Long-term growth strategies is something that a lot of Etsy sellers overlook. And that results in stagnated growth in their Etsy shops, or even a decline over time.
I’m going to show you my top 10 go-to strategies that helps your Etsy shop grow in the long-run. These strategies are more high level and touches on multiple areas of your business. Implementing them may not get you immediate results, but they are important for long-term success on Etsy.
I’ll also provide real-life examples of top performing Etsy shops that have implemented these strategies.
Let’s get started.
Building a strong handmade brand goes beyond the visual elements. While a unique logo, attractive colour palette, and eye-catching Etsy banner are important, building a handmade brand also involves some more conceptual elements.
Intangible branding assets like brand positioning and brand voice are just as important in helping your brand stand out in the eyes of your target customers.
Your brand should stand for something that resonates with your target customers. This may be a commitment to sustainability or a dedication to using high quality materials. Having a strong brand identity can build customer loyalty, turning one-time shoppers into repeat customers.
Other than high quality products and optimised listings, your Etsy shop as a whole is a reflection of your brand. These sections can all work together and create a complete and memorable experience for your target customers:
About section - This is where you can tell the story behind your brand. You can talk about your creative process, and the reason why you start creating them in the first place. It’s a great place to show your passion and dedication, helping you connect emotionally with your customers.
Shop policy - Clear and comprehensive shop policy gives shoppers confidence. For most sellers, I’d recommend using the Etsy’s shop policy template.
FAQs - Put the commonly customer questions and concerns here. Not only does this save you time, it also helps reduce the barrier of purchase, which can improve your conversion rate.
Shop announcement - Here you can put the latest news and announcement that affects your customers, for example, holiday shipping cut-offs or a delay in processing time.
A visually cohesive Etsy shop can help create a consistent experience for your customers. Here are a few elements that you need to pay attnetion to:
Let’s break it down:
Product photos should be consistently styled. Use similar backgrounds, consistent brightness, contrast, and product positioning to achieve a consistent look to all your product photos.
Choose a colour palette of 3-4 colours, including 1-2 accent colours and neutral complementary ones. These colours should be consistent across your marketing materials, product photos and shop assets like banner and shop icon.
Similarly, keep your font choices simple. For your headings, you can pick a ‘fancier’ font that catches attention. But for regular text, choose an easy-to-read, simpler font. Two good choices are Roboto (san-serif font) or Georgia (serif font).
A cohesive shop not only builds customer trust but also makes your shop more appealing to Etsy shoppers, encouraging browsing and purchases.
Your consistency should extend beyond your Etsy shop to other platforms, including social media, your own website and blog, and other places where your shop is present.
Doing that can create a seamless experience for your potential customers. They may see your post on Instagram, click your shop link, and browse your shop’s offering. Maintaining consistency can prevents confusion and help you make a strong, positive impression.
Keep your colour palette, font choices, graphics, tone of voice and other relevant brand assets in mind when creating marketing materials and interacting with people.
Once you've set up an optimised and cohesive Etsy shop, it may be time to start building external traffic sources. These could include social media, your own website, forums, or other websites featuring your Etsy shop.
This strategy, sometimes known as multi-channel marketing, diversifies your traffic sources and can really boost your Etsy views and sales.
Keep in mind that building external traffic takes time. For example, building a successful blog can take 6-12 months before you see any real results. But if it’s successful, the results can be a game changer for your Etsy business.
Social media marketing can be a great way to boost the traffic and sales of your Etsy shop. But it's not as simple as posting product photos on Instagram. You’d need to create engaging, valuable content that resonates with your audience.
Knowing how to createvideo is more and more important as many social media platforms are shifting their focus to short-form video content since the rise of TikTok. For instance, Instagram has reels and Pinterest has video pins.
Here are some of the types of posts that work well on social media:
Remember, most of your posts on social media should entertain, educate, engage and inspire your followers, but not promote your own products.
Collaborations with bloggers or influencers can leverage their audience and significantly boost your product visibility. Doing that can help your products reach potential customers who may not have found you otherwise.
In particular, consider collaborating with micro-influencers, who typically have 1k-10k followers. Usually, they have a more engaged and targeted group of followers. Also, they're more likely to accept free products in exchange of reviews.
Email marketing is a powerful tool for building long-term customer relationships. And it has a high ROI (return-on-investment) if done properly. In fact, email marketing is estimated to have a $36 return for every $1 spent according to HubSpot.
Building a robust email marketing system can help encourage repeat purchases from customers and increase your customer's spending over time.
Here are some steps for Etsy sellers who wants to start email marketing:
For more details, read my email marketing guide for Etsy sellers.
Adding new products to your Etsy shop regularly keeps your shop fresh and gives customers a reason to come back.
Creating new products also help you target more keywords, and therefore, reaching more potential customers.
Top Etsy shops often have hundreds or even thousands of listings, giving the, opportunities to reach a large number of shoppers.
Running a successful Etsy shop requires a wide range of skills: product creation, photography, marketing, Etsy SEO, customer service, time management and more.
As an Etsy seller, it’s important to upskill yourself over time.
Developing your skills is one of the best ways to grow your Etsy business over time. Take advantage of the GYC blog for free guides and tutorials to improve your skill set.
If you are ready to accelerate your growth on Etsy, consider joining GYC Etsy Academy 2.0 where you’ll master all the skills you need to grow your Etsy shop.
