Etsy is one of the biggest online marketsplaces, with over 40 million active users each month. It’s an incredible feat, considering that it only launched in the UK back in 2005.
One of the platform’s biggest selling points is it’s extremely accessible and user-friendly tools for indie sellers. You can build a store in no time at all, without having to hire someone to walk you through the entire process. This has helped make the site incredibly popular, and has led to it becoming a bit of a ‘go-to’ site for online shops worldwide.
If you’re looking to use email marketing to grow your business, Etsy is a great place to start. It has all the tools you need to get started, and the company even offers a full-featured email marketing package. So let’s dive into how you can use email marketing on Etsy, shall we?
Set Up Your Campaign
Like any other form of marketing, having a strong foundation is crucial. This means setting up a campaign that is going to be effective, before you start pouring more money (or worse, resources) into it. Once you’ve gotten that out of the way, you can move forward and develop your strategy.
The first step is to choose your target audience. You can do this by looking at things like demographics, psychographics, and also the technologies your audience uses.
Once you’ve chosen your target audience, the next step is to figure out what you’re going to say in your email marketing message. You’ll want to create content that is both relevant and interesting to your audience. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to determine the strength of your existing connections with various groups of people. For example, you might want to send a special offer to people who have bought from you in the past, or people who use a certain device or browser.
As you craft your message, it’s important to keep things fresh and interesting. You can ask trusted colleagues or friends for feedback on your content, as well as incorporate ideas from those you’ve engaged with in earlier stages of your project. Testing different messages and content variations is an essential part of the process, helping you to find the most effective strategy for reaching your target audience. Once you’ve got your first draft of your message, you can move onto the next step.
Measure & Optimise Your Campaign
Like any other marketing initiative, you need to measure the results of your campaign. This is where things get a bit more complex. You might want to track several metrics, depending on how you’re measuring success. For example, you could look at the number of orders you’ve received, the amount of revenue you’ve gained, the number of subscribers to your email list, and of course, how many people have opened and clicked on your various marketing emails.
To track these results, you’re going to need to set up some automated email campaigns. The good news is Etsy offers a full-blown email marketing tool, which makes this stage of the process extremely easy. Simply go to your Dashboard, and click on the Get Started button. You’ll then be presented with a simple and easy-to-understand email marketing overview. From here, all you need to do is choose the components you need (e.g. you can choose to import your own lists of subscribers or customers, or you can create a new list using a tool like MailChimp) and then set up the templates for your campaigns. You can even set up automated email campaigns to send out on a regular basis, like once a week or once a month.
The beauty of Etsy’s email marketing tool is it takes all the hard work out of creating engaging content, and lets you send out automated, well-targeted marketing campaigns in no time at all. You don’t need to worry about coming up with unique content ideas, or figuring out how to reach certain demographics. You can just set up the emails you need, and leave the rest to the tool.
Once you’ve got your automated email sending set up, the next step is to measure the results of your campaign. Are people opening your emails and acting on your calls to action (e.g. making a purchase, subscribing to your mailing list, or taking a tour of your Etsy shop)? Are you getting the results you’re looking for, and if not, what might you do to improve things?
Review & Plan For Next Steps
In the previous step, you measured the results of your campaign. This is always important, but especially when you’re trying to grow your business using new strategies. You need to take a step back, and review the results of your work. What worked well, and what could you do differently?
From here, you can plan for next steps. Are you going to continue with this approach, or switch gears and try something new? Remember, your marketing will never be complete, and you’ll always be making changes and adapting to suit your evolving business. This is a good place to experiment, and see what works well and what doesn’t. A lot of businesses, even the largest ones, had to start somewhere, and for you, this is a great place to do so. With over 40 million users, and no sign of that slowing down, Etsy is a great place to get inspired and grow your business.