to doing this was incredible and so appreciated. Her input made me take a close look at my policies that now make so much more sense, are better organized and customer friendly. Also, there are so many choices on Etsy - so many outstanding items for consumers to select from. Being as creative as possible is important and sometimes that may be difficult if we only concentrate on views and who favorites us. I guess I "talked' enough. What do you say?

[Former_Member]

1mADwoman - hahaha! well, it sure helped me :-) I just went in and changed some of my titles to see how I like them (I do like them) and to see what happens with the changes. Thank you!

[Former_Member]

You're very welcome, Sacred. :)

[Former_Member]

Ugh, just looked at GA for both shops, bounce rate is down SLIGHTLY but views are also down . . . .I'm just going to go eat worms . . . .

[Former_Member]

*sings*

Nobody loves me, Everybody hates me
I'm just gonna eat worms!
Nobody loves me, everybody hates me....

oops.

Sorry.

he he. *blushes*