Latest / The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast / 41. 5 More Things You Can Do for Your Etsy Shop in 15 Minutes or Less (Part 2)

Transcript

41. 5 More Things You Can Do for Your Etsy Shop in 15 Minutes or Less (Part 2) · The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here you'll find simple strategies, real behind-the-scenes insight, and the clarity you need to stop second guessing and start moving forward one intentional step at a time.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So last week's task leaned a little more toward creating and listing.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: This week I want to take it in a slightly different direction and show you a few other ways that you can use small pockets of time to keep making progress.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna jump right into it today.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so number one, or number six if you're keeping track from last week, but number one this week is spending those 15 minutes doing some competitive research.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So last week we talked about using keyword research to come up with new product ideas and then saving those ideas somewhere so that you have an idea bank to pull from when you're ready to create.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So for this task, go into that bank, choose one idea that you're seriously considering, and spend 15 minutes researching the market around it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's say that one of the ideas in your idea bank is nurse retirement gift.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: You had found those keywords and they had high search and low competition.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you added them to your idea bank.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what you're gonna do here is go into Etsy, and actually I recommend doing this research in an incognito or private browser window so that your own personal Etsy activity has less influence on what you're seeing.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So you're going to go into an incognito or a private browser and then go to Etsy and you're gonna search those exact words first.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So nurse retirement gift.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here you want to see what is already selling to that buyer, to the buyer who is buying a gift for a retiring nurse.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're not worried about what the product is here.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if it's a bag, a mug, a journal, a shirt, a piece of jewelry, it just doesn't matter.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna pay particular attention to listings that appear to be doing well.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll know that because they might have a bestseller badge or a high number of reviews, or if you click into it, it might say, you know, in 20 carts.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're trying to learn from products that buyers are actually responding to.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're not just looking at any old listing that shows up because we don't know that that's actually gonna do well itself, okay?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: So once you have plugged in those words, you're gonna now look at those listings that we believe are doing well, and you need to pay attention to what you see.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the things you're looking for here are what kinds of messages are showing up on the designs?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are the products meant to be funny or sentimental or more classic?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are sellers using personalization?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are there certain phrases or themes or uh design styles that seem especially common?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: What price points are buyers seeing?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: What's catching your attention in the search results?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So by just looking at them, what's grabbing your eye?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: What words are they using in their titles is another thing that you should be looking at here.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is there an underlying theme that you keep noticing that you could use in a completely different way?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the same sentiment keeps showing up across all these different product types.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: That may be telling you something about what matters to that buyer.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And now you can think about how to bring that theme into your own product in a way that feels different.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I also like clicking into some of the listings and looking at the reviews because reviews can give you clues about who is buying the product, what occasion they're buying it for, and what they liked about it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, and this is actually my favorite, what they wish was different.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good piece of information that you can bring over to your own listings.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, after you have exhausted the information you are gathering from those first keywords, in this case, nurse retirement gift.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe you're gonna change it up a little bit.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you sell tote bags, you're gonna put nurse retirement tote, or maybe you're gonna type in a specific kind of nurse.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna type in labor and delivery nurse retirement.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just change around the words a little bit.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of nurse retirement gift, you type in gift for retiring nurse.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: As you type in these new keywords, you're going through that same process, looking for that same information.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to learn enough about the idea to make a better decision before you spend time creating it.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So as you gather this information, jot it down right there in your idea bank and then go about your day.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number two is to learn one thing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So pick something specific that you've wanted to figure out and use this little pocket of time to learn how to do it.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even have to be on Etsy.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a Canva feature that you keep seeing and you want to know how to do it because you haven't been able to figure that out, but you know it can be done.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's about printify, maybe just seeing what features are on these different third-party tools that you want to use, or even just exploring a third-party tool before you've purchased it, just to see if maybe it's something that you want to use down the road.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or it could be something about Etsy.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So there could be a skill that you want to learn, or maybe you want to know how to make up your own mock-ups, or there's something you want to see if AI could do to save you time.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: This idea could even come from something that has slowed you down recently.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the last time you were creating a list and you thought, I know there has to be an easier way to do this.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's your thing.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you can go ahead and learn.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Find a quick tutorial, look it up, bash chat GPT to walk you through it.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you can, actually try to do it while you're learning it because that's gonna make a big difference and help it stick a little bit more.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: But make sure you just keep it really specific since you only have 15 minutes, right?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna master all of Canva or become an AI expert.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Get as specific as you can, see what you can figure out, and walk away with some new knowledge that's gonna help you out.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number three is to look through your own shop data for clues.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you're brand new, this one isn't for you just yet.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: But for those of you who have been selling for at least a couple of months, you'll have at least a little bit of data to work with.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I love this as a quick way to assess where you are and get some direction on what to create next.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So take a look at your sales, your views, your favorites, your conversion rates across all of your listings and look for anything that stands out.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Which products are getting the most views, which ones are getting favorited, which listings are actually converting those views into sales.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And don't only look at your biggest sellers.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a listing with fewer views but a really strong conversion rate can be just as interesting because when the right buyer finds it, they're buying it.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's good to know.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then dig into the search terms that people are using to find some of those listings.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a bit trickier to find, so let me walk you through it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna go into your shop manager and click on stats.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Under stats, you're gonna click on shop traffic.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a lot you can look at on this page and you should explore it as well for other things.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But to get to those search terms, you'll need to go down to the bottom.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: At the bottom of that screen, they're gonna have all of your listings.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, unfortunately, there is no way to filter these listings, which would make life so much easier.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: But you can go to those listings and when you click into one of them, you'll be able to see a bunch of different information about it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: But there's gonna be a section somewhere around the middle that says search terms.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And these are the terms that have been used to find your product.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And there's really interesting information sometimes that you can find.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes buyers are finding your products in ways you didn't necessarily expect.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you created something for a nurse, but in your search terms, a very specific type of nurse keeps showing up.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the kinds of things I want you to take note of because they can give you ideas that you may never have thought to research on your own.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can also compare this with what you saw when you looked at your sales, your views, your favorites, and your conversion rates.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a listing that doesn't get a ton of traffic, but it converts really well when people find it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: What search terms are bringing those buyers in?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something there that you could create more around?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe a listing is getting a lot of views and favorites, but it isn't converting particularly well.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a clue too.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: There is obviously something about the product that's getting people's attention, even if you haven't quite figured out how to turn that attention into a sale yet.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to come away from this knowing exactly what every number means.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're just looking for things that stand out.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: The more history your shop has, the more valuable this gets because eventually you don't have to guess quite as much about what your buyers want.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: They start showing you.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: All right, the fourth 15-minute task is to set up a simple A B test.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, an A B test is a way to compare two versions of something.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: In our case, a listing, to see which one performs better.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll have a version A and a version B, and the only difference between the two is one specific intentional thing.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: That way, when you compare the results, you have a much better idea of whether that specific change made a difference.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would use an A B test on a listing that has already shown some potential.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's sold a couple times before, but not as consistently as you'd like.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or it's getting the looks and the favorites, but it's not converting the way you'd expect.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So what you're gonna do is you're gonna duplicate the listing.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So make a copy of the original.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the original is gonna be version A, the duplicate is going to be version B.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're gonna choose one thing to change.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really important that you only change one thing.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: The three big testing options, I think, are the thumbnail, the title, and the price.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the most important thing is that you only choose one of them.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you change the thumbnail, the price, and the title all at the same time, then even if version V performs better, you won't know which change actually helped.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then let both listings run for a while and see what happens.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Which one is getting more views and more favorites and more sales, which one has the better conversion rate?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you give it enough time to collect some meaningful data before you decide which version is better.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: The whole point of the test is to learn something you can use in future listings, not just to make a quick change and hope for the best.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number five is simply to create.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And this one can look like a lot of different things depending on where you are and what you already have in progress.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you spend those 15 minutes working on a design that you've already started.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you create a new version of one of your best sellers, or you can go into your idea bank, pull out an idea that you've already researched, and start turning it into something.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you have an idea that you came up when you were walking through Target and you want to get that down.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: The point is that you don't always have to use a short pocket of time researching, analyzing, or planning.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the very best thing that you can do is just create.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And because you've already been building out that idea bank and doing some of the research we talked about earlier, you shouldn't have to spend time figuring out what to make.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can pick something and just get started.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you finish the whole design, maybe you don't.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Either way, you've moved it forward.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the next time you have another pocket of time, you can go back in, you have something waiting for you, and you're not starting from zero.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so there you have it.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Five more things that you can do for your Etsy business in 15 minutes or less.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: But what I really want you to take away from these last two episodes is less about the 10 specific things I gave you and more about realizing how much you can actually get done in a small window of time.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really easy to tell yourself that you'll work on your shop when you have an hour or a free afternoon or when life settles down a little bit.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes those bigger blocks of time just don't come.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't mean you can't make progress and have success on Etsy.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: If most of the time you have to work on your Etsy shop comes in 10 or 15 or 20 minute chunks of time, then use them.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next time you have another little pocket, do something else.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Those small blocks of time add up.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you keep using them, you're still creating products, you're still learning your market, you're still improving your shop, and you're absolutely still moving forward.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've got 15 minutes today, pick something and do it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thanks so much for hanging with me today, and I will see you next week.