We’ve to agree that it isn’t easy to become a successful seller on ETSY, and you’ve to face many challenges to run an ETSY shop. What’s important is that we learn from other people’s mistakes to avoid them. Many new sellers on ETSY make some common mistakes that they later regret, and we’ve made a list of those mistakes for you to learn from other people’s failures.
Not paying attention to ETSY shop policies
New sellers often don’t pay enough attention to ETSY shop policies and get their shop suspended. ETSY provides you with a seller handbook that gives you the right advice for running a successful shop. It’s important that you go through the shop policies so that you don’t miss out on any crucial information that can create problems for you. You should also join the ETSY community, where sellers share tips to become successful and discuss the problems they’re facing. ETSY community is a good platform to raise your concerns as a seller and learn how other sellers respond to the same situation.
Not focusing on high-quality lifestyle pictures
Product photography is critical to the success of your ETSY shop. It is the first impression of your shop. If you’re posting subpar pictures, it’s highly unlikely that someone will buy your product. In an online setting, customers can’t feel the product, and that’s they want to see how a product will look in different settings. You should be uploading as many pictures as you can. Make sure that your product pictures are well-lit and enticing for your target audience.
Lack of cohesion in your store
Whenever someone opens your store, they should be looking at a brand that is consistent in terms of its color scheme and pictorial representation. Make sure that your shop doesn’t look like a junkyard where different items are placed randomly. Work on giving your store a cohesive look. Choose a color scheme and font to be consistent in your design. All these things are pertinent to the success of your shop. Your brand image should be cohesive and robust to create a long-lasting impression.
Quantity over quality
You can’t deny the importance of regular listings, but it doesn’t mean that you should be adding on listings just for the sake of listings. What most sellers do is they create different listings for variants of the same product instead of a single listing. It is a wrong approach as all variants of a listing should be included in one listing as it’ll help that specific listing to rank on ETSY. We can’t stress it enough that quality is always preferred over quantity. Lack of quality in your products will result in bad reviews, eventually hurting your shop.
Not using social media
ETSY is indeed a huge platform with millions of visitors, but you should also be making efforts to bring your own traffic to your ETSY shop through the effective use of social media. It’ll immensely help you to increase your shop views and sales velocity. You should leverage the potential of platforms like Pinterest and Tiktok to gain maximum views.
Ignoring your customer experience
Many new sellers tend to not focus on their customer experience and what a customer has to go through to get your product at their doorstep. You’ve to think like a customer when you’re listing new products in your shop. Customer service and your response rate play a crucial role here. No matter how perfect your product description and shop policies are, there’ll be some customers who’ll text you to inquire about your product. You’ve to behave politely with them and try to do your best to help them figure out the problem. Sometimes, these are the ones who turn out to be your most loyal customers. It happens a lot in the case of digital products that customers face problems using different file formats or printing your art work in different sizes. It’s your responsibility as an ETSY seller to guide them to resolve their issues.
Intellectual infringements
Many new sellers are tempted by the search volume of trademark keywords, and they make listings that sell well in the short run. If you’re using trademark keywords, you’re taking a huge risk by exposing your shop to suspension. Moreover, some sellers try to sell someone’s else work and get away with it easily but keep in mind that ETSY will suspend your shop after three copyright claims at your shop. You can easily create best-selling products without falling prey to the trap of trademarked keywords. This may bring you some profits in the short run, but it’ll get your shop suspended.
Pricing your items too low
Many new sellers price their products too low to compete with their competitors. It is a wrong approach as low prices indicate low quality to your customers. You should find a sweet spot where your product prices are neither too high nor too low.
You can read our article on how to price your products to skyrocket your sales using the following link:
https://trainings.analyxel.com/…/how-to-smartly-price…/
Not focusing on SEO
You can’t ignore the importance of SEO and wait for a miracle to happen. SEO is the single most important thing that can change things for you. Many factors contribute to the success of SEO, and you need to work on all of them to become successful. You should work on optimizing your listing title and description. You’ve to do proper keyword research to rank your listings and earn huge profits.
Giving up too quickly
We agree that it sometimes becomes overwhelming to handle your ETSY shop, and you feel like quitting is the only option left. Believe us that you can still make it happen. You can turn your shop profitable simply by using the right strategies and patience. Patience is the key to success here. You’ve to follow all the guidelines, put all your efforts into it, and wait for results. You need to work smart, not hard, to get the results you want.
