Relist, Deactivate, Feature? Oh My!

Vintage Butterfly Brooch by SweetSugarBoutique

It can be somewhat of a juggling game figuring out how to balance your shop. How many pages are just right? How much is too much? How often should you relist to keep things fresh? Is it even worth rearranging items? Do customers search specifically or do they browse? All solid questions.

Vintage Easter Postcard by TheOldBarnDoor

Be careful you don't start from the premise of a bias. If you're a browser, chances are you operate under that assumption in how you structure your shop. If you don't really buy online and just have your shop, that likely is influencing your behavior as well. Never assume your customer is familiar with Etsy. Etsy is focused on and is successfully bringing millions of new eyeballs to the site monthly.

Art Deco Hall Teapot by jenscloset

First step is trying to understand your customer base. Who is your customer? Take out a piece of paper and fill in the following items: education level, profession, age, urban or rural, martial status, kids, and what kind of car of they drive. (I go into this in detail in my other Wednesday posts) This loose analysis of your customer will allow you to grasp how they shop.

Vintage 1980's White Lace Mini by PersonalPursuits

For example, a young urban executive earning 6 figures working 60 hours a week is probably not going to do more than scan the first and maybe the second page. (Google analytics will show you this information in detail) When I saw that the 1-3 pages got the vast majority of traffic on my Google analysis I switched my behavior.

1950's Automobile Speedometer by TheFancyLamb

As a result, I now change my featured items every 24 hours or so. Every time I do, they start popping up as favorites in the activity feed. This is such valuable feedback! I try to make sure that my featured items are also never on the first page of items. That's just wasting advertising space.

Aynsley English Bouquet Earrings by GeneralWhimsy2

I assume that once an item is listed, it'll be buried in a few hours. While it's tempting to assume that something is wrong with the item, don't. It's probably not the photo or the pricing. they probably just haven't seen it. (Assuming you've got great photos and reasonable prices)

Royce Enamel Pocket Watch by VintageinBloom

For my customers that are Etsy sellers (the crowd that tends to browse more), I rearrange the shop often. And every night before I go to bed I relist 4-5 items for that International crowd that is just starting their day. I never deactivate items unless something is wrong. Why waste your listing fee? Rotate in a new photo, but don't bother deactivating it.

Vintage Chip & Dip Set by thecreekhouse

Now obviously this is just my interpretation of the Google numbers. Use yours. Look at the Etsy stats. Figure out who you're primarily selling to. This isn't hard-it's fairly safe to assume that hip vintage clothing isn't being gobbled up by the generation that had to wear it! People tend not to appreciate the decades that they lived through. (Meaning, it's hard for me to appreciate the late 1970's & 80's) Keep your shop fresh and the sales will follow!