A very common question I find in the forum is “Why is no one buying this” or “how do I make my hearts into sales??” I’ll let you into a little secret: Views don’t equal hearts, and hearts don’t equal sales.
Many long standing etsians will tell you they’ve had that elusive item with 5000 views and 200 hearts. It may, and likely will, sell in the end – but it only takes one buyer to make a sale. The item with 3 views and 0 hearts is just as likely to sell as the one with 500.
You also need to keep in mind that hearting is also a great bookmarking tool – think about the reasons you’ve hearted an item or a buyer – to go back and look at later, for a possible gift idea, maybe even for inspiration.
Without statistics it is often hard to equate views, hearts and sales. While Etsy works on providing us with stats there are other ways to find out this information. Majaba is a great resource that shows you how many hearts and views you have - especially helpful is the view to heart ratio which is where your hearts become a very useful tool.
Although they don’t guarantee a sale, an item with many hearts and views is a great indication of the good aspects of your store. Why do you think so many people are looking at this item, and why are they hearting it? I can take a good guess now: it has a great photo and is tagged well.
Looking at your popular items is like doing your own market research. The items with a high view to heart ratio are showing you what is popular in your store. Its an indicator of which photos are better, which tags are working, and which items customers like, and in cases with large variations between items perhaps which direction you should be leaning in.
So, although its frustrating to have an item that is popular but not selling – perhaps you can take advantage of this frustration by taking an indepth look at your shop – and hopefully you can use those hearts to get some sales!
Resources:
Majaba – a brilliant heart checking tool, I will warn you though, it’s addictive!
lishlash runs her UK etsy store selling paper goods and jewellery and can often be found in the forums when not being addicted to majaba!
4 comments:
Hearts are also a good indicator of how much exposure your items are getting. The more exposure your items get, the more likely they are to sell. Do you check your hearts? Lots of other sellers do too! And when i check my hearts i usually go to that persons shop and check them out. Many times i have actually bought from that seller as well because i 'discovered' them and their product. Heart other items you like, dont just bookmark- heart! and they might come take a look at your items as well!
thanks so much for your hints..! i myself often heart shops or items that i want to feature in my treasuries, so even if i don't buy them, i just give them visibility :)
I'll bookmark this blog, it's very useful (discovered thru sassy treasury)
temno
temno.etsy.com
Great blog and thank you for post this thread, it help new seller.
I'm not very worried about hearts. I have items with more than 40 hears and items with only few.
One reason I can think out is that Christmas is coming and people are already searching for potential gifts. Maybe today she will heart, but a month later she has enough funds for boying it as a present.
That's what I do- I have a painting in my favorites that will be a perfect birthday present in January, but it's expensive and I'm still collecting money for buying it!
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