What is a Good Etsy Conversion Rate?
- Last updated on: March 16, 2023
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If you’re an Etsy seller, you know that one of the most important metrics to track is your conversion rate. A good conversion rate means that you’re effectively turning visitors into customers, which ultimately leads to more sales and revenue for your business.
But what exactly is considered a good conversion rate on Etsy, and how can you improve yours?
In this blog post, we’ll explore what a good Etsy conversion rate is, the factors that affect it, and strategies to help you increase your conversion rate and drive more sales on the platform.
So, whether you’re a new seller or an experienced one, keep reading to learn how to optimize your shop and boost your sales on Etsy.
What is Etsy Conversion Rate?
The conversion rate on Etsy is one of the most important metrics you need to monitor as a business owner. The conversion rate tells you how effective your advertising, product description, and shop products are. It measures the overall performance of your Etsy shop.
Your conversion rate on Etsy is also tied to Etsy’s algorithm. When your conversion rate is high, you are more likely to have your listing appear near the top of an Etsy search ranking.
To measure the conversion rate on Etsy, compare the number of visitors to your shop with the number of sales you make. Not every person that visits your shop is going to buy something. However, the more people that make a purchase, the better your conversion rate on Etsy is.
Your conversion rate usually directly correlates to the success or failure of your shop.
How to Calculate Etsy Conversion Rate
To calculate your conversion rate on Etsy, find the number of sales that take place in a given period and divide that number by the number of people who visited your Etsy shop over that period.
Multiply it by 100, and you get your conversion rate percentage.
This is a simple mathematical formula that you can use to calculate your sales over a month, three months, six months, or even a year. The time frame is up to you.
Etsy Conversion Rate Calculator for Shop
Etsy shares the conversion rate for the shop with all sellers with they log in to their dashboard.
While the math is simple enough, crunching the numbers can be time-consuming. Luckily, Etsy has a system that will do it for you.
Within the seller dashboard, Etsy calculates the conversion rate for you.
Your seller dashboard includes a conversion rate calculator for sellers to use.
To find out this information, log into your Etsy account and click “Shop Manager.”
On the “Shop Manager” sidebar, click “Stats.”
Information with your seller stats will appear.
One of the stats that appears is your conversion rate on Etsy. Usually, the seller stats are defaulted to the last 30 days of sales, allowing you to see your conversion rates for the previous 30 days. You can adjust the time period to see your conversion rate for longer or shorter periods of time.
Etsy will also include a line graph so you can visualize how your visitors, sales, or conversion rate have changed over time.
Etsy Conversion Rate for Individual Listing
Etsy shares the conversion rate for individual listings in the shop manager dashboard as well.
In the shop example pictured, we saw a conversion rate of 3% overall, but some individual listings perform better than others.
This listing pictured has a conversion rate of 6% when you take orders and divide it by visits. Shop listing conversion rates are more important than the overall shop conversion rate since you then know which listings are performing better than others.
You might want to run Etsy ads on high-performing listings and work to improve low-performing listings.
You can calculate the conversion rates for individual Etsy listings by clicking on stats from the menu in Shop Manager Dashboard and then clicking on an individual listing at the bottom.
What is the Average Conversion Rate on Etsy?
According to the site Growing Your Craft, the average Etsy conversion rate is 2 to 3%. This matches what eRank shared as the average conversion rate for Etsy stores of 2.9%.
However, Growing Your Craft points out that competition on the Etsy platform has increased significantly in recent years (especially in jewelry and clothing). The increased competition has meant a lower average conversion rate on Etsy across the board.
The site Oberlo, which works in conjunction with Shopify, keeps a more accurate track of the overall average eCommerce conversion rate.
If you look at Oberlo’s report from May 2022 on eCommerce conversion rates, you find that across all eCommerce platforms, the average conversion rate was 1.78%. This is down .06 percentage points from April 2022 and .05 percentage points from May 2021.
Personally, we find that conversion rates of 2-4% are what sellers should use as their goal metric, especially when selling e-printables.
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What Conversion Rate is Good for Etsy Shops?
Despite the slight decline year over year, the conversion rate goalposts for Etsy sellers remain relatively standard. While there’s no exact number for a good conversion rate for Etsy stores, most people agree that anything in the 2 to 3% range is good.
The rate will vary a little depending on what kind of products you sell. For example, clothing may have more sales than pet-related items but fewer sales than arts and crafts materials.
What Sales Categories Have a Good Conversion Rate?
That same Oberlo report mentioned above also looked at what products currently have the highest conversion rates for eCommerce stores.
It found that products related to arts and crafts (i.e. craft supplies), including jewelry-making materials, fabric, yarn, etc., have the highest conversion rates at 4.91%
Coming in second on the list were shops selling health and well-being items. Oberlo found that those shops averaged a 3.64% conversion rate.
Third on the list was kitchen and home appliances, with a 2.9% conversion rate.
Oberlo reports that the next five product types with a good conversion rate were:
- Toys, games, and collectibles with a 2.04% conversion rate.
- Fashion, clothing, and accessories with a 1.58% conversion rate.
- Sports and recreation with a 1.52% conversion rate.
- Pet care with a 1.46% conversion rate.
- Electrical and commercial equipment with a 1.39% conversion rate.
The report went on to say that the arts and crafts industry saw the fastest year-over-year increase in conversion rates. It increased by 39.29% year-over-year.
Meanwhile, conversion rates in pet care increased by 15.91% year-over-year. Conversion rates in health and wellbeing products increased 8.66% year-over-year.
Consider your category when comparing your conversion rate on Etsy. A conversion rate of 2% might be normal in the toys category but considered low in the health and wellbeing category.
Overall though, 2% is a great benchmark for a desired conversion rate on Etsy.
Why is My Etsy Conversion Rate So Low?
If your conversion rate is lower than the recommended 2 to 3% range, there’s no need to panic. Several factors could contribute to the lower conversion rate. It’s crucial to pinpoint the problem before making any drastic changes.
You can work on these factors to improve your conversion rate and thus get more sales on Etsy.
Other Factors in Low Etsy Conversion Rates
Pricing may also be an issue. If your products are vastly overpriced compared to the competition, your conversion rate is likely to be lower than your competition.
Check out these other common problems as well:
- The listing images need improvement.
- The product is missing key desired features.
- The wrong search keywords are leading buyers to the product.
For the latter, we recommend looking at the shop stats by going into Stats in the Etsy Shop Manager dashboard and clicking on an individual listing to understand which keywords are taking a potential buyer to the listing.
How to Increase Your Etsy Shop Conversion Rate
While it’s impossible to diagnose precisely what’s causing your conversion rates to fall below that 2% mark, it is possible to offer solutions to some of the most common problems that Etsy shop owners face.
Product Photos
Think about what you do as a shopper on Etsy. How do you choose from all of the search options Etsy offers you?
If you’re like me, the photo is the first thing I judge. If the image is blurry, doesn’t give me a clear picture of the product I’m trying to purchase, or if the product looks cheap, I will skip over the listing and find a listing more suited to my needs.
Good product photography is important. You do not need to hire a professional to take your product photos, but you should take the time to ensure you present customers with high-quality photos.
Product Listing Description
Another mistake many Etsy shop owners make is poor product descriptions. Make sure your listing answers all the questions potential customers might have. How is the item shipped? What are the unique features? What’s the size of the product?
If a description doesn’t answer my basic questions, I will leave the shop without making a purchase. That’s a direct hit to the shop’s conversion rate.
Pricing
Pricing can be a significant factor in a good conversion rate for Etsy shops.
Cost is an important factor for Etsy buyers when they make a purchase decision. While most buyers are willing to pay more if they receive an original work of art, they want a good deal on generic items.
Pricing makes a huge difference. You don’t have to offer the lowest price, but you must provide competitive pricing. Find the average price of similar items and base your price on that.
For example, if you’re looking for a t-shirt and one shop charges $15 while the other charges $25, which shop will you choose? The $15 one, right?
Shipping
Another key to helping the Etsy listing conversion rate is to offer free shipping. Many buyers factor shipping costs into the cost of a purchase. Free shipping may lead to more sales.
The shipping cost is only part of what you need to consider. You should also delivery time. If you’re dropshipping products from another country, Etsy shoppers aren’t going to want to wait two to three months to receive their order.
If you need to make the order before you ship it, then don’t take a month to create the product. Shoppers will start wondering where their products are.
(Hint: If you ever end up falling behind in order fulfillment, Etsy has a handy “Vacation Mode” that will allow you to stop taking orders for a short time so you can catch up.)
At the same time, shoppers don’t want to pay high shipping prices for a low-cost item. If they purchased a $10 product, they don’t want to pay $15 more just to ship it. Keep your shipping price in line with your product price.
If your shipping is quick and affordable, you’re more likely to have a higher conversion rate on Etsy.
Quality Customer Service
Treat every customer like family. Make sure that you answer questions in a timely manner and step up if there are problems with a product or service.
For happy customers, encourage them to rate your shop or your product and leave positive reviews. A positive review will help increase your rating as an Etsy seller, which, in turn, will likely increase your conversion rate on Etsy.
Again, think about how you shop. If you see a shop with a three-star rating, are you more or less likely to buy from that shop?
Keep your paying customers happy. It will make it easier to attract new customers if current customers are happy about their online shopping experience and rave about it.
Become a Star Seller
If possible, you should also work toward becoming a Star Seller.
For an Etsy seller, the Star Seller status is a way to signal to Etsy shoppers that you are a trustworthy shop if they have any concerns.
Good reviews, timely delivery, and timely response to messages all contribute to Star Seller status.
SEO
Another reason Etsy shops might have poor Etsy conversion rates is that it does not have quality SEO or search engine optimization.
SEO is designed to drive traffic to your Etsy store by making your Etsy listings appear on the first page of an Etsy search.
If you use the wrong keywords, you will drive the wrong traffic to your shop. These are people that don’t want what you’re selling.
If your keywords are too generic, you may appear on page three or four in the Etsy search results. That lowers the odds of your product listings getting clicks and, ultimately, sales.
For example, someone may visit your shop because they’re looking for forest green yarn. You sell yarn, but not forest green yarn. A person might visit your shop, find that you don’t have what they’re looking for, and leave without making a purchase.
This will lower your conversion rate on Etsy.
However, if your listing includes “forest green yarn” as one of the keywords, the Etsy algorithm will pick up on that. The Etsy search engine is more likely to place your listing at the top of the Etsy search results.
We recommend using a tool such as eRank to dig into individual listings to see how to improve them and to start working on improving your listing SEO.
Improve Etsy Conversion Rates
Etsy also has tips and tricks to help you increase your conversion rate. After all, the site wants you to make a sale just as much as you want to create one.
In a recent article, Creating Listings That Convert, the Etsy Seller Handbook covers many of the same topics covered above, including pricing, quality listing photos, and timely delivery of the ordered products.
Photo Tips
The Etsy Seller Handbook also suggests that the first photo in your listing be the best one–the one that shows your product in the best light. This is the photo that will appear in searches. It needs to be enticing.
That said, don’t just include one photo in your listing. Etsy allows you up to 10 images for each listing, so take advantage of the opportunity to show shoppers all the features of your item.
- Make the product large enough for the shopper to see
- Have good lighting
- Pick easy-to-read fonts
If you are creating a digital product for Etsy then make sure your mockups are on point.
This means that the listing images look realistic even if you aren’t actually printing and taking a picture of your product.
We recommend using Canva Pro to create listing images for Etsy.
What Can you do with Canva?
Canva is the #1 tool that all printable sellers should learn. You can make designs very quickly using Canva and can use it to create materials for your business or start a new business with your Canva designs! Learn more about what this platform can do.
Related posts:
The Best Ways to Make Money with Canva
The Ultimate Guide to Using Canva to Sell on Etsy
Product Description Tips
In the case of the product description, Etsy suggests that you’re deliberate in your writing. Incorporate relevant keywords into the first few sentences of the listing description to help your Etsy listing pop up in organic searches.
Make your writing sound human. This isn’t a machine-generated description packed full of keywords. This needs to sound personable.
It helps to pick products that are trending on Etsy and then you can take advantage of the search traffic.
Shipping Tips
Etsy also suggests that you take advantage of shipping options for customers. Some customers are looking to get their items as fast as possible, no matter what the cost.
Other shoppers want the cheapest shipping, even if it takes a few weeks extra to receive the item.
If you offer several different shipping options for shoppers in your Etsy listing, you’re more likely to convert on a sale than if you provided just one shipping option.
Add video
Etsy has started to prioritize video in their search algorithm and to encourage their sellers to create videos.
Consider creating a 15-second advertising video for your product.
It may help the customer convert better when they can see your product in action.
Conclusion
Your Etsy conversion rate is one of the biggest keys to unlocking success in your Etsy store.
A high conversion rate on Etsy tells you that you have created quality listings that convert customers. A low conversion rate tells you that there are things you need to improve upon.
By monitoring your conversion rate on Etsy, you can see when something is working and when something is starting to go wrong. You can change things quickly before little issues become big ones.
If you have not started monitoring your Etsy conversion rate and checking it consistently, it is time to start.
