In the last few weeks I've been reflecting on my year and wanted to publicise the biggest lessons I learned - what I achieved, what I was happy with, and things I was so happy with. Why? Well I guess it's a combination of wanting to exorcise some demons, the sense of pride I have and the hope I might help a few people out who share the same worries I had.
But first, a little background. I started my store a little over a year ago. It all came from a seed of an idea I had on a very wet and glum October day (one where I was probably wearing tracksuit pants). Fast forward to today and I'm on over 350 sales and am in a position where I can really see the handwork paying off. I have no doubts there will be more successful shops than mine out there and that I have plenty more things to improve upon but, especially given how busy the festive season was, its clear my prints have appeal.
So to the lessons...
1) All the feels
One of the greatest changes I made was taking my item descriptions from the head to the heart. People want to buy based on the feelings a product will give them not the facts about it. Sure, keep using superlative adjectives to describe your items (eg. "stunning") but by adding an emotional connection, something the buyer will feel, I noticed an uplift in sales.
2) The price is right
Oh pricing, how much you caused me so much debate and anguish! I must have spent months thinking and tinkering with pricing - going higher, going lower, adjusting the prices by a cent/penny etc etc. It took me until Christmas to realise that I've probably got it right based on the sales I was getting. So really my advice here would be find a successful Etsy shop doing something similar to what you're doing and you consider your "shop peer" (by this I mean operating at the level of quality and professionalism you with to be at) and look at their prices. I don't recommend straight cloning of their prices but, for me, it gave me something to work with knowing similar items sell at these prices.
3) Tag your brains out
Now every 'tips' article always mentions tags so I won't attempt to rewrite Shakespeare but one thing I did notice that no other article mentioned is that sub-categories contribute to your tags. You get 13 standard tags but by adding a category and sub-category you get 15. A sub-category isn't a mandatory field and you may not feel there is something that truly fits - however my tip here would be to use the most appropriate one. It has no negative impact but it adds another opportunity for you to be found.
4) Fiverr for your troubles
I used a couple gigs on Fiverr to help my store and I couldn't rate them highly enough. The two gigs I used were based on Etsy Descriptions and Etsy Titles. Did the revolutionise my store? No, in-fact one of the sellers the got in touch to ask "you're good already what do you really need me for?" but the value they gave was two-fold. Firstly, they gave me some new ideas keywords and some extra emphasis on my descriptions - as I say not a huge change, but a definite improvement. The second benefit wasn't tangible but their feedback helped give me the confidence and reassurance in what I was doing and *tick* thats one less thing I need to worry about. I'm still tinkering with them here and there but no longer wake up in the middle of the night pondering what more I could do.
5) Patience is the greatest virtue
This is the biggest lesson I learned and one I still need to keep reminding myself of: Gains are made over the course of months or longer, not a day and through gradual chipping away. By realising this (mostly at least) and by planning for progress over the course of (at minimum) a month, I took out the stress of trying to work at breakneck speed and then expecting equally swift results.
6) Grind all night
This could really be a 5b rather than a 6 but in the same way I must be patient I must also keep working to grind away and improve things. Having settled on pricing, descriptions and layout of my shop I still keep putting in the hours - typically every day - to keep the progress up. This really means working on new designs, keep providing great customer service, and keeping up with promo (eg. Pinterest). Like a clock tick away little by little - it's when you look back will you then see how much has passed (improved).
7) Love thy Customer
It should go without saying (though i'm still shocked to see that isn't always the case) that your customers are invaluable and should be treated as such. I'm not saying you should completely bend over backwards for them but a little empathy and consideration goes a long way. No business is immune to mistakes/problems but you can define yourself by the way you handle them. I had my share of issues but decided very early on to do our best to fix issues even at cost. Again, I don't mean you should be bending over backwards (don't entertain the unreasonable) but our shop guarantees your order will always arrive and will take the financial hit to cover reprint costs if necessary. It's entirely at your discretion if you choose to offer this but for me, it's that difference that lifts us above the competition and can take customers from upset to happy.
And that is it from me; the key lessons I learned from my first year in business. If you've read this far I commend you and I truly hope you've found it useful. I would love to hear any comments you have and perhaps any tips of your own.
Best of luck...
Jonathan
Dare to Dream Prints