10 tips to increase webshop traffic part - 2

Af few days ago, I posted the first part of this blog, and today its time for part 2 of tips to increase webshop traffic

6) post regularly on forums where your target group is to be found. Use a link to your store in the signature.

I think this is an important one.  Te truth is that your potential customers don't know you yet (unless of course your name is Donatella Versace, but then again, something tells me you would not be reading my blog. If I am mistaken, please tell me!). So its key to make sure that those potential customers are aware of YOUR presence.  And the best way to do this is to go where they go. There are plenty of fora online where thousands, and sometimes even tens of thousands people go to discuss anything from their favourite artist to the latest gossip or tips on parenthood.

Not sure if jewelry goes well in a hotrod forum...

Make sure it is something you also have an opinion about, or at least can contribute something to. Be it answers, advise or anything else.  There you can also post, discuss etc, just as you would on the Etsy forum.  Don't make the mistake however to just post about your webstore. People don't mind knowing you have one, but if you continually put it in their face on an irrelevant spot, it is going to be considered spamming, and a ban is around the corner.
In stead, just put the link to your webstore with a description what is in it in your signature, so when you post about something in the thread, the link to your website will be displayed under it.
Does it work? Betcha it does! But of course only if you have built up credibility in the forum, and  not instantly. It works best of course if your target customer group is on the forum. So if you sell handmade jewelry, it won't in general be the most effective to start posting on a typical forum catering for hotrods....

7) Go to fashion fairs and alike. 

Every community usualy has several art or fashion fairs where it is relatively cheap to put your creations and try to sell them. No matter how online the world has become, people still like to see the item they are buying, making sure it is the quality they want, and even personaly speak with the creator or vendor. It gives them a sense of  security, and it offers you a chance to convey your enthousiasm of your product to them.  First buyers are a lot more likely to do a repetitive online purchase if they like what they got before. So don't just stand there and sell the goods, but also make sure that every client (or even just interested visitor of your little stand!) gets a leaflet with your contact details and webstore. I can almost guarantee you that your store in the days after the fair, will see a spike in views and likes! And since they already met you in real life, they are probably going to be a lot less weary on making an online purchase.

8) Ad your store's link in the footer of your e-mail addressess.

In point 7 we mentioned putting your web-address in the signature of your postings on forums. Well, why not take it a step further and put it in the footer of EVERY e-mail message you send across the web? Of course, it will not be a good idea to do it in a company mail if you work for a boss, but you surely send a lot of private e-mails as well! Wether it is to a club you belong to, to the PTA of your child's school or even to the people you met on the last holiday.  All potential customers. And since you already have a rapport with them, they are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer in your webshop.

If you want to keep it simple, start with just a description of what you sell, and a link to your store (for instance storename.etsy.com) . If you feel adventurous, use the banner of your store, and put that one in your footer, and mak it clickable. (Most e-mail programs will allow to make an image in the mail clickable).  An image is a lot more enticing curiousity than just simple words like "Check out my handmade jewelry". Not sure how to do it? Just run a search in Google on "Adding footer in xxxxxx" where xxxxx is the name of your e-mail client.

9) Get accounts on Pinterest, Wanelo etc and post your items there.

There are a number of Graphic Content Aggregation sites such as Pinterest, Wanelo and Rebelmouse, which are potentially interesting for you as someone who is selling things on the internet. People LOVE images, and if your store is predominantly catering for women, your even in more luck! A recent study has shown that those sites are mainly used by women, and they are quite avid "pinners". Since those sites mix Social Media aspect with pictures, people "liking" or "Pinning" your items are more or les automatically also sharing it with their followers / friends. So the same goes here as what I described for Facebook: the number of potential viewers will grow exponentially if people share your items with their friends.  Here too, its important however to stay active. Regulary pin something, and also return the favor for others. Don't just pin your own stuff. 

10) Use Instagram and Youtube

Make pics using Instagram of your
WorkInProgress and share!

Are the tips on Wanelo, Pinterest and the likes all about pinning already existing images, Youtube and Instagram are about MAKING them. Now how can it benefit you? Instagram will allow you to make pictures, add arty effects and layers (if you wish) and instantly share them with your friends. So what would happen if you would now and then make pictures of your items? Finished products or, if you make things yourself, an item in progress! You will see you might get a steady stream of followers in your Instagram account, and you can easily integrate Instagram with Twitter! Your Twitter acount in turn is linked to Facebook so in a single action, all your followers will be seeïng your beautiful products! 

Now, youtube works simmilar BUT it has an added advantage. Most people don't realise that Youtube is actually the worlds second largest search engine after  Google. So immagine someone typing on Youtube the search string "How to crochet" and it will pull up a nice vid of you sharing tips on crochetting or showing what you do to get the product you love to make? Just add your store's URL to the vid  and description and off you go! It will add to the "Personal Touch", create awareness of the work you put into your products

6 things to increase international sales

Okay, so here I went, posting a discussion on the Etsy forum: little did I know it would generate so many replies: 119 as I am typing this blog, but surely more by the time you read it.
Since in my last blog I raised a few questions, and the reaction on my post gave insight on what some people felt about the possible answers (at least from their opinion), let me share the results with everyone.
After all, crowdsourcing is in.

By the time I analized this, 40 US individuals had given their opinion on the issues I raised. Here are the results.
Of the 40, 35 said they did not have any real problems with buying from international stores, located outside of the USA. Thats a good score. The remaining five however, did have fundamental issues preventing them doing International orders. Of those 5, 1 reason was sort of patriotic, wanting to support US economy, one was due to the fact that international stores often only accept Paypal as a payment option, a service the customer did not want do signup with. The other reasons quoted for not wanting to shop international were of a more practical reason: costs. Either the cost of International shipping, or the costs of the goods themselves, due to the weaker dollar.

So, 5 out of 40 (12,5%) seems a good number. But we have to put this in perspective.
Don't forget that 62% of all 10 million Etsy users are US Based, according to this report, accounting for around 6,2 million customers, still amounts to three quarter of a million users that DON'T want to buy international. A sizable amount indeed.

But thats not all. In fact, only 17 (around 50% of potential international buyers) say there is no reason why they would not buy international. The other 50% list a number of apprehensions on buying from a non-US store. The graph  here shows what are the quoted reasons. 
The vast majority say the shipping cost and the shipping time are huge barriers when it comes to ordering from an international seller. Obviously, we want it, and we want it NOW is the key here, and adding another 10$ for postage is not a very enticing idea. The next big one is the cost of the goods, basically due to the low dollar exchange rate compared to the UK pound or Euro I guess. Well, the financial markets have recently partially done their best to reduce that difference ;-). 


So what can international sellers do about this?
I guess the following 6 pieces of advise can be distilled:


1) Make sure you have a clear shop policy, stating what international buyers can expect in terms of delivery times. Don't make promisses you cant keep, the shipment process is out of your hands, but a positively surprised customer is a better ambassador than a disappointed one. And be sure to put in your policies that any surplus on the actual shipping price will be reïmbursed, and adhere to it!


2) Minimize the transit times by clearly filling out custom forms, not including shipping costs in the declared value and (for US adresses) follow this link to the USPS zip locator for a correct addressing which seems to shorten the transit time (Thanks to Helen from Frenchsoul for this tip!)


3) Maybe, include part of the shipping rate into your item price. Now this is up for debate. Some will in no way want to do that, even if it is not to deter local buyers. On the other hand, since 62% of all potential buyers are US based (and international of course a lot more!), this might be a good strategy. After all, a lot of buyers will see a relative high shipping price upon checkout, and decide to cancel at that point.


4) Since most buyers can be found in the USA, make it a point to get good feedback from your international buyers, and maybe also ask them, in their feedback, to put something on the real shippping time. After all, uncertainty on it seems a large deterrant for many, even though some national US shipments also take some time.


5) Be sure to have a unique product. After all, if a US prospect buyer can choose between simmilar items, one international with potential shipping delays and high shipment costs, and one that doesn't, you can't blame them for choosing the latter.


6) Maybe most importantly: respond fast and clearly to all questions or remarks, gaining potential buyers' trust and, above all, get them to become repeating customers. 


Good luck selling!

Conversion

Yesterday, in Etsy's forum an interesting topic turned up, one that I had already been pondering on for some time. The topic was concerning the amount of views vs the amount of likes and the resulting amount of sales. In marketing terms this is called the Conversion rate.

The first few posts, all showed similar conversion rates of, between 100 and 250 views per sale (with around 20-30 likes per sale), but later more and more posts popped up where the views per sale ratio ended up between 500-2000.
Of course I quickly calculated my own and ended up on an average 650 views per sale, so well within the second tier.


Now, finding out those numbers is interesting, but the key question of course is how to INFLUENCE these numbers and in order to be able to do that, we need to know the cause.


There is where it becomes a bit tough. I don't have the time to make a scientific research on this, but a few observations could be made.


To people saying that external marketing (outside of Etsy) would be the cause: I don't think so. That would increase the amount of views, but not necessarily the view/sale ratio. In fact, it could be debated that it would reduce the ratio, since more views will dilute the sales made ratio (increasing sales but not in the same amount as the amount of views).


Of course a difference could be that the tagging of items was more specific, resulting in possible less views, but a higher conversion rate per view (ie more sales per view). That is to be investigated.

An other difference that caught my eye has to do with location. It quickly struck me that many of the shops with low conversion ratios (so high number of views per sale) were located outside of the US.
A quick look on Ebay shows that many stores don't even consider selling international. Its considered "a hassle", dangerous or just unneccesary. Whether that is a valid idea remains to be seen. However, I believe that the vast majority of Etsy buyers are US based. And I can immagine they would prefer to buy from US based stores, either because they are apprehensive of buying from non-US stores, they feel the shipping charges are too high or just for patriotic reasons.
Is there much that non-US sellers can do about this? Hardly. Just keep the shipping rates as low as possible (don't inflate), communicate in a timely and kind manner, and maybe in the stores policy or "about me" mention that many international orders have not caused any problems.
But that aside, I strongly believe Etsy can do something too: Increase they brand awareness outside of the US.
Maybe its a good idea to discuss this with your local Etsy representative?


Your views are highly appreciated.

Etsy's numbers

Under here are Etsy's monthly figures, its so-called weather report. A quick analyse shows not only volumes were up, but the growth of turnover exceeded the growth in sheer item-volume, which indicates the average price per sale went up. Slightly worrying is the flimsy growth in new members, only 0.1%.

Blooming flowers and rising temperatures made May the perfect month to hop on a bike and go for a ride. The Etsy community rode through the month with sunny days and growth to match.

The stats:

• $65.9 million of goods (after refunds and cancellations) were sold by our community in May, 3.6% higher than April’s $63.6 million

• That represents 3,034,442 items sold for the month, 2.4% higher than April’s 2,962,196

• 2,248,143 new items were listed in the month, 2.1% higher than April’s 2,202,219

• 688,365 new members joined the Etsy community in the month, up 935, or 0.1%, from April

• 1.29 billion page views were recorded on the site in May

The $65.9 million of goods sold (after refunds and cancellations) represents a 68.5% increase from May 2011′s total. At the same time, items sold were up 51.2%. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Etsy community in May!

Source: Etsy.com / Sinohe Terrero

The Struggle for Customers

I think everyone who has a webshop, or as a matter of fact, even a Brick & Mortar shop, faces the continuous struggle to find new customers. As have I. The truth of the matter is that I am not the most digitally versed person in the world, I just want to do what I am good at, making jewelry, leather bags and crochet dresses, next to my daytime job as an MD. But instead I find myself busy with things such as Tags, Blogs, Twitter, SEO and setting up Facebook Company pages.... ahh, such is the life of an artist.


Etsy, and Etsy users all proclaim a blog is a great way to engage with your customers and attract new potential customers for your webshop. Well, lets wait and see.


So what is my goal with this blog? Or rather, what can you expect? Well, expect news on handmade fashion and jewelry, updates on my projects, Lessons learned and maybe some times tips and tricks.