A Customer Friendly Shop Will Bring More Sales

20. Feb, 2012 37 Comments

HELLO recycled wooden sign

HELLO recycled wooden sign | by: WilliamDohman

Original Article by: Meagan Visser
Here’s the thing though. People are in a hurry. They aren’t going to take the time to search through your shop to find things. You have 30 seconds to get their attention. If you don’t, they’ll be off to another shop to see if it has something to offer them.
Your job is to direct your potential customer to key pages in your shop.
Now were going to talk about how to “show them around” or direct them to key pages in your shop without their having to search for them.
4 ways to make your shop customer friendly.
  1. Welcome Messages
  2. Sections
  3. Links
  4. Bio
Welcome Messages
Sections
Use your sections to guide your customers. No one wants to look through 7 pages of listings to find exactly what they’re looking for. So make it easy on them. Separate your listings into categories. You can use color, material, type of item, size, price, season, etc. There are so many options.
Links

Bio

How do you make your shop “customer friendly”?

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37 Responses to “A Customer Friendly Shop Will Bring More Sales”

  1. Rachel Reply 20. Feb, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    This is so useful… and something I know I should work on…. Will be starting this tomorrow… thank you so much for a kick up the butt :)

  2. Celtic Cat Reply 20. Feb, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    Great article! Thank You!

  3. Colleen Reply 20. Feb, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    Great hints. Now to put them to work!

  4. Meagan Reply 20. Feb, 2011 at 2:10 PM

    You’re all so welcome! Good luck making your shops “customer friendly” Rachel and Colleen!

  5. Heather O'Cain Reply 20. Feb, 2011 at 2:51 PM

    Wow! some more cool tips! Thanks!

  6. Shelley Reply 21. Feb, 2011 at 1:32 PM

    Good tips! I’ve tried to make my shop as welcoming & user friendly as possible, especially since I’ve had a couple of people tell me that Etsy, itself was not too user friendly (they’ve gone to my ArtFire shop & found it easier to use). So, anything that helps them feel motivated to look around, buy & take that step to become a ‘member’ on Etsy is a plus.

  7. Meagan Reply 21. Feb, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    Thank you Celtic Cat and Heather!

  8. Meagan Reply 21. Feb, 2011 at 1:39 PM

    Shelley, good for you on making your shop customer friendly! Building relationships with customers is so important, and there are so many ways to do that. Making your shop welcoming and easy to get around are just two ways.

    I’ve never used ArtFire, but I’m glad to know it’s simple!

    Good luck in your shop!

  9. Sally Anne Reply 21. Feb, 2011 at 8:02 PM

    You made me go to my shop and redo my profile.
    Thanks!

    Question: is there a way to have a link on you etsy pages or can you only copy/paste a url?

  10. Shannon Reply 21. Feb, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    I’ve put some of this to work already, but I do have a question.
    You write, “So link to your bio in your shop announcement. Link to your policies & how to contact you in your bio. Link to your policies & shop sections in your product descriptions. Do you offer custom orders? Link to your shops Alchemy settings.”
    Is there an actual way to link? Or does this rely on the tab key or add-ons like linkfinder? Thanks for the help!

  11. Meagan Reply 21. Feb, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    Sally Ann & Shannon, to answer both of your questions…when I say link, I mean to copy & paste the URL onto the page. If it’s an Etsy URL it will become live, but if it’s not {an outside link like FB or Twitter} it won’t become live. They’ll be able to copy & paste it into their browser though which will make it easier for them. I hope this answers your question. If not I’ll try again! Thanks!

  12. Shannon Reply 22. Feb, 2011 at 12:19 AM

    Thanks, Meagan. I’ll try that now.

  13. ClayLickCreekPottery Reply 22. Feb, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    Thanks Megan for more tips. During my slow time I’m trying to upgrade my shop!

    Karen
    http://www.ClayLickCreekPottery.etsy.com

  14. Eva Reply 22. Feb, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    Thank you Megan, I will have another look at my shop. Great tips!

    Eva
    http://www.etsy.com/shop/KapKaDesign

  15. Meagan Reply 22. Feb, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    Good luck Karen and Eva! I’m so glad you all are finding this helpful!

  16. Melissa Reply 06. May, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    Great article!!! I will be using these tips to make my shop more customer friendly. Some of these ideas I have never considered. Thanks for the help!

  17. Lisa Reply 06. May, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    This is very useful advice, great article!

  18. Andrea Reply 06. May, 2011 at 2:29 PM

    Thank you fore reminding me to be more personal with my shop – sometimes being all business is not what the buyer is looking for, they want the story behind the handmade item and/or shop. Thanks again, very informative.

  19. Julia K Walton Reply 07. May, 2011 at 4:56 AM

    Thank you for this useful article. It will certainly make me rethink my shop layout, especially adding more helpful links for customers.

  20. Diane Reply 07. May, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    This is great advice!

  21. bearstitches Reply 07. May, 2011 at 11:22 AM

    Great article, thank you so much. I have been meaning to work on our profile and bio…this motivates me !

  22. Barb Reply 07. May, 2011 at 11:25 AM

    Great article. Thanks for the advise. I had started adding links in my shop but need to do a lot more. What is the alchemy section I thought Etsy got rid of that?

    • Meagan Reply 08. May, 2011 at 9:05 PM

      You are right! Etsy did recently get rid of the Alchemy section. They haven’t said yet whether or not they’re going to bring it back…at least I haven’t heard. So instead of linking to alchemy…since you can’t, you can say something about “check out my custom order policy under “Additional Info” here” then link to your policy page.

  23. Jenny Reply 07. May, 2011 at 1:10 PM

    Thank you for the article. I’m afraid this part doesn’t make sense to me: “You should include a brief welcome 7 keywords for the first 2 lines. {Research SEO to understand the use of keywords.} Use your last line for the heading of your shop announcement.”

    I’ve researched SEO but have never seen anything described as a “brief welcome 7 keywords”. Can you help?

    Are you saying we should put “Welcome” at the beginning of our Shop Announcement and then list our seven SEO keywords? That seems a little awkward to me: “Welcome! Jewelry. Upcycled. Artist. Clothing.” Is that right? I’m so confused!

    Thanks!

    • Meagan Reply 08. May, 2011 at 9:11 PM

      I’m so sorry Jenny! You caught one of my Typos that I didn’t!! That’s supposed to say “include a brief welcome & keywords for the first…” I must have missed the shift key. Sorry again. What I do is say something like…”Welcome to Baby Swank. Here you will find baby bibs, toddler bibs, cloth baby wipes, organic baby products & more! Let me provide fashionable & eco-friendly products for your baby or toddler!” It should sound friendly & welcoming, but you want to make sure you’ve got some good, well-searched keywords right there in the beginning. After that you can talk about other announcements for your shop. HTH! Thanks again!

  24. Pam Reply 07. May, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    WOOHOO< how easy can that be!! Thank you, Thank You!!

  25. AlikiBags Reply 08. May, 2011 at 9:04 AM

    You are one of my best “finds”….so much learning, so much eccellent advice! A BIG thank you as usual ! x

  26. Double Brush Reply 08. May, 2011 at 4:38 PM

    Thank you for the great info, but I thought Etsy did away with the Alchemy feature?

  27. VintageAndSupply Reply 20. Feb, 2012 at 7:55 AM

    I am always looking for ways to improve :) Glad to have your outside point of view. It is like you are giving us all personal critiques b/c usually it is these types of things that can be critiqued. Thanks a bunch!

  28. Natalie Reply 20. Feb, 2012 at 10:45 AM

    Great tips! This morning task will be doing the linking on my bio.
    Thanks so much!

  29. Katy Reply 20. Feb, 2012 at 12:48 PM

    Great article – it inspired me to revamp my Welcome sections, and I now feel they are much more customer friendly and informative!
    Thank you!

  30. Clay Shaper Gallery Reply 20. Feb, 2012 at 2:06 PM

    This is a great reminder to buff and shine my shop. Today is a studio day, but this will be perfect tomorrow after work, while I do some laundry. No rest for the weary… But I do enjoy the extra sales.
    Ciao,
    Sally Anne

  31. Sarah @ Hip Earth Designs Reply 21. Feb, 2012 at 1:08 AM

    I know what I’ll be doing this weekend- I can definitely use some improvements in all those areas.

    Thanks so much for the great advice!

  32. Meagan Reply 08. Mar, 2012 at 6:10 AM

    You’re all so welcome! Glad you found it helpful!

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