Shop Stats are one of the most important tools for your Etsy business. They package your traffic and highlight key signals your business is trying to tell you. But, how do you uncover this information, and once you’re armed with that info, how do you apply it? Here are two exercises to help make the most of your shop data and move your traffic needle from okay to hooray.
Exercise 1: Improve Your Low Performers
If I asked you to point out your most popular listing, I bet you could tell me right away. But what about the least popular? Our most popular listings stand out — they sell often, bring in custom business, and are featured regularly. Our worst performers, however, are a little harder to uncover, but they hold the most potential for improvement. Follow along as we find yours:
- Head over to your Shop Stats. Sign in and go to Your Shop > Shop Stats.
- To begin, look at the traffic you’ve received in the last 30 days, and scroll down to Pages Viewed. This section shows you which of your shop’s pages (for example, your listings, section pages, and shop homepage) are getting the most and the least traffic.
- Click on the arrows under Pages Viewed until you’re looking at a listing with a very small amount of traffic. Low performers - or your listings that get the least amount of traffic - provide you with an opportunity to improve them.
- Click on a listing to open a Listing Page View that offers a breakdown of traffic for that specific listing. Here are some questions to ask yourself about your low performers:
- Does this listing have a high-quality first photograph? Well-lit, high-quality photos are an easy way to bring more views to your listings.
- Does this listing have a powerful title? Titles that pack a punch include buyer keywords and phrases. Remember to keep the most important search terms at the beginning of the listing to maximize their importance in search.
- Am I making the most of my tags? Make sure you’re using all 13 tags, and that your tags are a blend of multiple word phrases that a buyer will use to search for this item that are repeated in your titles.
Taking an objective perspective on your listings is challenging. If you’re eager for another person’s point of view, turn to your favorite Team or the Etsy Forums for help, and ask for a critique of your lowest performers in exchange for a shop critique.
Exercise 2: Round Out Your Top Traffic Sources
Where is the majority of your traffic coming from? Top traffic sources in Shop Stats show your traffic referrers, which are websites that refer people to view your shop and listings. Let’s walk through this together:
- Head over to Your Shop > Shop Stats.
- Look at your Traffic Sources.
- Take a look at your referrers to understand where your business comes from. Here’s a list of some common top referrers and tips to leverage the traffic you’re getting or encourage new traffic. (You might want to add this to your Pinterest board or save it to your desktop so you don't forget about it.)
Finally, validate your efforts by comparing your “before” and “after” stats to better understand whether your efforts moved the needle. Join the Shop Dashboard prototype team for tools to easily compare and contrast your old and new traffic. Let us know how you analyze your Shop Stats in comments.
Words by Nickey Skarstad
Nickey Skarstad is a senior product manager on the Shop Management team at Etsy — the team that builds the tools sellers use to manage and run their shops. During her tenure at Etsy, Nickey has managed more than ten prototype teams, and is a long-time Etsy seller and community member.
