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

[Becorations]

Thanks for such a helpful and interesting post Danielle!
Etsy search is my top search stat, and when I'm listing new items regularly my traffic, and conversion (viewings to favourites) is going ok - around 10% of my viewings turn into favourites, either the listings or my shop. But sales are still low ...
... Any ideas how to help with this? The viewings for each of my (88) items vary a lot, between 10-20 viewings to 130-140 viewings.....

please do take a look and let me know what I could improve on: www.becorations.etsy.com

[CDChilds]

When I first heard this type of change was coming I started tweaking my shop a month or so ago. It has really helped! I havent really seen a drop in views or my sales. However, I did notice that I'm selling more to unique buyers than just the Esty community. I really think relevancy search is the way to go.

Thanks

[gussiegurl]

Since the relevancy change, I seem to be getting less item views but way more sales. Not sure if it's because of the relevancy or because I have been listing more vintage items (vintage is quickly becoming my best sellers) Most of my listing titles have remained the same as they were before the change. I've begun to list more often and renew more often. I think that is what's doing it for me. We'll see if it continues in the future months. So far, I've had over 15 sales this month in comparison to last month with only 4. I have to admit I am not comprehending the stats and google in a way to influence me into changing anything.

[Former_Member]

I really appreciate the thoughts about views and conversion rates. Personally, I am struggling with getting a lot more views, but sales have completely dropped off. I am going to put more hours into relevancy, but I could really use anyone's thoughts about why I might not be making sales if they'd be so kind as to take a look at my shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/twentyseven27soap?ref=si_shop

[Former_Member]

27, if it helps any, I'm a seasoned seller with great relecancy right now, and my sales have hit a brick wall. I haven't sold anything since the first week of August in either of my shops. If you knew how well I'd done the first five months of this year, you would totally understand my consternation right now. :)

Off to peek at your shop for you.

[Former_Member]

27, I checked you out, and when I type in goat's milk soap, you are on the first page of the search. Don't underestimate your buyers - soapy people know what they like.

And as a CP soap maker myself, your soaps are YUM looking. Great job!

Your titles and tags look good to me - you might replace "homemade" with something like "handcrafted" and add some color tags for your colorful soaps. People like me who are crazy about Treasuries often search for color themes.

[Former_Member]

I get tons of views... wish was more sales though lol

[Former_Member]

Can someone tell me what a bounce rate is?
Thanks!

[Former_Member]

I've had all kinds of advice, but no results from any changes I have made. Very few views, no sales, some favorites, but that's it. I wonder why I can't seem to get a formula that works.

[Former_Member]

My views haven't gone down at all. And I think more people are finding my shop.

But, ironically, since this change I haven't had but a couple of sales from my listed items. =( Custom orders are still coming in, but sales from my listed items have slowed down considerably. I can't figure out why.

Before I couldn't keep up with getting things listed ~ they would sell so fast out of my shop and I'd be scrambling to make more! I loved it! I'm hoping that sales are just slow right now and that this change won't be a permanent problem for my sales.

I don't know what to do to fix it.

[Former_Member]

I believe a bounce rate has something to do with visitors to your shop and how long they stay and look around your shop. The lower the bounce rate the better = visitors are taking a look around your shop rather than leaving within seconds or maybe it's even nano-seconds of arriving in your shop. The premise is that the longer a visitor stays the more likely they like what they are looking at, which is a good thing.

[Former_Member]

Thanks.... I have started to work on mine as well. Thanks for all of the info.

[Former_Member]

I have only just listed with Etsy and when I get past ALL the items to view, I will add more, I have a huge collection of clothes, shoes, bags, wraps, furs, belts, obis and saches. Handmade jewellery too! In the meantime I did a 'test' to find my two listed items and could not find them. I guess it takes a little time to show them. Yes?
Great stuff! Kate

[Former_Member]

What is a 'bounce' ?

[Former_Member]

I have edited all my titles and tags, to no avail. Little views and some favorites, but low sales. I believe in my product and it does GREAT in boutiques! Flys right off the shelves! Why not on Etsy?

[sistersilver]

In spite of all the badmouthing I have heard, I want to give you guys all the support I can to continue with this new direction. It is doing quite well for me, and I haven't really had to change much. I used relevency all the time and now it is paying off! I have been encouraging folks who are having problems to do the right thing and send them to myriad of information and help you are offering. I am sure they will soon realize this is the best way soon! Thanks for all you do!

[Former_Member]

Interestingly enough, my bounce rate has dropped to a nice 36 perecent this week, but my new visitors perecentage is tiny (only 10%). This suggests to me that maybe I already had good and relevant views (awesome) or that the activity feed is where more and more of my views come from consistently. All good things maybe.

Also, to answer the bounce rate question: it's the value in google analytics that shows you what percentage of people arrive at your site only to leave after having seen one thing only. The lower the bounce rate, the more often people come and stay a while.

[BirdinHandVTG]

Danielle,

Appreciate the email today. But my views have translated into 0 sales. I've never had a week this slow in the nearly 3 years I've sold on Etsy. Is there something else that was "tweaked" besides relavency?? I'm hearing the same thing from especially vintage seller. Thanks.

[TheBabyHandprintCo]

Yes, my heart have skyrocketed since changing tags and titles for my teapots, but cannot figure out how to get my custom handprints noticed. There seems to be such a large market for baby items.

[Former_Member]

i was at my cottage for july + part of august...taking a welcome
break from sewing but was passively taking part with a team
in the 'christmas in july' sale and shipping product in august.
my sales were starting to go UP without my re-listing and i had
no idea why. i then realized the change from recency - relevancy
and saw a connection to my sales. august has been super-duper
great + i thank you for that! i have since been watching, re-wording
and tagging based on my data...slow but steady. with my Etsy sales
and my wholesale accounts ( scored a new one today...whohoo ) from
stores owners who find me on Etsy...i am a happy thriving Etsy shop owner!
there a a LOT of Etsy sellers...it is good to know that those who take a very
active role in growing can keep afloat amidst the large number of sellers!
i have come a long way from just listing + sitting + waiting for items to sell...actually did that for a whole year!!!! it did not work! you do a great job at teaching us how to make Etsy work for us...this has allowed me to use what i can to build my brand :)
smiles + hugs, lisa@looploft

[Former_Member]

I have changed my titles (taken out the cute names & replaced with the description of item), and added to and/or changed my tags, but I am not getting very many views, only one sale, some favorites, but that's about it.

Can anyone help with suggestions that will work for me please???
And, where do I check all these stats that people are mentioning?
I'm at a loss as to what to do at this point.

[TheBabyHandprintCo]

creationsbyjanetjewel
stats are in your account at top, click and then on left side skim down and find

[TheBabyHandprintCo]

I think etsy does a wonderful job of informing and helping as much as they can!!!

[Former_Member]

Wow, it was only a couple of days ago that I was thinking about JUST THIS subject, Danielle. So I'm really glad you wrote about it ... and I'm going to try and focus more on "pulling in the right buyer". OY! Just when I 'think' I'm getting a handle on one area...you go and throw a whole 'nother one in our direction!! (No, but seriously...I really appreciate it!! Thanks for all you do!!) XXOO, Juju:)

[Former_Member]

Hi, I just joined the Etsy Success Team because I do need some help here big time. I just recently finally started selling several items since I opened my shop in February, then with this change my views and interest went to zero. I changed all my titles to relevancy and went searching for my items and couldn't find most of them anywhere. My question is, in a super crowded listing such as 'Steampunk Necklace' how will I ever get my steampunk necklace seen if it's not seen right when I list it? My necklaces went directly from the publishing click into oblivion. I am seriously disturbed by this because my shop was just starting to get some action swirling and it was snuffed out in a hot second. I'm willing to change anything within reason to make it work, but just changing our titles to say what we think a searcher would be looking for is going to have to be a lot clearer. So instead of 'Steampunk Necklace' what would be a better title? I just changed all my titles yet again because following the directions given is causing many many people to now list the exact same words and there are thousands of pages with the same titles basically in some categories, especially Steampunk. Thank you very much, any ideas are most appreciated, Deanna