Business Lessons 101, A Continuing Series for New Artisans

day 71

#12 Etsy Pitfalls & Perils

River Girls Wry Mood Cow Card at ETSY

As one reader so gently pointed out to me, "Arrgh ETSY is not all sweetness and roses." Agreed. It's not the fluff and nutter sandwich of your childhood dreams either.

In last Saturday's post, I outlined some lessons I have learned since listing products in the River Girls Studio shop at ETSY. Most of these were positive, reflecting the overall experience of the past 16 weeks. There are however real pitfalls, two which I will explore today:

Fees

Excuse me is that your hand reaching for my wallet, or are you just happy to see me? There are two things you pay for when you join the ETSY community: listing your items and a 3.5% proceeds fee for items sold. Twenty cents a listing seems like small change, but it can balloon rapidly if you're not monitoring your expenses. Add in the sales fee and you've got a recurring shop bill that must be paid monthly. The awful truth is some shop owners sell very little or nothing, especially in the early weeks and months. Are you willing to pay those fees if you're one of those owners? For how long?

Ahem. Honestly It's Gonna Be More than 20 cents...

Next. Most successful shop owners discover that they need to renew their items well before their expiration date of four months, lest they risk not being seen or found among the other 318,000 stores in the ETSY constellation.  Some sellers renew at least one or two of their shop's items daily in the hopes of improving viewership. I have found that when I renew, I receive twice to three times as many "hearts" and views than when I do not. This does not always lead to sales, but face it. You cannot get sales without views! 

Some sellers are now suggesting that rather than renew old items, one should list new items entirely, lots of them. Guess what? Bottom line is the same: additional true expense which must be considered. (To pare this cost down, consider listing a single item and offering its varieties in the same listing. For example, an identical item in three different colors can be photographed in a single exposure. Direct your buyer to select one and place the color choice in the message box upon checking out.)

Frenzy Misplaced?

As someone who  after 4.7 months of listing is in almost 200 circles, has appeared in over 200 Treasuries and has been shop favored by 142 person, it's easy to get swept up by what I call the awesome and utter joy of my Etsy shop, but whoa, slow down.  Always ask yourself, where is that love coming from? Is it translating into sales?

Utilizing Google Analytics and sites such as Craft Cult will help you realistically assess what your true traffic is --- where it's coming from, through what key words and how long it parks. Of supreme importance is making certain that you are not inadvertently counting your own footprints and that you are getting traffic not only from other sellers but from actual buyers. 


Consider your shop like a house up for sale and you're having a Sunday open house. Other sellers who rarely buy are like the nosy neighbors who want to finally see whether it's marble or Formica gracing your kitchen counters: lots of ogling not much buying. Likewise, accidentally counting your own traffic is detrimental for it could be quite heavy when you're working on your shop and therefore misleading. I learned this the hard way when I went on vacation for a week and barely touched my store! Make certain to exclude your own visits. This blog will show you how and this site as well. That's it for now!

Good night friends,


Wanda

Business Lessons 101, A Continuing Series for New Artisans
day 64

#11 ---  Diving into Etsy..the first 150 Days
In January 2011, I bit the bullet. I decided to open an Etsy shop. On February 15, the day after Valentine's Day, properly sated and hung over from chocolate, I listed my first items: River Girls most popular hand poured soaps as well as its handmade cards and painted and stamped marble coasters. 

The decision--- part cavalier seat-of-the-pants and part tortured contemplation-- is a one I do not regret. After five months, I have posted 50 revolving items and have closed 41 sales, serving buyers from Los Angeles, California to Sydney, Australia. Nonetheless, there are things I wished I had known fresh out the gate. For example:

1. Be realistic. 

Stop, take a deep breath. View ETSY, at least initially, as the paper route and baby sitting job of your dreams, not the Martha Stewart empire. Even if you eventually get there--it's going to be a while. While there are a handful of businesses making thousands and thousands of sales and dollars, the vast majority are NOT. For some, the income  will arrive in a steady thin stream, others trickles, and for some, barely at all.  

2. Consider your competition. Recognize that the number of ETSY artisans with open stocked stores is well over 290,000 (but about 318,000 on record).  


What is your niche? Some ETSY areas are more flooded with sellers than others. Jewelry for example is notorious for attracting new crafters and disreputable overseas factories who land daily on ETSY with severely discounted trinkets.  Each niche will have its own challenges. Soap sellers for example are fewer in numbers than jewelers, but they are  also faced with the task of hard selling an item whose scent cannot be be sniffed. 

3. Be prepared to promote your shop--alot! The biggest mistake one can make with an ETSY shop is to set up, fill up and then sit and wait. This is a surefire way of garnering zero customers. The first six weeks on ETSY, I worked 6-10 hours a day writing copy, listing new items, joining teams and making treasuries (see below). ETSY does provide exposure and an easy way to process customers and collect your revenue, but it will not bring droves of customers to you. 


The best way to attract sales is through constant marketing of your store. Bring your past customers by announcing your new shop and informing them of where to find you! For several years, River Girls has had a web site (http://www.rivergirlssoap.com), but it was not gaining enough looks and was becoming a colorful catalog just for loyal repeat customers. Interestingly enough, sales went up with veteran customers when some began shopping at the ETSY store which runs more seasonal specials and launches new and custom lines.


Next, point potential customers in your direction. Have a website, a facebook page, and/or a blog.  All of these ensure that you are creating a super highway to you! Keep business cards handy, listing the ETSY shop, and pass them out everywhere. Sign all correspondence, including to your mom, with your new ETSY web address.


4. Help Others. Finally, one of the biggest secrets to success on ETSY is what I coin "helping others". First rule of thumb: Whatever customers you do get, always treat impeccably, from shipping what you promised, to answering questions, to being timely and saying "thank you!" This reflects decency but also ensures positive feedback and repeat business. It creates nothing short of a domino effect.  


Equally important, never underestimate the power of the curated TREASURY. When I first began listing at ETSY,  I would make TREASURIES exclusively featuring sellers looking for their first sales. I now make those as well as ones featuring team members. After making  70 treasuries and being featured in 200, I have actually been able to pinpoint rises in my sales. Consider that at a minimum, they increase visibility, and the truth is, the more buyers who see your items, the more likely you are to close a sale.

TREASURY CURATED BY RIVER GIRLS STUDIO in the 1st Weeks

Good Night & Good Luck Novices!
Wanda

Copyright Wanda Fleming, 2011
www.rivergirlssoap.com

www.rivergirlsstudio.etsy.com

www.wandaevefleming.blogspot.com

day 22

Business Lessons 101
6 ,7, & 8 in a continuing series


6. It's a Soap You're Selling not a Political Convention or Big Tent Religious Revival 

 Unless you're specifically in business to sell political gear deliberately offensive to one side or the other, exercise common sense and sensitivity.



River Girls Honolulu Cool Soap
 in Ginger, Coconut & Plumeria

 The autumn that Barack Obama became President, I decided to create a soap related to his historic run and win. Well, I could have called it How You Like Me Now Suckers?!... and described it as a riotous confetti of raspberry, blueberry and white vanilla bean.  But frankly, I was concerned that while delightful for the winning side, this could turn off my Republican customers. Instead, I created Honolulu Cool a ginger, plumeria and coconut soap to reflect the President's Hawaiian roots.

7. If You Have a Message, Make it Positive
 Take the opportunity to communicate what your values and principles are through good customer service, contributions to nonprofit organizations that serve your community and more responsible eco-friendly packaging. Each year, River Girls focuses on these three areas, including the selection of an agency for charitable donations, and an emphasis on supporting local and national suppliers.

8. Be Easy

How easy is it to buy from you? Is it arduous and cumbersome? Like trekking naked  to the Himalayas for a wild llama, harvesting and hand dying its wool, and crocheting a hooded poncho to trudge back home in? It's a seemingly simple question but one whose underlying precept is often violated. Make it easy for your customers. No one wants to purchase products from a seller who acts as though they're doing the buyer a favor by taking her hard earned money.

Ask yourself:

--Is my website navigable, or is it torturous to access?



--Do I answer my phone, or do I immediately let it go to voice mail? If it goes to voice mail, how long does it take me to respond live?



--How quickly and efficiently do I ship?

--Do I accept credit cards and checks in addition to cash? 



I once  found a perfect satin purple ribbon for my lavender soap. However, it took the seller three weeks  to send me two yards, and he did not accept American Express. I soon found another supplier able to deliver within a week. Guess who has my business now?


Good Night,
Wanda





http://www.rivergirlssoap.com/
http://www.rivergirlsstudio.etsy.com/

www.wandaevefleming.blogspot.com

Copyright, Wanda Fleming 2011

day 20
Business Lessons 101, 1-5.  

River Girls Custom Soap ~Sierra Sunset

1. People are basically decent. Most are honest. In a decade of operating River Girls Soap & Bath, two checks have bounced. No stolen credit cards have been used, and twice, customers have called to say they were undercharged in their transactions.



2. You are not merely selling a product, you are selling an experience.

Midway through my first year of business, I began to realize that while I produced wonderful soap, lots of other people did so as well. It became apparent that often, what customers seem to enjoy is being listened to, being assisted, and lastly, being in the company of a person in an attentive sunny mood. When they become repeat customers, they want to know that they can come to you at the last moment for a loved one's birthday or ask you to hold a few bars of the newest scent. That's not soap. That's human interaction.

3. If you fear being copied, you can never be in business. There is no such thing as operating from a remote basement cave in Abbotabad. We all know how that turned out. Once you enter the public square with your goods, be it at a craft show, or on the Internet, your ideas are open to the world. And the world is made up of, not only potential customers, but potential copy cats. Proper copyrighting aside, the best way to stay ahead of the prey is to remain innovative.


4. Customers bring their true selves to you. You are neither their lover nor their boss. They are not seeking to impress you. In time, you will interact with the persnickety, the chatty, and the chronically indecisive. A man who hates shopping will ask you to select his purchases for him--all of them.  A woman who makes lists for everything, from her cat's favorite show tunes to her medicine cabinet's contents, may know more about your products' ingredients than you do and have a list of requests to match.


5. Sometimes, there is no pleasing.  One year I sold soap at the Christmas craft show of a major Fortune 500 Company. A woman stood at my table and sniffed each bar with the care one might take with a box of Valentines Day chocolates. There were 30 scents, ranging from a romantic white peach lily to a sultry dragon's blood and sandalwood. After 30 minutes, she looked at me and frowning, said, "They're great but you don't have peony." Five years later, I introduced a pink peony soap.


Good Night,
Wanda -)