In this video, I am going to answer one of the most common questions I get asked. And that is this: Sarah: Isn’t it impossible to get traffic & sales to a brand new Etsy store? It doesn’t have any previous sales, or reviews, or social media following.
Yep. It’s a myth that I see that’s talked about a lot: that new stores aren’t making money, can’t make money, and only the top stores on Etsy are the ones that are able to make sales. But it’s simply not true.
Nope: I recently started a brand new Etsy store. No reviews. No social media following. Nothing. Yet, within 2 weeks, I had already made my first 2 sales.
And I’ll clarify a few points. That new store did NOT use any intellectual property. No, I didn’t try and piggyback off of popular brands like Nintendo, Taylor Swift or Disney. All of the designs are 100% original. And I did NOT sell any custom products.
Well: it’s because, as I discussed in this video, ‘How I hack the algorithms by choosing a store niche’ back in Step 1, Etsy has a feature built into their algorithm to help new stores succeed, called Test Impressions.
You see, what most people don’t realize is that Etsy WANTS new stores to succeed. They actively WANT new stores to do well… Because this helps them make money!
And they explained why in this investor report back in 2023. In this slide that they showed their investors during their meeting, they explained a big change that they have made to their algorithm. The first slide shows the search results that a customer would previously get for the phrase, “back-to-school”, and the second slide shows the new search result that customers now get when they search for that same phrase.
And these were, unsurprisingly, from already the most popular, established stores.
But in the second screenshot, you can see that they instead changed the algorithm to show customers a much bigger variety of niche products that were picked just for the customer, based on their own personal purchasing history, such as custom backpacks from a new store.
And so thanks to these changes Etsy has been making, now, instead of just showing the most popular stores with lots of reviews, it instead highlighted new, smaller stores and sellers. And the reason why Etsy has invested in this change is because, well…they don’t want customers to get bored.
Yes. If they only show the stores that are established, selling broader products, customers will keep seeing the same items over and over again.
And so they’re using new AI technology to pair customers with specific, niche products that based on their previous purchasing history, they would likely love.
But, for Etsy to be able to do this effectively, they also need to have a LOT more stores because they need a LOT more products to be added so they can have a much bigger variety for their customers.
But, the truth is, this can be difficult for Etsy because new stores often don’t have good products, they instead have generic, boring products.
*** Test Impressions
*Which is why Etsy has, from my experience, added the TEST IMPRESSIONS feature into their algorithm.*
Because you see, here’s the thing. Sure, on Etsy, one way people buy items is they go to the search bar, and they search specific keywords that they want to find products for.
But, another way people buy them is through discovery pages. These are pages like the Homepage & the Etsy mobile app. On these discovery pages, Etsy recommends products to you that they think you might like.
I find it really interesting but lots of “Etsy gurus” focus so heavily on search engine traffic. When honestly, in my experience, this is the best type of traffic and it is also increasingly how customers are now purchasing from Etsy – through these discovery pages.
And so here is a breakdown of my new store’s total traffic. The direct traffic was basically just me, making sure each of my listings looked good each time I launched them so what is instead is relevant is that in my first 2 weeks of launching, Etsy sent me 29 visitors, 2 of which went on to purchase, and more than half of them came from the Etsy discovery pages.
This is, in my experience, where Etsy likes to test new products from new stores. So, let’s say for example that I started a new store, themed around pets, and I created this funny Dachshund mug.
Well, what Etsy’s algorithm will do, from my experience, is it will try and look for customers in their database that might be interested in this mug. So, they might try and look for customers that have previously bought items themed around Dachshunds.
And if I use keywords like the word “pun” or “joke” in its listing, they will get even more specific, and look and see if they can find Dachshund dog owners, who have also previously bought joke items about puns.
And if they see the keyword “black mug” they can then try and get even more specific, and try and identify Dachshund owners, who have previously bought joke items featuring puns, that have also previously bought black mugs, instead of white mugs.
And if they see that in your store profile, you say that you’re a stay-at-home-mother that is using the store as a way to provide extra income for your family, the algorithm can narrow it down even further, and look for Dachshund owners that have previously bought joke items featuring puns, that have also purchased black mugs instead of white mugs, that have shown to have an affinity for purchasing from stores that are run by stay-at-home mothers.
They’ll then place your mug on the discovery pages, like the homepages, of a small group of test customers. As you can see on these pages, the store reviews & sales are not shown. The only thing the customer sees is the price and, most importantly, the picture. On these pages, your product will succeed based on how it looks, not on how many reviews you have.
Which is why it’s a great place for Etsy to give new stores test impressions. Because it is a fair test. You aren’t at a disadvantage for being a new store with no reviews. Instead, if your product passes this test, it’s because it looked cool. Whereas if it fails, it’s because it wasn’t interesting enough.
It is a way for Etsy to let products be tested purely on their own merit. And so then, in my experience: if they show it to a bunch of test customers, but nobody clicks on it, then Etsy will gain no data on who likes it, and so won’t be able to show it to new people.
But, if people do click on them, like what happened in my new store.
Then Etsy will be able to get data from who clicked on your listing, and also see it was interesting enough of a design to get clicks too. Then can then use that data to analyze the customers who clicked on it, and try and identify similar customers to those customers. Then, they can show your product to them as well.
And they do that, until they find a customer that purchases your product. Then, they’ll then use the data from that customer to then find more customers similar to that!
And that is how your sales grow: the more data Etsy has, the more they can connect your products to the right customers, resulting in more sales & money for you. So, as you can see then, the “trick” that I use to get sales as a new Etsy seller, is surprisingly simple.
I don’t have some super secret research hack, that requires me to pay an expensive monthly subscription to an Etsy research tool that I am affiliate for (laughs)
Instead, it’s doing 2 things really well. One is in creating & designing products which, when placed on a customer’s homepage, will stand out and look better and more interesting than the other products on there.
That is exactly how someone can end up posting 500 products and have little to no sales like this person. If all 500 of their products look generic and boring, no one will click on them, and so their test impressions will fizzle and Etsy will stop showcasing their listings.
You are literally wasting your time if you just try and create 500 generic products. That low effort “go wide” strategy doesn’t work. You can’t trick customers into clicking on your products. They’ll only click on them if they like them. So, the key to getting free traffic is to create clickable designs, photos and products.
If you’ve seen my video here on the YouTube Channel, you’ll know that one way I do that is with the cross-idea formula.
And then find another niche that the design doesn’t exist in on Etsy, such as I did in that video, when I discovered an opportunity in the pet parrot niche. Then, I come and use that design, but apply it to this new niche to come up with my own clever, clickable product.
This makes it stand out from the others. This is, in my opinion, the easiest way to create clickable products as a new store: to create products that fill a gap in the market.
But there is a second thing that I do and that is to focus on niche products. Yes, because here’s the thing. In my experience it is easier for Etsy to guess what customers might be interested in buying this mug here:
That’s because Etsy’s algorithm has less data to work with to be able to correctly guess which customers to test your products with. First of all, if you think about it, there are a lot more dog dads than Dachshund owners. And secondly – let’s be honest, this mug is, well, very generic.
Because you think about it. Not only was the Dachshund mug about a specific dog breed: but it also was a pun. So it could look for customers that liked both of these to test it with.
But this design? It’s just super generic. There isn’t really anything descriptive about it to help them connect it to the right niche customers.
So, chances are, if they try and test it with customers, they won’t be able to find the right customers to click on it. And it would fizzle.
And then, unfortunately, I’d probably end up like this person here. I’d have 500 generic designs that I had copied, that nobody wanted because they already had plenty of better options to choose from!
So I hope that this demystifies the Etsy algorithm for you, and shows why – even as a new store – you can indeed gain traction within the algorithm.
It is by filling gaps in the market. When people ask me, Sarah – why do you spend so much time talking about designing products, instead of traffic methods, this is why it’s because great, clickable products are, in my experience, the best traffic method there is.
And don’t forget, if you’d like a refresher on the Etsy algorithm and to see it visually in-action, I highly recommend re-watching my video where I drew it out as a diagram. You’ll find that video again in the Step 1 video series.
However, while the key I’ve found to getting free traffic and sales on Etsy is to focus on creating and designing great products that fill a gap in the market.
As you probably noticed, you still need to also give Etsy data to pair your products with the right customers.
Which means, you still need to do other things too: such as optimizing your listings with the right keywords. And optimizing your store profile, by filling in as much information as possible, to give it as much data as possible.
And so those are some of things that I’ll be discussing in the rest of this series, and sharing my strategies on how I’ve done that. So I’ll see you in the next video!
“Test impressions” are Etsy showing new products to selected customers to see whether they click.
*** Where They Often Happen
- Etsy homepage
- Etsy mobile app
- discovery/recommendation pages
*** Why This Matters
On discovery pages, customers usually see:
- product image
- price
They may not immediately see:
- store reviews
- total sales
- store history
So the product gets tested mainly on visual appeal and relevance.
** How Etsy Tests Products
Example:
A funny Dachshund black mug with a pun.
Etsy may try to match it with customers who previously bought:
- Dachshund products
- joke/pun items
- black mugs
- similar handmade/niche products
The more specific the listing is, the easier it is for Etsy to understand who might want it.
** What Happens During Testing
*** If Nobody Clicks
- Etsy gets little useful data
- The listing may stop getting shown
- The test impressions fizzle out
*** If People Click
- Etsy learns who is interested
- Etsy looks for similar customers
- The product gets more chances
*** If Someone Buys
- Etsy gets stronger data
- Etsy can find more similar buyers
- Sales can begin to grow
** Why Generic Products Fail
Generic products give Etsy less useful data.
Example:
- “Dog dad mug” = broad and vague
- “Funny Dachshund pun black mug” = specific and easier to match
A generic product has more competition and fewer clear signals.
** Bad Strategy
Do not rely on:
- uploading hundreds of generic products
- copying common designs
- low-quality listings
- broad products with no clear niche angle
More listings do not help if none of them are clickable.
** Better Strategy
Create products that:
- fill a gap in the market
- look visually interesting
- target a specific niche
- give Etsy clear customer-matching data
- stand out on discovery pages
** Cross-Idea / Cross-Niche Formula
Take:
- a proven design idea
- from one niche
Then apply it to:
- another niche
- where that design does not yet exist
Example:
- hunting shirt concept
- adapted into the parrot owner niche
Goal:
Create something new enough to stand out but familiar enough to have proven appeal.
** Main Traffic Principle
Product creation is the traffic strategy.
A strong product:
- gets clicks
- gives Etsy data
- gets matched to more customers
- can start selling without outside traffic
** Etsy Optimization Still Matters
Even though the product is the main driver, Etsy still needs data.
Optimize:
- titles
- tags
- keywords
- listing descriptions
- product photos
- store profile
** Key Insight
A new store is not automatically doomed.
The real problem is usually:
- boring products
- generic designs
- unclear niche targeting
- poor product photos
- weak listing data
** Bottom Line
New Etsy stores can get sales by creating niche, clickable products that fill gaps in the market and give Etsy enough information to match them with the right buyers.
* Transcript
#+begin_example
00:00
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another video here at
00:03
the Econ Clubhouse. And in this video, I am going
00:06
to answer 1 of the most common questions that I
00:08
get asked, and that is this. Sarah, isn't it impossible
00:13
to get traffic and sales to a brand new Etsy
00:16
store that doesn't have any previous sales or reviews or
00:20
social media following? Yes. This is a myth that I
00:23
see talked about a lot, and the myth is that
00:26
new stores aren't making money and that they can't make
00:28
money and that only the top stores on Etsy are
00:32
the ones that are able to make sales. But as
00:34
I'll show you, that's simply not true. Nope. I recently
00:38
started a brand new Etsy store. No reviews, no social
00:42
media following, nothing.
00:44
Yet within 2 weeks, I had already made my first
00:46
2 sales in it. And I'll also clarify some things
00:49
about that store too. So first of all, that store
00:52
did not use any intellectual property. Nope. I didn't try
00:56
to sneakily piggyback off of popular brands like Nintendo or
01:00
Taylor Swift or Disney. All of the designs in the
01:03
store were 100 percent original.
01:06
And very importantly,
01:07
I did not sell any custom products.
01:10
Nope. Because it is true that custom products are super
01:13
popular on Etsy, and so they can be a very
01:16
quick, fast way to make sales. But personally, if you've
01:19
been watching my videos for a while, you know that
01:22
I don't enjoy
01:24
myself making and selling custom products. And so instead, all
01:28
the products in there were just print on demand products
01:31
that print products
01:33
on autopilot.
01:34
And yet despite having no social media following and no
01:37
reviews, it took me less than 2 weeks for my
01:39
store to get kick started within the Etsy algorithm. So
01:43
why is that? Well, it's because as I discussed in
01:46
this video here back in step 1, Etsy has a
01:49
feature that's built into the algorithm to help new stores
01:52
succeed, and this I like to call test impressions.
01:55
You see, what a lot of people don't seem to
01:57
realize is that Etsy actually wants new stores to succeed.
02:02
They actively
02:03
want new stores to do well because this helps them
02:06
make even more money, and they explained why in this
02:09
investor report back in 20 23.
02:11
In this slide, they showed their investors during the meeting.
02:15
They explained that a big change that they had made
02:16
to the algorithm,
02:18
And the first slide here shows the search results that
02:20
a customer would have previously got for the search phrase
02:23
back to school, and the second slide shows the new
02:26
search results that customers were getting now when they searched
02:30
for that same phrase. As you can see in that
02:32
first screenshot, when customers searched for this, they used to
02:35
be showing multiple similar listings for popular back to school
02:38
products on Etsy like custom pencils.
02:41
And these were, of course,
02:42
somewhat unsurprisingly
02:44
from the most popular
02:46
established stores. But now in the second screenshot, you can
02:49
see that Etsy has updated the algorithm to show customers
02:52
a much bigger variety of niche products that were picked
02:55
just for that customer based on their own personal purchasing
02:58
history,
02:59
such as custom backpacks from a new store. And so
03:02
thanks to these changes that Etsy has been making, now
03:05
instead of just showing the most popular stores, Etsy is
03:09
trying and actively
03:11
showcasing
03:12
new stores, and I'll tell you what, the reason why
03:16
Etsy is doing this is because,
03:18
well, they don't want their customers to get bored. Yep.
03:22
You think about it. If they only show stores that
03:24
are established
03:25
selling broader products, customers will keep seeing these exact same
03:29
items over and over again. And so instead, Etsy wants
03:32
customers to be constantly discovering new products that are even
03:35
more specific to their desires. And so what Etsy's doing
03:38
these days is they're using new AI technology to pair
03:41
customers with specific niche products that are based on their
03:44
previous purchasing history that they would likely love. But for
03:47
Etsy to be able to do this effectively, they also
03:50
need to have a lot more stores because they need
03:53
to have a lot more products so that they can
03:55
have a much bigger variety
03:57
for their customers.
03:59
But the truth is is that this can be difficult
04:01
for Etsy
04:02
because most new stores, again, if we're being honest,
04:05
often don't have great products. Oftentimes, the products that they
04:09
produce are not very good, and they're often very generic
04:12
and boring,
04:14
which is why Etsy has, from my experience, added the
04:17
test impressions feature into the algorithm.
04:19
Because you see, here's the thing. Sure, on Etsy, 1
04:22
of the ways that people do search for items is
04:24
they do go to that search bar and they do
04:26
type in specific keywords that they want to find products
04:30
for.
04:31
But another way that people buy items from them is
04:33
through discovery pages. These are pages like the homepage and
04:37
the Etsy mobile app. On these discovery pages, Etsy recommends
04:41
products to you that they think that you might like.
04:44
And honestly, I find it really interesting because I do
04:47
find that there are a lot of Etsy gurus out
04:50
there that focus
04:52
really heavily on search engine traffic,
04:55
when honestly, in my experience,
04:57
this is increasingly becoming the more common way that people
05:01
are discovering and finding
05:03
new products on Etsy. It's through these discovery pages. And
05:07
you can see here a total breakdown of my new
05:09
store's total traffic. The direct traffic, you can see, was
05:13
basically just me making sure each of my listings looked
05:16
good each time I launched them. So what is instead
05:19
relevant
05:20
is that in my first 2 weeks of launching, Etsy
05:23
sent me 29 visitors,
05:25
2 of which went on to purchase, and more than
05:27
half of those visitors came from Etsy's discovery pages
05:31
because this is where, in my experience, Etsy likes to
05:34
test new products
05:36
from stores.
05:37
Yep. So let's say, for example, that I started a
05:39
new store themed around pets and I created this funny
05:42
Dachshund mug. Well, what Etsy will do in my personal
05:46
previous experience is that they're gonna go through their list
05:48
of customers that they have in their database and try
05:51
and discover which of those customers
05:54
might be interested in my mug. Yes. So they might
05:57
try and look for customers that have previously bought items
06:00
themed around Dachshund dogs. And if I use keywords in
06:03
my listing, like pun or joke,
06:06
then they'll be able to get even more specific, and
06:08
they'll be able to look and see if they can
06:10
find any Dushan dog owners that they have in their
06:13
database who have also previously bought joke items about puns.
06:18
And if they see the keyword black mug, then they
06:20
can try to get even more specific and try and
06:22
identify Dachshund dog owners who have previously bought joke items
06:26
featuring puns that have also previously bought black mugs instead
06:30
of white mugs. And if they see that in your
06:32
store profile, you say that you're a stay at home
06:34
mother that is using the store as a way to
06:36
provide extra income for your family, then the algorithm can
06:39
narrow it down even further, and it can look for
06:41
Dachshund dog owners that have previously bought joke items featuring
06:45
puns that have also previously purchased black mugs instead of
06:48
white mugs that have shown to have an affinity for
06:50
purchasing from stores that have run from stay at home
06:53
mothers. Basically, they're gonna try to use this information to
06:56
place your mug on the discovery pages of a group
06:59
of test customers, like on their home pages or on
07:02
their Etsy app. As you can see on these pages,
07:05
the store reviews and sales are not showing. The only
07:09
thing the customer sees is a price and, most importantly,
07:12
the product picture.
07:14
On these pages, your product will succeed based on how
07:18
it looks,
07:19
not on how many reviews your store has, which is
07:23
why this is a great place for Etsy to test
07:26
out items from new stores with these test impressions.
07:30
Because if you think about it, it's a fair test.
07:32
Even if your store is brand new and it has
07:35
no reviews, you are not at a disadvantage.
07:38
Instead, the only way that your product is going to
07:40
pass this test is if it looks cool and interesting
07:44
enough to get a customer to click. It is basically
07:47
a way for Etsy to be able to test different
07:50
products
07:51
purely off of their own sales merit. And so then
07:54
in my experience, if they show it to a bunch
07:57
of test customers but nobody clicks on it, then Etsy
07:59
will not get any data on who actually likes it,
08:02
and so they won't be able to keep showing it
08:04
to new people. But if people do click on the
08:07
listings, like what happened in my new store, then Etsy
08:10
will be able to get data from who clicked on
08:12
your listing and also see it was interesting enough of
08:15
a design to get clicks for. Then they can use
08:18
that data to analyze the customers that bothered to click
08:20
on it and try and identify similar customers to those
08:24
customers.
08:25
Then they can show your product to those customers as
08:28
well. And then they can keep doing that until they
08:30
find a customer that purchases your product. Then they'll use
08:34
the data from that customer to then find more customers
08:38
similar to the customer that purchased your product. And that
08:42
is how sales grow. The more data Etsy has, the
08:45
more they can connect your products to the right customers,
08:47
resulting in more sales and money for you. So as
08:50
you can see, the trick that I use to get
08:54
sales on Etsy for a brand new store is quite
08:56
simple. I don't have some super secret research hack that's
09:00
going to require you to go and purchase a monthly
09:03
subscription to an Etsy research service, which I have an
09:06
affiliate link for. Instead, it's by doing 2 things really
09:09
well. 1 is, of course, in creating and designing products,
09:12
which when they are placed on a customer's homepage will
09:15
stand out and look better and more interesting than the
09:18
other products on there. And this, by the way, is
09:21
unfortunately how someone can end up posting 500 products and
09:25
have little to no sales. If all 500 of these
09:29
products that they post look generic and boring, no 1
09:32
will click on them, and so their test impressions will
09:34
fizzle, and Etsy will stop showcasing their listings.
09:37
Yes. In my experience, you are literally wasting your time
09:41
on Etsy if you try to go with this go
09:43
wide strategy of just posting lots of low quality
09:47
generic item listings because you can't trick customers into clicking
09:52
on your designs. Customers are only gonna click on products
09:56
that look cool and interesting.
09:58
Can't skip that part. And you know, if you've seen
10:01
my video here on the YouTube channel, you'll know that
10:03
1 way that I do this is with the cross
10:05
idea formula. It's when I find a popular, clever product
10:08
design in 1 niche, such as this t shirt here
10:11
in the hunting niche, and then I find another niche
10:13
that this design doesn't exist for on Etsy, such I
10:16
did in this video here where I discovered an opportunity
10:19
in the pet to parrot niche. Then I came and
10:21
I used that design, but I applied it to this
10:24
new niche to come up with my own clever clickable
10:27
product. And it was clickable because it filled a gap
10:30
in the market. By creating this t shirt, I created
10:33
a product that did not yet exist, and this makes
10:36
it stand out from from the others. This is, in
10:38
my opinion, the easiest way to create clickable products as
10:41
a new store. It's to create products that fill a
10:44
gap in the market. But there is a second thing
10:47
that I do to take advantage of these test impressions
10:50
as a new store to get free traffic and sales,
10:53
and that is to focus on niche products. Yes, because
10:56
here's the thing. In my experience, it is easier for
10:59
Etsy to guess which customers might be interested in buying,
11:02
say, this mug here compared to this generic dog dad
11:06
mug here. And that's because if you think about it,
11:09
Etsy's algorithm has a lot less data to work with
11:12
if they're trying to find the right customers to test
11:15
a generic dog dad mug with. Yep. First of all,
11:19
if you think about it, there are a lot more
11:21
dog dads out there than Dush Hunt owners. And secondly,
11:25
let's be honest, this mug is, well, very generic because
11:29
you think about it. Not only was the Dush Hunt
11:31
mug about a specific dog breed, but it was also
11:33
a pun. So Etsy could look for customers that liked
11:36
both of these things to test this mug with, but
11:39
this design, it's just super generic. There isn't really anything
11:42
descriptive about it for them to connect it to the
11:45
right niche customer. So chances are, if they try and
11:48
test this with customers, they won't be able to find
11:51
the right customers to click on it, and it would
11:53
fizzle. And then, unfortunately,
11:55
I'd probably end up like this person here. I'd have
11:57
500 generic designs that I had quite likely copied that
12:01
nobody wanted because they already had plenty of better options
12:05
to choose from. And so I do hope that this
12:08
demystifies the Etsy algorithm for you a bit and shows
12:11
you how
12:12
even brand new stores can indeed get sales and traffic
12:16
on Etsy. Yes. It's by doing this, filling gaps in
12:19
the market. When people ask me, Sarah, why do you
12:22
spend so much time talking about designing products instead of
12:25
traffic methods? This is why. It's because creating great clickable
12:28
products that stand out on a customer's homepage are, in
12:31
my experience,
12:32
the best traffic method out there. And don't forget, if
12:35
you'd like a refresher on the Etsy algorithm and to
12:38
see it visually in action, I highly recommend rewatching my
12:41
video here where I drew it out as a diagram.
12:44
You'll find that video again in the step 1 video
12:46
series. However, while it is true that the key that
12:49
I have personally found to getting free traffic on Etsy
12:52
is by creating great products that fill a gap in
12:55
the market. As you probably noticed,
12:58
you also need to be giving Etsy data
13:00
to work with, which means in addition to creating these
13:03
great products, you still need to do some other things
13:05
too. You still need to be optimizing
13:08
your Etsy listings for keywords, and you still need to
13:11
optimize your store profile so that you can give Etsy
13:15
as much data as possible. And so these are some
13:18
of the things that we will also be discussing later
