I analyzed the top 100 million dollar Etsy stores and found three tactics they're using to get sales that most aren't.
It's not ads, it's not photos, it's not SEO.
No, these are less obvious, yet have a huge impact on sales.
I'm going to break them down with you and provide real examples along the way, so you can use them for your own Etsy store.
Whereas the typical Etsy store consists of a storefront listings, maybe some Etsy ads and that's Many million dollar.
Etsy stores.
Venture beyond the website with tactic one external marketing.
This includes marketing through social media and email.
The main benefit, of course, is that it can bring in more eyeballs.
The more ways to be seen, the higher the chances of getting more sales.
However, there are a few subtler reasons to promote outside the platform that many million dollar Etsy stores don't talk about.
One reason is that it reduces their dependence on Etsy's algorithms.
Relying on it is like putting all your eggs in one basket, a basket that is shaky full of eggs from other competing stores and held by a businessman who loves taking your money.
To spread their eggs out, million dollar Etsy stores promote themselves outside the platform.
We can see this done by the number one Etsy store in terms of monthly sales, Caitlin Minimalist.
They promote their jewelry on Instagram and have over 81000 followers and receives 24 million views per month on Pinterest.
This allows them to make sales regardless of the algorithm and, funny enough, makes the algorithm share their listings even more.
This is because their listings are bringing in new customers to the site, which Etsy likes.
For smaller Etsy stores, you can make use of this.
In the early stages, your listings may not be ranking high because you're basically caught in the chicken or the egg dilemma.
Etsy likes to display listings that sell, but you can't sell if they aren't displayed.
To break this cycle, try to make sales through external marketing.
It can prove to Etsy that your listings can indeed sell and kickstart the algorithm.
Another reason for external marketing is that it can create a community of repeat customers.
Past customers are the secret to boosting sales.
It's been found that the success rate of selling to a new customer is five to 20, while the success rate of selling to a past customer is 60 to 70.
It's way easier to sell the past customers and million dollar Etsy stores know this.
A great example is this million dollar Etsy seller, Bailey Design Co.
She sells Tumblr designs and runs a Facebook group where she updates her customers on new products and promotions.
She also uses it to ask for design requests, which is a great way to generate product ideas and gauge demand.
A genius thing about Facebook groups is that it can send a notification to its members every time there is a new post.
Bailey knows this, so she posts all the time, which keeps her top of mind among her customers and encourages repeat sales.
To really make sure her customers don't forget about her.
Bailey also has an email list with over 13000 subscribers.
So here comes the question how did these million dollar Etsy stores grow their following outside of Etsy?
And how can you do it too?
The truth is there is no one size fits all approach.
In fact, a big chunk of them don't even do external marketing because it doesn't make sense for their product.
I will say one popular method I noticed to reel in followers was freebies.
Heading back to Bailey Design Co, you can see that she offers a bunch of free Tumblr designs to download in her Facebook group.
She used them as bait.
And once you take a bite, she's got you hooked.
Offering freebies is easy if you sell digital products, but it can involve a bit more steps if you sell physical products.
You can consider hosting giveaways, where you ship up products to winners and a step to enter it is to maybe share it with friends.
Another option is offering a digital product freebie that complements your physical products, such as a guide on interior design if you sell home decor, for example.
And if all freebies are off the table, you can simply do the slower but tried method of consistently creating engaging content and leaving a link to your Etsy store which you can grab from your browser's address bar.
Wrong, never use the link from your address bar because it can actually lose you money.
Instead, you'll wanna use your share and save link.
To get your Share and Save link, visit Shop Manager on Etsy, click Marketing, then Share and Save.
When you make a sale through your Share and Save link, Etsy will take 4 of the order total off your Etsy bill.
Free money, yo, but there's an issue.
The URL looks kinda amateur.
With that etsycom sticking at the end.
It doesn't scream professional like how this branded link does.
Having a branded link is the final touch you can add to really get sales from outside of Etsy.
It's been found that branded links drive 48 more clicks, and they're typically easier to remember as well.
They can help turn your Etsy store into a memorable brand.
An example is this Etsy store, Eggy Studio.
They promote their cute art products on Instagram to over 44000 followers and they're killing it with their professional branding.
In their bio they have a branded link eggiestudiostore, which auto-forwards visitors to their Etsy store.
Now, imagine if they just used their share and save link.
The vibe would be kind of different.
Instead of their brand being a premium art studio, it leaned more towards a girl selling art as a side hustle from her basement.
The best place to get a branded link is link.store.
You can get one there for free for six months, no credit card required.
Simply head to the website and click claim your free link.
Choose Etsy as the marketplace you're selling on and paste your share and save link below.
Hit next and search for the branded link you want.
Once you've found an available one, select it and then sign up to activate it.
And that's it.
Another example I want to show you is this Etsy seller, Art With M.
She sells art prints and has over 26000 followers.
Her brand is more herself.
Yet she adds professionalism to her image by using the branded link artwithmstore for her Etsy store.
It may seem small, but a branded link makes a big difference.
You might've noticed that both examples used a .store domain.
They're popular with Etsy stores, so make sure to quickly claim yours for free before it's taken.
Link is in the description.
A big thanks to Link.store for sponsoring this video and hooking us up.
Next on the list, tactic two, strategic pricing.
When it comes to pricing, I noticed that million dollar Etsy stores don't just think in terms of profit, but also in terms of marketing.
They cater to a specific target market.
Take, for example, this Etsy store, KC Design.
They sell various personalized products and go all out on making them look affordable.
All of their products are listed at under 10, at 60 off, with free shipping, and they even do the little trick of scheduling their sales short to make Etsy display a countdown on their product pages.
This creates urgency and encourages customers to buy quickly.
Clearly, this store's target market is price sensitive customers and they're pricing their products low to compete on price.
Affordable pricing strategy is based on volume and they make up for their lower profit margins with more sales.
Competing on price can be hard.
That's why another popular pricing strategy is one that doesn't compete on price but on quality.
This million dollar etsy store, primrose cottages, sells paper quilt patterns and, unlike the previous example, none of their listings are on sale.
No discounts, no free shipping, just set prices, plain and simple.
Their appeal is quality, using higher prices to give their brand a premium feel and a lack of discounts to signify that their products are priced at the value that they provide.
This store is likely targeting customers who value quality over price, which can mean higher profit margins.
However, it can also mean less sales.
It's a trade-off, but if it results in more profit, it could be worth it.
To decide on the best pricing strategy for your products.
Ask yourself who your target market is and what they value.
It should lead you to more sales.
Moving on to tactic three, listings.
If there's one thing every million dollar Etsy store has in common, is that they have a lot of listings.
And the reason for it might not be what you think.
But first, let me just show you how many listings these stores have.
Here are the top 10 Etsy stores based on sales over the last 30 days.
And number 10 is My Porch Prince with 911 listings.
Not bad.
Next, number nine, 3,781.
Number eight, 7,141.
Number seven has a modest 260, but number six turns things back up with 9,924.
Number five has 408.
Number four, 6,950.
Number three, 5,676.
And number two, 4,672.
Finally, at number one is Caitlin Minimalist with 1,360.
Out of these 10 stores, the average number of listings is 4,508.
Like I said, They got a lot.
Now, why so many listings?
Well, the more products listed, the more customers you can serve and the more chances of making a sale.
It's as straightforward as that.
Or is it?
Serving more customers is only one part of the equation.
The other one is real estate.
Think of Etsy as Times Square in New York and a listing as a billboard there.
If your product is on one billboard, it might be spotted by some, but standing out could be a challenge.
Now, let's say your product is shown on several billboards.
Its chance of being spotted will become much higher because you've taken up more real estate in Times Square.
Million-dollar Etsy stores create many listings to take up digital real estate on Etsy's website.
They see listings as a marketing tool to stand out in the sea of competition and make sales.
In fact, their listings aren't even all necessarily unique products.
Many stores just duplicate their existing listings and tweak a few things here and there.
For example, this Etsy store, SVG Mode, sells SVG designs.
They have this rectangle design and, as you can see, they've essentially copied and pasted it a bunch of times, only changing a bit of text.
Hockey mom, cheer mom, basketball mom.
They've even ventured off the mom theme and have competition mode and basketball vibes.
While they could have easily made one listing for this design and let you select different text when buying it, they instead spread it out into several listings to take up more real estate.
Another example is this million dollar Etsy store, Capsake.
They don't even try to hide it.
These house Christmas ornaments, all the same.
Their only differences are their titles and backdrops.
But wait, listings aren't free.
So why don't these million dollar Etsy stores just pay for Etsy ads if they want exposure?
Well, many still do.
But going back to the Times Square metaphor, paying for Etsy ads is like paying to have your product show up in the center billboard.
It gives you a great location, but it doesn't give you any more real estate.
Listings can also be much cheaper than Etsy ads.
Let's break it down.
One listing is 20 cents and can be displayed up to four months if there is no sale.
If someone clicks on it, you don't get charged anything.
Now to run an Etsy ad, not only do you have to pay 20 cents for the listing you're going to advertise, but you have to pay another 20 cents to maybe even a dollar every time someone clicks on it, whether they buy it or not.
Every click is basically a new listing that could have been.
I think the biggest takeaway from seeing the huge number of listings each million dollar Etsy store has is that the journey to Etsy success is a long road.
Listings take time to make.
So having a lot kind of shows how long they've been in the game for.
Don't stress yourself out if you don't have 1000 listings in one week or 100 sales in one day.
Success takes time.
You just got to keep going at it one listing at a time.
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Peace out.
