How to use Etsy Stats to Improve your Sales
Be honest - do you know how to use your Etsy stats?
Are you one of those Sellers who never check their Stats? Or equally as bad, do you check your Stats 100 times a day - hoping that something will have changed?
Well.... you could be missing a BIG trick in getting more sales if you don't understand how to use your Stats properly.
What if I told you that taking a little time each month to cast your eyes over your Etsy Stats could help you improve your sales?
To get better at anything, you first need to know what's working and what's not. It's the same in your shop. Once you know the facts, you can do more of the stuff that IS working and focus on changing the stuff that's not.
I know what it's like to work away furiously, continually changing up titles, photos and SEO in that never-ending hustle for more sales. Maybe instead, we could dig a little more into our Stats? That way, we may find that a lot of our shop is working just fine and it's only one specific area that's causing the problem.
Simplify your Etsy Bookkeeping with an Automated Bookkeeping Template
Related Posts:
Visit your Payment Account & understand your real earnings from Etsy
OK, now I've got you interested, where to begin?
Download your free Etsy Stats Tracker
There's a lot to cover so why not Pin this post for later so you can take a break & come back another time?
I'm going to show you exactly how valuable this information is - where to find it, how to use it and why it's important to your shops' performance. Before we start, why not download the Etsy Stats Tracker so you can write down your Stats as you find them.
Click to download your Free Printable Monthly Etsy Stats Tracker
Where can I find my Etsy Stats?
First things first - where do you find your stats?
Log into your Etsy Shop and go to your Shop Manager.
Etsy Shop Manager
Etsy Stats Icon
You then need to hit the icon on the left-hand side that looks like 3 vertical lines
Etsy Visits vs Views
Before we look at the information you can see on Etsy we should look at the difference between Etsy Visits vs Views
So, Etsy views vs visits - what's the difference? According to Etsy, the definitions are:
"Views sum up every single click on your listings or your shop. Visits reflect many views by the same person. For instance, if a shopper looked at the same listing twice in a session, that counts as two views and one visit."
In plain English that means that you can have 1 visitor who views many products. I think of it as visits = people, views = screens they look at. So 1 person can view multiple screens (e.g. product listings in your shop).
What can I see in my Etsy Stats?
When you first click onto your Stats you get a brief summary at the top of the page.
This shows a number of key statistics:
Visits - as described above - this is the number of VISITORs to our shop
Orders - the number of Orders Received
Conversion Rate - I'll describe this below but it is a measure of what % of visits end up with an order
Revenue - the value of sales from the Orders received.
Click on each of these in turn and the chart will change to reflect your choice.
By hovering over individual dates you can also get some more details about that date. You can also click the button below the chart Compare to Previous Period to bring up a 2nd line on the chart showing the same period in the previous year.
Time Frames
You can alter the timeframe you're looking at by changing the date range at the top of the screen. Choose from one of the preset options in the dropdown list or you can click on custom and choose your own.
Once you've had a look at the numbers for your shop, write them down on the printable tracker so you have a visual record. It's a good idea to do this at the end of each month so you can see how you're progressing.
How Shoppers Found You
The next section of your Etsy Stats is to see where your traffic (your Etsy Visits) come from. Are they all arriving at your shop through Etsy searches or are you driving visitors from your own efforts on your website or through social media.
Try not to be too reliant on Etsy for all your traffic or you'll constantly be at the mercy of the dreaded Etsy algorithm. Any change they make will impact your views. Drive your own traffic to your shop and you'll be able to ride out more storms and see consistent numbers of shoppers. A bonus of this is that they are already interested in your items so you should see a higher conversion rate from these visitors.
Now let's look at a couple of more detailed numbers to give you even more information about how you're doing.
Conversion Rate
It's all very well driving traffic to your shop but are they buying your products when they get there? Conversion Rate is a measure used by the retail industry to work out how many shoppers turn into buyers. Your Etsy Conversion Rate is now shown in the chart at the top of your Stats but to work it out for yourself:
(Orders / Visits) * 100
Ideally, you should be aiming for between 1 - 3%. For example you receive 3 orders and have 75 visits. (3 / 75) * 100 = 4%
If you're gaining a sale for every 50 visits you get, then you are doing ok. If it's below this then you might need to go a little deeper into your numbers.
You can also work out the conversion rate for individual products by going to the Listings tab on your Stats page. You may have some products with great conversion rates but not much traffic and others with great traffic but no conversions. Knowing your numbers can really help you focus your efforts on exactly the right areas to boost your sales.
If you've got products with a low conversion rate then think about changing 1 or more of the following
Title - do you have the perfect title for your product. Try this fun (spreadsheet) trick to get the perfect length of title for your product.
Listing Photographs - do your products look enticing? Are you using all 10 photographs to show all aspects of your products
Descriptions - are you highlighting the benefits of your products to your customers and giving them a reason to buy
For more tips, there's a great post in the Etsy Seller's Handbook on increasing your Conversion Rate.
Revenue per order (Average Order Value)
If you have products at different price points then another useful statistic is to measure how much money you make from each order.
Revenue / Number of Orders
There's no right or wrong to this one, as it depends on the type of products that you sell in your shop. Obviously, the more money you can make from each order then the fewer orders you need to make to meet your revenue targets.
Look at adding some higher priced items into your shop, or increasing the price of your best sellers. If they're popular (have a high conversion rate) then you can probably charge a little more.
Number of Active Listings
Whilst you're looking at your stats, the other number that is useful to note down is how many active listings you have in your shop.
To find the number of listings in your shop go back to your Shop Manager and find the number at the top of the page.
Warning: This is only available as a live number so you need to make a note of this every month if you want to use it to track your progress.
There is a lot of discussion on the wonderful web of the "optimum" number of listings to have in your shop and often the advice given is that more is better. I think there probably is some truth in this but you also need to consider the time and expense involved in adding more listings.
One way to work out whether it is worth adding more to your shop is to start tracking visits and importantly orders per active listing.
Orders / Active Listing
You may find that having 200 items in your shop is not actually generating any more visits or orders than if you only had 150 items (and remember, you have to manage and pay to list each of those extra 50.)
Your stats can tell you your best and worst products in terms of views and orders - why not try deleting some of your weakest products? You could well end up with a more streamlined offering that is easier to manage and more cost effective to maintain.
On the other hand, you might have 50 fabulous products in your shop that all generate good visits and orders. In that case, why not add more of the same to increase your sales (keep an eye on those stats though!!)
Go Look at your Etsy Stats
I would definitely recommend checking your stats every month and using the information to understand what's working in your shop and what's not. Once you understand what's going you can start changing what you need to do to boost your sales and grow a truly successful Etsy shop.
Go and check out your Stats and start recording your figures every month to see the impact of the changes you make.
Download your FREE Printable Monthly Etsy Stats Tracker
Download your Etsy Stats Tracker if you haven't already done so, to note down where you are today and then check back every month to see your improvements.
Related: The new Etsy Payment Account; What you need to know
Don't forget to let me know how you get on and pin this for reference so you can find it again later.
Sarah x
Why not Pin for later?
