Increase your Etsy Conversion Rate with these Easy Tips and Tricks

If you’re selling on Etsy, your conversion rate is one of the most important things to focus on if you want your shop to grow. Why? Because your conversion rate is a key metric that tells you how well your shop is performing and will guide you on how best to improve.

This article will discuss everything you need to know about your Etsy conversion rate, including how to calculate this number and some easy-to-implement ways to improve it.

What is a conversion rate?

The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your shop who actually make a purchase.

It’s a metric that tells you what percentage of people who visit your Etsy shop (“Etsy shoppers”) make a purchase.

As an Etsy seller, your goal should be to increase your conversion rate so that more of the Etsy shoppers that land on your listings ends up purchasing from your shop.

Using a conversion rate rather than your overall visitor numbers to guide your marketing efforts will mean that you will be more focused on getting good-quality traffic to your store, rather than any traffic at all.

As better traffic leads to more satisfied customers, who tend to leave better reviews…it’s definitely worth giving some thought and attention to this metric.

Clickthrough vs. Conversion Rates

Let’s stop for a minute to discuss Clickthrough and Conversion Rates.

Clickthrough rates and conversion rates are two very different things, although they are both important metrics to track.

A clickthrough rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who see your listing and then click on it. So, if 100 people see your listing and 10 of them click on it, your CTR is 10%. Typically, a good clickthrough rate on Etsy is around 2%. That means that for every 100 views of your listing you should get 2 clicks.

Your conversion rate, on the other hand, is the percentage of people who click on your listing and then make a purchase. So, if 10 people click on your listing and 1 of them makes a purchase, then your conversion rate is 10%.

You can see from this that your CTR is not necessarily an accurate indicator of how well your listing is performing. A high CTR might just mean that you have a lot of people clicking on your listing, but not necessarily converting into sales.

Similarly, a low CTR might just mean that you have a few people clicking on your listing, but if those few people are highly likely to make a purchase, then your conversion rate will be high.

This is why it’s important to track both your CTR and your conversion rate, so that you can get a complete picture of how well your listing is performing.

How to calculate your conversion rate on Etsy

You can calculate your average conversion rate by taking the number of sales you made in a given period and dividing it by the number of unique visitors to your store during that same period.

For example, if you had 100 unique visitors to your store and made 10 sales, then your Etsy conversion rate would be 10%.

To find out how many unique visitors you had to your store in a given period, you can go to your “Shop Manager” and click on “Stats” and then “Site Traffic”.

From there, you’ll be able to see how many “views” your store had in the time period that you select.

You can also use software that connects to Etsy to download your orders and sales figures and run reports directly from here.

One good Etsy order tracking option is Craftybase, which is designed specifically for craft sellers and features several additional features such as inventory management.

To find out how many sales you made in a given period, you can go to your “Shop Manager” and click on “Orders”. From there, you’ll be able to see how many orders were placed in the time period that you select.

Tip: using a larger date range will give you a more accurate picture of your average Etsy conversion rate over time.

What is a good conversion rate on Etsy?

So, what’s considered a “good” Etsy conversion rate?

According to research by Etsy sellers, the average Etsy conversion rate ranges between 1 - 3%. However, this number will vary depending on the industry and product you’re selling.

For example, conversion rates for jewelry tend to be higher than average at 4.56%, while conversion rates for home goods are lower than average at 2.82%.

The main thing to focus on is improving your conversion rate compared to your direct competitors.

Factors that impact your Etsy conversion rate

There are several factors that can impact your Etsy conversion rate. Here are some of the most common:

Traffic: The more people that see your listing, the more likely you are to make a sale. This is why it’s important to focus on getting traffic to your listing from all sources, including Etsy search, social media, and your own website or blog.

Price: If your prices are too high, people will be less likely to make a purchase. On the other hand, if your prices are too low, people might think that your products are of low quality. It’s important to find a happy medium where your prices are high enough to cover your costs and make a profit, but low enough to appeal to buyers. Read more: How to determine the best price for your product

Product quality: If your products are of poor quality, people will be less likely to make a purchase. It’s important to focus on creating high-quality products that people will be happy with.

Shipping costs: If your shipping costs are too high, people will be less likely to make a purchase. It’s important to find a balance between offering free shipping (which can increase your conversion rate) and making a profit on your products.

Product photos: Good product photos are essential for making sales on Etsy. Poor quality photos will make your products look unappealing and will likely result in fewer sales.

Product descriptions: Your product descriptions should be clear, concise, and keyword rich. If your product descriptions are hard to understand or full of errors, people will be less likely to make a purchase, even if they were initially interested in your product.

The “Bestseller” Flag: The “Bestseller” flag is a special designation given to items that have made a certain number of sales in a given period of time. This designation can increase your conversion rate by up to 30%, so it’s definitely something to strive for!

The Perceived Value of your Product: The perceived value of your product is the amount that people think your product is worth. If the perceived value of your product is high, people will be more likely to make a purchase.

Reviews: Positive reviews from past customers can make a big difference to your conversion rate. It’s important to focus on getting positive reviews from your customers by ensuring they get their products on time and as expected.

Free Shipping: Offering free shipping can increase your conversion rate significantly. It’s important to balance free shipping with making a profit on your products, however.

Etsy Ads: Running Etsy ads can increase your conversion rate by bringing more visitors to your listings. It’s important to make sure that your ads are well-targeted and relevant to your products, however, or you’ll end up wasting money on ads that don’t result in sales.

Return Customers: Repeat customers are more likely to convert than first-time buyers. It’s important to focus on providing a great customer experience so that people will want to buy from you again.

Now that you know some of the factors that impact your Etsy conversion rate, here are some tips for increasing it!

Improving your Etsy conversion rate

Here are some tips and tricks on how to improve your Etsy conversion rate:

Focus on your target customer

When creating your listings, it’s important to focus on your target customer. Who are you trying to sell to? What are their needs and wants? What are their interests? By focusing on this customer, you can create listings and products that are more likely to appeal to them and result in a better conversion from visitor to sale.

Use high-quality photos

Make sure that your photos are clear, professional, and give a good representation of your product.

Potential customers need to be able to see what they’re buying, so don’t use low-resolution photos or pictures that are too small. Ensure you have angles of each of your products that show their features to their best advantage.

Also, avoid using stock photos; instead, take some online courses in photography or hire a professional photographer.

Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions

Your titles and descriptions should be accurate and give potential customers a good idea of your product.

But in addition to being informative, they should also be keyword-rich so that they can be easily found by people searching for products like yours on Etsy.

Offer discounts and promotions

Who doesn’t love a good deal? Offering discounts and promotions are a great way to entice potential customers to buy from you.

Just make sure that your discount offers are clear and easy to find on your listing page, and that you know your base profit margins so you don’t cut into them too deeply. Don’t know your true cost of production? Craftybase can help with that.

Provide excellent customer service

Ensure that you’re providing excellent customer service so potential customers have a positive experience with you from start to finish.

This includes responding to messages and questions promptly, offering refunds and returns, and shipping items out promptly.

Positive reviews play a big factor in your Etsy search ranking, so it’s worth spending time getting this piece of the puzzle right.

Use effective packaging

Your packaging should be professional and reflect the quality of your product.

It’s also important to use packaging that will protect your items during shipping so that they arrive to your customers in perfect condition.

Think Niche!

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that blanket coverage advertising is best - try to visualize the people you are trying to target with each campaign. If you aren’t targeting them directly, then this might not be the best way of advertising to them.

You need to ensure that your marketing isn’t sending lots of people to your shop who have no intention of buying your product.

Facebook ads are a great example of niche advertising, as you can narrow your audience to very specific criteria.

Aim for repeat customers

Focussing on your existing customer base does your job of converting easier as you know they have converted to a customer in the past and are already interested in your products. Use newsletters with special limited edition products, small discounts to entice, and seasonal specials to drive them back into spending more at your shop. Offering send-to-a-friend discounts is another great way of widening your customer base.

Analysing your conversion rate on Etsy

The key to this strategy is to keep watching your conversion rate and making tweaks. Try to document your changes so that when it does increase, you have some idea of what might have caused it - this way, you can repeat and increase your efforts in this area.

Introducing Craftybase

Now that you know all the factors that go into a high Etsy conversion rate, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty and start analysing your own shop.

This is where Craftybase comes in - our software was created to help makers like you manage and grow your business.

We have a suite of tools that can help you with everything from pricing your products to managing your inventory and orders.

Sign up for a free trial of Craftybase today and see how we can help you take your Etsy shop to the next level!

Conclusion

By following these tips, you can start to see an improvement in your Etsy conversion rate and, as a result, an increase in sales and customers.

Likewise, if you find your Etsy conversion rate decreases, you will know what you shouldn’t be doing so you can avoid this in the future.

Above all, this strategy requires patience, so ensure you try it for at least a couple of months - don’t give up if you don’t see improvements instantly!